Too Early to Bid on Priceline?

[SactoSteve]

We're sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 1st and are planning to book a hotel through Priceline. Does anyone have a good feel for how early the better prices show up? Right now, most of the winning bids I see listed on some of the bidding sites have either Jan or Feb dates. We're planning on 3 1/2 or 4 star in either the Beach or Downtown zones.

 

Thanks!

[NoWhiners]

We're sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 1st and are planning to book a hotel through Priceline. Does anyone have a good feel for how early the better prices show up? Right now, most of the winning bids I see listed on some of the bidding sites have either Jan or Feb dates. We're planning on 3 1/2 or 4 star in either the Beach or Downtown zones.

 

Thanks!

 

Steve

 

My advice is to start bidding early--you have nothing to lose!! Start at fairly low bids; even if they are rejected, so what? You have plenty of time to land a great rate. As you get closer, and see what other winning bids are, you can adjust your bids upward and still win a room. In the meantime, you could get lucky and win a room at a terrific rate. especially for May--that may be just outside prime time. be sure to check out how to get free re-bids on betterbidding or hoteldealsrevealed.

 

also check hotwire. We never used it until last year. Just for fun, I checked hotwire for hotels in FLL. Turned out they had a 3.5 star for $59/night. I wasn't having much luck with low bids on PL, and this seemed pretty good, especially considering it was the week before Easter. So, we took it, and got Summerfield Suites--brand new suite hotel, airport shuttle, free hot breakfast and evening reception, free internet. Happy we did it and no bidding needed. Probably could have saved a few dollars by bidding but this was fast and we got a great hotel.

 

good luck

ML