Summary of winning bids on Priceline

[shellmisi]

I know this is common knowledge, but just wanted to pass along...

 

Crowne Plaza, San Pedro $65 (I tried $60 and denied, free rebid for $65)

2/26/10

[speakertosuits]

Using bidding archives from the bidding for travel website for San Diego for April 2008-09, found likely successful bids would be in $70-80 range for 3.5* hotels. These hotels would normally be about $200 plus per night on their websites. Began initial bidding for 3.5* DT at $50, rejected. Rebid immediately with National City Zone (2.5* tops), rejected. Rebid immediately with San Ysidro (also 2.5* tops), rejected. Immediate rebid 3.5* at $50 with DT plus National City and San Ysidro, rejected. Stepping bids in $5 increments, kept getting rejected until I stepped price to $65. Rejected for DT only, rebid with National City accepted for 4* Marriot Hotel and Marina on 333 West Harbor Drive.

 

Total price $65/nights for two nights plus $25.46 taxes and fees for total of $155.46 or $77.73/night for room that normally goes for $250 to $300/night. Original goal was for Embassy Suites at 3.5*. Risk was we could have been in 4* Sheraton Harbor Island away from downtown, but at this price, cabs would be OK.

 

Used Amazing Bargains link for bids. Definitely worth learning how to do permutation bidding. If necessary, could have used 8 zones with 3* max ratings. Check Priceline zone ratings carefully before using permutation or you might get burned with a hotel not where you want

[dresch25]

I just won a bid on Priceline for:

 

Doubletree San Pedro February 10-12, 2011 $60.00 per night

[sasha101us]

How does priceline do if you have 4 people in the room? We have 2 adults and 2 teens. we just want one room, but how do we make sure we get at least 2 beds in the room?

 

We are cruising out of San Pedro, CA

Edited January 23, 2011 by sasha101us
for got to add

[JayinAZ]

How does priceline do if you have 4 people in the room? We have 2 adults and 2 teens. we just want one room, but how do we make sure we get at least 2 beds in the room?

 

We are cruising out of San Pedro, CA

 

You can call the hotel after the reservation is made and request a 2 bed room and hope they will accommodate. Or you could request a rollaway or 2 when you get there if they have them, but you may be charged extra. Priceline only guarantees a room and that's it, no special requests allowed so it is not for everyone's situation. Hotwire gives you more control.

Good luck!

[4cats4me]

Scored two rooms on Priceline last night for the Crowne Plaza San Pedro,

Ca for 3/18/11 for $65 each. I bid 60, the computer countered with $75.

I tried to add $3, it said, not it wanted $75, so I used a free rebid by

adding Long Beach [as I did not care if I ended up in Long Beach, but

don't add long beach zone if you do not want Long Beach]

AND I increase bid to $65 and bid was accepted. It's a 3.5 star range.

If you want a free rebid for San Pedro and wish to end up in San Pedro,

I believe you need to add the Long Beach AIRPORT zone, since there

aren't any 3.5 star hotels out there.

[pomgo]

Scored two rooms on Priceline last night for the Crowne Plaza San Pedro,

Ca for 3/18/11 for $65 each. I bid 60, the computer countered with $75.

I tried to add $3, it said, not it wanted $75, so I used a free rebid by

adding Long Beach [as I did not care if I ended up in Long Beach, but

don't add long beach zone if you do not want Long Beach]

AND I increase bid to $65 and bid was accepted. It's a 3.5 star range.

If you want a free rebid for San Pedro and wish to end up in San Pedro,

I believe you need to add the Long Beach AIRPORT zone, since there

aren't any 3.5 star hotels out there.

good news just booked for $135 just 1 night 9/9/2011.

[serval_girl]

Holiday Inn at the Bay, San Diego

March 6-8th

71$ on Priceline (I had a 70$ voucher per night and bid $1)

First tried 4 and 3 1/2 star at 76, no dice.

Happy with choice-shuttle to airport and zoo:)

I <3 Priceline:)

[serval_girl]

Feb 25 San Diego. Westgate Hotel 4 star 65$ on first bid:)

[Blamar]

March 2-5 in San Diego at the Omni for $90 but it took two bids.

March 13 in San Diego at the Westlake for $75 on first bid.

Hope they are nice

[windango]

$65 (plus tax) for the Crowne Plaza, San Pedro for April 22, 2011. These boards are AWESOME! I would have paid twice that before I read everyone's posts here!

[aikensbest]

New to trying priceline. I definitely want to stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel in San Pedro. If I make a bid and it is accepted, but not for that hotel will I have to accept it anyway? Thanks

[vbmom87]

New to trying priceline. I definitely want to stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel in San Pedro. If I make a bid and it is accepted, but not for that hotel will I have to accept it anyway? Thanks

 

When you bid, and a hotel accepts your bid, your credit card is immediately charged and there are not refunds....what you get is what you get.

[marsda]

New to trying priceline. I definitely want to stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel in San Pedro. If I make a bid and it is accepted, but not for that hotel will I have to accept it anyway? Thanks

Try checking out the websites betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com

 

They can help you pretty much determine what hotel will come up when you bid based on the amenities listed. They don't guarantee it will be the hotel, but they've been right on the mark every time I've researched with them.

[vbmom87]

Try checking out the websites betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com

 

They can help you pretty much determine what hotel will come up when you bid based on the amenities listed. They don't guarantee it will be the hotel, but they've been right on the mark every time I've researched with them.

 

Amenities are only listed on hotwire, not on Priceline. With Priceline you only know the star level you are bidding on. Betterbidding and bidding for travel will post the latest wins for Priceline, but there is NO GUARENTEE you will get the hotel that has been winning lately. Once when I bid, I was pretty sure which hotel I was going to get and ended up with one that had no wins for it posted on either betterbidding or biddingfortravel.

 

For hotwire, betterbidding can be more helpful, but again, no guarentees. Sometimes hotels change the amenties they list.

 

If you want a particular hotel the only way you can be sure of getting it is to book directly or through a site like expedia.

[GORDONCHICK]

How does priceline do if you have 4 people in the room? We have 2 adults and 2 teens. we just want one room, but how do we make sure we get at least 2 beds in the room?

 

We are cruising out of San Pedro, CA

 

Hotwire will guarantee #of people in the room, which is why we use Hotwire instead of Priceline.

[Jolly Mon Sings]

ARTICLE FROM KMOTV SEATTLE

 

SEATTLE - Priceline.com offers one of the most unique ways to buy travel. You name your price for airline tickets, hotel stays or car rentals and if Priceline accepts your bid, that's what you pay.

 

Priceline decides which flight, hotel or car rental company you'll get, and that scares away a lot of people.

 

But there is a bidding method for hotels that almost guarantees you'll stay where you want without the fear of having to stay elsewhere.

 

Customers who name their own price for a hotel room can save up to 50 percent off competitors like Expedia.com or Travelocity.com, if you believe Priceline's advertisements.

 

In fact, I have saved even more than 50 percent on several of my winning bids.

 

If you're a frequent user of Priceline like I am, you know there are bidding restrictions. These restrictions can lead to overbidding.

 

You may still get a pretty good deal, but not the lowest rock-bottom price that Priceline has hidden in its computer system.

 

You can't simply increase your bid by $1 after each rejection. If you don't want to change your dates of travel or hotel class or add an additional hotel zone, Priceline makes you wait 24 hours before you can bid again.

 

But there is a way to manipulate your bidding, find the cheapest price offered, get around the 24-hour rule and stay exactly in the area you want.

 

It's a method Priceline doesn't tell you about on its web site. Experienced bidders call it the "free rebid" or "permutations" method. Here's how it works:

 

Step One: Do your homework

 

Once you've picked your destination, do your research. Go to either BiddingForTravel.com or BetterBidding.com. Both web sites are message boards where Priceline users post their winning and losing bids.

 

Users post dates of travel, bid histories, names of the hotels and star classes they got. It's a great starting point to predict how much you may end up paying and which hotel you may get. It is valuable information that Priceline doesn't offer on its web site.

 

Step Two: Compare prices

 

Now compare those prices to the big internet travel web sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz or Hotels.com. Run the dates you want and see what their prices are in the area where you want to stay.

 

In our Seattle example, I saw winning bids for a downtown four-star hotel on BiddingForTravel.com ranging from $100 to $120 a night. I checked Expedia and Travelocity on the same dates and found the prices for high-end hotels ranged from $159 to $459 a night. You never want to bid more than what's offered on these web sites.

 

Keep in mind, the star level on Priceline does not necessarily match up with the star level of these big travel sites. I used the hotels listed by winning bidders on BiddingForTravel.com and BetterBidding.com as a comparison.

 

Step Three: Choose your "star" class

 

It may seem simple, but this is the big decision. For most metropolitan areas, Priceline breaks down your destination city into zones and hotel star levels.

 

The free rebid system works best if you want the highest star rating for your destination city - the higher the rating, the fewer the zones that have the rating, the more free rebids you can generate.

 

For example, there are ten hotel zones in Seattle. When you click on each zone individually, you'll notice that the star level changes at the bottom of the screen. It's telling you the star levels of hotels offered in each of these zones.

 

On a piece of paper, write down the name of each zone and its highest star level. Set it aside -- we'll use it later.

 

In some cities, a four-star hotel may be offered in two or three zones. In other cities, the highest rated hotel may be a three star. If the highest star hotel is offered in every zone, the free rebid system will not work.

 

In Seattle, there is only one zone out of ten that offers a four star hotel - downtown. This is a perfect example to generate extra rebids.

 

Step Four: Start bidding

 

On Priceline, enter your city and enter your dates of travel. Click the area you want to stay in, then click the highest hotel class level.

 

Check your list of zones and class levels from your piece of paper and find all the areas that offer a hotel class that is lower than what you want.

 

Enter a price. In our Seattle example, I know that bidders were getting a room for roughly $100 to $120 a night. I started at $80. After entering all the necessary personal data, I clicked 'buy my hotel room.'

 

I got rejected.

 

Step Five: Using your free rebid

 

Here's the secret: Priceline makes you wait 24 hours if you don't want to change anything about your bid except the price. That means if you don't change the hotel class, or the dates or the zone, you must wait 24 hours to bid again.

 

Here's where that list of zones with the highest class of service comes into play. Add a zone with a class of hotel that's "lower" than your preferred zone.

 

In our example, I want a four-star hotel in downtown Seattle. The highest hotel class in Bothell is two and half stars.

 

I add Bothell, knowing that I will never stay in Bothell because there are no four star hotels in Bothell. I add just $1 to my bid. I get rejected, but I just beat the 24-hour rule by adding an area with the guarantee that I won't ever stay there.

 

Step Five: Multiple free rebids

 

After you've been rejected, don't use the page Priceline serves up next. Go back a few steps and reconfigure your zone combinations. This is important to maximize your free rebids.

 

Hit the back button on your browser a few times and get back to your original bid screen and add a zone to your preferred zone.

 

In my case, I go back to the first time I bid on a four-star hotel in downtown Seattle. Last time I added Bothell. This time, I make sure downtown Seattle is selected and add Lake Union with Bothell removed. Lake Union is another zone that doesn't have a four-star hotel.

 

Priceline recognizes each combination of city pairings, hotel class and price as a unique bid. As long as you don't duplicate anything, Priceline will accept your new bid.

 

In my case, I add Lake Union, add another $1 for an $82 bid and get rejected again. I go back a few pages on my browser, click on my preferred area downtown Seattle and select Everett, which is another area without a four-star hotel.

 

I add $1 to my bid and get rejected again.

 

Just keep on changing your city combinations with areas that don't have a hotel that's your preferred class or higher. By doing so, you can keep bidding without the fear of staying outside of your preferred zone.

 

Mathematically, I had up to 86 different bidding combinations for a four-star hotel in downtown Seattle. With each bid, I was guaranteed I wouldn't stay anywhere else.

 

Step Six: Count the money you saved

 

After 10 bids, going up a $1 each time, I hit pay dirt. I got the downtown Sheraton for $90 plus tax.

 

Checking the Sheraton's web site for the same night, the cheapest room was an internet-only special of $139 plus tax. The non-internet rate was $159 plus tax.

 

I saved roughly $50 and I beat the prices that were posted on the Priceline helper web sites.

 

If I didn't use the free rebid system, it would have taken me 10 days to complete my bids. Instead, it took me only 10 minutes and I had plenty of free rebids remaining.

 

Priceline.com is well aware of the rebid method. Spokesman Brian Ek says only a "very small percentage" of its users take the time to bid this way.

 

Each city offers different situations, but this should be a good start to saving big dollars.

[Jolly Mon Sings]

Booked Downtown Seattle Sheraton Hotel (4 star) in June for $134/nt. Normal internet price $232.

 

Used lastminutetravel dot com. See listing for hotel description with 35 floors and 1258 rooms. This is the Sheraton Hotel on 6th Ave.

 

Also available is shuttle to hotel from airport for $30 for 2 persons on Downtown Airporter.

[maryh307]

Hi Jolly Mon Sings,

 

I have been watching this thread for Seattle winning bids and have seen very little. I guess most of the cruise's are departing from other ports at this time of year. I have also been checking the better bidding sites for winning bids, but its a bit early for 8/31/11. DH and I had only used Hotwire for the first time last year after watching the west coast bids for Vancouver. It helped us make our first Hotwire transaction.

 

I'm glad to hear you did so well and that you shared your info with us. The last minute site is new to us. I will check it out later today. DH and I are looking for a hotel at the end of Aug in Seattle for 2 nights. The last minute site sounds more like Hotwire than Priceline. Can you get a good idea which hotel you may be getting by the description?

 

First time traveling to Seattle.

[vbmom87]

For betterbididing.com you can subscribe to the Washington State forum by going to forum options and selecting subscribe. There have been wins posted, but not too many for summer. I am also looking for August, only early August.

 

The lastminutetravel.com site does seem to be like hotwire. They do give more descriptions of the hotels, so you probably can make a better guess.

[pj-n-bob]

I got the Courtyard Downtown Miami (3*) for December 2011 for $75. I think I did okay.

 

Looking at the hotel website, it says they offer a $5pp shuttle to the cruise port.

[maryh307]

"For betterbididing.com you can subscribe to the Washington State forum by going to forum options and selecting subscribe"

 

Thanks Vb Mom for the info. I didn't know you could subscribe to a certain forum on bb.com. I have to check this out after work since I'm on lunch break and only had a few minutes right now to myself. Have you been to Seattle before and what area will you be bidding on? We sailed out of VC last year to Hawaii. DH wanted to go to Alaska first then sail on to Hawaii. We wanted to do a repositioning cruise since this may be our last wc departure for a while. The cost of airline tickets is close to the price of the Alaska cruise. I enjoyed Hawaii so much last year, decided to take the same cruise again this year. We start out in Seattle sailing to Alaska and repositioning in VC to Hawaii.

 

Good luck with your bidding.

[vbmom87]

"For betterbididing.com you can subscribe to the Washington State forum by going to forum options and selecting subscribe"

 

Thanks Vb Mom for the info. I didn't know you could subscribe to a certain forum on bb.com. I have to check this out after work since I'm on lunch break and only had a few minutes right now to myself. Have you been to Seattle before and what area will you be bidding on? We sailed out of VC last year to Hawaii. DH wanted to go to Alaska first then sail on to Hawaii. We wanted to do a repositioning cruise since this may be our last wc departure for a while. The cost of airline tickets is close to the price of the Alaska cruise. I enjoyed Hawaii so much last year, decided to take the same cruise again this year. We start out in Seattle sailing to Alaska and repositioning in VC to Hawaii.

 

Good luck with your bidding.

 

You have a great cruise ahead of you!!! Alaska and Hawaii all in one vacation!!! Lucky you!!!!! Have a wonderful time!!!

 

We have never been to Seattle. Last time we went to Alaska we cruised out of Vancouver. For Priceline in Seattle we have been looking at 4* Downtown Pike Place. However, I was a bit sad when I read that the Sorrento is now in that Pike Place bidding zone. I would not be thrilled to get that as my win unless I got a really, really low price. For now I have a cancellable reservation at the Quality Inn on John Street. I just need a place to sleep. I will keep watching the wins and see what comes up as we get closer to summer. My gut feeling is that if there are going to be good deals, they will come at the last minute.

 

I just discovered the option of subscribing to the betterbidding forums last week. Since most forums seem to have that option, it dawned on me to look for it on betterbidding. It is much nicer to get an email each time someone posts, rather than remembering to check it out. This works very well.

[edpat5911]

Hi We just bid and was accepted for $55 for Hotel Maya in Long Beach for Saturday, April 9th. First bid was accepted! Can't wait for the cruise to begin!

 

Patty & Ed

[Canuckjammer]

Very happy! Just got the Omni downtown San Diego for $77 May 12-14.

The reviews and photos of hotel look fantastic!