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June 17, 2005
Priceline bidding epilogues
Birmingham
Bids of up to $100 were rejected, no counteroffers ever proposed. It's possible there was no inventory. I gave up on Priceline and booked via another route. Octopus Travel and Late Rooms had the best offers: Octopus offered a more expensive hotel (the Hyatt) but at a better value and I decided to splurge. It was $474 for three nights including breakfast; about $130 more than I would have spent for the most inexpensive option I had without breakfast. The hotel delivered the added value for the money in services, facilities and comfort; I'm happy with that decision.
Washington
I am very glad I was not able to get a bid accepted before I returned from Europe, as the dates that I needed to go changed by a day. Lesson: do not bid until your dates are firm.
Bids placed in May yielded no acceptances at up to $75 for 4* and $60 for 3*
The Marriott in Georgetown showed up on Better Bidding for $60. I bid $65 for 4*, which was rejected, then lowered my star level and price to 3* and $60. Acceptance. I had one free rebid, but we are getting close to the date and I didn't want to wait 72 hours if I screwed up.
Posted by Leigh Witchel at June 17, 2005 8:07 PM
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Comments
The Priceline Bidding strategy I use when I need to maximize rebids is:
A
A+B
restart
A+C
A+C+B
restart
A+D
A+D+B
restart
A+D+C
A+D+C+B
etc....
This method allows me to make 2 bids between restarting each browser.
P.S. eBates.com gives a 3% rebate, so I click thru them.
Posted by: Mitchell Tsai at August 13, 2005 5:00 AM
That's a good idea; I've used something similar as well. The most frustrating part of extended rebidding is closing the browser and starting all over yet again.
I use the ebates portal - I mourn the loss of eBay Anythingpoints. I've got 45K Asiamiles through bids and conversions and I need 15K more for business class to St. Petersburg - I still have my Anythingpoints MBNA card to November and can make up the difference by purchasing Asiamiles or converting Starpoints.
I also donate to Better Bidding because I tend not to use their portal and I want to support them. When I hit $1000 in bids, I send them $25.
Posted by: Leigh Witchel at August 14, 2005 2:50 PM