Priceline Advanced Bidding Strategy
When using Priceline for hotel reservations, there is a always a chance that you may bid more than necessary to win a hotel
. These 5 steps will help determine how much to bid when making sure do not pay any more than you need to for a Priceline reservation.1. Research First: Since you're using Priceline to save money, the first thing you need to know is how much similar hotels are priced in similar areas on similar dates. This can be accomplished by checking competitor sites such as Hotwire, the hotels themselves, and other travel sites. You can also check out this Priceline Forum to determine what others have paid for similar hotels on Priceline.
2. Determine How Many Bids You Can Make: Use this Instant Rebidding Technique from HotelDealsRevealed.com to determine the number of bids you can make on Priceline without having to wait 24 hour period. This step is absolutely critical. If you do not know how to instantly rebid on Priceline, you should learn it before going any further.
3. Calculate Starting Bid Amount: I use this formula:
Starting Bid = Market Rate - ($5 x Max Number of Rebids)
Now you can finally go ahead and place your first bid for a hotel on Priceline.
4. Increase Your Bid Amount and Rebid: This assumes your first bid was rejected. If not, you probably didn't bid low enough. Go ahead and increment your bid by $5 or whatever you used in the formula to determine your first bid.
5. Repeat Step 4 Until You Have No More Bids: One of two thing will eventually happen. First, your bid will eventually be accepted. Second, you will run out of bids without any success. That is okay. Remember that in the first step, you already found out what you would pay for a room elsewhere. If none of your Priceline bids were accepted at a lower rate, just book your room elsewhere.
Here is a made-up example. Suppose you want to book a 5 star hotel in Las Vegas on a particular travel date.
1. Research First: Since this is just a hypothetical example, I am going to say that the market rate is $100 per night for a 5-star hotel. If I were actually reserving a room, I would check out several sites including Hotwire and the Hotwire & Priceline Forum mentioned above to determine the best deal I could get for a 5 star hotel elsewhere.
2. Determine How Many Bids You Can Make: Using the Instant Rebidding Technique (mentioned above), I learn that I can make 9 bids in Las Vegas without having to wait the required 24 hour period.
3. Calculate First Bid Amount: The Forumla is:
First Bid = Market Rate - ($5 x Max Number of Rebids)
In my example:
First Bid = $100 - ($5 x 9)
First Bid = $55
I am now ready to place bid on Priceline hotel using $55 as my starting bid. This might seem low. It is, and hopefully I will get the hotel for this amount, but remember, I have 8 more bids if this one is not successful.
4. Increase Bid Amount and Rebid: If the first bid at $55 was rejected, it is now time to rebid and offer $60.
5. Repeat Step 4 Until You Have No More Rebids: I will use $65 for my 3rd bid, $70 for my 4th bid, ... , and $95 on my very last bid. Hopefully one of my bids will be successful. If I get to $95 and none of my bids were accepted, I abandon Priceline and reserve my hotel room elsewhere.
This is a technique might seem a bit onerous. I agree. But for those who travel often or are booking multiple rooms for multiple nights, the savings can add up. I've been using this approach and it works like a charm.
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