Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - BetterBidding almost to 500,000 posts!

BetterBidding (www.betterbidding.com) will clear a half million posts today or tomorrow. If you've searched there in the past and not found any reporting for your particular interest, you might try again.

Member count is over 93,000 right now, and well on track to reach 100,000 in a few months. The number of people on line has increased the last few years from the 100s, to the 200s, and now usually is over 300.

I know, I know ... not nearly the size of FlyerTalk. But the subject matter is more concentrated - limited to getting good deals on hotels, cars, and sometimes even flights. No Omni. No lots of other things.

Think of it more as a library, with really nice, helpful and knowledgeable librarians. Not so much a social club as FT is.

Or think of it as one of the truly helpful Help Desks you've encountered.

Drop in for a browse, but I hope you'll stay to ask questions plus author and publish your own material (successful bids, hotel reviews, etc.).

Romelle

Congrats!

I really wish there was an indicator on when hotel lists were last updated.

I really wish there was an indicator on when hotel lists were last updated.

The BetterBidding hotel lists are updated almost immediately when someone posts an accepted bid for a new hotel - that day for sure.

When someone lets the board know of a hotel name change or star level change or such, the hotel lists are also updated right then. Former names still show, but have a line through them. Star level changes are noted.

If you do a search on a particular hotel name, you can see all the posts for that hotel and the posts have the dates on them.

Or you can do a search on a particular Priceline or Hotwire area and see all the posts for that area, with dates.

I hope I've answered your question satisfactorily. Please let me know if I missed something.

Romelle

Think of it more as a library, with really nice, helpful and knowledgeable librarians. ... Or think of it as one of the truly helpful Help Desks you've encountered.

Really? I see more griping at people because they didn't do things exactly correctly than I see nice and helpful. At least 50% of the posts I click on have someone griping at the OP because they either
1) asked a question incorrectly
2) failed to respond in what the moderator considered a 'timely' fashion
3) failed to click through sponsored links
4) did something else wrong

For example, recently someone asked a question using the right form with the right data, but the mod refused the answer the question because the poster had failed to post her bid info for a previous question on a different destination. Turned out the OP had decided not to bid, so there was no bid info to post. :rolleyes:

I do see it as a library, but very much a self-service library. I try to click through the links but I wouldn't dare post - I'm scared of those librarians. :D

Are you sure you are not thinking of BFT site?
Unless smth changed recently, betterbidding was managed in a fairly friendly manner in my recollection.

Really? I see more griping at people because they didn't do things exactly correctly than I see nice and helpful. At least 50% of the posts I click on have someone griping at the OP because they either
1) asked a question incorrectly
2) failed to respond in what the moderator considered a 'timely' fashion
3) failed to click through sponsored links
4) did something else wrong

For example, recently someone asked a question using the right form with the right data, but the mod refused the answer the question because the poster had failed to post her bid info for a previous question on a different destination. Turned out the OP had decided not to bid, so there was no bid info to post. :rolleyes:

I do see it as a library, but very much a self-service library. I try to click through the links but I wouldn't dare post - I'm scared of those librarians. :D

For example, recently someone asked a question using the right form with the right data, but the mod refused the answer the question because the poster had failed to post her bid info for a previous question on a different destination. Turned out the OP had decided not to bid, so there was no bid info to post.

As to the griping at people for not doing things exactly correctly, IMO they bend over backwards to be patient.

I do see it as a library, but very much a self-service library. I try to click through the links but I wouldn't dare post - I'm scared of those librarians.

Janet,

You are right about the betterbidding mod refusing to answer until the poster closed out a previous post. That seems to be a standing policy. It prevents a lot of "hit and run" threads where the stories have no endings.

Even that is treated firmly, but never meanly. Sort of like returning books? You can't check out any more until you've given the last batch back.

There really is nothing to be afraid of with these particular librarians. And the more posters there are, the richer and deeper the information.

Romelle

I have to agree with Romelle on this one. Nothing bugs me more than for someone to ask for help, receive it, and then leave everyone hanging with regard to the end result. Even if the OP ends up not bidding/purchasing/traveling, it should be considered polite ettiquette to close out the thread so that everyone else can "move on" and not be left to wonder what the final outcome was.

Sorry, getting a tad off topic here but one thing I don't understand is why the combined states forums on BB. Yeah, the volumes for some of these states may be low but when I'm looking for info on Oregon, I don't want to see results for Oklahoma. :confused:

Wow, nice improvement! I haven't been on BetterBidding in months, the site is looking good. I find the calendar of wins useful for planning my Priceline bids and I always post my winning bids.