Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - new priceline page set-up

bidding today for a hotel i noticed a new 'name your own price' set-up where you have to choose your zone and your star level on the same page, effectively ending free rebids. :td:

has anyone else seen this and is there something i'm missing in terms of a way to still get a 'free' rebid by bidding again for a zone in which you know (for example) there's no four star property?

saw nothing about this on biddingfortravel. betterbidding mentions the new setup but it was changing back and forth at the time the poster mentions it...and no one noted that it's a negative. maybe i AM missing something.

Just went to priceline -- looks the same as before. Even if you had to select zone and star level on the same page, rebids come from the changes after the first bid fails(adding a zone or lowering your star level and a new/same/lower price) -- not sure how the change above would impact anything?

Actually, the OP could be onto something here. While the setup described would not necessarily end free rebids, what it could do is kill the ability to check if a given single zone has a certain star level, which is the key to making free rebids.

But, it looks okay. Here's what I did: I went in, put in dates for tomorrow night for Washington, DC. I was presented with the new page, which indeed has zone, star level, price, name for room, and a place to put your password if you haven't already, all on the same page. I chose only Springfield and 4*. Filled everything else out, clicked Next, and immediately it says "There are no 4-Star hotels available in the areas you have chosen." and goes on to list the zones which do have 4* available.

It did allow me to go forward with Springfield and a 4* zone checked, so I don't see why free rebidding will go away. It's just a redesign of the setup. It makes it more annoying to find the zones which don't have certain star levels, but it's still possible. Other than that, the new setup is streamlined, will be fewer screens to go through.

hmmm, I am still seeing the old setup, choose area page then the star level page. Maybe they are testing something?

Yep. I had the new setup a few weeks ago. Then it never came back again. I don't know about how it is now, but when I had it, * levels that weren't available in a zone was greyed out the moment you checked off a zone. Not sure if it matters (maybe - calendar popup doesn't work in Firefox), but this particular case was in IE.

Well, new page or old, the good thing is free rebidding won't go away. The only change here appears to be that checking what is in a zone might get more difficult.

And it makes sense really. For free rebidding to go away, they would have to allow my 4* bid for Springfield to go all the way through. They couldn't reasonably do that knowing it's impossible to get a win at any price with that bid. So they have to allow you to know what zones don't have 4* (or whatever level). They don't have to make that easy to look up without actually bidding, though.

ahh, thanks CrazyOne, you're right--it's still possible to find out where the hotels are (and aren't) to be able to get that all-important 'free' rebid. will just take a few extra steps to get there!

(we're on a seven day road trip--with our cat--and my brain is a bit addled. glad to know at least i'm not seeing things. really odd to be doing all this travel and not accumulating any miles or points to speak of :D )

I'm seeing it all on one page as well, but the star levels are interactive. Different levels are greyed out as I select different zones. It actually makes it easier for me to see what's available in each zone.

Yep. I had the new setup a few weeks ago. Then it never came back again. I don't know about how it is now, but when I had it, * levels that weren't available in a zone was greyed out the moment you checked off a zone. Not sure if it matters (maybe - calendar popup doesn't work in Firefox), but this particular case was in IE.
i'm using safari and the zones are NOT grayed out if they're not available. i tried it in netscape and got the old configuration. :rolleyes:

still getting the old configuration here.

I have seen the new configuration and it gives the free rebid zones without asking. It lists all the zones and star levels. You don't have to go one by one. Priceline wants you to bid and succeed - that's how they make their money. The free re-bid is how they keep within their promise and still let you keep trying. After all, you only rebid after being rejected.

It also seems to vary by the chosen city - I picked two cities at random, San Francisco and Boca Raton - the former brought up the new layout, the latter brought up the "classic" look.

It also seems to vary by the chosen city - I picked two cities at random, San Francisco and Boca Raton - the former brought up the new layout, the latter brought up the "classic" look.
San Francisco showed the old interface for me.

What I really noticed is that merging of regions in the Portland, Maine area. Fewer regions means fewer rebids. Other than that, I also don't see how the rebids have been changed. In a rebid, you can still choose to change either the region or *. You aren't forced to change both.

San Francisco showed the old interface for me.Interesting - San Francisco is now back to the old interface for me, as well... BTW I tried it with all three browsers (IE, Firefox and Mozilla)

I'm seeing it all on one page as well, but the star levels are interactive. Different levels are greyed out as I select different zones. It actually makes it easier for me to see what's available in each zone.

This is what I saw yesterday for San Francisco & San Jose. At first I also thought it was their way of eliminating free rebids, but not so!

This makes things so much easier. You can see your free rebid options in an instant, thanks to the dynamic changes to the star levels. Excellent.

as long as you're not using safari :rolleyes:

as a side note, i just learned yesterday about how to get even MORE free re-bids using 'permutations.' if you haven't tried it or don't know what it is, go to biddingfortravel.com (insert comment here about moderation on that board) and click on 'member announcements.' it's the second post from the bottom and is a terrific way to maximize your free re-bids and minimize what you spend on a hotel. ^

Deleted - please see below.

Nevermind - I am an idiot!

This makes things so much easier. You can see your free rebid options in an instant, thanks to the dynamic changes to the star levels. Excellent.

I agree just used the new setup last night. :cool: