In Memoriam: Sheryl

Sheryl Mexic — who founded BiddingForTravel.com and was known as Sheryl on FlyerTalk — passed away last year, according to this anouncement:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bidd...d8d769#p349862

I found an obituary: https://obits.nola.com/us/obituaries...ary?id=7686998

Gosh, I remember her. She ran a tight ship. Memory eternal.

How very sad, biddingfortravel was a great website when hotwire and priceline were on fire. RIP Sheryl.

She was tough, but she was ok in my book.

R.I.P.

I used bidding for travel all the time years ago. Farewell, Sheryl.

May she RIP.

That board was a major help in getting Hyatt Diamond status on the cheap. It was also helpful to get a lot of very cheap Park Hyatt stays during the early faster free night promos.

However, that forum went from being a goldmine of information — for saving money on travel — to becoming somewhat less valuable than it could have been. The decline in its value for me was a result of the heavy-handed moderation approach and her taking issue with being contradicted or upstaged by other contributors to the site. It was not a welcoming environment in which to post, and the proto-“wiki”-it mentality was part of what made that environment toxic in ways. I would have loved to share all the deals I was landing on PCLN and Hotwire there, but it didn’t feel like something that would be appreciated by her since I rarely clicked on links via the site.

She was a leader in blocking board user suggestions about how other board users could be better off by not using her site’s links. Not that her disappearing of such accurate info did her site any long term good, but others in the travel deal space seem to have upped that game.

Yeah - I remember using the site just a single time. I posted some information regarding a good deal I got. The post was deleted and I got a very snotty PM from her saying that deals that dealt in � rather than $ were not welcome

She was also an FTer and did engage some FTers over criticism of BFT. Learned from those exchanges with others that: BFT wasn’t going to change paths; and her love for BFT was strong but of the sort that stifles a child from reaching its full potential. [Her obituary speaks to her having no child of her own.]

May all her sushi rolls be cut into 8 pieces at no additional charge.

The competition at the time (years ago, I no longer use either) had its own annoying behaviors. I just kept a very low profile on both, absorbed their info, and posted little. Bidding For Travel (as well as its competitor) was a valuable site. You just had to accept it as it was.

Rip Sheryl

Wow, reading all of this is bring back some rather interesting memories from 15+ years ago...

Yes, that was really the best way to operate on Bidding for Travel; you definitely did not want to cross her.

I worked for an airline for a while, and I sometimes wouldn't know for sure if I'd be traveling (or where) until close to the flight time (back in the days when all flights weren't 100% full). So a few days before the flight, I'd see how standby looked, then book a hotel through Priceline or Hotwire, based on what I saw on Bidding for Travel (or if I dared to post there). We stayed at some great places that otherwise would have been out of reach.


Thanks for sharing!

Heck, I remember her from rec.travel.air - we're going back closer to 30 years on that one. My, time certainly has gone by.

As one who was singed a few times on BFT, I'm going to bite my tongue. That said BFT was an incredibly valuable resources that literally saves me thousands of $$ when I had much less discretionary income. So I am eternally indebted to Sheryl for creating an amazing resource that levelled the playing field with hotels and rental car companies and of course priceline. Thanks to BFT I stayed at the Waldorf Astoria NYC for $95 and racked up more than a few Hyatt FFNs which I used for resort vacations. Not to mention $20/day car rentals.