[Priceline Bidding] New site for Priceline hotel bidding help
Apr 12, 2011, 3:35 am
#151
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
Used the revised site for the first time today. I also tried autobidding in IE for the first time. Pretty slick!
I intentionally underbid the recommended bids as it's about a month before my stay, but I didn't win...which may help point to the veracity of your recommendations.
With how easy it is to set and forget while it does its thing, I have no excuse to not make an attempt every day or two. Great work!
I intentionally underbid the recommended bids as it's about a month before my stay, but I didn't win...which may help point to the veracity of your recommendations.
With how easy it is to set and forget while it does its thing, I have no excuse to not make an attempt every day or two. Great work!
Apr 13, 2011, 11:47 pm
#152
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 142
Live in the US? Pick up a copy of USA Today and check out the Money section on page 2. Thanks to Dennis Schaal for writing such a great article (it takes up 1/3rd of the page!)
There's been a pretty major revision to the site over the last week addressing some of the concerns people have had and adding some great new features.
First is that we've added the ability for you to post your own Priceline bids even if you haven't used our bidding tools. "Big deal," you say, because every other PL site out there has forms where you can do that. Well, try our version and see how it's better.
Next is that we've made it even easier to see the Priceline hotels you could get and more importantly, showing the approximate retail price so you can make easy comparisons to the traditional retail shopping channels.
More details on the blog.
There's been a pretty major revision to the site over the last week addressing some of the concerns people have had and adding some great new features.
First is that we've added the ability for you to post your own Priceline bids even if you haven't used our bidding tools. "Big deal," you say, because every other PL site out there has forms where you can do that. Well, try our version and see how it's better.
Next is that we've made it even easier to see the Priceline hotels you could get and more importantly, showing the approximate retail price so you can make easy comparisons to the traditional retail shopping channels.
More details on the blog.
Apr 14, 2011, 12:27 pm
#153
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 36
biddingtraveler:
Congrats on your success and great feedback on FT.
I myself used your site for my recent trip to Paris. It was amazing how easy it was to use and how easy it made it for me to get a hotel.
One suggestion:
Your algorithms, currently goes from one zone to the next and the first time it wins, it selects it. One thing I would like to see is the ability to "rank" your zones depending on which ones you prefer. So if I see that I won Zone A at price X, but my preference was for Zone B, I know that Zone B was tried first. DOes this make sense?
Other than that, I can see how this will get better as you get more collective intelligence from usage.
Congrats on your success and great feedback on FT.
I myself used your site for my recent trip to Paris. It was amazing how easy it was to use and how easy it made it for me to get a hotel.
One suggestion:
Your algorithms, currently goes from one zone to the next and the first time it wins, it selects it. One thing I would like to see is the ability to "rank" your zones depending on which ones you prefer. So if I see that I won Zone A at price X, but my preference was for Zone B, I know that Zone B was tried first. DOes this make sense?
Other than that, I can see how this will get better as you get more collective intelligence from usage.
If you're interested in many zones, and you prefer one over another, the only reason you'd ever submit them both at the same time is if there aren't too many rebid zones. (For example, you want a 2.5 star hotel or something like that). You'd get more bids because of the combinatorics and bid ordering.
But still, if you're submitting this way, it means that price comes first, and zone comes second. Since the usual way Priceline is setup is that different hotels have set their own different rates, there aren't going to be too many cases where you have one hotel in your preferred zone and one in the not-so-preferred zone and they happen to have exactly the same price.
Apr 14, 2011, 12:37 pm
#154
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: AA EXP, AMEX PLAT, IC AMB, SPG GOLD, HHONORS GLD, National Executive, Hertz Gold, AVIS Preferred
Posts: 65
I just used this for the first time today and got my hotel (Boston Marriot Copley Place) for 60% off in the area I wanted at the end of the month. The final accepted bid was $133, between the $103 and $154 recommended autobidding. Thanks!
^
^
Apr 19, 2011, 11:29 pm
#155
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: HEL
Programs: *G, used to be with TK but left due to their corruption and political ties
Posts: 4,406
Bidding strategy suggestions
I'm looking to bid for a hotel room in NYC on a Saturday night in May, in any of the Manhattan areas. Having selected 2,5* and my areas the recommended final offer is $226. Changing the star level to 3* the recommended final offer is $166. Even on 4* the recommended final offer is lower; $220.
I know I can get a 3* hotel when bidding for a 2,5* but don't know if this applies for 4* when bidding for 2,5*. So shouldn't the final offer suggestion come from data taken from star levels that you can be upgraded to as well?
When I input a 2,5* it ought to give me a final offer recommendation of $166, or?
Thanks for great work with the site! However I would have appreciated finding an answer to what it actually does a bit easier.
I know I can get a 3* hotel when bidding for a 2,5* but don't know if this applies for 4* when bidding for 2,5*. So shouldn't the final offer suggestion come from data taken from star levels that you can be upgraded to as well?
When I input a 2,5* it ought to give me a final offer recommendation of $166, or?
Thanks for great work with the site! However I would have appreciated finding an answer to what it actually does a bit easier.
Apr 20, 2011, 10:12 am
#156
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 36
I'm looking to bid for a hotel room in NYC on a Saturday night in May, in any of the Manhattan areas. Having selected 2,5* and my areas the recommended final offer is $226. Changing the star level to 3* the recommended final offer is $166. Even on 4* the recommended final offer is lower; $220.
I know I can get a 3* hotel when bidding for a 2,5* but don't know if this applies for 4* when bidding for 2,5*. So shouldn't the final offer suggestion come from data taken from star levels that you can be upgraded to as well?
When I input a 2,5* it ought to give me a final offer recommendation of $166, or?
Thanks for great work with the site! However I would have appreciated finding an answer to what it actually does a bit easier.
I know I can get a 3* hotel when bidding for a 2,5* but don't know if this applies for 4* when bidding for 2,5*. So shouldn't the final offer suggestion come from data taken from star levels that you can be upgraded to as well?
When I input a 2,5* it ought to give me a final offer recommendation of $166, or?
Thanks for great work with the site! However I would have appreciated finding an answer to what it actually does a bit easier.
Additionally, lewisc has pointed out that in very popular areas where our site sees heavy usage, the rejected bids and accepted bids have more or less converged, which leads to some weird corner cases where bid recommendations are slightly too high.
It'll take some tweaking on the bid recommendation algorithm to match the evolution of the data we've collected so far. However, judging by the posts in this thread, half you Flyertalkers never listen to the bid recommendations anyway, so this will largely be of more benefit to a more novice audience
May 3, 2011, 10:48 pm
#158
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
Just noticed a bug.
On the BiddingTraveler screen where you enter your name and email address (not the second Priceline screen where you enter your information for Priceline), the tab order is off. Rather than First-->MI-->Last, it skips over MI.
Also, if you make a typo in the email address field and press "backspace," the browser (I'm using IE9) doesn't recognize you're in a text field and treats the backspace as "go back," which takes you back to the screen where you choose your zones and star rating.
On the BiddingTraveler screen where you enter your name and email address (not the second Priceline screen where you enter your information for Priceline), the tab order is off. Rather than First-->MI-->Last, it skips over MI.
Also, if you make a typo in the email address field and press "backspace," the browser (I'm using IE9) doesn't recognize you're in a text field and treats the backspace as "go back," which takes you back to the screen where you choose your zones and star rating.
May 4, 2011, 12:23 pm
#159
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 36
Just noticed a bug.
On the BiddingTraveler screen where you enter your name and email address (not the second Priceline screen where you enter your information for Priceline), the tab order is off. Rather than First-->MI-->Last, it skips over MI.
Also, if you make a typo in the email address field and press "backspace," the browser (I'm using IE9) doesn't recognize you're in a text field and treats the backspace as "go back," which takes you back to the screen where you choose your zones and star rating.
On the BiddingTraveler screen where you enter your name and email address (not the second Priceline screen where you enter your information for Priceline), the tab order is off. Rather than First-->MI-->Last, it skips over MI.
Also, if you make a typo in the email address field and press "backspace," the browser (I'm using IE9) doesn't recognize you're in a text field and treats the backspace as "go back," which takes you back to the screen where you choose your zones and star rating.
May 6, 2011, 6:39 am
#160
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
May 10, 2011, 11:36 am
#161
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kirkland, WA
Posts: 6,932
There's a small but significant error in the text of the web site. Instead of "You should select the highest star rating you want" it should say "Select the lowest star rating you are willing to accept."
QL
QL
May 12, 2011, 5:11 pm
#162
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
Hmm, tab order is back to skipping the middle initial, although backspace is still working fine (it doesn't cause the page to go back).
Also, the more I use BT, the more I find myself wishing there were some way to factor in counteroffers.
I didn't realize until I started checking through my failed bids on PL just how many counteroffers I received. When I finally won my bid yesterday, the bidding increments were $7 apart, and I won on my third out of six possible bids. Had I known about the counteroffer--or had BT automatically factored it in--I could have shrunk the bid increments knowing I had several tries left, and who knows--I might have gotten it for $6 per night less!
(And yes, I know I can bid manually, but letting BT do its thing is so convenient! I just wish it would automatically try to save me even more money...)
Also, the more I use BT, the more I find myself wishing there were some way to factor in counteroffers.
I didn't realize until I started checking through my failed bids on PL just how many counteroffers I received. When I finally won my bid yesterday, the bidding increments were $7 apart, and I won on my third out of six possible bids. Had I known about the counteroffer--or had BT automatically factored it in--I could have shrunk the bid increments knowing I had several tries left, and who knows--I might have gotten it for $6 per night less!
(And yes, I know I can bid manually, but letting BT do its thing is so convenient! I just wish it would automatically try to save me even more money...)
May 13, 2011, 12:49 pm
#163
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 36
Been away for a bit working on the next version, which we're really excited about, so sorry about being away.
About the comment about selecting the highest star rating you want, I guess this is a matter of semantics. Generally the best strategy is to start with the highest star rating because if you don't get accepted you can always go ahead with a lower star rating, but you can't go the other way around. That's why we put the word "highest" there, because you want to encourage people to try the highest star levels first. Though you are technically correct that the star level selection indicates the lowest acceptable star level. However, I think people generally know that already as a result of years of conditioning from hotel shopping sites.
So about the tab order, sorry, that was fixed, un-fixed, and re-fixed yesterday. Minor technical error as we were doing some updates.
The whole counteroffer thing is something we'd like to tackle, but just later. There's only so much you can do at a time, and trust me, when you see the next version, you'll be happy we built that instead of counteroffer support.
About the comment about selecting the highest star rating you want, I guess this is a matter of semantics. Generally the best strategy is to start with the highest star rating because if you don't get accepted you can always go ahead with a lower star rating, but you can't go the other way around. That's why we put the word "highest" there, because you want to encourage people to try the highest star levels first. Though you are technically correct that the star level selection indicates the lowest acceptable star level. However, I think people generally know that already as a result of years of conditioning from hotel shopping sites.
So about the tab order, sorry, that was fixed, un-fixed, and re-fixed yesterday. Minor technical error as we were doing some updates.
The whole counteroffer thing is something we'd like to tackle, but just later. There's only so much you can do at a time, and trust me, when you see the next version, you'll be happy we built that instead of counteroffer support.
May 18, 2011, 6:56 pm
#165
Join Date: Dec 2007
Programs: ac, as
Posts: 166
I like your site. I spend a lot of time on Tripadvisor and passed along the site. I hate to even mention Sheryls site so any option would be great. I did use this for Calgary airport tomorrow. Its too bad you can't capture the 'winning' bids automatically as your still dependent on us reporting the win to help others.
Still trying to figure out how it helps make you $$ but it looks good so far and have passed it along on a few websites.
Still trying to figure out how it helps make you $$ but it looks good so far and have passed it along on a few websites.