philosophy_king

Thanks biddingtraveler, this site is very helpful! Just wondering if you would also offer airfare bidding help later on too?^

deadpass

I'm inclined to agree, I can't remember the last time I was on a site that required IE.

baliktad

Would you say the same about an app that's developed solely for the iPhone? Developers target users, not idealogies. The majority of the internet still uses some form of IE, so it's a logical starting point. I wouldn't vilify the guy for having some business sense.

SocialAdept

I would love the service but I can't get it to work on my IE 7. I can punch in all the info pertaining to my stay, but the search button won't light up.

biddingtraveler

SocialAdept: If the search button didn't light up, it's probably because we didn't recognize the city. Where were you trying to go? We're working on some better error messaging, but basically, you need to pick from the autocomplete.

Lewisc: Thanks for bringing that error to our attention. You're totally right. We were a little conservative to make sure there are no duplicate bids, but this is exactly the type of "expert user" case we were looking for. Should be able to get to this one soon

IE complaints and bidding complaints: I hear you. All I can say is stay tuned. The idea was to get some basic functionality for everyone and the slightly more advanced functionality done for IE, and if there was enough interest, get going on the other browsers. Well, there's definitely been enough interest!

TeaEarleGreyHot

Why on GGE would anyone code a site that requires IE, unless they're using some development tool from MS? That's like arranging an international social event, but demanding that everyone speak French before admission: unthinkable except at a snobby Paris restaurants.

The interweb is supposed to be platform independent. HTML should be browser independent. To lock in one particular flavor of browser is arrogance at best. A very weak link.

Good bye.

SocialAdept

You're right in that the city wasn't recognised by the autocomplete. The city however was Rome, there's no reason it shouldn't be recognised, no?

mctrees02

I apologize if somebody has noted this already...but a Sunday-Tuesday hotel booking shouldn't be classified as a "weekend stay." Sunday-Thursday is weekday and Friday-Saturday is weekend in the hotel world.

lewisc

I use Firefox. I have to use IE for this tool and for one other site. We can't have it both ways. We can't insist nothing be stored on his server but get annoyed when the Active X addins that he chose to make it work from our computer only works with IE. I think a version that works on an smartphone and/or IPhone would be more useful then a firefox version.

I think your suggested low bid is much too low. Not an issue in a city with a lot of free rebids but it might be an issue in a zone with very few free rebid zones. You might either tell us how many rebids we'll be getting or suggest a higher starting bid if there aren't very many zones.

TeaEarleGreyHot

Clearly you know more about coding a website than I do. It's nice that you have an option of using either Firefox or IE. But IE is simply not available to me, nor to a huge segment of the population. I am not unfamiliar with sites that have odd requirements, which is why I keep FIVE browsers at hand: Firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey, Opera, and Safari. I think as users, we are being as flexible as we can. I'm sorry that it is so difficult for a webmaster to create a site that adheres to standards and doesn't require plugins that are unavailable to me. But I do appreciate that one individual can only do so much, and only so fast, and certainly is under no obligation to cater to a (substantial) minority of users. Nor even a majority of users, for that matter. He can exclude whomever he wishes! I do look forward to the day when his site is fully operational and I can give it a try. Best of luck!

brokestudent

Just wanted to add that I found this thread today and am totally loving the site! Thanks for sharing and working to create it. I have been bidding using the free rebids/zones, etc for years, so happy there is an automated way out there now

brokestudent

I am assuming that the more traffic the site has the more helpful results will be posted. For example, I was checking out New Orleans...lots of data there because I guess there have been lots of requests so far.

Then I checked out Providenciales, Turks and Caicos and Enid, OK...random, but where I am traveling...and no results yet. I have NEVER been able to find what properties are for bid in T&C on any of the forums so I would love some results to show up.

Mostly just posting my thoughts...thanks!

leonard016

Second that. IE is not available on Mac.

ihispanic

Wow, this site looks great! Not to sound too hyperbole-ic, but this is a game-changer. I just posted a blog entry about how to figure out how much to bid for hotels using Priceline. I covered the standard avenues like Priceline's winning bid lookup tool, BetterBidding, BiddingForTravel, BidLessTravel, etc. But, all of them require manual research. You've obviated that. Impressive. I'm gonna' have to redo my post. :P

I still don't understand how you are sourcing your accepted and rejected bids. If you are new, you couldn't have collected that from actual submissions. Are you just scraping from BetterBidding?

One major long-term concern I have, though, is how will Priceline feel about your site? If you gain some traction and real usage, is Priceline going to come down on you? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Priceline benefits from irrational, uneducated, emotional, error-prone, non-systematic bidding. Hence their inflated counteroffers, median retail price quotes, warnings about bids being too low, etc. And you are navigating users past that. On a site that looks a whole lot like Priceline's. :P Just curious to hear your thoughts.

Regarding the IE complaints, don't stress over them. What you've got is a minimal viable product, which allows you to solicit potential customers for feedback and input (and orders). By focusing on IE, you get the maximum amount of learning from the minimum amount of development. Smart move. With that being said, I probably won't use the site until you add in support for Firefox (even though I can run IE through VMware).

Keep up the great work!

Mike....

krobbins

Just tried this and it was great, although I did not get a room. I bid below the suggested high bid just to test it out. Question though... as Beckles mentioned, often a counteroffer is presented. If at some point a counteroffer is generated by Priceline between the lowball and highest prices you enter, will the autobidding stop to give you the option of manually bidding a counteroffer strategy?

Anyway, I hope this you are successful in ironing out these little issues. It was great to set my parameters, walk away, brush my teeth and return to a series of rebids that would have kept me chained to my computer for at least 10 minutes as I went through the various permutations of the bid. Thanks!!