fanger

I use the general strategy outlined on sites like Bidding for Travel and Better Bidding; i.e. zone by zone incremental bid increases over time. I only look for 4+ star properties and have generally been satisfied with the results.

You see, on some of these sites, people saying that you should never bid more than the Hotwire price for the similar properties, which of course makes a lot of sense. One of course needs to account for the uncertainties in comparing the hotel pool, using the hotel lists for the two different sites, but how much price differential, if any should one shoot for? If it's small enough, why bother with Priceline at all?

I am looking at Barcelona and Madrid and have been working my way up- right now I am at about $75-78 for 4 stars going for about $99-108 on Hotwire and $115 for 5 stars going for $149-151.

Any sense from the board what the successful differential will be? Is there a sweet spot in terms of timing? I'm about 25 days out right now.

Sheryl

Have you read the BiddingForTravel Hotel FAQ? Why haven't you posted this on BiddingForTravel? As to why use Priceline at all if you're satisfied with Hotwire's price, because some people don't like spending $1 more than they have to. Of course that's not everyone but it is for some people.

WillTravel

For Madrid, Priceline and Hotwire are not always the best options.

For example, take a look at this current NH Hotels sale:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotel...y-islands.html

If you sign up at the Sol Melia website, they often have amazing sales.

Failing that, take a look at kayak.com and hotelscombined.com .

Thus far, I've yet to find that Priceline or Hotwire offers the best deal in Madrid, particularly if you care about the location of your hotel. (I'm sure there are times when Priceline works out well for Madrid, just not when I've visited.)

Sheryl

When are Hotwire and Priceline always the best deal for any large city? There are almost always sales that can't be beat by any website. What's different with Madrid?

dbuckho

When looking at International cities you should also compare prices on Wotif as well.

I often use Priceline domestically - it usually is the basement price for a night in a given city. Especially for a single night. And usually you can get the same property for a few bucks less on priceline than hotwire (from the few times I went through the trouble to compare, was certain I deciphered the property on HW from the icons, and then got the same property via PL bid). Plus getting the absolute lowest price is part of the game. But Internationally have found things very different and like WillTravel said often you can find just as good a deal other places.

swag

One other thing to consider, for those who want to save every last dollar: the fees are not identical. On a 1-night test booking I just ran, Hotwire offered a $71 room, with taxes and fees, the total was $87.68. Same date/city/zone/star level on Priceline, a $71 bid totaled out to $89.60.

Sheryl

swag, Hotwire's taxes and fees are less because part of their base rate does not go to the hotel. It's Hotwire's profit. That is a good illustration of Hotwire charging more than Priceline would for the same hotel since Priceline will accept a bid at their cost so you're not comparing apples to apples. Hotwire may appear to be less but they really aren't.

cordelli

Sorry, if Hotwire is $86.78 and Priceline is $89.60, Hotwire is less money.

Maybe priceline would have taken a lower bid and maybe they would not, but this is an example of Hotwire costing less money.

Sheryl

It's no different than if you live near a state's border and the neighboring state charges a lower tax rate but the product is higher to begin with so it makes no difference if the tax rate is lower.

Your response is flawed, cordelli. Maybe that snow is freezing your brain.

lo2e

Sheryl, am I remembering correctly that hotels can load multiple different rates into either the PL reservation system or the HW reservation system? I also seem to vaguely remember that it's somewhat of a "bucket" system, that if PL sells all of a specific hotel's rooms at the lowest bucket then it would then sell them at a higher one?

Sheryl

That is correct.

cordelli

My mistake, I believed $87 was less than $89.

Not sure why you felt the need to add the snow insult, but if you can't back it up with facts, may as well insult the poster. Typical, can't argue on the facts, so insult the poster.

If you believe that $89 and change is less than $87 and change, so be it, me I'm going with Hotwire and saving a few bucks. You somehow believe that proves that Priceline is a better deal than Hotwire. Not sure what it has to do with where people live and what taxes they pay, $87 will always be less money than $89. Period.

Really, find a seven year old and ask what is the better deal.

Dr_wanderlust

In general I don't see a problem with using HW as the high-end for a bid on PL. Of course you have to keep in mind that because HW and PL do not tap the same inventory in some cities you might be disappointed. Also, the rating systems differ so that 5* on HW might be rated lower on PL.

I think a better strategy is to see what results have been posted on betterbidding.com since you can directly compare HW to PL on that site as it offers support for both.

lo2e

Okay, then perhaps you could see where I'm going with this... if PL sells all of its available rooms at a particular hotel at the lowest bucket, but HW has not yet sold all of its lowest bucket rooms for that hotel, wouldn't HW end up being the cheaper option for that hotel? Or do PL and HW pull from the same bucket/inventory of rooms?

Sheryl

I strongly suspect they pull from the same bucket but I do not have proof.