rogodwin

I am a very happy user of BiddingForTravel.com. I have very sucessfully used their information many times to get great Priceline hotel prices. ^

Two near term examples for me:

7/12/04 LHR Sheraton Skyline for $66 > $84.24 (total)

7/25/04 - 8/1/04 Vancouver Hyatt Regency $70 > $79.78 (total per day)

I have not found any other site that provides anywhere near as much usefully information FOR ME.

So I say to them, keep up the good work. ^ ^

sjunkerg

I don't think anyone is contesting that BFT contains useful information. Pretty much all critisism so far has been around how their moderator/board owner behaves.

Personally, I look at BFT for info but I make sure that I only post my own bids on http://www.betterbidding.com/. It is bomb-proof way to not get banned from BFT

JohnnyP

I find BetterBidding.com a lot less organized -- it's hard to find the info you want. At least BFT is organized more generally by city. BB is only by state, so if you're looking for a hotel in, say, the Irvine-Orange County zone it will take longer to get the info you need.

Non-NonRev

I give profuse thanks to those who post on both http://betterbidding.com and on BFT for their generosity in sharing their bid histories and other knowledge. It is THEY who provide 100 percent of the value found at both sites, to those of us who do NOT require bidding assistance.

Taken together, the two sites offer an incredible money-saving resource that no one should hesitate to read on a regular basis.

For those who need bidding assistance, Better Bidding offers informed assistance with a gentle hand that is in keeping with the original spirit of the Internet itself - users from all over the world helping each other out by sharing information, with no ulterior motive in mind.

The experience at BFT for those not able to use the bid histories without assistance, is, sadly, something quite different.

ToddDeck

Regardless of the moderators behavior, BFT has been so unbelievably useful to me that I am wary to level any criticism

Fredd

Who else has noticed the July 2004 issue of Consumer Reports?

In their "Cover Report" feature article - "Hotels: Get the Best for Less" - BFT is not only mentioned but conspicuously recommended as a component of one of their strategies, i.e. "Consider Priceline.com or Hotwire.com."

The CR recommendation virtually guarantees a lot more hits on BFT.

flipside

I love it too. It's a first stop for any hotel or rental car reservation i need to make.

dhuey

If you want to keep posting on BFT, that's not the only reason to be wary of leveling any criticism.

hershey

FWIW, personally, I might check BFT for information but I would hesitate to make a post there for various reasons that have already been mentioned. It seems that www.betterbidding.com is a better choice for me.

mrspilot

Ditto for me on both counts. After 2 years on the BFT site, I don't consider myself a newbie and I've not been banned. That's not to say the Moderators haven't made a number of suggestions to my posted bid experiences but I welcome their criticism because they've helped me, along with other members, to become a savvy bidder and travel planner through research to create a go/no-go bid strategy. I feel confident I'm paying rock bottom prices for the best quality hotels. I've made my share of mistakes but I'm the wiser for them and, hopefully, others are too from reading my experience and commentary by moderators and members alike. That's why I consider it a community.

I've read some bad press in this forum about BFT's moderation and would like to say that's one of the things I appreciate the most about BFT. Because topics are strictly kept on-topic, I don't have to weed through superfluous posts to get to the meat of rates, zones and other data pertinent to my trip planning.

I'll date myself by saying that (many) years ago my mother ran a Commodore Computer BBS before PC's/Internet came into its heyday. She did it solely for the love of her members, i.e. a community of users who simply enjoyed connecting. Although simple by comparison, it was expensive; technology didn't come cheap and she donated countless hours every day for the good of the community yet she endured criticism by a few who enjoyed the community at her personal and financial cost.

I don't think it's unreasonable for BFT or any community offering a valuable service to turn a profit. I'll go one step further to say I still support BFT by posting bid experiences, writing hotel reviews, using partner links and even occasionally donating a few dollars toward annual hosting fees. I consider BFT a community of users, including those who make a living by keeping it a premier travel bidding/planning resource and those who silently use it's service. Whether BFT admins make $15K or $100K a year is not important to me; they've saved me hundreds of dollars per trip so I'm glad to give a tiny fraction of that back to both the moderators and other members of the community.

wideman

mrspilot: Do you know what a straw-man argument is? It's when you invent an easily-refutable statement or premise (the "straw man"), attribute that statement or premise to someone else, and then knock down the straw man by refuting the never-made statement/premise.

That's what you just did.

I don't know of anyone on this board who says that the people who run BFT ought not make money out of it. If they can make a gazillion dollars out of it, good for them.

The fundamental complaint with regard to money is that BFT is and has always been disingenuous. The moderator claimed to "volunteer" her time, until she was caught in the fabrication that she's paid for her time. BFT claims that its primary goal is to promote informed bidding, but countless posters have related how business interests of BFT will trump information to bidders when there's a conflict. BFT offers links to non-Priceline hotels with the disingenuous claim that they're "good possibilities," when it's obvious that the only reason for listing is to have a commisionable link. I know of no one who objects to the moderator being paid, to a business looking after its own financial interests, or to commissionable links. It's the duplicity, the slimy haze that BFT is a cooperative community and not a business to which I (and others) object; no one has a problem with BFT making a buck.

If you wish to support and patronize the board, that's fine. But please don't attribute to me or others on this board statements that haven't been made.

mrspilot

Wideman, An analysis of my position statement was unexpected but thank you for educating me about the tenets of a strawman argument. Trying to better understand your viewpoint, I re-read your recent posts in the earlier thread More Sleaze About BFT, reference page 2. What kind of an argument would you characterize a comparison to the number of words in BFT FAQ's to the number of words in a variety of political constitutions? I'd call it a weak argument or a petty argument. Or, maybe it wasn't meant to be argumentative at all.

All this talk about business models and the disingenuity of it all is lost on me. My bottom line is dollars saved over the past 2 years and still adding on. And, I'm so grateful for the BFT resource, I support it regardless of their business model or profit margins. I'm sure that's an ignorant argument or a naive argument but it works for me and that's the only person I'm speaking for, not others on the board.

Onward Thru The Strawman Fog,

mrspilot

kilarney

The simple fact is that if you have followed BFT's advice, you have not saved as much money as you could have. (ie: $15 Ebay rebate)

BFT is great at saving people money... but as stated previously, when there is a conflict between you saving money and BFT generating revenue, BFT will keep you "uniformed."

mrspilot

Kilarney, Please be gentle when I tell you I didn't even have an e-bay account until a couple of months ago. When I say I'm naive, I'm not kidding! It's my pleasure to read so many web-wise member posts here on FlyerTalk. As you can see, I have only 12 posts (including this one) since joining last year. That should speak volumes about my opinions being humble and not necessarily the most qualified. Call me uninformed but I like BFT and will continue to support their website.

Onward Thru The Web-Wise Fog,

mrspilot

dhuey

Thanks to wideman and others, you're no longer uninformed about BFT, mrspilot. We all agree that you can save a ton of money using the info. posted by BFT users. Most of us just can't stand the way BFT is moderated and marketed.

If you're happy with BFT, by all means support it.