As I've posted in the past, I host a forum to discuss bidding for airfares and hotels through Priceline and Expedia's Flight Price Matcher and Hotel Price Matcher. Until late January, the forum's venue was Yahoo! Clubs.

At that time, I made the decision to expand the usefulness of the forum by offering an interface similar to what is offered here on FlyerTalk. In fact, a member of FlyerTalk recommended that I take a look at Ezboard in late December after it was becoming evident that the volume of postings was extending beyond what Yahoo! Clubs could provide and still be able to follow a particular discussion.

In the past month since the formal move was made, postings have significantly increased, while at the same time losing Yahoo! Clubs traffic.

I get absolutely no personal benefit in the form of compensation, advertising revenue or anything at all by hosting this forum, and I say so under Announcements.

While Priceline has received very mixed reviews, because the purpose of the forum I host is to make participants informed bidders, we are not a complaint forum. Likewise, postings limited to "Priceline's Great" or similar are not encouraged. The point I'd like to make is that I'm not encouraging or discouraging anyone to try Priceline, but rather once *you've* made that decision, if you'd like assistance with an opening bid amount or would like to share the details of your winning bid, I hope you will visit us at:
http://pub4.ezboard.com/bpricelinean...iabidding.html

Sheryl - A big '2 thumbs up' for your new Bulletin Board on Priceline/Expedia!

I have been following the board when it was on Yahoo Clubs, but this new format is a thousand times better. Really, first class - way to go!

Hey - has anybody from Priceline or Expedia ever contacted you regarding this? What is their take on your forum?

Sheryl- Where have you been? It's nice to see you back!

Is Pricelice or Expedia, possibly in "cahoots" or strictly in competition with imandi? Any thoughts either way on this company and their abilities to deliver travel dicounts? They would seem to be quite good, despite the less than "cathcy" name! Just curious if you know anything.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/002300.html

Thanks.

Thanks, Steve. I saw your Boston winning bid a little while ago. Congratulations. And don't ever hesitate to ask for bidding help in the future. In cities like Boston, there are lots of free re-bidding opportunities when bidding for a 4*. But rest assured, you did great on this one. The only time I've previously seen a winning bid in your range in downtown Boston has been during the dead of winter. And I've got LOTS of downtown Boston successes (going back to the old forum).

OK, I'll answer your question, but I want you (and everyone else) to know that this is the *first* time I've ever posted this anywhere.

As to Priceline, no, I've never been contacted by them but I've felt that at least since last October they probably have known about the forum since it was featured in USA Today (and the Houston Chronicle since that time). They probably subscribe to clipping services.

But Expedia definitely knows about it. I've been contacted by Expedia's PR firm asking if I would be their point person when they receive requests from the media and analysts for user experiences. I told the lady that I would be happy to, but I made it abundantly clear that I would not necessarily favor Expedia in my comments. I place very high standards on my credibility, and the forum could not be what it is if I was biased in favor of either Priceline or Expedia. If you read through some of my postings in the Announcements section, you may have seen where I do give my opinions on which of Priceline or Expedia is superior in specific situations, but that's clearly from a user perspective. Anyway, I received a followup e-mail from the PR firm telling me how much they appreciated the time I spent with them on the phone, and they would be sending me any requests for user experiences from the media and analysts. Well, it's been more than a month and I've heard nothing from them. I suspect on further reflection they decided I might not be such a good person for them because of my stated non-bias.

But I first learned that Expedia was aware of the Yahoo! Clubs forum about 6 weeks ago when I was contacted by a freelance journalist writing for a major computer magazine. I asked her how she learned about the Club and she said her media contact at Expedia (not the PR firm) told her about it. As you can imagine, I was pretty amazed to learn that. Anyway, parts of that interview are scheduled to be published in the May issue (on sale mid-April) of that magazine. I'll post it on the new forum when it hits the newstands and/or their website.

Again Steve, thanks for the compliments and thanks for posting your winning bid on the forum.

Thanks, doc. Yes, I've been away for the past 2-3 weeks and it's only because virtually all of my online time has been devoted to the Priceline/Expedia bidding forum. Nothing at all against FT, but there are only so many hours in a day.

And it was through an FTer that I learned about imandi.com. Since he'll probably read this post, I want him to know there are no hard feelings. In fact, he deserves a lot of the credit of the success of the new forum. I learned of Ezboard through him. I learned about imandi.com when he sent me a referral e-mail through imandi.com last night. As you can imagine, I get *tons* of spam (that's why I don't post my e-mail address on FT). When I received that e-mail last night I was really aggravated that someone had given my address to a company I knew nothing about. I know he honestly meant no harm by it, but as you can imagine, I immediately thought, lovely, now that some company I know nothing about has my e-mail address, the spam will start multiplying.

Anyway, I did take a look at imandi.com this afternoon, and granted, I didn't check it out extensively, but I wasn't impressed by what I initially saw. I queried it to find a Houston hotel and what was returned to me were several travel agencies in the zip code where I live and some ticket brokers (like scalpers who sell sporting event/concert tickets). So I haven't checked it out extensively enough to even see how it would compete with Priceline, but I will when I have time.

As you can see, I'm pretty new here, and maybe this has been discussed already.

Has anyone tried youpriceit.com? Same deal as Priceline, but you also get to specify what time of day you want to fly. This can be especially important for short trips, when you want to maximize your time at the destination.

Also, if your bid fails, they tell you the lowest fare they *would* accept for your trip. So you can choose to bid extremely low, see what *they* come up with, and take it or leave it.



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An infrequent flyer trying to change that by earning my miles via alternate methods!