Bidding sites

Hi,

Can any one tell me about these bidding sites like www.biddingfortravel.com etc.

I take it you dont know the name of the hotel till you book......have I got that right???

Would you recommened it for a single female on her first visit to New York????

Ive been told to look for hotels in either Midtown, Upper Westside or Times Square area. Would I just book for a hotel in one of those areas???

Gill x

Bidding sites

Bidding for travel is only a guide website. The two websites that are mostly used for opaque bookings (ie you find out the hotel after you pay) are www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com

They work different ways, hotwire has a fixed price on their website but doesn%26#39;t reveal the hotel. Priceline you do bid.

I find www.betterbidding.com is a better website to help you understand these.

Area wise, I prefer MTE for a central location. I also never bod below 4 star (or choose less than 4 star on hotwire). There are fewer/if any dodgy hotels in that class.

Bidding sites

Should have added that both websites are non-cancellable so once you pay and get your room you can%26#39;t change it.

Don%26#39;t be scared, do your research (including searching on here for hotwire and priceline posts) and you could save a fortune.

We regularly use both.

Ah right ive been on the hotwire site now how do I get to the other site you taked about!!!

Yes I must admit I would prefer to book either 4 or 3.5 star hotels if I didnt know the name!!!! Do they tend to use the same hotels or does it vary all the time?

Gill x

Another site to check is www.betterbidding.com

It%26#39;s much friendlier than bidding for travel.

Hotwire will tell you how much a hotel will cost you by stars and area.

If Hotwire says a 4* hotel will cost you $109, I%26#39;d suggest going to priceline and bidding 10% lower. Sometimes you can save money (but not always).

On betterbidding they have lists of the hotels that hotwire and priceline tend to use - ordered by star rating and area. It%26#39;s a good place to start.

On the priceline web site where you name a price what happens!!!! ie if I put in say Midtown East and a 4 star hotel at $200 per night total of $800 for my 4 nights for ONE person...if they cant find a hotel then what happens? Or if I put in a lesser bid what happens???? When do you find out your hotel etc??

Hope the question doesnt seem silly!!!

I have a quote of 拢600 in a deluxe room for the 4 night 29th Oct to 2nd Nov at the Belvedere up to now that is booking direct with the hotel. and not sure if I should just go ahead with it!! As I now places will get booked up as its near the NY marathon weekend!!

Gill x

If you are booking directly with the hotel (Belvedere), the reservation should be totally cancellable. Double check that and if it is, you should absolutely positively make that reservation!!!! Now, today. You have nothing to lose.

Then you can decide whether or not you%26#39;d like to try bidding on Priceline. And if you do decide to try bidding, you need to spend some time reading up on the bidding process on either BFT or Betterbidding. It will explain everything including how much you should bid. I would not expect for you to ';win'; a Priceline bid that far in advance now.

If they ';can%26#39;t find a room'; for your bid (which usually means the hotels haven%26#39;t released rooms to Priceline for those dates YET) they will REJECT your bid. You can then bid again within 24 hrs. for the same thing OR if you bid a different area, you can start a new bid right away.

If they accept your bid, it%26#39;s done. That%26#39;s it. Not cancellable.

The most often won hotel in midtown east is the Grand Hyatt and people usually pay $110-150 for it. The most often hotel in midtown west is one of the Hiltons. Both bft and betterbidding have a list of hotels used by Priceline. You%26#39;ll notice not every area has every star level of hotel. The upper west side has NO 3 or 4 star hotels (making it a bad area to bid on Priceline).

Gill,

Before bidding on priceline, I would recommend posting your travel dates and budget on the New York board at betterbidding.com. I think they can help you come up with a strategy so you aren%26#39;t jsut blindly bidding.

Although your travel dates are far off, hotwire has some decent offerings between $250-$300 which is a good indictaor the same hotels may be available on priceline for less.

As a solo traveler you would be a good candidate for priceline bidding, as they only guarantee bedding for two people. The downside is once you bought it it is not cancellable, so if a bargain comes along in the future you can%26#39;t change.

If the Belvedere reservation is cancellable without penalty, then I would advise keeping it because that is a good hotel, and give yourself time to learn about the nuances and startegies of priceline bidding before heading into those waters.

Hi i know this is the New York Forum but do you know do they do bidding sites for hotels in Australia and Singapore??? as i will be going to these places as well as part of my RTW trip.

Gill x

Absolutely. Here%26#39;s the link to the Singapore page from BFT

鈥zboard.com/Singapore/fpricelineandexpediab鈥?/a>

and this will get you to Australia board

鈥zboard.com/AsiaSouth-Pacific-Hotels--all-o鈥?/a>

What I don%26#39;t know is how good Priceline is for these locations. And by how good, I mean, in some cities, the way Priceline divides the city into areas, it might force you into possibly getting an area you don%26#39;t want. For example, in NYC, they combine the Wall St. area with Soho and Tribeca-so it%26#39;s impossible to just bid for Soho and/or Tribeca w/o possibly getting the financial district which many people don%26#39;t want. In other cities (like Paris) there are so many good smaller, reasonably priced hotels to book directly, a Priceline bid might force you into a big, impersonal corporate hotel/location for no good reason..

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