Priceline Bidding Strategy

The obvious goal is to bid and get a room for the cheapest rate possible. I typically, approach this by using the timing strategy discussed in a previous post (Priceline Timing Strategy). The key is to increase your bids in small increment daily. The more time you have the lower you the bid you will be able to propose. I almost always fail to get acceptance on my first two bids.

If you have multiple credit cards and computers you can use these to your advantage. Simply switch computers and try again or just switch your connection if you have a dsl modem. Then you can bid again. You can also add locations to try to bid at the same price. I personally always bid at the highest star level. I may considering going down to lower rated hotels to see how much cheaper it gets a few times. For now I think I will hope someone submits their winning bid.

Another strategy I have used is to bid at an amount I know it won't get accepted and see how much priceline requests I increase my bid in order to bid again. In St. Louis I personally never bid over forty-five dollars. I have been trying to win a bid at the Airport but I have been unsuccessful at that amount. Currently, there maybe some extra bookings to Mardi Gras but I would think that would be over. By the way try to get to St. Louis next year. Bid on a room downtown and that will put you right next to all of the Mardis Gras fun. Believe it or not but I live here and I have never gone to check it out. I hear it is great.

Well I have definitely made this post longer than necessary. My strategy is simply bid on the highest star level and gradual increase your increments. If you need a room in a hurry bid low and check out the requested increase. I have never had a bad stay using the bid now feature but three stars is the lowest selection I have made bids. Really you can't go wrong. I have always found the cheapest rates using this method.