Money Matters
kelly72206
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Priceline/Better Bidding Users come in
I saw in the hotel post below that a bunch of you use the Priceline/Better Bidding combo to score great hotel deals. I am very interested in this for an upcoming trip to Seattle and wondered if you could give me more details about how it works and if you really ever get specific hotels you are trying for. Thanks! 
Re: Priceline/Better Bidding Users come in
Need help with high fat food ideas? Chunky Monkey
I start with Hotwire and the better bidding list of hotels. If I?m specific about location like I would be for DT Seattle (both PL and Hotwire?s DT districts straddles I-5) or Nashville (I want to be right DT)-, I buy off Hotwire and have always won the hotel I expected. This weekend?s trip to Vancouver, WA all I cared about was that it wasn?t a dump so I used the PL list and placed a bid. None of the 3 star hotels would?ve been a disappointment so I?ll be at a Marriott branded hotel for $40.
The only time it?s been off was a trip I did with my parents. I got a hotel in San Diego and my parents bought later and got another hotel using the same price and criteria. It worked well because they shared a parking lot but it could have been miles away.
If you want to stay DT in Seattle, stick with 4* for either site. The 3.5* and below hotels can be a bit more far flung but still considered DT.
I've used it a couple of times, as well as hotwire.com. When using hotwire and betterbidding.com, I have been able to guess what hotel I am looking at, which is nice. the betterbidding board is really nice too and happy to answer questions about what areas are best/safest.
For example, right now, I am trying to decide if I want to get a hotel in Vegas from hotwire.com.
I see that I can get a 5* hotel on the strip in the south area for $120/night. Going over to betterbidding.com, I see that by comparing the amenities of this hotel, it is most likely the Vdara, which is regularly $180 a night, so a savings of $60 if I am right.
There is another hotel in the same area that is 4.5* for $158/night, and again, comparing the amenities, it looks like the Planet Hollywood Towers, but there is also another listing for a 4.5* hotel in the south for $205/night. It has different amenities, and by comapring them, I think it is TheHotel at Mandalay, normally $205 from the site, so no savings if I am right.
I can go 4* for $80/night in the same area, and it looks like it could be about 5 different hotels...I can't narrow it down because they all have the same amenities.
I am going for a concert, and kind of wanted to stay in the hotel where the concert is taking place (MGM) but I am really picky about the MGM and really only want to stay at the Signature if I do stay there...grrr...so yeah, It is pretty easy to figure out what you can get on Hotwire.com...which is usually a little more money then you will spend if you use priceline.
You can use betterbidding.com for Priceline purchases really by getting an idea of what you might get, so you can see what rack rates are, then I will usually cut it in half and start my bidding there. Betterbidding can also show you how to get multiple bids in one day.
Here's my tip -- through Better Bidding and BiddingforTravel.com, read up on all the hotels that come up in different zones for your intended City. There are some zones that have no 4* hotels, so if you are bidding 4*s, those are your "free rebids" because you can add the zone (effectively changing your bid) without risking getting a hotel that is 4* in that zone. It's still a risk because Priceline could always choose you as the 1st 4* in a free rebid zone, but it's worth it.
Anyway, if you don't mind staying at any of the hotels that are showing up in a specific zone at the star level you want or above, then you are good to start bidding.
I usually put together a strategy where I decide my ideal zone and figure out how much hotels are going for in that zone on each hotel's website and on Expedia. I then cut the lowest amount by about 50% for my starting bid, then put together a list of each bid. For instance, let's say I ideally want a 4* hotel in Zone 1. But there's a Zone 2 with a 3* hotel. I may offer my first bid on the 4* zone 1. For my second bid, instead of changing the price, I expand my search to include zone 2, knowing there are no 4* hotels in that zone. If Priceline offers me a counter, I can either accept that, or know that Priceline will likely accept a bid that is within $10-$15 of that counteroffer....so I can use that as my next bid if there are other zones I can safely add.
{let me caveat all this by saying I haven't bid on a hotel in over a year, so things may be slightly different -- read the FAQs!}
Confusing? Yes!! But I've gotten some great hotels for dirt cheap over the past decade. I'd say the thing you have to realize is that you are always taking a risk that Priceline is going to introduce a new hotel. You are also accepting that every hotel that might show up on Priceline in your zone is acceptable to you. For instance, in Vegas, the Trump is considered a mid-strip hotel, but some people don't like it because it has no casino and the parking is super expensive. So they are bidding South Strip in order to avoid Trump. We didn't have a car and don't really gamble, so the Trump was an acceptable alternative for us when bidding on Vegas.
Wrangling babies since 2010
Biddingfortravel also has a good overview and FAQ section:
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/topic/2560/Hotel-FAQ
Do you mean specific hotel as in - the Marriot X Downtown? No, that likely won't happen if you're bidding in a city with multiple hotels per star tier. Do I always get a hotel of the appropriate start level in the geographic area I've picked, yes. Does one have a pretty good idea of which hotels these will be, yes. But this is why it's important not to rely only on hotel lists. This is the Seattle one, for example:
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/topic/42567/SEATTLE-HOTEL-LIST
But for advanced rebidding, manually selecting each area to confirm it doesn't contain a hotel of a given star rating is the ONLY safe way to make sure you're using your free rebids correctly.
Identifying a specific hotel on Priceline is very difficult to do. You can sometimes get lucky. For instance, I usually get the Westin when I stay in Seattle. It is a regular 4-star in Downtown Pike area, but this is risky. If you want a bit more assurance of what hotel, try Hotwire and use this list: http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/hotelinventory/hotwire/WA/Seattle
Rebidding by adding a zone without a given star rating can sometimes be risky. Just don't add a zone that has the star rating (or better) that you're looking for. I always get nervous when I do this but I am always very careful.
Our Puppy Dogs!
See more cute pets here: Sweet Silver Photography