During Professor Kagan’s lecture on Wednesday, I inquired as to whether he had ever heard of Betterbidding.com. Since he had not, I figured this blog would be a good medium to divulge my “secret” related to online hotel booking. Specifically, Betterbidding.com enables an individual to predict, with relative certainty, the property he or she will receive, and concerning Priceline, at what price it can be acquired for (usually at a significant discount).
Before getting into the technicalities of Priceline, I will discuss how Betterbidding.com allows a user to predict with relative certainty what property he or she will stay at using Hotwire. For those not familiar with Hotwire, Hotwire provides hotel rooms at a discount without disclosing the actual property until purchase has been made. What Hotwire does disclose, however, is the “amenities” of the property. Betterbidding.com provides a database of these amenities, and allows a user to match said amenities to the choices being displayed, thus revealing the actual property. See, for example, hotels in Las Vegas (on betterbidding.com).
Although this Hotwire tool is useful, the best hotel discounts are usually found on Priceline. The remainder of this discussion will concern how I use Priceline to obtain the best rate for a hotel of my choosing, employing my Hotwire knowledge discussed above, using a real example: a one night stay at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, this Sunday, February 22nd.
Step One: Determine the going rate for your hotel of choice. I always stick with the highest star level as this is easiest. So in this case, for example, a basic room at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare on February 22nd costs $159 or a total of $179.67 with tax.
Step Two: Check Hotwire rates. A 4-star room at O’Hare on February 22nd costs $89, or a total of $105.98 with tax. Judging by the amenities provided: Shuttle, Restaurant, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Golf; I know that this property is either the Hyatt Regency or the Sofitel. I find both to be acceptable.
Step Three: Use Priceline to obtain a deeper discount. Betterbidding.com provides all possible hotels in the various zones Priceline requires a user to select. If the "name your price" offer you provide is not accepted, Priceline mandates that the user change a variable in their selection, either date or star level. If using Betterbidding.com, the user is aware of other potential zones that do not have four-star hotels, in this case, at minimum: the Chicago Midway (MDW) zone and Chicago (Skokie) zone. As such, if looking for a four-star hotel, the user gets at least two “free” bids. I usually divide the Hotwire rate in half and use that as my starting point,so in this case my initial bid was $41 a night, it was unfortunately rejected. My second bid was $51, I checked Chicago (Skokie) (my additional zone/variable) knowing that no four-star hotels exist in that zone, and my price was accepted.
By employing the aforementioned methodology, I paid approximately 37% of the “Best Available Rate” found on Hyatt’s website. This scheme works for more than airport zones and other less desirable areas; I have used it to stay at the Mondrian in Los Angeles, the Wynn in Las Vegas, the W Times Square here in Manhattan and an extensive list of other properties.
Betterbidding.com has enabled me to travel around the United States at a fraction of the cost that many people pay. Now, if I could only find a way to monetize this this application of readily available information…
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