Priceline for Canadians Question

[mapletree]

We are new to Priceline and have been trying unsuccessfully for hotel rooms. We have used both Visa (issued by US bank) and Amex for bids.

The standard response to the bids are "Try Again' as they could find no hotel to accept the bid. We have bid in excess of some winning bids on Sheryl's site. Are the failed bids due to the CDN address? If the credit card was the issue would the response be 'Unacceptable Credit Card'?

Any suggestions and insight would be much appreciated. THANKS!

 

[dennise]

I have been bidding sine November for dates in April with no luck yet. When are you going? We have used PL the past few years with good results. I use an Amex card.

 

[alohamom]

Mapletree, I think I recall my first response a few years ago being something like "unable to process credit card" and that is when I got an Amex which has always worked. Having said that , the last time my bid was successful was for a room in Bangkok a few months ago. Since then I have had a few bids turned down, two in U.S. and one in Ontario. I do know that all of these bids were for peak times with high capacity. One time I had a bid turned down in Hawaii and I ended up getting my stay by breaking up the time I was bidding for, ie. I bid for 5 days, then 4 days rather than 9 days. I was lucky in that I got the same hotel but you do run the risk of having to move from one hotel to another for those two times.I think I remeber looking at bidding for travel for Orlando last year at this time and it slowed right down around now till late March, nothing seemed to be posted as a winning bid, just a few here and there. I would also check capacity/room avaliablity of the hotels in the zones you are bidding on, perhaps it is just generally full or there are conventions going on-who knows? If all else fails, ask Sheryl-she seems abrupt sometimes but I am sure she will help you. Good luck, please post if you find out that things have changed and that they are indeed now blocking non-U.S. resident bids-Thanks.

 

[mapletree]

Dennise- We have been bidding since early Dec for March travel.

alohamom-Thanks for sharing your experiences. We are looking at peak time rates. I have checked the capacity / room availability prior to each bid process. Rooms still available at rack rates. Sheryl asks for the available room rates for the hotel levels you're bidding for. Is there a successful formula (X%) you use based on the hotel's rack rate? Thanks for your insight and good wishes. I will post as soon as I am successful with a bid.

 

[Bea]

If you are having trouble finding a room with Priceline, why not try Hotwire? We used it this year for our March Break trip to Orlando after trying on Priceline for a few weeks (and bidding the same amout as we got our room for on hotwire). We got the Wyndham Orlando Resort for 8 nights in March for $36.00 a night. Hotwire allows Canadians to use their website.

If you are interested try this website. They are really friendly and lots of information for hotwire users.
www.betterbidding.com


This is my first time using hotwire so wish me luck at check in etc.

 

[bmt337]

I had bought airline tickets for wdw. Now husband can't get time off of work to go with. I'm starting a new job in about a month and will have to wait a year to get vacation time. I'd love to go by myself. But am afraid I'd look stupid walking around by myself. What do you think? I'm 47, but wouldn't have the kids with me.