Attention needed to finances in Member Announcements Forum

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rmiller774	Attention needed to finances	Lead	[-]
Posts: 170 07/19/09 11:09 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None In reading recent successful bids posted I see that some bidders mention that they used the AB link to Priceline but that others make no mention one way or the other. Since using the AB link creates income for BFT, Sheryl routinely appended a pattern paragraph to each bid posted reminding the poster to use her live AB link and thanking those who stated that they did so. This is no longer happening. As time goes by and more new members are added, fewer and fewer bidders will be aware of the importance of using the AB link, or even know what the AB link is. The result will be a gradual erosion of BFT's receipts. To fix this would seem to this outsider to be more important than spending time on neutral tasks such as adding new hotels to the Hotel Lists or neatening up the Board in general. How could this be accomplished? Maybe the Tech Administrator could devise a way.
chinois51		#1	[-]
Posts: 1049 07/19/09 2:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree. Perhaps the "more seasoned" BFT'ers could semi-adopt a particularly geography, and post a follow-up when the A-B link is not mentioned? That is what I try to do w/the San Francisco and Sacramento boards. We could list such "adoption" on the New Hotel List itself. I also have to add when Sheryl had a long absence a few years back, the fact that the Hotel List was not current caused all sorts of frustration, including for ongoing users. It was a big deal to many of us. While I realize that officially we are not supposed to rely on the hotel list, we have become so accustomed to it being 98% on target, the reality is that to one degree or another, many of us do. If it does not maintain its reliability/accuracy, people will go elsewhere and/or newcomers will not experience the true value of the board and not remain. If the board loses customers, then the A-B link will become more irrelevant with each day.
Arrzee		#2	[-]
Posts: 1906 07/20/09 9:22 PM Tech Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thank you, rmiller774 and chinois51 for the observation and comments. It is true that a good way to support the site and help maintain revenues is by placing your bids through the links at Amazing-Bargains.com, with whom we have maintained an independent relationship for a while. One way posters and readers can do this is by clicking on the "key and suitcase" icon in our logo everytime they're going to bid on priceline. This will automatically direct you to the Amazing-Bargains.com list of priceline.com offers and links, which can then be used. Your support using this links and encouraging users to do so is appreciated. Additional ways to organize the site, like assigning certain categories for new moderators/seasoned posters to watch is something I am entertaining and will announce shortly. Help ensure the continued viability of BiddingForTravel.com by patronizing the following selected sponsors: Amazing-Bargains.com - Priceline offers and links Hotwire - Save up to 60% off retail hotel rates. Orbitz - The faster, easier way to book the trip you want! Last Edited By: Arrzee 07/20/09 10:37 PM. Edited 1 times.
chinois51		#3	[-]
Posts: 1049 07/20/09 10:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	No Arrzee, all the thanks goes to you and your helpers. We appreciate everything you do for this board and know that you are as timely as your schedule permits. Thanks again.
aguerriero		#4	[-]
Posts: 90 07/21/09 6:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I know some of us are watching certain regions right now. I'm replying to posts in Arizona, although I've neglected to remind bidders who don't post the A-B notice. I will start doing that as well.
readymade		#5	[-]
Posts: 3126 07/25/09 6:58 PM Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't always remember to ask people to do this when I post bidding advice, so everyone should feel free to chime in.
Virageadroit	Universal bidding advice to replace bid suggestions from the board	#6	[-]
Posts: 757 07/26/09 2:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	With all the FAQ information and lots of successful bids to guide anyone who cares to read, as well as the member announcements on free rebids and permutations, there is no point in an newbie giving a bunch of information from the BIF and using that to give a bidding strategy. With simple knowledge of how Priceline works, each of us can be as good a guesser as anyone else. Knowing the rack rate, for example, is something I find irrelevant. Even knowing that the hotel you are most likely to get is sold out on their own web site turns out to be misleading for bidding. Here is my suggestion for what to bid, no matter what someone puts on the form: Study the BFT FAQ list and the recent successful bids reported here and elsewhere. Then go to Hotwire and see what they have in the similar zone. If they do, then use that as a guide for the most you will bid and reason from there. If they don't then check the bid history more carefully. If there is no bid history and no free rebids, for resort, 4, 3.5 and 3* try $50 today, $75 tomorrow, and the next $100. If there are rebids, then use smaller intervals - and bid in one day. Just be careful when you enter information that you are bidding for the right place on the right date for the right zone at the right star level. And check again . And always ue the priceline links from www.amazing-bargains.com. Okay?
readymade		#7	[-]
Posts: 3126 07/29/09 7:24 PM Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gasp! Heresy! You shall be drawn and quartered! I can tell you that Sheryl, who is the most expert of anyone, would completely disagree with this technique. She strongly feels that checking availability is the way to go. Actually, checking Hotwire is really just another way to check availability. But getting the rate info is helpful in determining just how busy the location really is. Hotels do have multiple Priceline rates, so all of that info helps. As for the first part, beginning bidders are often very anxious, no matter how carefully they've read the FAQ. They just need a little guidance and reassurance until they're ready to fly on their own.
Virageadroit	Heresy?	#8	[-]
Posts: 757 08/02/09 10:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I posted my heresy to avoid having our regulars feel obliged to deal with expectations of responses to bid request forms. I disagree about availability being a criterion. I have often been able to get a room through bidding on Priceline while the hotel had no availability on their own site - the disconnect seems to be due Priceline actually having some rooms on hold. This is common at Marriott. Hotwire is a good model because their price serves as an obvious maximum in many markets. I have started at 30% under Hotwire and find that this is pretty close to the Priceline bottom when there is little history to use as guidance. Some markets are very limited and for those Priceline is truly opaque, with historical information of little use. One example is Florence, Italy. The zone is the entire city and another is the airport. The only hotel that has been reported in recent years for central Florence gets rather awful reviews. Hotwire is similarly difficult to deduce. In this case, it is better not to bid at all. Priceline is great in most locations but not all and where it's good, low bids are what make people happiest. So they read the read the FAQs and then the posts and look at Hotwire and use the A-B link and post their wins here.

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Attention needed to finances

Attention needed to finances