doesn't betterbidding already have this type of tool? and where are you stealing the data?

This will be so awesome. Really appreciate your hard work and effort.

Dr_wanderlust-I am not stealing data. This site is starting from scratch and thats why it is currently pretty bare. Betterbidding has a map built upon the forum structure, which I personally don't think is too solid. But everyone has their preferences.
Mikita-Thanks for the support.

well I tried to enter data and it did not let me.

T&C's of Betterbidding

T*C's of BFT


Looks pretty solid to me, what do you perceive is the problem??

Hi Blindman,

I will say again that at this point, I am not taking any information from those boards that you listed. Having said that, I do believe that prices posted are in the public domain once they are out there. Someone who posted their bid information on both boards would be violating the terms of each board.

As for the maps, it just comes down to how information is structured and organized. The maps at betterbidding are fine and they work great. However, it is like building a house on a weak foundation. My idea for this from the beginning was based on the fact that forums are inherently flawed for research/presenting data that you want to be searchable and sortable. And as I said before, this is because there is no set structure in a forum besides subject and body (hence, why the moderators there are historically strict). Good for talking and posting long opinions like this one, but weak for storing structured information. Betterbidding's map application is like building a house on a weak foundation. If you prefer betterbidding, then by all means, use it. This is just a fun side project for me stemming from my love of priceline.

Congratulations travelgoop. This will be a very good site.

Goop, you must have thereuare confused with TOBB....historically strict? Give me a break! The Moderator at BetterBidding bends over backward to help those unfamiliar with the posting process, no need to fill out a confusing 12 line questionaire.

Weak for storing structured information? Have you used the search function? With BetterBidding, you can perform a search and find out the winning bids for a specific area and the results are returned as newer posts first (in date sequence, unlike the other board where the search results are returned in no particular order; you will get results from 3 years ago right next to newer, relavant posts).

I use the search all of the time as it helps me to set my opening bid as I typically model my bid based on historical factors, day of the week, current hotel rates. I also use Hotwire to see how rates are shaping up for my travel dates.

If you don't want to perform a search, you can check out the maps on BetterBidding which may be found for many large cities.

Weak Foundation? an ironic comment coming from one who is just starting out.

Cool concept. Suggestion: Add the ability for users to delete hotels out of their profiles (and out of the system) if they make mistakes. Mrs. LG books Priceline hotels for us and I showed her the site. She accidentally entered the Grand Hyatt instead of the Hyatt Regency for a recent successful bid but was unable to correct the mistake.

--Lucky Green

It seems to be user populated. Mrs. LuckyGreen just added an entry.

I added several results for ya. Best of luck to your site!

I tried to add info about my bidding in St. Louis, MO. It didn't work.

Just because a site claims to hold a copyright on information doesn't mean it's true.

QL

With regard to any 'stealing' of info from BB or BFT, let's not forget hotels, their star levels and addresses (which identifies which zone they're in) can be obtained by a simple glance at Priceline's vacation product.

Thanks for the support everyone. I had some free time this weekend to work with a lot of the suggestions that people have been giving me. Information is king and that is why the layout of the site has changed fairly dramatically. Hotel pricing information is no longer hidden in layers of organization, but is out there for you to filter and sort with.

In addition, the site now provides support for other hotel vending sites as well. Soon enough, full functionality to help hotwire.com users will come. Hopefully everyone enjoys the new changes and continues to submit prices. Thanks again.