We've all seen those Orbitz Low Fare Guarantee! commercials where a guy flies in on a hovercraft and informs a group of golfers that the price of the hotel they booked on Orbitz went down, so they are all getting checks for the difference. Well, all were issued checks except for the poor schmuck who didn't book on Orbitz.

He must not have placed a Priceline bid for the hotel, either, or William Shatner would have jumped out the back of a van and cut him a check, too.

Priceline also has a "Best Price Guarantee" policy, but few know about it!

According to the Priceline rules...

As most of you know, or will soon discover, Priceline allows you to make "one request for the same itinerary in any 24-hour period." If your initial bid is rejected, Priceline forces you to change one of the following details to immediately rebid without the mandatory 24-hour wait:

• Your check-in date
• Your check-out date
• The zone/area
• The hotel quality/star level

Merely increasing your bid (without changing any other details) does not constitute a change in the eyes of Priceline and their partners. Therefore, it is imperative that you formulate your hotel bidding strategy before you haphazardly fire off your first bid!

The very first step we take when developing our Priceline bidding strategy is...