Why should hotels bid on hotel rooms?
Bidding sites for hotels can help you fill up your operation during periods of low demand. These unexpected drops in demand may cause cash flow to be strained and staff to stare at empty corridors. You can use bidding platforms to quickly fill up those rooms that are vacant, while protecting the rates you see on OTAs.
Lift occupancy on slow dates
The shoulder seasons and mid-week lulls can be painful. RevPAR. Set a minimum hidden rate on an auction site to give budget-conscious travellers a reason to book without affecting your BAR.
Reach rate-sensitive guests
Many guests set a ceiling price. The bidding platform exposes your inventory to the group, without forcing large discounts on all channels. This turns bargain hunters into repeat customers at standard rates.
Rooms can be sold all year round
You need to find a quick outlet for your distressed inventory when a conference is cancelled or a storm hits. The bid sites are open 24/7 and act as a safety-net to convert last-minute stock into revenue rather than empty space.
Key hotel bidding site benefits:
- Hidden-rate flexibility – Protect your public BAR from discount fatigue
- Off-peak room sales – Shift distressed inventory without blanket promotions
- Wider market reach – Capture price-sensitive travellers hunting deals
- Rate parity protection – Keep discounts invisible to other channels
- Automation ready – push bids and availability through your channel manager
How do hotel auction sites work?
The process of hotel bidding sites is simple: load rates, submit traveller bids and match travellers with hotels. Confirmation (and the reveal!) follows.Payment and reporting follow. Are you curious to find out more about the hidden rates and how they can be loaded into your PMS, or see a reservation confirmed? Here is a typical flow in just five easy steps.
1. Unload hidden rates and stock
Set a minimum room price and the number you are willing to sell for each date. This is a task that can be done in two minutes by a channel manager across multiple properties.
2. Travellers bid on their flights
The bargain-minded guest can choose their destination, dates of travel and star rating, then enter how much they are willing to pay.
3. The platform hosts a match
Each bid is compared to your hidden floor. Bookings are accepted immediately if the bid meets or exceeds this threshold. If the bid falls short, guests are prompted to increase their bids or try another hotel.
4. Confirmation and reveal
After the booking is accepted, the platform sends an email confirmation, reveals the hotel’s name, and adds the booking to your PMS. Real-time availability updates on all channels.
5. Payment and reporting
The platform charges the card of the guest, minus commission. According to the payment terms, you will receive the net amount. Dashboards display key metrics such as the average price achieved and bid success rate.
Takeaways from the conference:
- For maximum control, set dynamic floor rates
- Allowing guests to submit bids and streamlining the guest bidding process
- Automated PMS updates synchronize confirmed reservations and availability across all channels.
What are the top hotel auction sites?
Quick facts about online bidding:
These five platforms dominate opaque‐rate bookings and give you a quick path to extra revenue.
Priceline Express Deals
The US original bid option where you upload the minimum rates by star-level and neighborhood. After paying for your hotel, guests will only see the name of your hotel. This platform can be easily integrated into most channel manager systems.
Hotwire Hot Price
Priceline-like but with a higher mobile traffic. Travellers can choose their star rating and zone to see the price. Once payment has cleared, they will learn the name of the hotels.
Bidroom
It is based on a membership-based model that charges a modest annual fee in lieu of commission. Prices are at least 5% lower for members than on public OTAs.
HotelTonight
Best for last-minute stays You must arrive within seven days. Its “daily drop” feature pushes unsold rooms to impulse travellers who value location over brand—perfect for urban properties chasing day-of pick-up.
Hoo
Newer competitor that allows guests to haggle over the rate of the room in real-time. Hoo will automatically counter guest offers based on your set bottom line. The agreed price is not visible to metasearch sites.
Takeaways from the conference:
- Priceline It is an excellent choice for US visitors and has a good pedigree.
- Hotwire It is perfect for guests who are primarily mobile.
- Bidroom uses a membership model so you can avoid constant commission – great for high volume hotels.
- HotelTonight Can help you fill rooms in 24 hours.
- Hoo The hotel offers a “haggling” option that allows guests to combine the excitement of an online auction with a room reservation.
How do you integrate hotel bid sites with existing systems and how can you make them more efficient?
Bidding platforms run in isolation can quickly lead to extra administration and rate errors. Plugging them into systems you use everyday will ensure that bookings, prices and availability are all in sync. Start by putting together these building blocks.
- Channel manager: This is the key that drives your PMS’s live inventory and hidden rates to each bid site. Then, it pulls back confirmed reservations. Search for direct connections with Priceline, Hotwire, or any other platform on your list.
- Property management system (PMS): When new bookings come in, you can keep accurate room counts. The channel manager acts as an interpreter so that your front desk is updated in real time. This prevents accidental over-booking.
- Revenue management tools When you feed bid-level information into your pricing engine, it helps you to spot low demand nights early and adjust the floors of all properties in one move.
- Booking engine integrated with website You can encourage satisfied bidders to book directly for their next stay by holding your best public rates.
Before you switch the switch, make sure that your room types are matched carefully. Also, confirm that cancellations work just as well as new reservations. Once you have the links live, your closed loop will allow bidding sites to drive incremental bookings while not adding extra work for your team.
Takeaways from the conference:
- Connect your bidding sites to your channel manager and eliminate manual updates.
- You can add a bidding site to your PMS in order to accurately track room rates and availability.
- You can adjust your strategy based on the information you get from these sites.
SiteMinder
SiteMinder LimitedASX:SDRSiteMinder is the leading global hotel distribution platform. Little Hotelier is a hotel management system that simplifies the lives of small accommodations providers. The company has offices in Bangalore and Bangkok as well as in Berlin, Dallas, Galway London, Manila, Mexico City, Dallas, Barcelona, Dallas, Sydney, Mexico City, Manila, London, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Australia, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney,, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney SiteMinder, with its largest ecosystem of partners in the global hospitality industry, generates over 125 million bookings worth US$50 billion for its customers every year. Visit the website for more information. siteminder.com.
