Hotel bidding sites: Guide for hotel owners

What are hotel bidding sites?

Hotel bidding sites were online platforms where travellers could name their own price for a hotel stay, and hotels could choose to accept or reject those bids based on their minimum acceptable rate. These sites once offered a dynamic way for hotels to sell unsold inventory without publicly lowering their prices. While the traditional bidding model was discontinued by major platforms in 2016, it paved the way for today’s opaque hotel deals that follow a similar discounted pricing approach.

Note: While the term “bidding sites” persists in industry terminology, most platforms now operate on fixed-price opaque models rather than true guest bidding.

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Should hotels still use hotel bidding sites?

Hotel bidding sites are now a niche tactic, but the core idea still helps in specific situations. If you still list on a bidding platform, you can move distressed inventory out of sight, lift occupancy on soft dates, and reach price-led travellers without touching your public BAR.

Most hotels now use opaque or hidden, fixed-price deals rather than live bidding. Guests see location, star rating, and broad amenities, then the hotel name is revealed after payment. You get similar demand without the operational friction of managing bids.

Below are some of the pros of listing on hotel bidding sites:

Lift occupancy on slow dates

Mid-week lulls and shoulder seasons often hurt RevPAR. Load a hidden minimum rate on a bidding site and give budget-minded travellers a compelling reason to book, without touching your Best Available Rate (BAR).

Reach rate-sensitive guests

Many guests start with a price ceiling. Bidding platforms surface your inventory to this group without forcing broad discounts across every channel, turning sporadic bargain-hunters into potential repeat visitors at standard rates.

Keep rooms selling year-round

When a conference cancels or a storm rolls in, you need a fast outlet for distressed inventory. Bidding sites run around the clock, acting as a safety net that converts last-minute supply into revenue instead of empty space.

Key hotel bidding site benefits:

Hidden-rate flexibility – Protect your 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

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Sync inventory across all properties and your chosen channels to maximise occupancy and revenue.

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How did hotel bidding sites work?

Hotel bidding sites used to follow a simple flow where guests named a price and platforms matched those bids to a hidden floor you set. That traditional bidding model was discontinued by major platforms in 2016.

Today, most of that demand has shifted to fixed-price opaque or “secret” deals, where the guest books at a pre-set discounted rate and your hotel name is revealed only after payment.

How the traditional bidding model worked (discontinued in 2016)

Under the original model, hotels set a minimum acceptable rate, travellers submitted their price offers, and the platform matched bids to properties willing to accept them. If a bid met your floor price, the booking was confirmed instantly and your hotel name was revealed. While this created excitement for bargain hunters, the operational complexity and unpredictable revenue made it unsustainable for most platforms.

How fixed-price “secret deal” models work today

Opaque deals sell rooms at a discount while withholding the hotel name until after purchase, protecting public rate integrity and simplifying operations compared with live bidding.

1. Provide opaque inventory at a fixed rate

Set fenced, discounted prices for selected dates and room types. The platform displays limited details such as star rating, area, and broad amenities.

2. Guest selects a secret deal

Travellers see a fixed price and book without the hotel name.

3. Shortlist variant

Some platforms present a small set of similar, well-rated hotels at one price. After payment, one of those properties is revealed.

4. Confirmation and sync

The platform issues the confirmation, reveals your property, and pushes the reservation into your PMS. Availability updates across connected channels in real time.

5. Payment rules and controls

Opaque offers are typically prepaid and less flexible, helping reduce cancellations while keeping your public BAR intact.

Key takeaways:

Live bidding is now uncommon; most platforms use fixed-price opaque deals that reveal the hotel only after purchase, helping you move rooms discreetly without cutting your public BAR.
Operational flow is simple: load fenced rates and limited inventory, take mostly prepaid bookings, then let your channel manager and PMS sync confirmations and availability in real time.
Use secret deals to cover soft dates and sudden dips in demand, attract deal-led travellers, and track performance via achieved price and conversion.

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What are the best opaque booking platforms to get started on?

These platforms dominate opaque‐rate bookings and give you a quick path to extra revenue.

Priceline Express Deals

Priceline’s Express Deals give travellers access to discounted hotel rates with fixed prices, allowing guests to save while hotels discreetly move unsold inventory. Priceline’s newer Pricebreakers feature shows a small selection of similar, highly rated hotels at one price, and the specific property is revealed after payment. This approach offers guests more control and transparency while keeping rates competitive for hotels.

Hotwire Hot Rate

Similar to Priceline but with stronger mobile traffic. Travellers pick a star category and zone, see the price, then learn the hotel name once payment clears, making it ideal for mid-week city stays.

How to integrate opaque booking platforms with existing systems?

Running opaque booking platforms in isolation quickly turns into extra admin and rate errors. The answer is to plug them into the systems you already use every day so prices, availability and bookings move in sync. Start with these building blocks:

Channel manager: The linchpin that pushes hidden floor rates and live inventory from your PMS to each opaque platform, then pulls confirmed reservations back. Look for direct connections to Priceline, Hotwire and the other platforms on your list.
Property management system (PMS): Keeps room counts and guest profiles accurate once new bookings arrive. With the channel manager acting as interpreter, your front desk sees updates in real time, avoiding accidental over-bookings.
Revenue management tools: Feeding opaque booking data into your pricing engine helps you spot low-demand nights early and adjust floors across every property in one move.
Booking engine and integrated website: By holding your strongest public rates here, you steer satisfied opaque platform guests to book directly on their next stay.

Before you flip the switch, match room types carefully, test a handful of sample dates and confirm that cancellations flow back just as smoothly as new reservations. Once the links are live, you gain a closed loop where opaque platforms drive incremental bookings without piling extra work on your team.

Key takeaways:

Connect opaque platforms through your channel manager to cut manual updates.
Add opaque platforms to your PMS to keep room rates and availability accurate.
Analyse the data from opaque platforms to better understand low and high demand and adjust your strategy accordingly.