Bidding Increments and "Resort" Bidding

[jspaen1]

Hi - Does any one have any knowledge of the rules regarding whether or not a 'resort' can bid? I've been watching a few auctions with the intention of bidding, but they seem to jump drastically when only one or two people have bid up to that point. It doesn't even happen the day or two before as would be expected when the competition gets going. Is it possible that the hotel/cruise/resort bids on them to up the price? Are there rules against this? I assume that luxury link buys the packages first and makes a profit off of the auctions but it seems fishy.

[omegaet]

jspaen1 wrote:

Hi - Does any one have any knowledge of the rules regarding whether or not a 'resort' can bid? I've been watching a few auctions with the intention of bidding, but they seem to jump drastically when only one or two people have bid up to that point. It doesn't even happen the day or two before as would be expected when the competition gets going. Is it possible that the hotel/cruise/resort bids on them to up the price? Are there rules against this? I assume that luxury link buys the packages first and makes a profit off of the auctions but it seems fishy.

jspaen1....I don't think any of really know the terms under which LL acquires the auction items. When I bid on an item, I first look at the bidhistory of the item in previous auctions....I make a determination what I am willing to bid. If competitive bidding exceeds "my number," I just become a spectator and wait until the item is offered again (some times items do not reappear in future auctions....a risk I am willing to endure),,

Message Edited by omegaet on 01-08-200703:33 PM

Message Edited by omegaet on 01-08-200703:34 PM

[mary-j]

This is a good point. What if the resort/hotel did bid, just to bump up the price? Sometimes when I have been checking reviews on trip advisor for a hotel, I have come across one with excellent reports from everyone, then out of the blue will come a couple of really bad reports which sometimes makes me think that this may be another resort/hotel deliberately bad-naming the hotel just to try to take the business away from them. I suppose these bad reports may be genuine as there are people out there who would complain about anything.I know that the hotels/resorts do go on to these sites and on to the forums because I have seen actual hotels replying to the posts. I assume L.L. would have something in place to stop this happening though? then again, maybe not???

[bonniejoy03]

Goodness. A good point. I watched and tried to bid on one property and it jumped so much. I would hope this wouldn't happen however, I guess it could.

[omegaet]

mary-j wrote:

This is a good point. What if the resort/hotel did bid, just to bump up the price? Sometimes when I have been checking reviews on trip advisor for a hotel, I have come across one with excellent reports from everyone, then out of the blue will come a couple of really bad reports which sometimes makes me think that this may be another resort/hotel deliberately bad-naming the hotel just to try to take the business away from them. I suppose these bad reports may be genuine as there are people out there who would complain about anything.I know that the hotels/resorts do go on to these sites and on to the forums because I have seen actual hotels replying to the posts. I assume L.L. would have something in place to stop this happening though? then again, maybe not???

mary-j....I have a confidence level in LL that such practices would be not be tolerated....they have a pretty sophisticatedweb tracking set up (at leastthe company, Lithium, who operates the infastructure is one of the tops in web technology). I was very suspect of LuxuryLink theduring the first couple of business transactions I had with them....but time has shown them to be an excellent company withvery high standards. Just my personal opinion.

[enewseven]

I agree that hotels may be out there blogging on tripadvisor.com as well as other sites, bashing the competition or pumping up reviews on their resort. However when it comes to bidding on an auction, a credit card must be on file. I've got to believe that if a "resort / owner" were putting in competitive bids, their credit card information would be easy for LL to track. Furthermore, if there were competitive bids placed, these "resort bidders" now run the risk of being caught holding the bag and winning the auction, which would mean a nice charge to the credit card. I'm not saying this probably never occurred but if it did, we would not see that resort listed ever again on this website, which would hurt the resort in the long run.

[LL_Moderator_ks]

Dear jspaen1 and all Community Members:
We at Luxury Link would like to make clear that under absolutely no circumstances are resorts/hotels/cruises etc.
able to bid on their own auctions.
Thank you for your question on this, so you
may rest assured that this is not something we would permit on Luxury Link.
Thank you for all of your thoughtful posts.
-Luxury Link

[daldoc]

great to hear that from the moderators. I too have seem some auctions jump but usually they were great bargains to start. I usually have an amount i am willing to pay and if goes higher .............. oh well wait and see if returns otherwise always somewhere else to go.