www.priceline.com

Sizzler

Hey Folks

Has anybody ever used this site? Have read a lot of reviews on tripadvisor where people seem to have got some great deals on it for hotels, especially in the US and A

Theres one feature which really interests me where you can name your price for a hotel by picking the area / class of hotel and the max amount you are willing to pay The thing that gets me is they want all your details before hand including credit card # etc so you might get lumbered with something that you are not happy with

If anybody has any experience in using it (good or bad) please shout!

BuffyBot

Theres one feature which really interests me where you can name your price for a hotel by picking the area / class of hotel and the max amount you are willing to pay The thing that gets me is they want all your details before hand including credit card # etc so you might get lumbered with something that you are not happy with

That's the risk you take with them. The deals can be good, but you don't know the name of the hotel beforehand, and you have no way of cancelling.

I used it before, and got a good rate on a hotel, which turned out to be pretty fantastic. I'm sure there are others out there who have been disappointed too. You have to weight the cost savings against the risk and see what comes about.

Sizzler

Cheers.

I suppose if you pick a 5* and say your max price is $200 a night then you cant really go wrong

Benedict XVI

Used it a number of years back to booked a flight from Boston to London.

I ended up going from Manchester, N.H. (about 1.30hr north of Boston) via Newark, N.J to Gatwick.
It was not a major hassle and the price was about 50% of what you would pay direct.

During the great boom years of .coms in the later 1990s priceline used to sell petrol, yes petrol or gas as they call it. You could name your price for a gallon of gas.

I would love if something similar appeared this side of the world

BuffyBot

Sizzler wrote:

Cheers.

I suppose if you pick a 5* and say your max price is $200 a night then you cant really go wrong

Well, something can always go wrong..but if you pick a 4*/5* hotel, you'll probably get a reasonable level of comfort and standards.

Marathon_Man

Used it quite a few time and you can get really good bargins especially in the US.

Take a look at http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding or http://www.betterbidding.com/ for ideas of the prices people have paid.

Have a look at the Hotels FAQ on biddingfortravel on how to maximise your bids and not over pay.

Ponster

Use the betterbidding site to find out the name of the hotel based on location and priceline comments.

BuffyBot

Well, a priceline example for you all.

I used priceline.co.uk yesterday to bid on a hotel in Amsterdam. Was looking for a 3/4* hotel and gave a guide price for £70STG a night. Priceline came back with a 5* for that very night, right bang in the city. A total of £240 - I have to say I was very impressed.

I checked the hotel website and priced the same days. I would have paid almost £350 more by booking direct for the same 3 nights.

So yes, when it works - it can do wonders.

Ponster

I think priceline can work well if you're spending a night or a weekend somewhere. Booking a weeks worth of hotel for maybe your only holidays of the year is IMHO a little risky. It could be wonderful but if it isn't then you're stuck with a crap place for 7 days and maybe ruining your holiday.

BuffyBot

Well, again it depends what your booking. Though (complete cock-roach flea pit style hotels aside) if you let your hotel be your holiday, you're bound to be in trouble

(Yes, I've booked long holiday hotels on Priceline, without issue)

dingding

http://www.priceline.com/privacypolicy/privacypolicy.asp

See the link above, I had an 8 euro charge to my credit acard after putting a bid on priceline. :mad:

Great Fun® Online Savings Club. After or during the booking process on Priceline.com, our partner, Trilegiant Corporation ("Trilegiant"), will offer you an opportunity to join their Great Fun® Online Savings Club. When you join the club, you are authorizing us to provide your Personal Data to Trilegiant, which treats your Personal Data in accordance with the Trilegiant privacy policy and not this priceline.com Privacy Policy. For information on how your privacy is protected when using the Great Fun® Online Savings Club service, click here.

I had inadvertantly joined the Great Fun Online Savings club. :eek:

Be careful that no boxes are ticked by default signing you up for this or other offers. :mad: :mad:

Had to cancel credit card. The bank are investigating it. :mad:

The first part of the transaction name was TLG GREATFN

And it was followed by a long number.

Check your credit card if you have used Priceline.

BuffyBot

Odd, as I've never been charged that or signed up to offers from using PL. You sure there weren't any tick boxes?

dingding

There must have been a tick box that was ticked by default, just warning others to make sure when bidding on proceline that no boxes are ticked.

Benedict XVI

If I recall priceline have a system where you sign up for things to increase you bid.

e.g - your bid of $100 failed, if you sign up for <this product/service> priceline will add $50 toward your bid

jonny68

I haven't used it in years, didn't get any deals out of it before,maybe ill check it out again siometime.

Reganovski

Hi Guys,

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm looking to book a hotel in New York next September. Just one thing when I registered, I seem to only be able to add a USA or Canada address...there doesnt appear to be anywhere where I can put Ireland.
Any ideas?

BuffyBot

I book using Country: United States and State: Armed Forces Elsewhere and Zip: 00000.

The other lines I use my address i.e.

21 Hill Road
Niceville

and City/Town the name of the city/town you live in. Should work for you.

Reganovski

BuffyBot wrote: »

I book using Country: United States and State: Armed Forces Elsewhere and Zip: 00000.

The other lines I use my address i.e.

21 Hill Road
Niceville

and City/Town the name of the city/town you live in. Should work for you.

So I take it you don't have to use an Irish address or are able to register using an Irish address??

tannytantans

I registered using priceline.co.uk and I could enter my Irish address no problem.

I've been using it loads lately and I've made great savings. I even bidded for a 3 star in Sydney and got upgraded to a 4 star

BuffyBot

So I take it you don't have to use an Irish address or are able to register using an Irish address??

I mean you replace my examples above, with the relevant parts of your Irish address and then use the existing options in the dropdown

Don't forget to check out hotwire.com for your destination also - you can find some good deals there

I registered using priceline.co.uk and I could enter my Irish address no problem.

I've often found better deals on .com which is why I prefer it.

tannytantans

BuffyBot wrote: »

I've often found better deals on .com which is why I prefer it.

Didn't realise that :eek: Must check it out!I've gotten a bit addicted to the bidding - driving my bf mad!

Ponster

tannytantans wrote: »

Didn't realise that :eek: Must check it out!I've gotten a bit addicted to the bidding - driving my bf mad!

I find that once you begin to use priceline/hotwire it becomes very difficult to go back to 'normal' hotel booking

sug1

Is there a cost for placing a bid on price line, except of course the cost of the hotel?

I am going to Amsterdam, Milan and Paris in September and was thinking of using priceline.

Ponster

I'm not aware of any extra costs besides the price of the hotel. Priceline makes its money from the difference between the price of the hotel room and the amount over that which you bid.

So if the hidden room rate is $100 and you bid $120 Priceline pockets the 'extra' $20.

sug1

Thanks Ponster.

Just booked a 4 star hotel in Amsterdam centre for €249. Well happy as i was looking at 2 star for €280 Going to try Paris and Milan now!!!

Ponster

Well done !

Remember to check out betterbidding.com for price hints.