Priceline.com Name Your Price

JustMac

I am close to booking a hotel in New York for 5 nights in October using Priceline.com. It appears to be offering me an excellent rate by using their 'Name Your Price' service but I am wary of anything that sounds too good to be true. I am being quoted around 510 euros (5 nights total for 2 people) for a 4 star hotel in the Times Square area.

The problem is that you have to pay before you see which specific hotel you are booked into, though all the 4 star hotels in that area on their website look fairly ok.

I have done a search of the ol' interweb thingy and also here on boards but have not found any 'recent' reviews of this website/service. Has anyone had any experience of using them? Any issues/ warnings?

I can't seem to find anything else comparable on other websites such as booking.com, centralr.com, hotels.com etc. Any other suggestions?

BuffyBot

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055134953 was a discussion that wasn't too long ago.

JustMac

BuffyBot wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055134953 was a discussion that wasn't too long ago.

Thanks for that. I had actually seen this thread but thought it better to start a new one. Some of the advice in that thread seemed a bit old, such as checking with http://www.betterbidding.com/ which when I first looked appeared to be 2-3 years old. However on looking again maybe I was a bit hasty. Anyway will do some more research.

If anyone has any more advice it would be welcome.

BuffyBot

What exactly are you looking for? Reassurance? Tips to find out where you might end up? If you narrow it down, people might be more able to assist.

(and yes, good deals like that are sometimes to be had )

Ms Inquisitive

So, have I got this right?

Is this site about bidding for hotel rooms or how does it work? I read the previous thread on it and that only made me more confused!

Ponster

As suggested, 4 stars in Times Square area is a winner at €510 for 5 nights.

I can't help you more than betterbidding can ( ignore the hotel list that's 3 years old and just search through the threads for 4* hotels near Times Sq.)

JustMac

BuffyBot wrote: »

What exactly are you looking for? Reassurance? Tips to find out where you might end up? If you narrow it down, people might be more able to assist.

(and yes, good deals like that are sometimes to be had )

Yeah, I suppose its reassurance that I was looking for. I've looked at it a bit more and I'm happy enough that its a legimate site. As in the previous post that you linked to, it seems that you should be very careful when booking anything through priceline in case that you might unwittingly sign up for some services that you didnt want and thereby be charged for extra things.

The http://www.betterbidding.com/ site also seems to be more up to date than I thought but I think its not tooo easy to navigate and find out exactly what you want to know. It does give you an idea of the type of deals that can be got.

(I'll embarrass myself by adding that what I thought was the price quote page on priceline was in fact just a confirmation page before you do the actual search. )

JustMac

Ms Inquisitive wrote: »

So, have I got this right?

Is this site about bidding for hotel rooms or how does it work? I read the previous thread on it and that only made me more confused!

Yep, A site for booking hotel rooms where you give a price that you are willing to pay. You select dates, a specific area within a city where you want to stay, the star rating that you want and a price you are willing to pay. You then enter your credit card details and if you your bid is accepted your credit card is charged and only then do you get to see the specific hotel that you have been booked into. If your bid is unsuccessful then no charge is made but you cannot change your bid amount for 24 hours (Though there are ways around this, see http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=16&)

Meathlass

I've used a similar site called hotwire.com. You pick the area you want to stay in and they give you a list of hotels and their amenities and stars (you can usually figure out which hotels they're talking about with a bit of searching; I got a holiday inn in Boston for about $80 a night when their own website was quoting over $150 a night. They usually use chain hotels like Hilton, Crown plaza and Holiday inn so I wouldn't see any problems. I booked my room the day before I went over to get the cheapest possible price. Are you booking a long time in advance? The hotels usually sell off their rooms to these sites at a low rate to fill them up and the prices will go down as it gets closer to the day.

JustMac

Meathlass wrote: »

I've used a similar site called hotwire.com. You pick the area you want to stay in and they give you a list of hotels and their amenities and stars (you can usually figure out which hotels they're talking about with a bit of searching; I got a holiday inn in Boston for about $80 a night when their own website was quoting over $150 a night. They usually use chain hotels like Hilton, Crown plaza and Holiday inn so I wouldn't see any problems. I booked my room the day before I went over to get the cheapest possible price. Are you booking a long time in advance? The hotels usually sell off their rooms to these sites at a low rate to fill them up and the prices will go down as it gets closer to the day.

Thanks for that. I will try hotwire as well. Sounds like the same system.

Booking well in advance, for October, but it will coincide with when the schools have their mid-term break so I would prefer to sort it out sooner than later rather than leave it till the last minute.

Meathlass

JustMac wrote: »

Thanks for that. I will try hotwire as well. Sounds like the same system.

Booking well in advance, for October, but it will coincide with when the schools have their mid-term break so I would prefer to sort it out sooner than later rather than leave it till the last minute.

The rate you've got so far is very good but maybe just try hotwire for a comparison.

rossie1977

a four star hotel in midtown manhattan should be very decent, just don't expect a very large room in any manhattan hotel

Ms Inquisitive

When you put your price in did you air on the side of caution? We all know that hotels in Midtown range from $300 to $500 a night, so did you quote more or less than the going rate??

Ponster

Less I guess if his quote is ~$160 per night.

I'd normally pay $160 for a 2 star midtown hotel (about 31st street)

Ms Inquisitive

But is there a chance that if your price was too low, they would stuff you into a 2* hotel or would they come back asking you to increase your price ceiling?

Sorry about all the questions, but I'm in the States alot and always looking for sites which offer value on accomodation!

Ponster

You normally choose a region and also a price limit.

So I can say 'Upper East Side' and $100

They will probably say that nothing is available so I need to add a new region to search in and I can also increase my limit but I can't increase the limit without adding a new area.

So the 2nd time around I add 'Upper West Side' and up to $150 and still get nothing.

If the 3rd time I add 'Chinatown' to my choice I could end up getting a hotel in Chinatown for $150 even if the average price for the area is $100.

Ms Inquisitive

Think I'm beginning to understand now.

Also the betterbidding.com forum explains it excellently! I think I'll be using to site for my trip next month.

Anyone know if you stand a better chance waiting to book weeks before your trip or a matter of days?

Tutter

Hi,

I've used priceline a lot to book hotels all over the world. Use it with no qualms. Just be aware that your room will probably be small, at the back of the hotel, possibly overlooking the delivery yard or something like that, but the standard of the room will be the same as the rest of the hotel.

$510 is a great price for NYC, Last time I checked Jan) I couldn't get anywhere for less than $800 for five days.

Hotels in Manhattan are very small anyway & unless you're spending serious cash, but you don't go away to sit in the hotel all day, do you ?

BuffyBot

As in the previous post that you linked to, it seems that you should be very careful when booking anything through priceline in case that you might unwittingly sign up for some services that you didnt want and thereby be charged for extra things.

Well in all the times I've used it, I've never been signed up for anything!

ut is there a chance that if your price was too low, they would stuff you into a 2* hotel or would they come back asking you to increase your price ceiling?

No. If you select 4*, it will only give you 4* and above

Same with 3* etc. It won't "downgrade" you to match your price

blahblah06

how do u book a hotel when it only gives options for billing as canada and us

dingding

Just be careful when booking, I used one of those sites and I noticed a couple of transactions on the credit card for about 10 dollars per month. Some of the sights sign u up for membership of webloyalty and deduct the money from the card.

Had to get the card canceled to stop it. :mad:

http://www.xconomy.com/2007/12/19/class-action-lawsuit-unfolding-in-boston-against-webloyalty-fandango-priceline/

Details in the above link.

AIB also refunded the money taken from the account.

Other than that no problems and got some great bargains.

Kelso

I was in the states last Summer and used Priceline name your price a couple of times, and found it excellent. They give you at least the star rating you request (I once got upgraded fromm 3 to 4 star in Washington even:D) and the selection comes from what they are offering on their website, no hidden crappy hotels.
would definitely recommend it