Zig

I am going to Orlando in August with one other adult and 3 children. I have heard a lot about priceline rates but am not sure if this will work for us. I would like a room with 2 double beds or a suite. With priceline, they only guarantee accomodation for 2 adults! Their website also does not say anything about cancellation. Is it possible to cancel after booking with priceline? Thanks!

Anonymous

Nope.

KenCT

In short, no guarantee of two double beds in a room and definitely no cancellation. Once you've hit the "Buy" button, your credit card is charged and there's no going back.

As has been stated on this board many, many times, it's not advisable to use Priceline until you've read and re-read the FAQ's on biddingfortravel.com

Some people post messages here indicating that those of us who praise Priceline have some sort of connection with the company, but in my case this is decidedly not the case. I love Priceline and use it regularly. It's enabled be to travel far more frequently than I did in the past, and to stay at much better places.

But you have to know the rules.

joan

You are taking a chance, that's true, but I've taken the same chance about 3-4 times, and it's always worked out. With a family place like Orlando, I'd bet you won't have any problem getting a room with 2 doubles. Be sure to call the hotel right away and request 2 dbls. Once we were upgraded to a suite with a pullout couch(in LA) but that's because we arrived early afternoon and our room wasn't ready. Worst case scenario: you arrive at the hotel and they only have king rooms available (or you get a crotchety clerk). You would have to buy another room at the prevailing rate.

For more info on bidding, go to biddingfortravel.com, as Ken says. I too am not affiliated with either company!

EdnaB

What a great idea Joan. Maybe the hotel's normal room rate is $175 and you could have a choice of a king or two doubles. But on Priceline I get the room for $90 a night. That's wonderful. But then let's say we do get that "worst case scenario" you describe and have to take a second room at the current rate. Because we can't get a refund on what we already paid, that now means we're paying a total $265 a night. That's a gamble I'd never be willing to take.

Andrew

Zig, as the others have said, you cannot cancel a Priceline reservation once they accept your offer - your credit card is charged on the spot. This is a good reason to *wait* til your plans are more firm before using Priceline. You do not necessarily get a better deal by waiting. I used Priceline a lot for hotels in 2002 and booked most of them with three days notice or less and still got great deals.

Personally, I wouldn't start bidding Priceline until June. Meanwhile, book a hotel now you can cancel later for no penalty in case you do wind up getting a Priceline hotel down the line.

Two beds: yes, there is no guarantee *BUT*, you can stack the odds in your favor by doing your research on BiddingForTravel. Under Orlando Hotels, you can find a list of hotels that have come up for BFT users in each zone (NOT a guarantee that you won't get some new hotel, but your odds are good). Then look at each hotel you are likely to get (probably only a few if you settle on one zone) and see if they have rooms with two bed. In a vacation spot like Orlando, odds are good that most big hotels there have plenty of rooms with two beds.

Browse through the hotel reviews for Orlando also - most likely you will see comments in the reviews about number of beds and how easily they were obtained.
I hear that in cities like New York and Chicago it can be difficult to get rooms with two beds. But in Boston, Washington, Norfolk, and Raleigh last year I got rooms with two beds no problem. It does seem to depend on the city.

If you do decide to try Priceline for this, what you should do is call the hotel *after* Priceline accepts your offer and set your bed preferences with the hotel directly. This is what I always do (some people on BFT send email to the hotel, which I wouldn't bother with). And I've always (cross my fingers) gotten my bed and smoking preference at all my Priceline hotels.
Never count on Priceline to get you a non-smoking room, either - always call the hotel yourself to set your preferences.

I'd also consider whether the hotel will allow five people to stay in one room. Worst case they will charge you something small for an extra person. Again, read the reviews on BFT for Orlando hotels and see what you can learn from them.

Andrew
(like the others, not affiliated with Priceline or BFT - just a happy customer)

gail

I would not try to use Priceline for 5 people in a room - while it is possible to try to request 2 beds, they may be 2 double beds and that will not accomodate 5 people. For some trips we will not use Priceline because we want a suite or partial kitchen, and there is no way to get that on Priceline.

However, we have used Priceline and gotten 2 rooms for under the cost of the price of 1 booked some other way.

Really - no cancellation, even for real emergencies. You have to decide if the risk is worth it.

joan

Edna, even using those numbers, you're still getting 2 rooms for less than current rate, no? $265 divided by 2 is 133, still less than your 175. Also, Orlando in August is going to be quite empty, and the walkin rate will probably be a bargain for that second room...I'll bet you a Fodor's pin that Zig will get her room with two doubles via Priceline! *grin*

EdnaB

No, my dear, you completely missed my point. In your scenario, if I had called originally myself I could have gotten one room for the four people guaranteed with 2 beds for a total price of $175. But if I did Priceline and got your "worst case scenario" where the reserved room was only $90 but only had one bed, I'd end up having to get that room, plus another one for a total of $265. I would have been happy with one room that was guaranteed to have two beds, but Priceline could make it possible that I'd end up having to get two rooms costing me a whole lot more.

don512

joan, where do you get the idea that Orlando in August will be quite empty? Correct me if I am wrong, but as hot as it is there, the summer months are peak season for anything in the WDW area.

Postal

I live in Orlando and use Priceline for area hotels whenever relatives show up. I have paid from $25 to $54 per night for three star accommodations, and when one of them (Orlando Wyndham Resort on International Drive, where I paid $25 per night) wanted $109 for an additional room (too many unplanned relatives, not too small a room), I went back home, got on Priceline, and immediately got a second room for $25! The front desk clerk was amazed, but he gladly gave us two rooms with two double beds in the section of the resort we requested.

hotel

Postal,

Important to point out that you may have gotten your second room at a different hotel.

Just don't want others to read and think that this strategy guarantees you a room at the same hotel.

Andrew

hotel is right. You can't guarantee you'll get the same hotel on Priceline if you bid twice, even if you bid five minutes apart! Priceline may have multiple vacancies at near the same price. You could get the last one at one hotel or someone else might at the same time, then you could get another hotel with the next bid!

This is one case where Hotwire is helpful. You can guess from the amenities if it's the same hotel or not. After a Priceline bid last year I needed another room at the same hotel (Embassy Suites) and did not want to risk another Priceline bid and wind up elsewhere. From the Hotwire "amenities" list I guessed that their 3.5star offering was the Embassy Suites - indeed it was. It did cost $20 more than what I paid for the Priceline one but still a good deal.

Andrew

ElCheapo

I have used Priceline in Orlando for a family of 4 and didn't have a problem. I think in your situation with 5 people I'd go ahead and bid for 2 rooms at once. You'll be assured of enough space, and you'll receive both rooms in the same hotel. I find that with Priceline I can almost always get 2 rooms for less than the price of one room reserved through the hotel.

There is a $5.95 Priceline fee added to the cost, but you'll save at least that much money in taxes.

Wait until you have your airline tickets before you bid. Priceline is an adventure, and not everyone is up for an adventure. Our Orlando story goes like this: Wyndham Orlando for 4 nights @ $23 per night.... 4 nights for LESS than the price of one night booked conventionally ($99 per night in July when we were there). You've gotta love it!

joesorce

quikbook.com has several August nights listed at the Clarion Maingate, $45 per night. Rooms have 2 beds & a sleeper sofa. Not a huge suite, but acceptable if the kids are small.

Most Quikbook rooms are cancellable.You click on the cancellation policy for any hotel that you're about to book.
You can book now and if something better pops up later, no problem.

joan

Edna, sorry I am so dumb as to miss your point! But I also have read here in many threads that "two doubles" is merely a request at any hotel, not a guarantee. The room bedding is never guaranteed, from what I understand, whether you book with Priceline, a travel agent, or whomever. So your chances of being denied upon arrival are the same...

To Don: I believe June and July are busy, but in my experience (I own a restaurant in Tampa Bay area) August and September are the slowest months. The public schools here are now sending kids back on August 7! Over the years, summer vacation times have shifted from July 4-Labor Day, to June 1st - August 1st. Even my brother, who has a vacation rental home at the Jersey shore, complains now about August being difficult...

OliveOyl

Joan, you are 100% correct in saying that a request for two beds is just that, a request, not a guarantee, despite what has been said here previously about some hotels guaranteeing bed preference. If there are 51 double doubles, and you are #52 checking in wanting that configuration, you are just plain out of luck. On top of that, rooms go into DNR unexpectedly, guests stay over unexpectedly. They do their best to honor requests, but between the above factors, then smoking/non-smoking requests along with the bed preferences, you can see why sometimes the "best laid plans of mice and men often go astray"!

Furthermore, with Priceline, aren't you booking a room for 2 only? Certainly if there is an issue with double double availability, that person who booked by whatever means and said there would be 4 in the room stands a far better chance of getting what is available over the guest booked as a deuce.

Because of the above, but primarily because of your issues with cancellation Zig, you would be better off reserving conventionally. Priceline's cancellation policy is ironclad. If you must cancel for any reason, you are just plain out of luck.

travelon

Personally, I would not book anything on Priceline more than one week in advance. What if someone gets sick or plans change? Try Sierra Suites. They have two locations in Orlando. You get a large room with two QUEEN beds, a sleeper sofa, a full kitchen and a free breakfast. If you book a three star with Pricline you will probably not get breakfast ($25.00 value). I did a quick search on hotelkingdom.com for mid August and the rate was only $65.00!

Kath

Travelon - that's a great tip. I think sometimes with Priceline, people can't see the forest for the trees. Its so important to search every other possible source for hotel rates long before bidding on Priceline. Unless you are talking big savings like ElCheapo mentions, Priceline is simply not worth it to save a few bucks a night, or at least it's not for the occasional traveler.