Soes

wow! Priceline sounds hard to deal with. I was just going to bid on something big too.

NOT NOW!

thanks everyone

Jill

you're welcome, even though your post doesn't make any sense to me.

Andrew

No, Priceline is extremely easy to deal with. I booked more than ten hotels in 2002 with Priceline with great results, saving hundreds of dollars (or avoiding a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn for the same money). People who have a predisposition against Priceline will be likely to post anti-Priceline remarks though.

Priceline is great for people who love to save money on nice hotels. But you can't be ultra picky. You will always get a decent, clean hotel, but sometimes you will get fantastic gems at rock bottom prices. Examples of gems: Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale, $57/night. Marriott Amsterdam, $80/night. The "worst" hotel I got was a Hilton in Raleigh which was fine, just a little dated. For $30/night how could I complain? Try getting close to these prices any other way.

If you are extremely picky about your hotel and that's more important than saving money, Priceline is not for you.

Andrew

xxx

Andrew, your constant defense of Priceline on this forum is becoming counterproductive and irritating. It really looks as though you take any criticism of PL or BFT personally, and so one starts to think, what's in it for you? And I am someone who has bid successfully on Priceline and been very satisfied.

Paul

I'm with you, Andrew. I too, have received some great hotel deals on Priceline when I have needed a quick overnight stay or two. However, I will not use them to fly with as I do not like the required layover/plane change nor losing the ability to bid on certain flights.

Happy Trails,
Paul

Soes

Jill, you silly goose! What doesn`t make: Any sense?? The fact that people have put up a million posts stating problems with priceline. That sure makes sense to The Dougster...

Andrew

Paul, I don't think I'd use Priceline to fly in the domestic US either unless I needed a last-minute ticket or something. If you look carefully, you can often find great airline deals without Priceline, if you have 7 days notice. For international travel, however, I think I may try Priceline soon. You pretty much have to take a red eye flying from the west coast to Europe anyway, so you're unlikely to get great times whether you use PL or an airline directly.

I rented one car on Priceline and though my rental was fine am not sure I would do so again. You can't save nearly as much money as you can with hotels, but you are locked into it. Hotels are a different story: you can save a ton of money with Priceline, so to me the non-cancelable feature is worth the risk. As I said, I booked about ten hotels with Priceline in 2002 and am a very satisfied customer.

Andrew

xxx

Huh? By far the majority of posts are RECOMMENDING Priceline. And your post makes no sense since it is not in context. Who exactly were you thanking?

Andrew

Soes, can you point me to the "million posts" about problems with Priceline? How about a specific link to back up this claim? I've seen only a few complaints, and most of them are just griping by people who want the best hotels in the world for nothing; heaven forbid they get an older Hilton for $30/night! These are people who will never be satisfied no matter what they do.

You can find a few valid complaints about Priceline if you look on BiddingForTravel.com . But you will have to wade through all the posts from people who are thrilled about the good deals they got.

Andrew

jugularjenc

It's not even the defense of it, it's your approach to the defense Andrew. It is so "out there" and angry that people are inevitably going to react negatively to you and react in kind to what is now perceived as "your product". As far as you are concerned, nothing at all negative can be said about PL. It is all good. Well, it is not. The negative has been laid out before. All anyone need do is pull up some of the old posts. You know that as well as the rest of us. Your attacks at the slightest criticism do raise suspicions as to your motives. Your reactions are totally out of keeping with the nature of the criticism. Not everyone will see things your way nor you theirs, so why jump their bones about it? Live and let live. Re-think your stance. Just a suggestion, no, a word to the wise.

Now, do you really consider an Embassy suites a real gem, even at $57? Maybe that's where our differences lie. (And no, I don't work for Hotwire - yet!)

zzz

Good for you, don't use priceline. But why do you have to try to convince others not to? Please stay away so I can get even better deals. So uninformed.

Ken

I use Priceline weekly and am a big fan of the service. If you do your homework, it can save you big bucks.

Paul

Good point, Andrew, regarding the international flights... although there are so many deals out there for flights these days.

Regarding cars: I have never found the best price at the rental agency's homepage, my best bets have always been Priceline.com, 11thHourVacations.com, and OneTravel.com. I have never had any problems with any of the aforementioned discounters.

Happy Trails,
Paul

sss

Andrew, do you peruse this board looking for people who choose not to use Priceline so you can get up on your soapbox? Honestly, you are sounding paranoid and as mentioned above, you are very irritating!

I have used Priceline MANY times, and I can refrain from posting comment, after boring comment, about the service. If you were offering advice or tips it would be different, but all you do it tout the merits of the service, which quite honestly is not a news flash to anyone. People either like it or they don't. Please give it a rest.

Andrew

Jugular: I did not stay at the Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale - my parents did. They have been on many cruises and stayed at numerous hotels and they LOVED this hotel. They couldn't get over how beautiful it was, and they loved the open bar at happy hour! Their friends (some of whom have high tastes) have stayed at this hotel before and have paid full price in the past because it is so nice. So for $57/night (about 1/3 of the best rate on their website for those nights), sure I'd say it is a gem. Perhaps you are used to staying in 5-star hotels all the time?

Why are *you* so angry in your response to my posts? Your reactions are totally out of line. Perhaps you should rethink your criticisms of my posts and take it easy? (Have you heard the one about the pot calling the kettle black?)

I do not work for Priceline or BFT, nor do I make a penny from any websites related to them - I am just a very satisfied customer. I guess you read selectively when you missed what I wrote above about not recommending Priceline for domestic flights or car rental - to you I guess that came out as "all good". But I suppose you will read whatever you want to read if your goal is just to run someone else down?

I'm still waiting for the links to those "million complaints" Soes talked about. Specifics, please - don't suggest people "go find it". If you want specific links to the dozens of accolades people have posted on BFT about their Priceline hotel deals, I would be happy to provide at least a few of them. It would take me too long to post them all.

Andrew

Frida

I have never had a problem with Priceline. I have booked through them many times and saved thousands of dollars by now.

xxx

I have never seen any complaint against Priceline in which Priceline was accused of doing anything that's not specified in their TOS. My favorite is, "I booked through Priceline and now I can go because my dog Fi-fi has the sniffles. Damn Priceline won't refund my money! What do I do?"

...learn how to read, remember those RIF commercials?

Macie

Well, you can use Priceline or not. Who cares?

I haven't used Priceline or Hotwire for flights (I prefer to select times, airline, and non-stop flights and pay the extra), but have used both for many years for hotels.

You simply CANNOT beat Priceline and Hotwire hotel prices. Not once have ever been disappointed with the hotel, and each and every time the rate has been ridiculously low, compared to all other web resources.

Hotels and airfares are and entirely new endeavor each and every time you book these days. You can save a LOT by doing your homework and shopping like crazy with all resources available.

You folks can diss Priceline and biddingfortravel.com all you like, but those in the know are getting tremendous bargains.

I'm guessing that, to you "hard to deal with" requires expending a bit of effort...

Risa

You can use Priceline or not. Priceline is definitely NOT "hard to deal with" if you know what you're doing. And, in the alternative, you be wasting major bucks otherwise.

Up to you. NOW!

Famous Traveler

p;ease stop your bickering.
Nina