Priceline & Asia
 

Not sure if this ever got posted. Has anyone used Priceline.com to purchase hotel in Singapore, Bangkok & ChaingMai? If so, were you pleased with the results? Was Priceline on target re: 4 or 5 star and your expectations? What did you bid and what did you get? Thank you for any info you can provide. I am seriously thinking of going this route.

I used Priceline last year for 5* Bangkok. We got the JW Marriott for about $75 per night. It's going for less this year. Check out www.biddingfortravel.com

The hotel was very nice and so was our room. It had a large marble bathroom and was a good value for the cost. We liked the location too.

How about the hotel selection for Chaing Mai and Phuket? what are the priceline hotels?

I know there are a lot of people who 'rave' about Priceline but from what I have read on the bidding it only seems ok if you are going for a grade of hotel, I have read through what they offer and it has . personal;y, never appealed to me. For what I call 'named' hotels maybe, but the range of hotels is quite limited, I guess it's ok to get a 4-5 star hotel cheap but I prefer to choose hotels that I either know or have recommended.
There is a fine line between 3 and 4 star hotels ( Thailand by the way has no official ranking at all so any 'Star' ratings are purely those done by whoever puts in the ranking ).
For me B 2,000 ( $50 ) is about the tops I would pay for any hotel, and of course, like anywhere in the world, there are lots of properties that are good value for money but not part of the large 'groups'.
Places such as the Tamarind in Chiang Mai, Baan Yin Dee and Bothouse in Phuket, Kaban Tamor in Hua Hin, Royal Cliff in Pattaya, I could go on and on.
I think once of the prime benfits of a forum such as this is to find those 'great' hotels.

We stayed at the Marriott Resort and Spa, Bangkok last April for $47 per night via Priceline. That was before 5 star hotels on the river were available. Next time, we will likely go for the Shangri La at about $55. We paid an extra $10 per night for an upgrade at the Marriott and were very pleased indeed with this hotel. I do not believe that Priceline is available for hotels in Chiang Mai.

the most recent awards on priceline for 5* hotels have been fabulous, but the 4* have been mostly for the holiday inn or novotel, both of which are not 4* in my opinion...buyer be ware....

Some years back a friend who worked in a large hotel of a major group told me that when bookings are down they tempt low prices but the idea was to make up for it on F&B ( Food and Beverage ) and laundry, they reckoned that on 'average' what they could get from high pricing all the additionals a good return, the idea was to get people into the property and then make up for it on drinks charges etc.
If you are (like me ) who stocks the mini-bar from the nearest 7-11, and avoids eating in the hotel unless things are really cheap, do watch all those extras.
I guess if you are not filing the rooms and you are well away from restaurants and things then the place 'can' make up the shortfall.
Hence why a Cola costs 4 x as much in some hotels as others, and then they add 17% on top of that!!