I tried for the first time tonight using priceline. Im going to London in June-and the pounds to the dollars is killing me, so i thought i give it a try. I put in 64.00 for the kensington area-3 star....they came back with a counter offer of $99.00. Which with taxes,etc. It would be 241.32 for two nights. They don't disclose the hotel till you accept the offer. Has anyone done this before?

I've used Priceline countless times with mostly positive results. My suggestion is to research hotel prices for the city and neighborhood you hope to stay in. Go to:

http://pub210.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding

This website will give you an idea of the hotels Priceline uses and what the average rates are. Unfortunately, I've found that the closer you get to the date you want to stay, the better the price. Of course you then run the risk of everything being sold out.

Whoa, Paula! There's a learning curve to using Priceline, and it's essential that you do your homework before you attempt to bid. Go to www.biddingfortravel.com and study, study, study. It's a website that teaches you how to use PL. It's a great resource for people who know about it. Lesson #1, it's too early to bid for June! Now, you're on your way! Come back here with questions if you need to.

Paula, there have been many threads about Priceline on this forum, so do a search - just put "Priceline" in the search box, and you will see alot of discussion on this topic - and some good advice.

Priceline bidding can be tricky, so you have to be careful. A good website to learn about Priceline bidding, is:
www.biddingfortravel.com

It will take some careful reading and negociating thru the site, but might be helpful to you.

Thanks for the advice. I have already learned so much since I came onto this site. Much more to learn! What do you think is a good offer for that area in london? June....Too Soon???

As Betsy said, Lesson #1 is that it's too soon to bid for June on PL. Most of PL's rooms are places that hotels don't expect to otherwise find takers for, so just a couple of weeks in advance is best. Many PL bidders book a rgular, cancellable reservation, then start trying on PL.

Lesson #2: Pay NO attention to that suggested counterbid from PL. Instead, study the reports at biddingfortravel.

I use PL all the time, but it does take some prep work to bid successfully.

Paula5
We used priceline last year for a hotel room in London for 10 nights and got the Marriott Maida Vale for $80.00/night. It was a fantastic hotel--big room, comfortable bed, airconditioning (it was very warm there last June), nice bathroom, refrigerator, etc. Some people might not like the location b/c it's in Zone 2, but the tube stop was a 5 minute walk and the bus stops were right outside the hotel. We did wait until a little closer to the trip to bid for the room--it seems like it was April or May when we bid and our trip was the middle of June. Good luck!

Paula, as others have said, read and study the info available on Bidding for Travel. After you read the hotel FAQs, ask BFT to help you put together a bidding strategy. Since you aren't going until June, you have time to do this. The bidding strategy will take into consideration several factors including exact dates when you plan to go and how much hotel rooms are going for at the price level you are looking at during that time. Those folks are the experts and it really will pay off to let them work with you.

I would recommend that you study the FAQs and spend several days read posts by others and the hotel reviews for London before you ask for assistance -- by then you'll have a pretty good idea how it works and not be so intimidated.

Be aware that they run a very tight board -- they keep everything to the stated purpose and they do require you to follow their rules (when they say to post ALL the requested info before they give you a bidding strategy, they mean it). Don't be put off by this -- they are performing a great free service so play by their rules and it can really pay off for you.

The one word of caution that I would give about Priceline is, if you are a really picky person, you shouldn't be using Priceline. I think the people who are more "go with the flow" type people (like me) are happiest with it. You have to be willing to accept whatever hotel you end up with at the price level you bid on in the zone you bid for. Sometimes you will get a hotel that is barely tolerable and occasionally, it will be absolutely wonderful. Usually, it will be somewhere in between.

That said, as a historical point of referrence, I got two different Kensington 3 stars (Kensington Thistle Palace and Holiday Inn Kensington Forum) for 3 nights each last October at $50 each per night. I do not expect that you will get close to that price for June....I was somewhat surprised to get it that low in October. Of these two hotels, I would rate the KTP as okay (a bit above barely tolerable) and the HIKF as wonderful. Others might have another view. In both cases, I felt that I more than got value for what I paid. Hotel reviews for both of these hotels plus other Kensington 3 stars are posted on BFT.

Bottom line, use BFT to get the best price for your trip.

I would not necessarily agree that it's too early to bid for June. I'd say it's too early to bid <i>too much</i> for June. If you can get a good rate, say, under US$100 for 4-stars in central London, then now's a fine time to do so. All it takes is one fare war (Transatlantic or intra-Europe) and the pickings might get much thinner.

That said, there's a whole strategy to responding to PL &quot;counteroffers&quot; that's explained in the FAQs at Biddingfortravel.com.

Also look at www.cleverbidding.co.uk - BFT's UK counterpart - for domestic results (posted in Sterling) - you can see what people are getting via Priceline.co.uk.

We just used priceline for our stay in Paris. We bid $100 and got a room at the Le Meridien Montparnasse which they classified as a 4*. It was a huge hotel, but convenient and the room was very nice. We did get a remodeled room which from what we heard does not always happen when you get the hotel room from priceline or expedia or other discounters. So we have no complaints.

Going in, I knew what area we were looking for and basically researched all the possible hotels in the area that we would get. Once we were satisfied, we bid.

I do agree that if you are picky, you probably won't want to use priceline.

Thanks to you all for your help on PL.

Carrolldf...I stayed at the Forum 4 years ago-and it was a decent hotel. It is rated a 4 star-going for 200-250 right now. We had a package deal when we went so the price wasn't so bad. This time around i am doing multi-city going from london to paris-nice-Ct-italy. So-I have alot of work aahead of me as far as looking for hotels. Someone else on this board did put in a bid on PL for july and got the forum for 64.00. My counteroffer they gave me was 100.00-which isn't so bad, but i want the 64.00 now.
...The person who put in the 64.00 hit the 3 star rating-which the forum is a 4 star-does that happen often?
...thanks again for all the help everybody!

Cristiana...what zone is the meriden montparnasse in and is in the left bank or right bank?

Paula, I don't know if it's changed or whatever, but Priceline puts the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in the 3 Star list. It also could be ranked differently on different lists from what I've heard -- although more people complain that Priceline is more likely to over-rank a hotel than under-rank.

That said, there was a world of difference between the two hotels (Kensington Thistle Palace and Holiday Inn Kensington Forum) in the same zone both of which Priceline lists as 3 stars. I was already in the KTP when I bid for the second 3-day stay (due to last minute change of plans) and fully expected and actually hoped that at $50, I would end up there for the next three days. I was actually a bit miffed at having to change hotels but that changed to pure joy once I checked in at the HIKF. So, you just never know.

Thanks for the tips. I have to wait my 72 hours and then I will try again.