PRICELINE USERS ARE JUST PLAIN NUTS!
 

Well, in my (not so humble) opinion people that use Priceline are just plain nuts. Let's see, you pay up front without knowing which hotel, what kind of room, and in what part of the city, and even if it is a flea bag dump you have no recourse and can NEVER get your money back. What is WRONG with this picture? Why would anyone do that when there are hundreds if not thousands of very nice, small, inexpensive hotels all over Europe, most of which can be booked via the Internet or FAX or e-mail? It makes no sense to me and it is only logical that anyone that books a hotel this way is JUST PLAIN NUTS!!!!!

Hey John I agree with you. Now, I wouldn't call them nuts, just not too bright. Priceline built itself on the fact that many people are not smart enough to search out the best deals and are willing to pay up front for unknown airline, flight time, routing, hotels, etc. Perhaps we can descibe those that use Priceline as "intelligence impaired" rather than your rather crude "nuts".<BR><BR>Caio

Right SPOT ON, John. <BR><BR>In addition, no cancellation or refund even if you should die before you go. <BR><BR>I'm troubled by its popularity and the possibilities that other travel outfits will follow USAirwau=ys and PriceLine.<BR><BR>(US Airways keep the money and voids your ticket if you miss your flight. Only one exception. For an extra $100 they will permit you to fly standby on the same day you originally planned to fly. If no space opens up, or the flight you miss is the last one of the day, you're out of luck.)<BR><BR>It's getting so that the only travel left to those of us without a private airplane is driving or walking.

Actually, SeeMore, US Air was the first to announce the new policy and now ALL the majors are doing the same. Cheap tickets are null and void if not used by the date and time of the flight. I don't have a big problem with that as long as I know it up front. I DO have a problem with buying something without at least knowing what I am getting beyond a flight. That would be like going to a cafe and asking for something to eat for $3.98 and then hoping like hell it is edible.

Au contraire, John! PL users are savvy enough to know that by going to www.biddingfortravel.com you can find out what hotels are offered at the star level for which you're bidding. PL offers many more hotels in the US than in Europe, so I'm more likely to use it here than there. I have stayed at a Sheraton in downtown Sacramento for $45/night for a double and a Hyatt in Monterey for $45/night for a double. Neither was a flea bag dump. Know of what you speak before you resort to name-calling, John of Harvard (supposedly).<BR><BR>By the way, I'm in no way connected with PL or BFT.

I've never used Priceline for Europe, but using it for hotels in the US definitely isn't nuts. I've stayed at the Hilton Times Square in New York City for $75, at the W Lakeshore in Chicago for $41, and the Sheraton Anchorage for $54. By the way, it's not always true that you don't know what part of the city you're bidding on -- in large cities like New York, Chicago, and Phoenix you bid for a specific region of the city -- and since you are also bidding based on the star level of the hotel, you can be pretty sure that if you're bidding for a 4-star hotel in the North Michigan Avenue section of Chicago you won't be in a "flea bag dump." Biddingfortravel.com can be very helpful since it has lists of hotels by city, region, and star level, along with successful bids.

Just a word on US Airways, their policy is not that bad, it is really just so you don't buy the cheaper and then not show up until the more expensive flight and then get it.<BR><BR>Last weekend a friend of mine had an early flight and on the way to the airport was involved in a minor fender-bender. Of course she was held up over an hour and missed her flight. She took a copy of the police report with her to check in and they put her on the next flight with no problems because she had a legitimate reason for missing the flight. <BR><BR>As for Priceline, people are nuts to use them. I actually bid on a ticket one time but my bid was not accepted. I called an airline directly and acutally got the ticket directly from them cheaper than my bid plus all the add-n fees together. I'll never think of Priceline again.

John,<BR><BR>Sorry to disagree with your humble opinion, but I consider myself particularly savvy for using Priceline. You are right, I could find a great deal using the internet for my trip to Europe this summer, but Priceline was GREAT when I needed a hotel room in Boston in July. My son was at a summer program and I was going to be picking him up to fly him home. First, I knew I was NOT going to be cancelling the trip because I had to bring him home! Second, the hotel rates in Boston were through the roof and we wanted to stay in downtown Boston to see the sights. I looked at biddingfortravel.com and saw which hotels were in which location and bid based on that. The best bargain on-line was $129/night. I got a Radisson hotel in the location that I wanted for $59/night. This same room would have cost me $170/night if I had booked directly with the hotel. So who's the nut here?

I've used priceline.com and priceline.co.uk about 10 times now: twice for fares to Europe, once for a hotel in DC, twice for hotels in England and Scotland and six times for rental cars in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and England.<BR><BR>I'm an experienced traveler. I've been to all of the 48 contiguous states. I've traveled to Europe 18 times since 1990. I know the best places to find the best fares and prices. I know the best time to buy plane tickets, and how to negotiate good rates on hotel rooms. And I use, on occasion, priceline.com. The biggest savings come on rental cars. I have literally save more than $1,500 in total with six rentals over the cheapest rental car rates I could find/negotiate outside of priceline. As for hotels, you do know what part of the city, because you choose what part of the city you want to stay in. You also choose a star rating. I always choose 4 star, so I'm always assured of a decent hotel.<BR><BR>I place ridiculously low bids, and they are accepted 75% of the time. I only use it for flights when I am extremely flexible, which is why I've only used it twice.<BR><BR>I also only use priceline when my plans are very firm, as I realize I could lose the money if my plans change. But it's a risk I'm willing to take at times because the savings are so great.<BR><BR>John, it's obvious that you have no connection to Harvard, because they would have taught you how to better formulate an argument.

Let's see, John. Your PhD equips you to say that Priceline users don't know what part of the city their hotel is in, even though that's demonstrably untrue. Would that be a PhD in logic or just a PhD in your dreams?

Logging in here with my humble MBA: I've used Priceline repeatedly to book visitors into hotels here in Chicago, and previous posters were correct. If you select a 4 star hotel in the North Michigan Avenue region, you are in a good hotel. Period. When I can book guests into the Fairmont or the Suissotel for less than $100 per night, I consider it well done.<BR>Also, if you know that there is one and only one airline servicing a particular airport, and you know the schedules, Priceline is the only way to go. When I fly to Eureka/Arcata, I know that I'm connecting through San Francisco, and I know that I'm on United. Have to be - nobody else goes there. So I set my price, pick my day, away I go for a lot less than United will ever sell them direct.<BR>Most graduate schools teach you to never generalize about anything unless you have a statistically significant sample to represent the entire population. Strongly doubt that John has that much information....

If you use it as Ann's comments suggest, you're nut not to use priceline, only if you're interested in saving a few bucks. If you got the money spend it elsewhere. We're leaving tomorrow, Austin to Frankfurt RT for $629 which we got through Priceline.com. The closest I've seen any other sites or paper specials is $650 for this particular period of time. Not a big saving, but some. Like any company out there, use with discretion, but I wouldn't overlook them if you want to save a little.

Hi John, Priceline's appeal must be to people whose idea of smart shopping is to buy a pig in a poke. Why would Priceline, or any other seller, fail to disclose the specifics of what they are selling? To save the buyer money? I think not. People who shell out money for something with no specific knowledge of what they will get are clearly foolish. But are they nuts? Not necessarily. Perhaps they lack whatever it takes to ferret out a genuine bargain of the type you and I prefer.

Harvard or not, Jocko and John clearly don't like to be confused with facts. While not as experienced with Priceline as the posters above, I've gotten similar deals and have been able to afford getaways which I could not previously work into my budget. This weekend, for example, I'm attending a party in Philadelphia because I got a room for $45. I know the hotel, the location, and the fact that the rack rate is three times that.

This is nut searched for months for a reasonably priced hotel in Amsterdam at Christmas. This best I could find in Amsterdam was $150 for our family of 4. Instead I booked a little place in Alkmaar (20 miles away) for $105. Then someone told me about Priceline.com. Now I'm staying in the Renaissance hotel (4 Stars) for $75.00 per night. True, I'll miss some of the charm of little hotels, but the price is too good to miss.

Could Harvard John possibly be a TROLL?

I use to be one of those "priceline is lame, etc". I JUST booked my 1st trip on priceline. I booked a direct rountrip flight from JFK to AMS for $299 (tax incl) on Delta. That SAME exact flight is on travlocity for $535. <BR><BR>The way I looked at it was, most flights that go to Europe leave in the evening, so my chances were greater to leave in the evening. But I was prepared to take an earlier flight, or 1 connection if I had to.<BR><BR>As for hotels, priceline ask you what zone in the city you want to stay. And they YOU choose the star level. I booked 3 nights in Downtown Toronto Courtyard Marriot for $30 a nite!!! that SAME room retailed for like $70! Priceline usually uses major hotel chains. As for booking hotels on your own, can you really believe the pictured you see of the hotels when you book on travelocity? <BR><BR>Priceline is for people who have flexibility and are willing to save a few bux. The savings can be tremendous.<BR><BR>I think priceline is making a believer out of me.

John, I don't give a damn if you think we're nuts to save tons of money using Priceline for hotels. Obviously you have the money to burn. Me - I would rather pay $83 (total with tax/fees) a night for the Renaissance in Amsterdam than the $195/night AAA rate - or about the same amount for a dump with a small bed. Because using biddingfortravel.com I knew I was very likely to get either the Renaissance, the Marriott, or the Radisson SAS when bidding for a 4-star hotel, I felt no fear bidding for Amsterdam on Priceline. Sure, I'll save only about $400 for my four nights in Amsterdam (almost as much as the cost of my plane ticket) - I must be out of my mind! I'm sure the king bed in my room will be insane, too!<BR><BR>Actually, I'm glad you are spreading the word to scare people away from Priceline - just means more available discount rooms for those of us who are savy enough to use it. That's right - Priceline is BAD! STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! :-)<BR><BR>Andrew<BR>

I agree, partially, with the distinctions drawn re USAirways. However, if you show up on time with ticket in hand and play by every one of the rules, they can still refuse to seat you. Why? Oversell.<BR><BR>Yes they have to accomodate you on a later flight but they reneged on the deal by not letting you fly as per your schedule.<BR><BR>Now. When you can't make it on time for your flight, too damned bad for you if the rest of the flights are sold out (or yours was the last flight of the day). You don't go and you don't see your money. Too damned bad for you again.<BR><BR>USAirways wins on both deals.

Here are my recent savings on Priceline -- <BR><BR>Labor Day weekend in Montreal at the Crown Plaza -- 3 nights @ $67 USD/night vs. $210 USD/night rack rate, and I also ended up with a 2 bedroom suite, breakfast each morning, daily newspaper and a complimentary pass for the metro and buses.<BR><BR>Two nights at the Hyatt Harborside in Boston on Monday and Tuesday -- $38/night vs. $280/night rack rate. Have 4 other nights booked there for the rest of the year.<BR><BR>Three nights at the Intercontinental Barclay in NYC -- $110/night vs. $380/night.<BR><BR>Roundtrip airfare Boston to London over Thanksgiving -- $279 RT including taxes vs. $500 RT plus taxes at the time I booked (6 weeks ago). The current lowest airfare for the time I booked is now $400 RT plus taxes.<BR><BR>5 nights at the Disney World Dolphin, a 5 star resort hotel, at Epcot for $75/night vs. $379/night rack rate.<BR><BR>I was very confident about the hotels that I would get, based on the areas and star levels that I bid for, as I did my research through Biddingfortravel.com.<BR><BR>

I used them for a renta ca car in Myrtle beach in June.. All rentals companies wanted 400..plus for a luxury car, PL came in at my 249.00 request,I have rec'd the same type of deals with them on Airfare, Purto Vallarta was 635.on all major airlines, with PL I got my 399 and flights were great.I am a beleiver!!!!!!!!

And what exactly is the point of your post John? To let us know that you have money to burn? At least you should get your facts straight before calling people nuts. I just had a fabulous stay in NYC and knew exactly what area of the city I was bidding for. And the hotel was wonderful...adn at a great price!!! Thanks to priceline.com . I'm a believer too!!! Priceline's for me.

Me too. I was very hesitant to use PL- and then...I paid $90 at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC. Just request 5-star/ luxury.

I don't think John has any more money to burn than myself or the others. However, I agree with him that it's more like taking a chance on your accomodations-if you cannot be flexible. You're generally bidding blindly. But if I could have a flexible schedule then I too may try it. The savings are substantial it seems.

Jill, you are not "bidding blindly" at all if you use BiddingForTravel.com . This is a website where Priceline bidders record their successful bids. From this info you not only get an idea of the prices people are paying, you get an idea where people are staying in particular cities. Priceline does not use every hotel in town; you are probably going to get only one of several hotels. BFT helps you learn which ones.<BR><BR>When you look at the results of people's bids and you see two or three nice hotels in the area and quality range in which you want to say, it's very easy to think, "Wow, for 60% off, I could stay in any of those three nice places - who CARES which one?"<BR><BR>If you bid in a high enough quality range (3-star or higher), you are usually assured of getting a very decent place even without knowing bidding data. Priceline uses pretty safe bets most of the time - Marriotts, Hiltons, and Sheratons. In Portland where I live they even use botique hotels like the Hotel Vintage Plaza - a very desirable property. Honestly, I think people worry far too much about getting "dumps" with Priceline. Most of the bidding results I see are posts from very satisfied Priceline customers.<BR><BR>Andrew<BR>

Excellent reply, Andrew!! You explained it perfectly. It certainly isn't 'bidding blindly', as Jill suggested. I did a lot of homework on bidding for travel before deciding to go ahead with priceline. I then chose to bid on a 4 star.... quite true I didn't know which one I would be staying at, but I knew I would be thrilled with any 4 star. ..Any of them would be more than I could normally afford. I will always use priceline for hotels. I think it's great. I'm only disappointed that Canadians can't use the airfares and car rentals.

Thanks for correcting me Andrew. I did not realize it's that simple-really got the impression that it's a blind bid. I may give Priceline a try then.

After seeing several references on this board to Priceline and biddingfortravel.com, I decided to give it a try. Next week I will stay in the Boston Sheraton at the Pru for about $82/night (including taxes and Priceline's $6 service charge), while the rack rate for that hotel on my dates was $219. When I stay in comparable hotels for work, the convention rate is in the vicinity of $150, so I'm pleased with the price I got.<BR>Many thanks to the Fodors posters who steered me to biddingfortravel -- I would never have considered Priceline if I had not read up on it at BFT and learned from others' bidding strategies.

I have been tempted to use Priceline UK on different occasions for flights, but, at the last minute, always chickened out. I wouldn't hesitate a minute for a hotel in the US, where star rating is more consistent than in Europe, and the general hotel culture is open to fierce price negotiation. But I wanted to book a London-Panama, and, due to the JFK-AMS, was afraid to be eventually stranded into a three day journey. In this case, it really is a blind date. And even BFT recommends that you shouldn't try to bid for more than 20 % reduction off the common rate. Basically, I think that PL's strength is its negotiating power in the US due to the volume of American travel. When it goes to less traveled routes, and especially from Europe, I am afraid that its rationale doesn't work any more. But I would be happy to be converted...

Vincent-I've used priceline.co.uk for hotels in Glasgow and Liverpool. Both times got Marriott, at about 1/3 of the rack rate.

Vincent, I was very surprised to read that you think that the hotel star rating system is more consistent in the US. Whatever the European system is, it can hardly be less consistent than the US system, as there simply isn't one. Priceline, Mobil, Hotwire, AAA (which uses diamonds rather than stars) etc. all have their own rating systems and since the criteria vary, any given hotel can have very different star ratings simultaneously, from the different systems. But the Priceline web site does spell out their criteria quite explicitly. There are only a handful of hotels in the US that are rated 5-star by Priceline..

Nuts? I'm at the Copthorne Tara in London right now. Got the room on Priceline for $90.00. It would have gone for $200.00 plus. And I did choose which part of London and rating of hotel. I also got to Paris last week on a $400.00 round trip ticket (Raleigh - Paris) from Priceline. It works for me.

We are leaving Thursday on flights we booked through Priceline for the first time. We got great Delta flights from Denver to Madrid, Spain. So who's nuts?

I like taking risks and am full aware of the risks I take from bidding on Priceline. No need to slam people who like to take a risk. Maybe you should take more risks.

To John, Eddie, and other naysayers of Priceline: I've stayed at the Stanhope in NY for $75 a night, whereas the rack rates are far higher than that. Tell me, where else can one find a deal like that? No amount of research is going to get you that kind of price for that kind of hotel. Why pay the same price for a dump when you can get luxury?<BR><BR>Eddie: You sound like the one who is "intelligence impaired". As for myself, I only graduated Magna Cum Laude from college. That must make me a moron, right?

I have also gotten some fabulous deals at Priceline and will continue to do so in the future. Good to know that we won't be running into John or Eddie at the next MENSA meeting!

OK Priceliners. Read your posts. All of them. Priceline is good because you can't beat the price. Period. No service, no guarantees, no help 800 numbers, nothing. Just price.<BR><BR>If you paid $75 to stay at the Stanhope in NY, but your flight is cancelled and you get in a day late, 1) do you get a refund for the missed night?, 2) do you get reimbursed for the night at an unplanned hotel en route?<BR><BR>If you get beri beri and can't travel, can you change dates? Get a refund? NOPE.<BR><BR>If you show up and they have no record of your reservation and all you have is a confirmation from Priceline, and it's midnight in NYC, and you can't get online to send a complaint to Priceline, what can you do?<BR><BR>I like adventure but not that kind. Thanks, but no thanks.

Absolutley agree. Especially for airline tickets. Why would anyone agree to pay for anything without knowing what you are getting? How can you make a "bid" without knowledge of the details? It is NUTS! Goes to show PT Barnum had it right.

SeeMore, I agree with everything you said. Except your last sentence. I'm a Priceine enthusiast. Apparently I'm willing to take the risks associated with Priceline and you're not. Fine; something for everyone.<BR><BR>Me, I'm willing to take the risk of the occasional lost night(s), since I'm paying less than half-price. That's definitely a trade-off, and one that each individual has to assess for themselves. To me, the bottom line looks very cost-effective.<BR><BR>Be realistic, when your flight is delayed and you have to stay in a different city, it matters not a bit what type of reservation you have at your destination, that hotel isn't going to help you at your unexpected halfway point. And lost reservations happen in any system, as any experienced traveler or reader of these boards knows. Common sense tells you to call the hotel and confirm, regardless of the type of res.<BR><BR>It's true, you get what you pay for. If you're willing to pay twice as much because you're afraid of beriberi (easily preventable wtih vitamin pills, BTW), then go right ahead.

Jan, I've had very good luck with understanding hotels when stranded. I was stuck in Salt Lake City recently when a mechanical caused our flight to make an emergency landing. It was about 9:00pm in NYC when I called and explained our plight. They said they would cancel the no-show and would hold my room for next day arrival.<BR><BR>Our "hotel" that night was the plane, which landed 12 hours late into Newark. <BR><BR>We got to the hotel at 6:00am and they let us check in at no charge.<BR><BR>The booking was made with their res. system.<BR><BR>A Friend booked a flight on Priceline (LA to Cincinnati) and his flight was cancelled about 45 minutes before scheduled departure. Delta refused to rebook him. Told him to take it up with Priceline. He didn't go (unrestricted Y class was way too expensive.)