I noticed a post on this forum about priceline.com and I've just checked their website. Are they reputable? If you get a hotel through them, is their a service charge? What's your experience been like?

Joe-
I successfully used them for plane tickets from Detroit to Boise this summer. I had to adjust my travel date by one day on the out bound portion of the flight, but I paid $299 for tickets that would have otherwise cost $495. I got a fast confirmation and the e-ticket documents were in my hands in quick order.

I haven't used them for hotels so I can't offer any help there. Hope this info helps.

joe-

i've used priceline 3 times for hotel reservations and had a great experience all three times. there is no service charge, just the amount you request per night plus hotel taxes - which are standard based on the city. although you are financially responsible for your request if they find you the accomodation, i noticed that they did not charge my credit card until my departure from the hotel.

my biggest concern using the service was that i'd have some sort of problem at check-in but everything went very smoothly.

someone claimed that priceline uses their own 4 star system, questioning whether you really get a 4 star hotel if you ask for one. i don't know if this is true or not. you might want to do a search of priceline on this forum, i know it's been brought up on at least a few different threads.

Julie: Could you tell us which cities you used priceline for and which hotels you were able to get. Did you get good rates?

john-

i used priceline twice for a hotel austin, tx in august and got a rate of $30 a night (one stay was 3 nights the other 4, both during the week) at the candlewood suites on the south side both times (which was the area i needed for work - about a 5 or 10 minute drive from downtown for anyone who might want to know). the hotel was brand new and far exceeded my expectations as my request to priceline was only for a 2 star or better hotel. (the second time i tried the same request with only 3 star or better hotels just out of curiosity and got nothing) by the way, at the time i worked for a major hotel company and this rate was only $1 more than my employee rate at one of our hotels in austin and the candlewood suites was about 1000 times nicer (and can i just say, free laundry?!!).

the third time was actually for a friend earlier in the year so i don't remember all the details as clearly but she ended up staying 1 night (i believe a friday night) at the sheraton gateway at lax for $49...not too shabby either!

another (maybe obvious) tip for priceline.com users: most hotels set their low price limit at numbers ending in 9, 0 or 5

Julie,

Priceline acknowledges that they use their own rating system of hotels.

I didn't have such good luck. Tried three time for a 3 star at the Kansas City Airport...what hotels are there are a stretch to be called 3 stars...anyway I stopped at $69...and they would not accept it. Called the Hilton direct, and was able to get a room for $67...with free airport parking.I guess it just depends.

I believe the key and often unknown factor here is that it does "just depends". Bids are dependent upon how full the airline or hotel expects to be for the time period you have bid on. If they are experiencing or expecting a lot of vacancies your bid is more likely to be accepted than periods when they are close to capacity. You could make the identical bid on two seperate occacions and have different results.

I used priceline for hotles in New York and Boston and was very satisfied in fact we stayed at the Renasiance for $150.00 right middle of Times Square loved the hotel. Will use them again

I JUST USED THEM TODAY FOR A HOTEL ROOM IN BOSTON FOR MLK WEEKEND. THE RESERVATIONS LINE FOR THE PARK PLAZA HOTEL QUOTED ME $139 A NITE AND I GOT IT FOR $85. I KNOW BOSTON IN JANUARY IS NOT EXACTLY A HOT SPOT, BUT I SAVED MYSELF OVER $100 FO THE BOTH NIGHTS.