LLindaC

I've never used them for airline tickets, but bidding on hotel rooms is more fun than a cat with a rubber band on its tail. Yet, there are people who tell me they never use it . Why? I just got 3 rooms at the Crowne Plaza in Chicago next week for 105 bucks a night! Yippee! Here's the only negatives, chime in.
1) Sometimes get a smoking room. However, so many are going non-smoking it's only been an issue once.
2) Choice of beds...only an issue at certain times

Anybody else?

Anonymous

I haven't stayed in hotels much since I bought my RV two years ago, but before that I was a big fan and frequent user of Priceline and never got stuck with a smoking room or unacceptable bed. On the contrary, I found hotels to be as accomodating as possible given my arrival time and actual room availability. Priceline usually deals with rooms that would otherwise be unsold, so even if you're paying far less than the going rate, it's still dollars the hotel wouldn't have if you weren't there.

FainaAgain

Airline: I'm still not over my fear of flight, so to minimize connections is important for me. Therefore, no priceline

Airline: I don't like to arrive at late PM hours and lose a full day of vacation, so no priceline!

Hotel: the location is extremely important for me, and yes, there is a difference between one block away from a metro station or five blocks, so no priceline for me

Hotel: instead of buying cancellation insurance I'd rather pay more for hotel of my choice, so no priceline

Hotel: there were posts on Fodor's people pre-paid by mistake for the wrong area or even more then the hotel's website special! Therefore, no priceline for me

Some day I may try it... today is not the day

Dan

Huge fan of Priceline. You just have to know what you're doing and not overbid or play loosely with Priceline's sometimes dubious "areas" or "star ratings." I'm a big user of biddingfortravel.com and I always pay $70-100 for four star in Chicago, $100 in NYC, etc.

Andrew

Priceline is definitely not for everyone. Those who are very picky about exact location and hotel or need to be able to change plans should not use it. But if you do your homework on places like BiddingForTravel.com you can eliminate much of the guesswork and from you bidding and minimize the risk of getting something you don't want. You can also decide not to bid if you want to avoid getting an undesirable hotel.

Obviously I'm a huge fan of Priceline.

By the way, you can often contact the hotel directly after you've won a Priceline bid and ask for smoking and bedding preferences. I've only rarely not gotten my smoking/bedding preferences - usually when I check in very late, and even if you've made a conventional reservation, you may not get your desired preferences if you check in late. And Marriott hotels, which often come up on Priceline, are all non-smoking now.

Andrew

BTilke

We never Priceline. We like to know exactly which hotel we're staying in and, more importantly, we usually travel with our cocker spaniel so we really can't PL a hotel, even in dog-friendly Europe. We prefer to hunt around for bargain rates for the specific hotels we have in mind.

J_Correa

I've used Priceline on many occasions and been quite happy with it. As others have said, you have to be able to work within the restrictions, but if you can, it can be a great deal.

Some Priceline successes:

SF - I got the Grand Hyatt at Union Square for $64 and the Marriott FW for about the same. Both times we were there for a function for my husband's company and just needed to be in the chosen neighborhood so we could catch the shuttle bus to the festivities.

San Diego: Travelling with a friend to a memorial service, we wanted to stay in a nice hotel on the water so we would have someplace nice to go back to and just decompress. We didn't care what hotel or even really where in SD it was as long as it was on the water. Marriott Coronado for $120/night. I would have prefered the Del, but whatever. The hotel was great and they accomodated our request for a non-smoking room with 2 beds no problem. If they couldn't fulfill our request, it wasn't a huge deal though.

Sacramento: Visiting family, basically just needed our own space somewhere in town where we could go back and decompress. We have stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown for $57/night or the Amerisuites off Hwy 50 for $30/night. Standard rates at the Best Western are around $80/night, so Priceline fits our needs perfectly.

Other times, I don't use Priceline. Like for our upcoming trip to New Orleans. I want a small hotel and am choosing very carefully.

Judyrem

I will do a small honk and wave, because a few times I was NOT happy with them...but on the WHOLE...it works great for hotel rooms....if you know what you are looking for. I would never do it for a flight however.

colombiana

LOVE Priceline, for anything (Unless I am limited in my time for airlines) for cars NEVER had a problem in fact have been upgraded many times. Hotels never gone wrong either (knock on wood) as others have suggested I always look around and make sure I am doing the right thing. I love going back once my price has been accepted and check with other sites to see how much it would have cost me, that always brings a smile to my face

Gekko

I frequently use Priceline for rental cars and I've gotten amazing deals ... most recently in Tampa & Las Vegas.

(TPA, $20 for a Hertz mid-size, LAS $25 for a Alamo compact, but free upgrade to a full-size at airport)

GoTravel

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Don

LOVE Priceline!

First time I used it was when AmEx had a cross-promotion that added $20/night to your bid. I got a 3* in Portland for $10/night, although somebody else on BiddingForTravel followed me and got the same hotel for the same nights for $6/night. Boy, do I miss the AmEx cross-promotion bonus money!

Other major successes included $65/night for the 4* Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and $50/night for the 4* Fifth Avenue Suites in Portland.

Only negative was a room we got at Chicago's Palmer House Hilton, which was closet-sized. Others have said they've gotten bigger rooms there--just depends on occupancy. Priceline customers apparently get the tiniest rooms if that's all that's available there.

All in all, gotta love the Priceline.

JJ5

HONK HONK HONK!

I wish I could do commercials for them.

I have never done a flight, because I'm a Midway Chicago person and they always send me to O'Hare.

BUT I love car rentals and hotel rooms.

I bet I'm into the 30 plus times of using them now, all in the last 10 years.

St.Louis Cupples Station Westin- had a suite overlooking Cardinals' Stadium was the most beautiful hotel rooms I've ever used.

Chicago- about 10 times, all good.

Ft.Lauderdale- great both times.

NYC- tremendous and felt like I had robbed someone.

SF- Fantastic

San Diego- Old Town was outside my door.

Toronto- Smack dab in the midst and beautiful- with views plus.

Niagara- what a hoot- the elevators were from the 1930's. Full fallsview room with any upgrade $$.

Las Vegas- 3 times all great. Rio was a suite, not a room -for a Saturday night.

That's just the ones I can remember. There was K.City, L.A. in there too.

I use hotwire once in awhile too. But I LOVE PRICELINE. And their territory criteria make it easy pickings to be where you want to be, IMHO.

There are other threads on this, and I still to do understand why people are so spooked to bid and think that they will get dis'ed when they get there.

I've never gotten a smoking room yet either. Nor spent more than $100 per night for a room. Honestly- usually about $69 to $85 average, I would say.
And my average book ahead lead time is between 3 to 4 months.

njsusan

I love Priceline.I have had great luck with Baltimore, Washington dc and this Friday in North Jersey.
I love a 4 star hotel at a 2 star price.

MFNYC

I'm aslo a fan, although when travelling with my family (4 of us), it's risky. There are some places I won't do it (mostly the larger cities), because I need a room for 4. I find it's great for places that have 'resort' categories like scottsdale and Tucson. No problem at all getting a room large enough for 4, and at great discounts.

I never had a problem getting a non-smoke room, and I always call the hotel after the room is awared to request no smoker (and double bedded if necessary).

I've never used it for air, because I have limited flexibility when flying. I have used it for car rentals on occasion.

travelina

Love it! I highly recommend it and end up booking for friends.. I usually pay about 1/2 the government rate. My best "steal" was at the Disneyworld Swan for $40 back in December 2002....I have never used it for airfare and occasionally use it for cars...

TxTravelPro

Ok, this is a confession.
It confuses me to such a degree that I have never even tried it.
Biddingfortravel confuses me even more with all the lists of 'who knows what' it requires you to post. The people on that site can be really rude to newbies.
My fear is particularly funny coming from someone who works with hotel revenue managers and totally understand the pricing model from the hotel side of the equation. I think my discomfort stems from my background as a travel agent and GDS person.
If someone has the time and patience, is there any way you can explain the process in really simple steps?

starrsville

TTP - betterbidding.com = a lot nicer

SpeedBuggy

Tex, I'm with you. Maybe it's my age, but I don't get it, so I'm afraid to use it. Then I go to those forums everybody recommends and there's pages of infomation on the area I am looking into. Then I really don't know what to do.

Guess that might be one trick you can't teach this old dog.

JJ5

TxTravelPro, I'm not particularly good, but the opposite in explaining technical procedures in print, but I do believe that there is a step by step process that is excellent on a former thread. Try the search, but it is such a common topic, you may get many others like this.

I too found biddingfortravel and the other one too (listed on former threads) confusing and hard to process quickly. But there are places on those sites where others have recorded their very recent and successful bids. So if I know you are getting the Swissotel on a 4 star bid price for next Jan. now, today accepted at $89- you (the next bidder) may have an excellent chance to start just below that for your first bid. Also you will see lists of where 4 star properties accepted recently have been.

So if I want to be in the Michigan Ave. Chicago district and see that I could get x, y or z for 4 star OR a, b, or c for three star, I may also want to change my star level as well.

But to tell you the real truth, I am one of the very few who rarely go to those sites, yet do post my successes.

Why?? Because I love the "stretch", as it makes me try new places I wouldn't probably consider on my own. And the territories are so specific that I find 3 blocks either way or 10- well I just am not finicky and know it.

The part that is so much fun is that when I see my room, enjoy it, and then go to dinner etc. and hear in the elevator people complaining about rack rates (in Lauderdale I heard $289 in February, I had bigger/better floor for $99)or how they got such a good deal with their AARP or AAA, I just smile.

I like the surprise so much, that I am often not choosing a great sure thing on hotwire anymore. LOL! Well, it's just not a big risk. The only down side to me is the cancel problem. Now with such sick people constantly, nothing is ever a "sure" thing. But I have wagered a $40 or a $50 regardless, because that's a parking fee in reality. LOL!