Have some of you had experences booking motels with Priceline? How does it work? We have a niece who has gotten a room in a Des Moines motel for a reunion for $35. Best rate on line for that place run $70. I tried posting a price of $40 for any D.M. motel (actually Urbandale) and there was one but it was another brand. Can you just call up a motel and dicker with them?

ozarksbill

When you bid on Priceline, you can select a star level and a zone, but not a specific hotel. If your bid is acepted, your credit card will be charged.

Reading www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com are good ways to learn all about Priceline, and find out what hotels bidders have been getting.

Of course, instead of using Priceline, you can call any hotel and try to negotiate a price.

I'm confused. You were bidding for a motel and it told you the brand it would be before winning the bid? On Priceline?

Partick - Priceline has straight reservations in addition to the name-your-own-price stuff now. With the straight reservations, they are pretty much just like expedia, orbitz, etc. You put in your city and dates and they give you some options. Or you can do the name your price thing.

Bill - definitely read the web sites abram recommended. They are really helpful for figuring out how to use the name-your-own-price section for Priceline, which is how people get such fantastic deals - basically you tell Priceline the area, dates, and star level you want, then how much you are willing to pay. Priceline checks the database and sees if it has any rooms to sell that meet your criteria. If it does, your card is charged and you have your reservation. If not, then you can try again. The rebid process is a little obtuse, but those web sites do a pretty good job of explaining.

Also remember that you won't be able to cancel the reservation if you don't like it, don't go on the trip, etc.

I'm usually on a very tight budget for lodging, but I've done better booking directly through the hotel/motel and being able to make changes or cancellations than to go through Priceline and have to pay whether I make it there or not. Your mileage may vary, but know and understand the rules before you book.