Tips for Priceline.com
 

I'm going on a trip to NY in April and am thinking about using priceline.com or a similar website to book our hotel and airfare. Have people had good/bad experiences with this and what are some tips on how to use the website and get the best deals?

Go to www.biddingfortravel.com. Read everything. Everything.

Question? Are you needing a room for one or two people? If more than two, be aware that many NYC hotels will give you one double or one queen bed (no more) using Priceline. So if bedding is a concern, it is probably not a good deal for 3 or more.

Otherwise, I would heartily recommend BiddingforTravel and Priceline. You can get numerous good 4* or 3* hotels for under $125 a night, including the NY Hilton, Marriott Marquis, Marriott Courtyard, Waldorf-Astoria etc.

We received the NY Hilton for a week at a rate of $95 a night! Good luck!

Also take a look at betterbidding.com they will also help you determine a bidding strategy. Read as much as you can before you bid so you are clear about what you are doing. Check the hotels that have previously been won in each zone so you have an idea of what you MIGHT win. Do not be put off by the 'attitude' you might encounter at biddingfortravel.com - simply ignore it, following the bidding form and stick to a rate the YOU are comfortable with. The other website (betterbidding.com) is more user friendly. Both offer good information.

As far as NYC, I have previously "won" the Grand Hyatt ($75 in 2002), and the Metropolitan ($105 on a busy November 2003 weekend). Happy with both, was never treated as 'second class Priceline person', all rooms and baths were clean, check in easy. Good luck and let us know if you bid successfully.

I've had terrific luck with Priceline and Hotwire with vacation packages.

Be very careful to check the location of the hotels before making your selection. If it says you have two hours to make up your mind, don't worry, you can try again later. Don't let yourself be rushed. Take the time to check hotel reviews on TripAdvisor.com

And, do your airfare hotel rate shopping first, so you can recognize a really good deal.

The advantage of booking packages with Hotwire and Priceline is that you can select a specific hotel.

I've used priceline at least a dozen times for hotels and airfare and got fantastic deals. These days its much harder though because if your bids are turned down, and you can't make any changes in your itenerary, you have to wait 2 or 3 days to try again I believe.

You can get stuck with pretty long layovers between flights, but I usually get nonsops or hour layovers. The one thing you have to realize is that Priceline can shorten or extend your fun time on vacation depending on the flight times you get. Your flights can be anytime between 6am and 10 pm and you won't know until you've bought the tickets. For example, if you travel from Thursday to Thursday and they fly you out late in the evening and fly you back early in the morning you've just lost two vacation days. Of course if they fy you out early and back late, you just picked up two days. I've been ok with times but my wife just got a 6 am flight. No fun in these days of getting to the airport two hours early.

I have used priceline for airline tickets and hotel reservations and have had no problems. I agree with the others about checking out biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com before using priceline.