Tips on Priceline or other discount Hotel sites
 

I was wondering if there are "best times" to bid on priceline or book on other Discount Hotels pages... morning, afternoon, late night? Closer to the dates you will be staying?

Going to New York City week of Sept. 26 and searching for great rates. A little afraid of priceline not knowing what you'll end up with. Read a hotel was rated 3 stars but a review was written that it was much less than, horrible bathroom, mold, mildew...

Also, does Priceline only search chains such as Holiday Inns, Radisons... Won a night at Sheraton Towers this summer for $100. It was only one night so I took a chance. Said I'd never do it again but now I'm considering it!

Any suggestions would be great!!

I've successfully bid 2-4 months before a trip but others have been a week or so in advance. Most of your questions are answered on www.biddingfortravel.com. It lists hotels that have come up as well as recent successful bids and you can get bidding advice. Have fun in the city!

Avella, you got great advice from Sluggo. Go to www.biddingfortravel.com and study, study, study. You'll find a list of hotels that Price Line uses in NYC (and many other cities) as well as recent successful bids for many of those hotels. The moderators at the site will even help you construct your bid, but you have to do your homework. Som

I bid on a hotel for my boston trip in May, via Priceline. I ended up staying at the Boston Park Plaza and Towers, a hotel that usually runs over 200 a night, I got it for 89 a night, this is right around Memorial Day weekend.
Ill probably try it again

I do a lot of spontaneous trips so I often bid on Priceline with very short notice (days, even hours in advance; in many cities, you can bid up until 6PM day of check-in). I've gotten just as good of deals (if not better), according to BFT, as the people who bid much earlier.

I think the basic strategy with Priceline is deciding what's the most you want to spend and then, if you are bidding in advance, start bidding below that and work up to it, until you get it. Doing research on the hotel prices and availability in your target zone is key. BFT gives you great information for guestimating which hotels you are likely to get in a particular zone, so you are not completely in the dark. If the BFT hotel list shows three 3-star hotels in your zone, find out what's the cheapest you can get those hotels for on your own on your travel dates and set your bidding target that way.

Myself, I'm not willing to pay too much on Priceline for hotels that are non-changeable/non-cancelable. I like to save at least 40% as a rule of thumb. I'm not interested in saving $10/night for three nights - it's just not worth the Priceline hassle. In that case, it's worth paying extra for the convenience of picking my hotel and being able to cancel.

Another good strategy is to book hotels in advance that you can cancel for free close to departure, then in the meantime bid on Priceline and see if you can get something cheaper. If you fail to win bids at your maximum, then be happy with the hotels you got yourself.

Andrew