I don't use Priceline because I don't like the idea of being locked into something without knowing exactly what I'm getting. I always need 2 beds, so that is an issue too.

We don't use Priceline for our anniversary trips because those trips are too important for us not to be able to pick which hotel we want and which room view we want.
We do use it for short trips (example: family reunion at the end of the month, got a better deal than what hotel my cousin has everyone in and nicer hotel too) and some regular vacations. It's just husband and me and one toddler, so one bed or two doubles is still works for us. Fyi, we only began to use Priceline when we learned about www.biddingfortravel.com via this forum. Before that, we were not comfortable using it. We feel that website has made us "smarter" Priceline users.
No bad experiences so far.

Well, most of my travel in the US is for business - and the hotel I stay in is mandated by either the corporate travel office (sometimes great rates, sometimes bad) or the local of the meeting.

For personal travel, it depends on what city it is - in some places - especially in europe there are a lot of hotels listed for the locale that I would not be happy with - some may not have AC or 24-hour room service - or some other feature that I want.

The trick is how much of a risk you're willing to take to save some money - in most cases I really want to pick a specific hotel - and the savings aren;t worth the relatively small difference (if any) versus what I can find elsewhere.

I just started using Priceline recently and love it!
Reasons why I might not use it:
- If the zone area was too broad and I was more picky about where I wanted to be. (But then Hotwire could work)
- If I wanted a B&B/lodge/other non-hotel experience.

I agree with some previous posts. I like to know exactly what hotel I'll be staying at. I'm a nerd when it comes to traveling and like to do lots of research on the hotel/location/etc... and make sure it is exactly what I want. And sometimes I do want to stay at one particular hotel.

I tend to really like particular hotels/chains, and prefer to get the best discount I can using Entertainment book, AAA and AARP. I need to be happy with my hotel to enjoy my vacation, so I'd rather pay a little more and be pretty darn sure of what I'm getting. Also, I don't like paying in advance, and the no-cancellation policy!

I won't use Priceline or Hotwire for hotels because I like to pick a specific hotel for whatever specific reasons suit my particular trip. (location, parking, view, pool) That control matters to me more way than price.

I also don't like having to pay in advance for hotels, before I know exactly what I'm getting.

I will, however, use Priceline or Hotwire for auto rentals. (a midsize is a midsize is a midsize!)

I use Priceline, Hotwire, and direct reservations with hotel/B&B of choice- depending on the circumstances.

One think I didn't realize until recently, is that looking back over the last 7 years of vacations and weekend stays etc.- the very finest places and most superior for location have ended up being the Priceline ventures, in my particular travel history. In two cases I would have never made that particular reservation myself and they were absolutely fabulous. One was Westin "Cupples Station" in St. Louis (all marble suite and could look down on Cardinals' Stadium.) Two of my 8 or 9 Priceline reservations have been for less than 1/2 of what I would have paid for calling direct. This leaves me more money for fun, and I have very limited money to travel as much as I do-so that is important to me. In lots of ways, I am a control freak- but I'm very glad I lightened up in this regard.

The city or destination knowledge is of upmost importance and I don't chance Priceline if I don't know the exact borders of their area designations. I would have never stayed at so many different "flavors" of places if not for Priceline. In some areas, like San Francisco, I did better on Hotwire as I could guess the hotel by the amenities etc. Using these sites takes time and background study. If the time is worth more than the money, I can see why some would not use them. Also there are those who don't like adventures and want to stay in the same place or chain all the time. That's there comfort zone.
But hotels change and you can definitely have bad outcome on doing allyourself direct, or even with a travel agent. I've have never been treated differently because I was a Priceline, Hotwire or other web site reserved customer.

I have only gotten a great deal with priceline started a few years ago. I now find I can usually wrangle a better price.

You do hear of people getting deals, just has not been my experience. I did use hotwire recently, they put me in an are that was different that the region described (they did offer me my money back, before stay took place though).

Still I needed a room, I don't think it was worth what I paid. Only one experience but entirely what I expected. You get what you pay for, few deals out there.

You can still get fantastic hotel deals with Priceline, better than you can just about any other way unless you have some sort of special discount. Priceline does better in big cities than smaller towns in my experience, but in the cities, you can usually save a lot with Priceline.

Andrew

I don't use Priceline because I want to choose where I stay, and I generally don't want to stay at large, characterless chain hotels.

Andrew is right. Priceline works best with the bigger cities. I tried to wrangle direct, just last week, with 3 top picks on a Fodorite's list for Ft. Lauderdale (2 nights before a cruise in Feb.'05). No one at the desired top three would wrangle for Florida space in Feb. at that level. After biding (refused) on Priceline, I got kidded out of their system for 72 hours. Forgot about it. They emailed ME, when my time was up. First bid out, I got the second on the list for 45% of their rack rate. It is exactly where I wanted to be on the 17th St. waterway with water taxi. Yes, you do take a chance- but it is Renaissance and just what I wanted. This was VERY lucky. I was going to pay almost twice this daily rate for something that was rated one less star on several other web sites, Hot Wire, or direct.

Used Priceline last winter in Coconut Grove. Read everything posted here and BFT and followed directions. Needed 2 beds for 4 people but booked anyway. Got location I wanted, called immediately and asked the hotel for 2 beds. Person on the phone said she noted the request. Showed up and got 1 bed. Wouldn't use Priceline again unless it was for just the 2 of us.

Also, I plan way ahead for our vacations and change reservations many times during the planning. I try to make reservations that can be cancelled the same day so we have some flexibility in our itinerary and we do change them along the way.

I've been using Priceline for about two years now and have never had a bad experience. Always bid 4 stars though and research costs on other sites first so I don't overbid. My husband and I love to travel but high hotel rates had seriously curtailed our vacations. Now that we've found Priceline, we can afford to travel more and have more fun money when we get there. I rarely use Priceline for business travel though as company plans often change dramatically so need to have flexible options.

MY main reason for NOT using Priceline is "no cancellation "
Although now I have noticed they advertise "cancellation insurance' for a fee.
HOWEVER, I always use Priceline when am arriving "late" (after 4-5 PM)
and just want to rest up in airport area before picking up my car the next day..
I have never had a bad experience BUT I NEVER bid anything lower 3 star.--I travel alone and do fear getting stuck in "unsavory" section of town.

I've used Priceline a couple of times, mostly for overnights close to airports when I've had an early morning flight. I'd also consider using them for a trip to Chicago, since I am comfortable with their zones. However, most of our domestic travel is to Key West or New Orleans, where we greatly prefer the smaller non-chain properties.

Jean