Does Priceline Actually Work?
I think I may be a little late to tout the benefits of Priceline, but having recently used it for the first time a month ago and again last week, I am not sure if I will ever make another reservation the traditional way—it actually does work, I’m proof.
On a recent trip to New York City, my wife and I saved $50 on a room naming our price on Priceline and again saved another $60 on a recent hotel room for a wedding near Austin, TX just last week. When I say we saved money, I actually mean if we were to go to the hotel’s website and reserve the same room or even use another site like hotels.com to reserve the same room, we would not have gotten the rate we did.
How does Priceline work? Well, basically, the commercials are accurate; you simply name your price. However, it can be a little scary because you don’t get to name your hotel, rather, you name the area you would like your hotel to be in (generally this is narrowed down to small sections of cities) and you name how many star hotel you are looking for. After choosing the following two options, you submit your proposal and wait to see if any Hotel’s accept your offer, if they do, then a deal has been made. If not, you can try again by offering more money or lowering your star preference or even expanding the area you would like to stay in.
It’s actually kind of a fun process, I like to start out a few weeks in advance by really low balling my offers just in case I am able to sneak in a great deal, but I generally have found that I get better deals by waiting till close to the date I actually want to be there. Perhaps the logic is that the room would be empty anyways so they might as well fill it, even if they don’t get as much for it.
The only hesitation I think you should have with Priceline is if you are going to be rooming with more than two people. My experience is that they do not guarantee rooms with two beds, but you can request this with your hotel after the reservation have been made through Priceline. But, this is only a request and may mean you might not actually get the extra bed. So, if you are traveling with three or more people, Priceline may not be your best option. On the other hand, if you are a couple traveling, Priceline will save you money and likely get you into a hotel nicer than you were originally seeking out.
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Comments
biddingfortravel.com is another place to see what hotels and bids people have gotten for particular zones and star levels.
Betterbidding.com is a great Priceline resource to see what recent bids have been accepted in the area you’re looking at, as well as providing educated guesses as to what the hotel will be.