Priceline guide discussion area

blindman

RedBern wrote: »

Sorted! Just got Royal Marriott Bristol for £40 + fees.....:j

Almost cross posted.

Glad to see the usual suspects are still there

Enjoy your stay

gh1990

I need some help with this. If you place a 'bid' are you commiting yourself to booking a hotel with priceline? Even if it gets rejected are you expected to keep bidding until you reach an agreed price or can you drop out at no cost when the hotels start to exceed the price you were willing to pay? Please can someone point me in the right direction.

blindman

gh1990 wrote: »

I need some help with this. If you place a 'bid' are you commiting yourself to booking a hotel with priceline?

Only if your bid is accepted

Even if it gets rejected are you expected to keep bidding until you reach an agreed price or can you drop out at no cost when the hotels start to exceed the price you were willing to pay? Please can someone point me in the right direction.

If the bid is rejected then you can "drop out at no cost". There is no commitment to buy.

gh1990

Thanks for the response. Really useful. The only other question is what kind of protection do you get with this booking? What are the risks or is it a case of once you have paid and your booking is confirmed the you are guranteed your room?

blindman

gh1990 wrote: »

Thanks for the response. Really useful. The only other question is what kind of protection do you get with this booking? What are the risks or is it a case of once you have paid and your booking is confirmed the you are guranteed your room?

I take it you have read my guide?

Once you've won the room then it becomes like any other hotel booking. There are (usually) no refunds and the hotel itself is the one that guarantees the room.
Priceline guarantee a room fit for 2 adults.

If you turn up at the hotel (late)and it's full they may "walk" you to another property (happens with conventional bookings).

zonecrew

Hi

I am thinking about using Priceline for a 4* hotel in Manchester at the end of November. I tried booking a few years ago for the same city but the prices it was rejecting me at made it hardly worthwhile going any higher! Back then I used the US site and doctored my home address as someone posted that hotels MAY be cheaper if you book via USA........is this the case or is it easier/better to go through UK?

blindman

zonecrew wrote: »

Hi

I am thinking about using Priceline for a 4* hotel in Manchester at the end of November. I tried booking a few years ago for the same city but the prices it was rejecting me at made it hardly worthwhile going any higher! Back then I used the US site and doctored my home address as someone posted that hotels MAY be cheaper if you book via USA........is this the case or is it easier/better to go through UK?

The hotel prices are the same for both sites (slight variations occur due to the Xchange rate)

IMHO the only real advantage of using the US site is that they allow you to add on extra nights if you win-the UK site does not.

Research is the key to get a good bargain and as you've found out, at times the rate you pay on PL can be very near to the real rate.

dmg24

zonecrew wrote: »

Hi

I am thinking about using Priceline for a 4* hotel in Manchester at the end of November. I tried booking a few years ago for the same city but the prices it was rejecting me at made it hardly worthwhile going any higher! Back then I used the US site and doctored my home address as someone posted that hotels MAY be cheaper if you book via USA........is this the case or is it easier/better to go through UK?

I stayed at the Renaissance last week, and had a chat with the reservations manager about Priceline bookings. They said that they have PL availability for 95% of dates, and almost always at the same price (the exceptions being when big conferences are in the city). I did not ask what the price was, but I got a win at £41 (£52 including taxes). I had originally bid at £39, which was too low - so looks like £40 or £41 is the price to aim for!

zonecrew

dmg24 wrote: »

I stayed at the Renaissance last week, and had a chat with the reservations manager about Priceline bookings. They said that they have PL availability for 95% of dates, and almost always at the same price (the exceptions being when big conferences are in the city). I did not ask what the price was, but I got a win at £41 (£52 including taxes). I had originally bid at £39, which was too low - so looks like £40 or £41 is the price to aim for!

cheers for both replies! will try at £40

pcg2001

I would like your opinion on something. I am trying to find a cheapo deal for London 11- December (4 nights). But I am picky about hotels so have basically restricted this to one area Notting Hill - Bayswater. But this is actually irrelevant for my question. A bid of $70 and later of $75 were rejected by priceline, but in both occasions it came back with a counter-offer of $146, which I find totally excessive especially since I can find £100 non opaque for the hotels I would like (but am not willing to pay). I know I could probably meet priceline halfway but that is still about 110USD, and I am not willing to go that far. Do you have any experiences where this halfway rule of thumb was not applicable and you were able to get the room for less?

I just find it weird that I got a counteroffer for double what I bid.

Please note that while I am playng around with priceline I have a cancellable offer booked. So I have time, and I will continue bidding slowly and checking to see if rates go down.

From blindman's (great) guide:

A good rule of thumb is that the minimum winning bid is about ½ way between what you bid and what is now being offered.
There are very few times that you cannot beat a counteroffer or a re-bid offer with a free re-bid, especially if you are more than 24 hours from your hotel stay.
So you either take the rebid at the higher price and pay over the odds (if you are short of time) or you Rebid again.
Look for the button on the page that takes you back to the bidding process.
Priceline wants you to take their counteroffer or rebid offer because they make more money on it, so the link on the page to regular rebidding is not prominent, it’s simply a text link that says something like “if you would like to change the dates of your stay or the star level, click here”.