Priceline Bidding Advice

blindman

samuelthomson240 wrote: »

bit ot but i would like to go to icmeler in turkey or marmaris on june the 6th or 7th for two weeks all inclusive. is it worth using priceline to bid for a hotel there or would i better going through alpha rooms thanks sam. ps when i try looking up icmeler or marmaris it doesnt come up with anything any chance of an idiots proof guide to using it for bids thanks sam

Priceline doesn't have any hotels in Icmeler or Marmaris.

jicms

stoneman wrote: »

We are looking at that as well. It is definitely Wynn, you can tell not only by the fact it does not have the condo and no smoking icons, (Trump) it could be Venetian but for the number of trip adviser reviews;)
P.S. It seems that the $20 trick works well there as well, try it for a Panoramic room upgrade

No problems with our booking, we didn't get Trumped! Had a fantastic time at The Wynn. The worst part was the hour's wait in line for registration. I didn't feel comfortable offering $20 for an upgrade but our standard room was great, the only problem was we didn't find enought time to spend in it! I posted a review on BB.

blindman

jicms wrote: »

No problems with our booking, we didn't get Trumped! Had a fantastic time at The Wynn. The worst part was the hour's wait in line for registration. I didn't feel comfortable offering $20 for an upgrade but our standard room was great, the only problem was we didn't find enought time to spend in it! I posted a review on BB.

Well done. Glad you had a good time

jicms

blindman wrote: »

One last thing you could do to return the favour

Post a hotel review on BB for both the Red Rock and Wynn.

Neither have a review there and its good to get a perspective from someone who hasn't paid top dollar.

Enjoy the trip and win BIG!

Reviews for the Red Rock and Wynn now posted on BB!

jmt

Hello blindman and thank you for a most informative post.

I actually registered with PLUK last month (before I found and read your post) and won the 4* Westin at Atlanta airport for £47 (£59.11 inc tax).

Like others have asked back in 2007, booking is for 2 adults, but we are taking our 12yr old son - am I honest and check in together, or do I just hold back and follow a couple of mins later?

Also a query about log in. I regisetered and booked the Westin on my home PC and internet. Whilst at work today I tried to log in to PLUK after looking for hotels in Lake City, Florida, but it kept telling me that my email addy was not registered. I then tried when I go home with no problem. Do you know why this is as I was hoping to go into a library whilst in Florida and book a hotel for our return journey to Atlanta. I don't want to book it before I go as I have not decided where I want to stay. for the return leg.

Thanks

blindman

jmt wrote: »

Hello blindman and thank you for a most informative post.

I actually registered with PLUK last month (before I found and read your post) and won the 4* Westin at Atlanta airport for £47 (£59.11 inc tax).

Like others have asked back in 2007, booking is for 2 adults, but we are taking our 12yr old son - am I honest and check in together, or do I just hold back and follow a couple of mins later?


Do a dummy booking for 2A and 1 child and see if the hotel has room for this configuration. I would assume so.
IMHO I'd turn up as ask for a twin bedded room.


Also a query about log in. I regisetered and booked the Westin on my home PC and internet. Whilst at work today I tried to log in to PLUK after looking for hotels in Lake City, Florida, but it kept telling me that my email addy was not registered. I then tried when I go home with no problem. Do you know why this is as I was hoping to go into a library whilst in Florida and book a hotel for our return journey to Atlanta. I don't want to book it before I go as I have not decided where I want to stay. for the return leg.

Thanks

I can only assume you were on the DOT COM site as opposed to the UK site?

I have an account with both and use different email addresses. The UK site doesn't recognise my email address I use for the DOT COM site.

You can always create another account for your partner, just use a different email and credit card.

UKDanny

Great information in this thread; thanks, guys!

I have been posting my USA bids at bidlesstravel.com and have really perfected my NYC bids using their database...will check out this betterbidding next time, too.

One thing I have been wondering: does the multiple credit cards still work? ...insofar as if you have 2 in your name, you can try one, and if rejected try the other one? So long as two different cards, I should be okay, right?

ukmonkey

just bumping this as it took me a few minutes to find it.

corgan69

I can’t believe that MSE is encouraging people to use this vile company. While I congratulate those that have been successful in getting bargains through Priceline, my experience has left me feeling like the unsuspecting victim of a seedy Soho clip joint.

I went through the ‘Name your Price’ feature on the off chance of getting a bargain upgrade for a stay in Hong Kong. I knew how much I wanted to spend and did my research on what that would get me in HK. Around £220 would get me a 4 star hotel, for the 3 nights, but I went onto Priceline to see if my budget might get me something at 5 stars.

I very carefully ensured that I ONLY selected 5 stars and gradually extended my search area so as to be able to make more than one bid per day. To keep the story short, I’ve ended up with a 4 star hotel miles from anywhere (next to Happy Valley racetrack for those who now HK) but described as West HK!!.

I complained but was told unequivocally that I did click 4 stars and that I’m bound by contract now. They wouldn’t listen to my protestations but eventually I was offered the opportunity to cancel my reservation for a £46 fee. Eventually, and sickeningly, I relented and accepted the cancellation fee but was told immediately that the fee would be $76(USD). Working out the exchange rate meant that there was not much difference so I accepted, only to be told that it was £76. They didn’t miss any opportunity to ratchet things up.

All of this exchange was by e-mail but at this point I decided to call. I ended up in a call centre, somewhere, and like a previous poster ended up being given the run around by a customer service operative who didn’t know the difference between a dollar and a pound and being told that there was no manager that I could talk to to get any sense of things. I ended up being given the postal address of the head office in Connecticut.

I did a bit of online research on Priceline and was horrified to see hundreds of similar stories to mine and plenty of examples of people being told that they’d selected options they hadn’t.

I now face the prospect of accepting a room miles from where I want to be in a hotel that Tripadvisor describes none to favourably; or losing a third of my budget. I feel completely sick and what was meant to be the start of a wonderful trip through China and Vietnam is becoming a nightmare.

Be aware this company, either willingly or negligently, get things wrong and if they do they blame it on you and will try to squeeze you for every last penny.

dmg24

corgan69, please point us to the hundreds of stories similar to yours, because it does sound like you messed up by not doing your research and wish to blame someone else.