How well does PRICELINE work?

Answer 1

What is Priceline?

Every night there are hundreds of hotel rooms across the country that sit unused. Going on the premise that any money is better than no money, Priceline brokers these rooms at discounted rates to travelers.

There are several other services that also cash in on these empty rooms, but Priceline is unique in that it essential provides an auctioning service. You decide how much you are willing to pay for a hotel and place a bid for a particular class of hotel in a particular general location (Priceline uses six class designations ranging from moderate to luxury). If that bid is accepted by any hotel within that location and class, you are immediately charged the agreed on fee, taxes, and a small processing fee. No negotiations, no choice.

What You Do and Do Not Know About the Hotels Before Buying

Because Priceline works on a bid system you know less about the hotels than even other hotel brokers that also sell these leftover rooms. You know:

* How Priceline classifies hotels
* Which classification your hotel has
* Either the city, or for large cities section of the city your hotel is in
* The price you want to pay

That is all you know about the hotel. You do not know:

* The exact location of the hotel
* The name/chain of the hotel
* The specific amenities of the hotel (although you have some idea of basic amenities including with many hotels in the classification level)
* Whether there is a restaurant inside the hotel

Once you submit a bid, it is a binding contract if a hotel accepts it so be sure you can live with that.

How Long Does It Take?

Priceline claims you will get an answer to your inquiry in 15 minutes or less. However, in my experience it usually takes longer. I have vague recollections of trying to use Priceline once before to find a room in Manhattan and not getting my requests denied until several hours after I submitted them. My recent successful request for San Francisco took over an hour to process. I suspect that the time is proportional to the number of hotels they need to ask to find you a room. In any case, don't panic when it takes longer to get an answer than the 15 minutes they state.

The Website

Priceline.com sells airfare, hotels, long distance phone service, and rental cars. From the main page, click on the hotels logo to enter the hotel service pages. At that point you will be prompted for the city or airport code and dates of your stay. In larger cities like San Francisco you are then prompted to select one or more sections of the city you are willing to stay in. This page includes a map of the regions so you know how Priceline defines them. Once you've selected one or more regions, you're asked to enter your name, select a classification, and chose a price. Here all six classifications are listed with a brief description of what to expect from a hotel in that range and Priceline's idea of the standard cost of a room in that range.

Once you've entered this information, Priceline will either start processing your bid or tell you that the chances of your bid being accepted are extremely low and offer you a chance to change it before processing. I wouldn't change it if it's what you really want to pay; my $50/night bid for San Francisco that was accepted got that warning.

Once processing begins, you get a link to a page that you can refresh every few minutes to check your status. If your bid is accepted that page eventually turns into a page with details about the hotel and a confirmation number. I don't remember what you get if the bid isn't accepted as my first bid was accepted and it's been a while since my failed NYC attempt.

The site is well organized, provides clear information on what to expect and what not to expect including maps of regions where your hotel could be, and provides a straightforward application process that is hard to mess up. Priceline did a good job with their site. My one and only complaint is that some of the pages load a bit slowly (but not painfully so).

Answer 2

How Priceline Works

Answer 3

I have heard horror stories from people about it, but I've used it for hotels, flights and car rentals and had no problems at all.

Answer 4

you name your price and if a hotel in the area you choose agrees with it you get it. you don't know what hotel it is till you buy it - that's the catch - but you will get some good rates.

Answer 5

the first time was great, price, after that prices were equal to orbitz and the others - lately i just go direct to the airlines best price

Answer 6

it is ok, many times u find better deals at http://www.fly247.info/, they have less mark ups. plus u do not have uncertainty of which flight u will be assigned ( late night, early morning etc)