How to bid for hotel rooms on Priceline

[shorbr]

I want to reserve a hotel room one day before cruising, and have no idea how to bid for a room on Priceline. I prefer nothing too expensive, but want a clean place to rest our heads, and a place to eat would be nice with taxicab service to take us to the port.

 

Please explain how to do this. I appreciate all your help.

[JohninDC]

Go to www.betterbidding.com and do your homework there! :cool:

[KeywestK]

We've used Priceline many times over the years, and was always happy with the outcome. You chose the location and star level of the property you want to bid on, and just follow the prompts. At the bottom of the bid page, it will tell you the medium retail price of hotels in that star level in that general area. We typically bid 50% of that price, and most times it is accepted. Good luck!

[kdawg954]

I'm assuming this is for the cruise in your signature so the first thing I'll say is . . . its early, maybe a bit too early to be Pricelining as some hotels probably don't even have their availability up yet but you definitely can score a good deal now.

 

2nd of all, since it is Fort Lauderdale, you want something either at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Downtown or the Airport. Good chance of getting something with a shuttle from airport to hotel . . . and the cab from hotel to port should fall under 20 bucks with tip.

 

Personally I think your sweet spot would probably be the Fort Lauderdale Airport zone, 3 star. I looked at the December 7th date and I saw a hotel in this zone on the "best chance" portion which has a 9.0 rating, free breakfast/wifi, pool, etc . . . and I'm guessing that is the Hyatt House South which is a solid hotel and has free shuttle to and from airport. It's also across the street from a huge plaza with a Fridays, Dave and Busters and a Ale House, plus other solid restaurants a short cab ride away.

 

Now there is no guarantee that is the hotel, but its the only one that fits the qualifications on the "Best Chance" and its $69 for that night.

 

If you wanna get a bit more risky, you can mark that zone in "Best Deal" and go under that price and hope to get the same hotel, but no rating (no 9.0) guarantee and also no free breakfast guarantee, although you could easily end up with the same hotel at a lesser price. It's a good zone to risk because the lowest rated hotel in that zone is a Hilton at 6.4 and the other ones are solid. I'd say you probably could get a hotel for $49 to $59 by doing it this way, but no guarantee it's the 9.0 Hyatt House.

 

Priceline Best Deal is not for everybody, but I love it. I've never really been burnt, although I've gotten hotels that I was hoping not to get . . . but I've gotten too many steals (I got an Embassy Suites on Sand Lake and International in Orlando . . . literally the heart of the tourist area in Orlando . . . for $42 a night for 4 nights on Memorial Day Weekend . . . list price was $159 a night. . . free parking, happy hour and bomb breakfast) so I find it worth the risk . . . but thats just me.

 

Good Luck . . . the most important thing is to stay around the 3 areas I said before and you should be fine . . . and keep the star level at 2.5 or higher as it can get real confusing under that level.

[shorbr]

We've used Priceline many times over the years, and was always happy with the outcome. You chose the location and star level of the property you want to bid on, and just follow the prompts. At the bottom of the bid page, it will tell you the medium retail price of hotels in that star level in that general area. We typically bid 50% of that price, and most times it is accepted. Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for your help. I think I will just wait a little bit and consider Priceline at that time :)

[shorbr]

I'm assuming this is for the cruise in your signature so the first thing I'll say is . . . its early, maybe a bit too early to be Pricelining as some hotels probably don't even have their availability up yet but you definitely can score a good deal now.

 

2nd of all, since it is Fort Lauderdale, you want something either at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Downtown or the Airport. Good chance of getting something with a shuttle from airport to hotel . . . and the cab from hotel to port should fall under 20 bucks with tip.

 

Personally I think your sweet spot would probably be the Fort Lauderdale Airport zone, 3 star. I looked at the December 7th date and I saw a hotel in this zone on the "best chance" portion which has a 9.0 rating, free breakfast/wifi, pool, etc . . . and I'm guessing that is the Hyatt House South which is a solid hotel and has free shuttle to and from airport. It's also across the street from a huge plaza with a Fridays, Dave and Busters and a Ale House, plus other solid restaurants a short cab ride away.

 

Now there is no guarantee that is the hotel, but its the only one that fits the qualifications on the "Best Chance" and its $69 for that night.

 

If you wanna get a bit more risky, you can mark that zone in "Best Deal" and go under that price and hope to get the same hotel, but no rating (no 9.0) guarantee and also no free breakfast guarantee, although you could easily end up with the same hotel at a lesser price. It's a good zone to risk because the lowest rated hotel in that zone is a Hilton at 6.4 and the other ones are solid. I'd say you probably could get a hotel for $49 to $59 by doing it this way, but no guarantee it's the 9.0 Hyatt House.

 

Priceline Best Deal is not for everybody, but I love it. I've never really been burnt, although I've gotten hotels that I was hoping not to get . . . but I've gotten too many steals (I got an Embassy Suites on Sand Lake and International in Orlando . . . literally the heart of the tourist area in Orlando . . . for $42 a night for 4 nights on Memorial Day Weekend . . . list price was $159 a night. . . free parking, happy hour and bomb breakfast) so I find it worth the risk . . . but thats just me.

 

Good Luck . . . the most important thing is to stay around the 3 areas I said before and you should be fine . . . and keep the star level at 2.5 or higher as it can get real confusing under that level.

 

Wow...you are great at this!!!

 

I have decided to wait and do the bidding later on. Thank you so much for the information, I appreciate that :)

[MADflyer]

Wow...you are great at this!!!

 

I have decided to wait and do the bidding later on. Thank you so much for the information, I appreciate that :)

 

One problem with bidding is that a property can come in and go lower than the one being offered at the Express Deal on Priceline.

 

I like the Hyatt Place and have "won:" it many times on Priceline.

 

This has just happened in the Ft. Lauderdale airport zone where the Hilton FLL Airport has been downgraded to 3 star with Priceline. I like the Hyatt Place and the area better, so I booked at Hotwire, but could have used the Priceline Express Deal.

 

The Hilton goes as low as $49 so far, so bigger risk to get this hotel.

 

A big difference though, is by putting 4 guests you can guarantee getting 2 beds with Hotwire, while Priceline is always just for 2 guests and no bed type unless they offer that option.

 

Did a low-end one time in Ft. Lauderdale, Extended stay and they would only give 2 beds if we paid a fee that was as much as we paid on Priceline for the room.

 

The current booking I had with Hyatt for November 2013 showed features on Hotwire with 95% satisfaction.....

 

Free Parking Free Breakfast Free Internet Airport Shuttle Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Golf Nearby Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower

[Lou33]

I can't emphasis this enough: If you are going to use priceline, you must first read and understand "all" of the information on sites like biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com before you bid. You want to be an informed bidder, otherwise you are just shooting in the dark, and asking for trouble. If you don't undestand the information on these websites, or if you don't want to take the time to learn, then Priceline is not for you.

 

Fort Lauderdale is a particularly good city to utilize priceline for precruise hotels. I've won the Embassy Suites for $49/night. Renaissance for $70/night. In general, you need to first book a backup hotel that is fully cancellable. The best deals may not come until 2-6 weeks before your stay. The downtown zone is a great area for precruise, and those hotels seem to offer good deals on priceline. It is not hard to identify the hotels that you are most likely to get, especially the 4* hotels.

 

Read betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com!!

[livingoodlife]

Go to www.betterbidding.com and do your homework there! :cool:

 

The only advantage I see using that website is their maps applications. The rest of the forum is just the mods posting tons of "affiliate deals".

[Lou33]

Livingoodlife,

 

I actually prefer biddingfortravel over betterbidding. But these sites have probably saved me almost a thousand dollars over the years, and we don't really travel that much.

 

By using these sites you can learn bidding strategies using the free rebid zones. It's much easier to be able to place 5-6 rebids at one time, rather than waiting 24 hours between bids. By researching these sites you can often identify which hotel you will get. And you often know the going rate by reading about previous wins. Plus other advice, like why you should "never" accept a counter offer from priceline. Pretty useful information, in my opinion.

 

You won't find information like that by reading the priceline website alone. In fact Priceline doesn't want you to know this information. They would much prefer that everybody would just bid blindly.

[MADflyer]

Livingoodlife,

 

I actually prefer biddingfortravel over betterbidding. But these sites have probably saved me almost a thousand dollars over the years.

 

Many, many thousands here. Funny, I just do not pay attention to their comments to others, I just look at the posted wins to get a base. So, for that I prefer the format of betterbidding. Just a personal preference I guess.

 

I go to betterbidding with more frequency, but good there are the both of them. Problem with both as I think many have stopped posting all their wins.

 

Even in this thread Embassy Suites is referenced, but could not find a single win posted on betterbidding for last 3 years.

 

Isn't betterbidding much better for hotwire? I find the listing's frequently updated. Recent trend is that I find better deals than priceline and get the hotel I want more often on Hotwire. *or others, I use top-secret hotels through Iberia airlines in Europe a lot now, same as lastminute .

 

I still get about three 'wins' a month on Priceline, but I am down from 6-8 before.

[kdawg954]

Those sites are definitely good for those who haven't "Pricelined" in a while. You'll be surprised at how many hotels either gain a half star or lose a half star and are now thrown into the mix of a zone you were comfortable with before.

 

Perfect example is the Hilton which is now a 3 star being won over the Hyatt House in the FLL Airport zone.

 

Also recent prices and wins for dates you plan to travel are very valuable. My DW and I did a post marriage trip to visit both families that weren't able to make it to the wedding and we literally pricelined a trip from New York to Virginia and had a blast and truly got great hotels at 65% off the entire trip . . . made what could of been an expensive trip in crappy hotels a great one in 3.5 and 4 star hotels.

[monicajay]

The only advantage I see using that website is their maps applications. The rest of the forum is just the mods posting tons of "affiliate deals".

 

I have used this and biddingfortravel.com for years and have saved LOTS and LOTS:D of money over the years because of the tips and wins that people have posted. I have also stayed at some awesome hotels that I could never have afforded otherwise.

 

Recently though, I have started using lastminutetravel.com with 100% accuracy on the opaque hotels. Start to reserve the hotel for your dates, then add a tour or car. Continue the booking, suddenly, in the top right corner you will have the name of the hotel. Go back, cancel tour or car, continue booking and you will have your 'surprise' hotel with a low price without the surprise;).

[Midwestgal]

I looked into PL and the problem is you can't request things like 2 beds until after you purchased it and then call the hotel? What happens if they don't have the type of room you need? If so that doesn't work for us.

[Lou33]

Recently though, I have started using lastminutetravel.com with 100% accuracy on the opaque hotels. Start to reserve the hotel for your dates, then add a tour or car. Continue the booking, suddenly, in the top right corner you will have the name of the hotel. Go back, cancel tour or car, continue booking and you will have your 'surprise' hotel with a low price without the surprise;).

 

Yes, that's an excelllent site to book your backup hotel, and you can always try to do better on priceline. We used them for a hotel in NYC, and we never could beat their rate on priceline.

 

I looked into PL and the problem is you can't request things like 2 beds until after you purchased it and then call the hotel? What happens if they don't have the type of room you need? If so that doesn't work for us.

 

They may have less incentive to honor your request if you use priceline, but they usually try. With priceline, the rooms are not guaranteed to accomodate more than two people. If you have more than two per room, you should not use priceline.

 

On the other hand, I have found that when booking a room for two, that the bed choice may not be guaranteed by the hotel, even if you book directly with them.

[thyme2go]

The key to both of them is some obsessive detailed work as to what is available and how things are described. Then you can narrow the possibilities.......Recently I bid on PL for a Fort Lauderdale post cruise one night stay for a few weeks. I was getting rejected down to 3 stars for PL in downtown and beach area. I didn't want to go over $100/night + fee's. Lo and behold, a 4 star beach hotel came up on Express Deals at $86 about 3 weeks out. Research said it 'should' be the Sheraton.......Went for it and for a lower price than I was bidding on PL....we got the Sheraton Beach hotel. A great one night stay and time to sun on the beach! While this turned out well, it was not without some sweaty palms in the process...........it is a labor intensive or just plain luck process! :confused:

[kdawg954]

I looked into PL and the problem is you can't request things like 2 beds until after you purchased it and then call the hotel? What happens if they don't have the type of room you need? If so that doesn't work for us.

 

There are drawbacks . . . but the savings are hard to ignore. I've personally "never" had an issue with getting the type of room I need (usually king size) but I know some hotels are stricter than others. At worst, you'll have to pay the difference in room type directly to them.

 

Also the big problem with 4 star hotels (best values on priceline) is . . . usually they don't include breakfast, they don't have free wifi and parking can be a bit outrageous . . . so that is why places like Hampton Inn are great values for families, especialy for 1 night stays.

[Midwestgal]

There are drawbacks . . . but the savings are hard to ignore. I've personally "never" had an issue with getting the type of room I need (usually king size) but I know some hotels are stricter than others. At worst, you'll have to pay the difference in room type directly to them.

 

Also the big problem with 4 star hotels (best values on priceline) is . . . usually they don't include breakfast, they don't have free wifi and parking can be a bit outrageous . . . so that is why places like Hampton Inn are great values for families, especialy for 1 night stays.

A deal is only a deal if it meets your needs. We have to have two beds because we are three adults. If we had to pay a difference it could wind up costing more than if I just booked the room we needed. As far as breakfast it's a nice perk but no big deal for us.

[thyme2go]

A deal is only a deal if it meets your needs. We have to have two beds because we are three adults. If we had to pay a difference it could wind up costing more than if I just booked the room we needed. As far as breakfast it's a nice perk but no big deal for us.

 

So Hotwire would be the only option that allows you to enter 3 adults in the equation.............

[Midwestgal]

So Hotwire would be the only option that allows you to enter 3 adults in the equation.............

I'll look into it!

[bren61]

I have used this and biddingfortravel.com for years and have saved LOTS and LOTS:D of money over the years because of the tips and wins that people have posted. I have also stayed at some awesome hotels that I could never have afforded otherwise.

 

Recently though, I have started using lastminutetravel.com with 100% accuracy on the opaque hotels. Start to reserve the hotel for your dates, then add a tour or car. Continue the booking, suddenly, in the top right corner you will have the name of the hotel. Go back, cancel tour or car, continue booking and you will have your 'surprise' hotel with a low price without the surprise;).

 

How and at what point do you go back and cancel your car? I tried booking that way but don't see where there is an option to cance the car.