Have you ever *Priceline Negotiated!!* a hotel?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I asked a couple of friends, and their reluctance to push the button was similar to mine. I don’t want to end up in some mystery hotel.

I’m not terribly picky about where I stay. I’m not going on some sort of celebratory vacation, where I would want a fancy place with all the amenities or anything. I want a place where I can sleep and shower that won’t be burgled. Considering this, I thought Priceline seemed like a good idea, but then when it was clicking time, I got all weird. I’m not really certain I’m going to get what I want. One of my concerns is when I say that I want a hotel in Area X, am I going to get one? When I use other vacation sites, I often see things described as being in more the city’s more desirable areas, which they’re not actually in. These sites tend to use the term “downtown” quite liberally, for example. I don’t want to select X, Y or Z areas for two stars, then end up in Z-ish, with cigarette burns in the wallpaper.

So you may be thinking, “Well if you’re so concerned, why not just select a hotel the good old fashioned way, and pay a little more?” Because I’m not that concerned. I’m pretty flexible about it, so long as it’s in the area(s) that I want, and not really shitty. I just don’t want to end up in some crack den and/or in the sticks.

Before I start a long rambling session, my question essentially boils down to: How close to what you opted for was what you actually got?

Many thanks.

2

I stayed at one of the top hotels in San Francisco on Christmas even a few years back for less then people pay to spend a regular night at my local BFE Motel 6.

Just saying, some nights those really great places are way too big to match the demand and they will take pretty much any bid.

3

Priceline can be useful but you have to READ EXACTLY what it says.

First of all you MUST realize Priceline reviews and ratings are form Priceline ONLY. The “star system” of Priceline is different from star ratings in the Mobil Travel Guide.

I used to be a Revenue Manager in a downtown Chicago, hotel so I know how it works, most people aren’t so foturnate, and that is why they become disatisfied with Priceline.

You have to realize, hotels use services like Priceline to sell the rooms they wouldn’t sell normally. In a hotel a revenue manager is responsible for hotel Reservations and maximizing revenue.

How it works is, I the revenue manager decide how many rooms I won’t sell on a given date. Then I give these rooms I think I won’t sell to various services like Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz etc.

Priceline is what’s called a blind rate meaning that you don’t know what Priceline is reselling it for.

For instance, where I worked the average daily rate for a hotel room for our hotel right by the John Hancock building, was $199.00. We sold the rooms to Priceline for $59.00.

So I the revenue manager allot 10 rooms to Priceline. Priceline if it sold those rooms would pay us $59.00 per room and they could resell them for any price they could get

Priceline WILL sell the room for any amount over what they paid for it. So if we charge Priceline $59.00 for a room, Priceline WILL sell it for $60.00. Of course if Priceline feels they can get more for the room, they will try.

Now as a revenue manager, my job was to maximize profit all around. So I want to sell rooms but I want to also make sure top paying dollar rooms are getting the better rooms.

For instance, the rooms I gave to Priceline to sell, were rooms that overlooked another building. A Priceline room wasn’t going to be one of the rooms that has a Lake Michigan view. And that’s fair. If I have a customer paying $250.00 for that room and Priceline is paying $59.00 for it (regardless for what they resold it to you for), the person paying more money and willing to deal directly with the hotel, should get the better rooms.

The thing about Priceline is you MUST be flexible. If you need a hotel with a pool, you can’t use it. If you have a special need, you can’t use it. If you have any MUSTS you can’t use it.

Priceline was not designed for that. You also can’t change things. Why? Of course they can change it, it’d be easy, but it’d defeat the purpose. Priceline also sells what they call “trip insurance.” See? They want you to purchase this so if there ARE changes to your plan you CAN change it, but you pay extra for that privledge.

In my experience, if the hotel is really bad, full of prostitutes or unclean, Priceline will work with you. But if it’s a matter of, “I wanted a hotel with a garage or free parking” Priceline will not work with you.

Also search the web. There are websites around that can kind of give you information to make a better Priceline bid.

4

How are they about location? That’s a must for me, but in lower case letters. If I say I want a hotel in The Loop, am I going to get a room there, or are they gonna send me some place 10 miles of west of downtown that they consider to be close enough?

Good to know. :slight_smile:

5

My mother used to always use Priceline when she visited me when we lived south of Boston. There was only one hotel in town that had a four-star rating with Priceline, so she knew exactly where she was going to be staying on her visit, and that’s where she always was, at rock-bottom prices. They never tried to send her out of town.

6

Yup. Gotten some killer deals, and I’ve never ended up in a rathole or a bad part of town. If you decide to chance it, here’s my guide to Priceline ninjitsu.

7

I’ve never had a bad experience with Priceline. You will get a hotel in the area of town you request, and it will be of the quality they claim it is. I’ve often gotten rooms for 70% off the listed price on the hotel website.

It is true that you can get a room near the elevator or vending/ice machine, but in my experience that is less than 30% of the time. Some hotels won’t give you “points” if you buy through the discounters.

8

Using their regular hotel-booking option (rather than the name-your-own-price option), search your desired neighborhood and star level. Generally, there isn’t a long list of hotels that will come up, and you can see if all of them are hotels you’d be willing to stay at. If they are, then go over to the name-your-own-price area and have at it.

9

I’ve “named my own price” probably 30 times and only been disappointed once. The property in question wasn’t really all that bad, but they were undergoing renovations, which made my experience less than idea. As other posters have noted, you need to know the ins and outs of it before you hit the “buy my hotel room now” button.

10

We’ve been using Priceline for years and years. It always has the feeling of a gamble, but one that has consistently paid off. The closest it came to not paying off is a less-than-stellar discount (say, only $10. Whenever we get a reservation we always run to Orbitz et al to put the hotel in for comparison’s sake). By a far margin, we have had nothing but excellent experiences–absurdly expensive hotels for less than the cost of a generic chain, their star rating seems spot on, and their neighborhood maps that let you pick location are (generally) comfortably small and accurate. Disappointments have been rare and mostly with the hotel itself (i.e., a particular Hilton not being up to the chain’s normal standards). This has been in major and minor cities; rural areas tend to flatten out.

YMMV; I am not Shatner (nor Spartacus).

11

A detailed, algorithmic guide to being cheap. I like it.

Of course! Why didn’t this occur to me?

Well I just so happen to be a gambler…

Perfect, guys. I feel better about the universe now. Well, this very tiny part of the universe anyway.

12

Markxxx, thanks for explaining how the whole thing works. I’ve been reluctant to try Priceline because I didn’t want to end up paying for crap. I probably still won’t use it, but at least now my ignorance is fought.

13

I’m posting from one right now! :cool:

Whenever we visit relatives in the Baltimore area (a 5-hour drive for us), we stay at least one night, maybe two. I always search for hotels in the BWI airport area. Since we normally visit on weekends, great deals are there for the taking. These hotels are frequented by business travelers and usually have lots of vacancies for holidays and weekends.

I always select 3 and 1/2 star hotels.

I’m in the BWI Marriott, and a room with 2 double beds normally runs for $140.00/night (no problem for business travelers on an expense account!) cost us $65.00. Per night, that is. Still better than half off, and cheaper than a 2 star would cost if we paid retail.

Sweet.

14

I just recently hopped on the Hotwire train, and all I can think is, why haven’t I been doing this. At first I was embarrassingly clueless about how to use the damn website…I wasn’t sure that they were serious that I was supposed to give my cc info while having no clue where I was going to be staying.

Turns out, they do actully have a list of hotels that they are partnered with. They do have a star system, and that system is probaby sweetened up by a star. Meaning, when I thought I was getting a 4 star, it was probably a 3 star. But who am I , the star police? I was just thrilled to get a great hotel at a great price. I am addicted to it now.

I never tried Priceline, but at Hotwire, they are funny about how far off you are from the city proper. If I think I’m getting a hotel in NYC, and I end up in Jersy, I would be FURIOUS. So I don’t think I will use them for NYC travel. Plus, I have the best luck finding affordable hotel rooms in NYC.

I went to Boston last week, and Hotwire actully placed us about 15 minutes from Boston, in Newton at a very nice Crown Plaza. 74 bucks a night. When we got there, my best friend and I explained that we had requested and hoped for a double. They went ahead and moved us to the executive suite which had a pullout couch and a huge king sized bed.

You would think I got the bed one night, and my best friend got it the other night. But when you are the dominant personality in a friendship, the perks are nice. My best friend insisted I take the bed both nights.

15

Yes. I’d do it again if I just needed a place to stay. Wouldn’t ever do it for a vacation, unless I was alone and just needed someplace to leave my shit while I was exploring.

16

I’ve tried it more than once, I’ve never had good success with it. One of the guys I used to work with said he did, but he would spend literally hours tinkering with it to get the best price. The ROI just isn’t there for me.

17

I just spent a week at a hotel using Priceline. The lowest price I ould find for this place online was about $240 per night, and I stayed for $75. Now, having said that, while this was a very good hotel, I think it is overpriced (likely why I could get a room). If I had known nothing, I would have guessed the hotel to be in the $150 range. This is what I have found. You will often get rooms in the hotels that are, for whatever reason, somewhat undesirable for their price tier. It may be that they don’t offer the same services or amenities as their peers, or they are in a slightly less desirable location, or something like that. That doesn’t mean they are bad, just that there is a reason they are more likely to have open rooms. For this reason, I never use Priceline to search for a 2 star hotel, unless I am very confident in the location I am going to. I always stay at 3 stars or better, and usually 3.5. That way, if you get something slightly below par, it is still pretty good.

As far as geography, I have had good experiences. They have always given me something in the area I want.

18

Check out betterbidding.com to try and figure out the exact hotels Priceline or Hotwire are offering. People post the hotel they get along with the ammenities, “zone,” stars, and other identifying features and that helps take the guess work out of your own bid. So if hotwire is offering a 4* in zone 2, with a pool, restaurant, and fitness room, and someone posts in the forum that they got a hotel with those features and it ended up being the Crown Plaza or something, then there’s a good chance that’s what you’re going to get too. Then you can check the address for an exact location to make sure it’s close to where you want to be. For priceline, people also post their winning bids, so that helps give you a ballpark on where to start.

19

The upgrade is sweet, but when I say Chicago, I mean Chicago. If I end up in Skokie, I’m going to be pissed.

These stories of getting these sweet deals are making those commercials where Shatner calls that guy a namby pamby suddenly hilarious.

20

I’ve found Priceline to be perfect when I’m not picky about where I stay. This is usually in places I’m going to be driving in and being next to one freeway exit or the next one doesn’t matter. I particularly like it if I have to go somewhere during the week and I don’t want to pay over $100 for a Courtyard Marriott or similar type place.

I don’t use it in cities where I’m depending on public transit or I really want to be in an exact location. Also, for big city hotels, extra fees can really add up.