Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - 1st experience w/Priceline - WOW

Never thought I'd use Priceline, but my dad is heading to Europe in October & needed hotel's for one night each in Lisbon & at Heathrow. He doesn't want to spend much on the hotel rooms, and I'd rather he stayed at a nice hotel, rather than a Motel 8 type place.

All I can say is WOW. For $58/night he got the Sheraton Heathrow, and for $64/night, the Marriott Lisbon.

Congratulations! There is something about seeing the congratulations screen from Priceline that really brightens one's day. Even though you are spending money you really feel that you are getting something for nothing :-)

-S

Those sound like good deals to me. I don't have much to go by other than vague impression, but name-brand (probably 3-star on Priceline) hotels at major city airports for $60-ish sounds quite good. Hotels are where Priceline really shines, IMHO, assuming you don't need to have a very exact hotel/address (instead settling for Priceline's zone areas).

Ok, I'm now a total junkie.

Once I booked my dad's hotel rooms, I thought I'd try out the rental car option.

I'm vacationing in Kauai in November, and the best rate I had found/booked was $25/day for a compact through Alamo (albeit getting double miles). My first bid of $15!!!!/day for a compact was accepted. Again, WOW!! - that means for a week it's saving me $65 (minus the Priceline fee). Big deal about missing out on the miles...

I immediately went to a coworker who is also going to Kauai in November, and she kept getting her bids rejected (she couldn't get the deal I did). After about 6 tries using different browsers, credit cards, etc., she got $18/day for a midsize. Still a great deal.

After this, I don't know if I'll ever book a rental car normally again - Priceline is just too cheap!!!

I have never used priceline so I cannot speak from experience. I just read this on the Miles board yesterday so keep it in mind when using priceline for cars.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum77/HTML/000240.html

Be very careful on the car rentals. I use Priceline for many rentals, but you have to watch because you may get

1) double billed from both Priceline and the rental company (though they always clear it up, it's a hassle, and you won't know it happended until several days later or when your statement comes). Every Budget rental did this.

2) Change one thing other then the arrivial time (return date, return location) and the rental can go up to some insane amount. It's all listed when you sign for the car, but seeing numbers like $149 per day isn't unusual.

Of course, return it as planned and there's no hassle, but if you get delayed or something, keep it in mind.

Travlr, wait till your first change of schedule, first time something just doesn't go right, the first time the hotel, car rental, airline (if applicable) start pointing fingers at each other.. ie.. blaming P/L.. and P/L.. blames the vendor.. then you might be singing a different tune

Just did a print out of PL activity from their website. 96 hotel stays since 4/01. I've missed a couple because of schedule changes.
Still, it has to be in the $5,000 range for savings. Two car rentals during same period.

How did you get a printout of your activity from the Priceline website? I tried using "check my requests" and by logging into my profile and both said "no activity"

Also, how did you accumulate so many stays? In that same time I have had 6 stays for a total of 22 nights. My estimated savings is $770.

-S

I must say I gave it a go for the first time yesterday and was impressed. I used the UK site and got the Logan Hilton for $50, when everywhere else was quoting $170-200!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Posted by LHR Tim:
I must say I gave it a go for the first time yesterday and was impressed. I used the UK site and got the Logan Hilton for $50, when everywhere else was quoting $170-200! </font>
The UK priceline is only for UK residents.
However, I tried it for CDG and did not get a hotel. UK has no 4-Star hotels at CDG, priceline US has.

Click "my profile" then click "my travel requests." Your history with PL will appear.