Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - European priceline or whatever

I usually use Priceline domesticly, but have never used it out of the country.

We'll be in Nice in September for a couple of days. The bulk of the hotels seem to be in the 75-125 euros/night range. Has anybody used Priceline (or Hotwire or other bidding engine) to get rooms in Europe? Can you recommend which one I should use? Should I be using about the same rules of thumb I use here (as far as bid amounts go)?

Any advice appreciated.

Last I checked, Hotwire only sells hotels in the USA.

Many use Priceline for Europe hotels, and you can see our wins and reviews posted at http://www.betterbidding.com

I also recommend checking specials on http://www.utell.com - they often beat Priceline and their hotels are perfectly good!

I'm not a big fan of Utell. I've not found any great deals and find the site makes hotel price surfing quite difficult.

I wouldn't hesitate to bid in Europe. I had a couple of successful bids in London a few months ago. Keep in mind that the star levels rate a little differently there it seems. Hotels that might be 3* here are often considered 4* there. So you may want to adjust your minimum star level accordingly.

I got nice hotels and low prices in Europe with priceline.com. Lower than any other offer ... I saved at least 40% in Rome, Paris and MUC on 4-star hotels.

Checked out Utell. Seems like a nice site, and I had no trouble navigating it, but the prices didn't seem like anything special. I think I can get better deals from the hotel's website.

It is fast and has lots of information, tho.

Note that www.betterbidding.com (http://www.betterbidding.com) reports a successful Priceline bid for late July for Nice for the 4* Le Meridien for $100 USD + taxes and fees. If you are finding rates of 75-125 Euros, this may or may not be a good deal.

I have used Priceline in Europe and I have succeeded in getting rates that were about 1/4 of rack rate and about 1/2 of the current special rate deals they were then offering on the hotel web sites. But in some cities I failed despite repeated attempts.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BigLar:
Checked out Utell. Seems like a nice site, and I had no trouble navigating it, but the prices didn't seem like anything special. I think I can get better deals from the hotel's website.

It is fast and has lots of information, tho.</font>

Try http://www.hrs.com/.
Since FT posted this here, I use it. Very good rates. And some hotels don't ask for a CC.
And here .. http://www.venere.com/ I found rates in Italy up to 50% cheaper than the best Holiday Inn Internet Price.
They also have hotels in other countries, but never tried them.

Regarding Utell, you have to click the GREATRATE link and look at the hotels that offer a GREATRATE rate for your timeframe. Even when the discounts are not spectacular, they're usually a few bucks less than Expedia.

Additionally, when Expedia demands full payment upfront with no cancellations, Utell does not charge and only requires cancellation of 24hrs, or sometimes until 6:00pm on check-in day.

I like to recommend Utell because it got me reasonable hotels in Rome for 60 Euro last February, when Priceline failed to get me a 2-star for up to $80. They also got me hotels in Sydney and Barcelona in the past, for far less than other websites.



[This message has been edited by zbenye (edited 07-30-2003).]