Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - under 21

priceline has a 21 year old limit. what do i do? thanks. looking for a room in new york and in singapore

You answered your own question. If you are under 21, then you cannot use Priceline for hotel reservations. You also can't use Hotwire for accomodations (I just checked). If you are in college, perhaps you can find student-travel deals through your school.

[This message has been edited by Analise (edited 08-11-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Analise:
If you are in college, perhaps you can find student-travel deals through your school</font>Excellent suggestion. If you qualify, take a look at STA Travel's website:

http://www.statravel.com/Statravel/centermain.aspx?MenuID=2001

Disclaimer: I have NO connection with STA Travel

Is it possible for me to use a foreign site. such as priceline co.uk or priceline.com.sg which do not have the 21 age limit?

You can use priceline.com.sg . People in the U.S. can't use priceline.co.uk usually.

Sorry, ignore this post, I misread the question :-(

/*
The non-US Priceline sites do not offer rental car bidding. SG and UK send you off to their partners to book conventionally.

If you do find some website that does not ask your age, remember that the rental company might later refuse you when you present your license.
*/

[This message has been edited by zbenye (edited 08-14-2003).]

I am just looking for hotel rooms. not to rent a car

I stayed in tons of hotels via Priceline when I was under 21, and never had any issue.

But these days hotels are asking for photo ID, especially on prepaid reservations, and from ID they can figure out your age, so you could have problems. Probably not worth the risk on a non-refundable reservation.

I have reserved and stayed in hotel rooms with friends before. I have a credit card and am under 21. i dont remember them caring about age at all, just my being able to pay and having id

The odds are that the hotel will not care about you being under 21, but it's not possible to say for sure. I suspect the Priceline rule might have something to do with those hotels that have alcoholic beverages in the room (like in minibars).

If you do use Priceline SG, HK, or UK, I would suggest printing out the page that gives the age limit of 18 or over. On the off chance that the hotel cares about your age, they might not distinguish between the different sorts of Priceline and their different age limits until you remind them.

thanks for the tip. will definitly remember that.

as long as you're over 18 & have a valid credit card in your name & have a valid ID proving you're over 18, i doubt they hotels will care - priceline is covering their backs, but i wouldn't worry about it too much - you won't get called out on it - all you have to do is book it - hotels are looking only to verify the name is right & swipe the card for a method of payment - i'm sure that a lot of them don't realize that there is an age barrier to getting the room - remember, the lower priceline rates are used to sell distressed inventories & they want to sell those rooms!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by WillTravel:
The odds are that the hotel will not care about you being under 21, but it's not possible to say for sure. I suspect the Priceline rule might have something to do with those hotels that have alcoholic beverages in the room (like in minibars).

If you do use Priceline SG, HK, or UK, I would suggest printing out the page that gives the age limit of 18 or over. On the off chance that the hotel cares about your age, they might not distinguish between the different sorts of Priceline and their different age limits until you remind them. </font>

Just as an FYI - hotels can't tell which priceline outlet you used to book a particular room - it's all based on rate programs.

edited to add - it doesn't hurt to try to dress casually well when you check-in - i'm 24, but i've been staying in various hotels since on my own since i was about 16 (fake i.d. worked many a time for hotel parties in high school & dressing well helped)


[This message has been edited by bhatnasx (edited 08-18-2003).]

I know in one case where I booked a hotel room with Priceline Hong Kong, the hotel knew that was the provider because they actually got a phone call from Hong Kong to book the room (not sure why it didn't happen automatically). I found this out when I phoned the hotel to make a bedding request.

Not that they care, but hotels do know which Priceline you used. I can see that myself when I check my Priceline reservations on Comfort Suites' website. It shows Priceline, Priceline Europe, Priceline-Hutchison (HK), etc.

In my experience hotels couldn't care less how old you are if you have already prepaid for the room through Priceline. As long as you have a valid credit card for incidentials, they are happy.
And no problems using the minibar either.

Hotels probably don't care, not because they want to fill the room, but because they genuinely don't care. You've already paid a non-refundable rate for the room, so what incentive is there for them to ignore Priceline's policy and let you in anyway?

It could be a problem for you if the hotel is sold out or close to it when you check in. They can keep your money and rent your room to someone else.

------------------
"Where's my money?" -- Pizza the Hutt

I saw one hotel web site recently (possibly Summerfield Suites) that had a requirement that you be 21 years or older to check in. Perhaps this is because this hotel is a business-oriented hotel? I'm not sure what would happen if you won the hotel on Priceline and showed up being under 21.