Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - How can an Aussie bid on Priceline?

I fly to the USA frequently and travel internally. How can I bid on Priceline etc., with a non-USA address (I can get around that as I have a son living in OKC), and (more importantly) a non-USA credit card?

Thanks.

One way is to have your son bid for you with his credit card, and just put your name on the reservation and reimburse him. I frequently do that for an FTer in Paris, who can't use his French credit card. He mails me directions on how mch to bid, and which zones (or free rebid zones), and it works out fine every time.

Have you tried the Priceline Hong Kong site as an option? I've only used it once, but it took a U.S. credit card without any problem, so maybe it will take an Australian card, too? Just remember you'll be bidding in Hong Kong dollars.

http://www.priceline.com.hk

Might also look at Priceline's Singapore site:
http://www.priceline.com.sg

Thanks, Tom. I like your suggestion regarding my son, though. That should work.

However, is there a way around Priceline's US oriented website when filling in the 'fields'. When purchasing books etc., from www.amazon.com they ship to Australia and accept Australian based credit cards. Why can't Priceline do the same?

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure the U.S. web site will only take U.S. credit cards. My friend in Paris tried to bid using my address and that didn't work. If there's a workaround someone will likely post. Have you checked out Sheryl's board (http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding)? I'm sure it's been asked on there somewhere.

Good suggestion, Tom. I have copied (below) what Shirl wrote in her FAQ. Her idea should work if she says it will.



Q2: When I try to submit my offer, I am required to give my credit card's billing address. Some parts of my foreign address do not match the fields, however. How can I go on?

A2: In very simple words: Make your foreign address look like a US one. The address you give there will usually not be needed at all, since Priceline stopped sending out confirmations by regular mail last year. It is just asked for the unlikely case that there will be any problems with your reservation, in which case Priceline will try to contact you by all possible means, if necessary including regular mail. Therefore, though, this address should be as correct as possible. In my experience, usually three fields are problematic for foreign addresses: The "state" field, the phone number and the missing country field. People from countries like the UK and Canada that have alpha-numeric ZIP-codes may also encounter problems with that field as well. A German address usually looks like this:

First and Last Name: Thomas Mustermann
Street Address: Musterweg 1
Zip and City: 12345 Musterstadt
Country: Germany
Phone: 04711-123456

The name and street address can obviously be used without any transformation, as well as the ZIP code. In the City field on Priceline's submit page, I recommend entering the city as above, and in the absence of a country field, add your country in CAPITAL letters to that. The state is dropdown-field only, so entering "useful" information there is slightly more tricky. You have to know that the addresses Priceline stores are only made up from the two-letter abbreviation of the state, so e.g. Delaware transforms to "DE" and California to "CA" in what they store. Coincidentally, "DE" is also the international two-letter code for Germany, as is "CA" for Canada. So if possible, choose the state whose abbreviation is equal to your country's two-letter code. If you cannot find an appropriate state, choose the closest match. You may have to adapt your phone number also as in some countries these numbers are made up in a different scheme than in the USA and sometimes consist of more or less than 10 digits. If your number does, make sure it fits that ten digits, and either drop or add digits. Filling the fields on Priceline's submit page with the data from the sample address above, it looks something like this:

First Name: Thomas
Last name: Mustermann
Billing address: Musterweg 1
Zip: 12345
State: Delaware
City: Musterstadt GERMANY
Phone: 471-112-3456

I have had a number of successful bids on the US Priceline site. Last one was back in May.

I amended the last line on the address to show a state I like to visit. The rest of the address is the same. Obviously the software is not checking for country of issue/origin. :)

Priecline rejected a booking I made using an ANZ Visa card. Next time with Aussie issued Amex (and a freinds US address) it was accepted OK. No question's asked when I stayed at the hotel.

Priceline HK is your best bet

Priceline seems to accept Amex cards from any country. When inputing your address, choose any state and zip code (12345 works fine for me).

Thanks, everybody. I reckon I can confidently bid on those sites knowing what I now know.

If someone is unable to use the Priceline send me a PM and maybe we can work it out.

A2: In very simple words: Make your foreign address look like a US one. The address you give there will usually not be needed at all, since Priceline stopped sending out confirmations by regular mail last year.

I haven't checked that for quite a while, but it's nice to see that my made-up Thomas Mustermann (the Jon Doe in Germany) example is still used on BFT...;-)!

That said: Using an international credit card on Priceline works most of the time. The least hassle is an Amex-Card, Visa and Mastercard can be a little more tricky...feel free to eMail me if you have problems getting along with what was posted above as this still holds true.

Greetings - Dirk

VISA US has an address verification program built into it and can only verify USA addresses. Priceline has subscribed to this service (for obvious fraud deterant reasons). That's why foreign VISA cards do not work on Priceline.

MasterCard and Amex do not have an automated address verification program and that is why their cards work on Priceline with any bogus address used. Many Canadians have discovered this work-around when using Priceline - using CA for the state and 99999 as the zip - good luck!

I only have a NAB Visa card but used my brother's (lives in USA) card to bid for my hotels in Hawaii and California and paid him back when I go there. I haven't tried the HKG or SIN sites but I would if I was going tho Asia. I wonder why PL doesn't just open a branch down here? It would be nice for the occasional Sunshine/Gold Coast weekend!

Priceline had planned to enter the Australian market with a joint venture product called myprice.com, which was going to use the priceline booking engine.

The joint venture was formed, in mid 2000, but poor business conditions, meant that in December 2000 priceline withdrew from the venture.

From memory the brand myprice.com was being mooted because priceline is already a trademarked Australian pharmaceutical company.

As to the original question - you can also use Australian credit cards (including Visa) on the UK site.

Have you tried the Priceline Hong Kong site as an option? I've only used it once, but it took a U.S. credit card without any problem, so maybe it will take an Australian card, too? Just remember you'll be bidding in Hong Kong dollars.

http://www.priceline.com.hk

Might also look at Priceline's Singapore site:
http://www.priceline.com.sg

Works great for me as well. I've been using it several times for over a year: no problems whatsoever.
Added value of PL HK is that you can rebid if you increase the bid amount by 50 HK$ (approx. 6.5 US$): saves a lot of time.

I often use Priceline for hotel reservations. My credit card is from a Canadian bank and my address is Canadian.
I just fill everything out as normal except I enter CA as the state and a fake zip code.
I guess they don't do a full AVS (address fraud check) on the credit card.

Yup, even thought I normally use the UK site, I thought with the weak US Peso, I'd try the US site - It worked with an Amex. As above, put as much of my address and used fake zip and my company's main phone number.

Hey, Hyatt Boston Airport for $46 isn't too shabby when best rate is $120 ^