Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Can UK residents use priceline.com

Does anyone have experience of using priceline.com from the UK? I normally use priceline.co.uk - but have read that people are getting lower rates using priceline.com for LHR.

No idea if it is true or not - I have however bid up to 52 GBP for a stay in late April (4*) - and people on betterbidding, etc are getting rooms for the same time for 67 USD.

I tried to bid - but it requires a US address - can you just "make one up"? Does it have to be valid?

Anyone have any experience? Thought I would try it and see how I go.

All you need to know is here http://p070.ezboard.com/NonUS-Resident-FAQ/fpricelineandexpediabiddinghotels.showMessage?topi cID=6.topic

Does anyone have experience of using priceline.com from the UK? I normally use priceline.co.uk - but have read that people are getting lower rates using priceline.com for LHR.

No idea if it is true or not - I have however bid up to 52 GBP for a stay in late April (4*) - and people on betterbidding, etc are getting rooms for the same time for 67 USD.

I tried to bid - but it requires a US address - can you just "make one up"? Does it have to be valid?

Anyone have any experience? Thought I would try it and see how I go.

I use priceline.co.uk and priceline.com several times per year - I have a feeling that the .co.uk and .com sites seem to have access to different inventories in different parts of the world. [but have no proof of this].

When bidding on the .com site you need to make your address look as though it's in the USA - I simply put in my UK address and then give it a valid US State & ZIP code, this then works fine.

One thing I've noticed of late is that when bidding on the .co.uk site is that your £ sterling bid gets converted to $ US at the prevailing commercial rate - so perhaps the UK & USA sites are now fully integrated.

Hope that this helps.

Priceline wants your business as long as you can make the bid work with a credit card. It's up to credit card service used by your bank. My experience from Canada was that MC and Amex were willing to accept a "constructed address" as described above but Visa was not. Canadian addresses are now on the list at Priceline but I still use the old method because that's how I'm registered. I wasn't successful with just a state and proper zip code (I tried NY and and MI with no success). I had to use California (CA) and a zip code that is correct but it seems that at least one person has beaten it - he should have posted what he uses (send him a PM). I would try Utah (UT 84444) then Kentucky (KE 4000) since they could look like a simple typo. You can get the zip codes from the US Postal site.

I've used priceline.com several times without issue and recently used Hotwire which I like even more.

Thanks for the advice. I have now bid using priceline.com - using the address format suggested. It is coming back with a counter offer almost identical to the one the UK site is giving - so once I am allowed to bid again - I will try and meet it halfway.

I am bidding for April 21st for LHR - I have bid up to 55 GBP - with a counter offer of 68 GBP so far (for 4*). On biddingfortravel, etc - people are getting it for a lot less - so I guess I am bidding on a day they think they can sell the rooms for more. No hurry - 4 months away still.

I booked one night at Marriott LHR in mid November - the price was good.
When I arrived I had news which made me want to extend by one night.
Marriott LHR despite only being half full required I pay full rate for the second night. Several calls to Priceline Customer Service (an oxymoron if ever) and they declined to extend the bid.
Well, I understand all of that. A deal is a deal but they were suggesting I rebid for "another night in the same area". Now anybody who knows Heathrow will recognize that I could win the bid for a hotel miles away, and Priceline by then have my credit card! I just wanted to stay an extra night.
Marriott were not accommodating at all, other than to call Priceline for me - and claimed that they had no idea locally of the price I paid on Priceline (total nonsense incidentally as they showed it on my bill the departure morning).
I ended up paying the full rate (which I booked online with Marriott website) so my inexpensive one night stay became quite a pricey two night stay.
Moral 1 - use Priceline but be sure that you will not ever need to change your plans.
Moral 2 - if using Marriott check your bill. This is not the first time I have been 'nickel-and-dimed' at one of those hotels.

I booked one night at Marriott LHR in mid November - the price was good.
When I arrived I had news which made me want to extend by one night.
Marriott LHR despite only being half full required I pay full rate for the second night. Several calls to Priceline Customer Service (an oxymoron if ever) and they declined to extend the bid.
Well, I understand all of that. A deal is a deal but they were suggesting I rebid for "another night in the same area". Now anybody who knows Heathrow will recognize that I could win the bid for a hotel miles away, and Priceline by then have my credit card! I just wanted to stay an extra night.
Marriott were not accommodating at all, other than to call Priceline for me - and claimed that they had no idea locally of the price I paid on Priceline (total nonsense incidentally as they showed it on my bill the departure morning).
I ended up paying the full rate (which I booked online with Marriott website) so my inexpensive one night stay became quite a pricey two night stay.
Moral 1 - use Priceline but be sure that you will not ever need to change your plans.
Moral 2 - if using Marriott check your bill. This is not the first time I have been 'nickel-and-dimed' at one of those hotels.
Sorry, but I can't see that you didn't get exactly what you bid for and won. Neither Priceline nor Marriott promised you any more than what you received. In many areas, Priceline offers "extend your stay" if you are happy with the hotel that you receive and want to stay longer (up to the same number of nights for which you bid -- either before or after the planned stay). That offer is rarely made for any European hotels. If offered, "extend your stay" has to be accepted before your initial stay.

Unless it has been changed recently, the extend your stay option is not available in the UK Priceline site.

... If offered, "extend your stay" has to be accepted before your initial stay.

Just a slight correction, Tenerife: "extend your stay" is now available even while your stay is in progress, until check-OUT time. It has been so for at least a year. It's a great thing, because it allows you to experience the hotel before deciding to extend.

Thanks, Zbenye. I stand corrected.;)

Thanks for the advice. I have now bid using priceline.com - using the address format suggested.l.
Since there were several suggestions, can you post the format that worked for you (was it a state and zip code and if so what?) so that this thread serves its purpose. I made some guesses but it would be good to know exactly what does work. Good luck with your bids now and in the future.

Since there were several suggestions, can you post the format that worked for you (was it a state and zip code and if so what?) so that this thread serves its purpose. I made some guesses but it would be good to know exactly what does work. Good luck with your bids now and in the future.

I put in my address on the two lines.

1 Main Street
Town, UK, Postcode
Florida 123456

I then chose the address of the hotel I am staying at in the US for zip code - and it accepted it (still rejected the bid for not being enough).

Since the counter offer was identical to the one (or near enough) to the one I got from priceline.co.uk - I am not convinced the price difference is enough to warrent worrying about it.

there is no aussie priceline site so i had no choice but to use priceline.com

had no problems just using a US zip code

I use priceline to bid for my sister all the time. I put in her address, the only thing I change is the city and zip code. I use mine for that and she has never had a problem.