I thought it would be interesting if we compared experienced with Priceline. So...a little survey:
1. What price have you received with Priceline?

2. How does this price compare to published rates, if known?

3. Have you been able to get miles and/or points on your Priceline air tickets or hotels? Have you been upgraded on a Priceline purchase? The rules say no, but the real world sometimes follows different "rules."

My experiences:

1. Asked for hotel, 3 star, at ATL airport, for 12/3/99, 1 night, 1 room, bid of $50. Was confirmed at ATL Sheraton (from what I read it's nice, anybody have experience?). Total with tax billed to me is like $55 or so. Called reservations, and was quoted a "lowest rate" of over $100 for same night (made call same day).

2. Asked for a hotel at the BWI airport, 3 star or better, 11/11/99, 1 night, 1 room, and bid $50 again. Then got $25 bonus money (had to apply for Discover Platinum card). Total bid $75. Bid was rejected. I can resubmit it, but I must change some element like date, level of hotel, or area of city. I am thinking of adding "inner harbor" area to bid, and maybe making it $75, + the $25. But then again, am interested in the Starwood promo, and think it is unlikely I can get the Priceline stays to post to the accounts of the hotel cahins.

I would also be appreciative of any inside information, like a list of hotels that Priceline uses? What exactly happens when you submit your bid? How does the system work under the hood? Does it used published rates, or some kind of formula? Any inside data? When I call the hotel 800 number, they seem to know it's a Priceline reservation.

Jetsetter,

Sheryl runs a club over on Yahoo. Visit http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/pricelinedeals for lots of the kind of info you're looking for.

I bid several times for a 4-star in downtown Manhattan for end of Oct. Ended up at the Marriott WTC for $150/night, which included a Thursday. Weekend deals can be had for about the same or slightly less, but I didn't want to horse around with bidding for the Thursday night separate from the rest of the weekend.

I plan on using PL again for hotels.

Cheers,

essxjay

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 11-03-1999).]

I've used priceline twice, and was very happy with them both times.

Back in Jan I used them for a 2 night stay in Seattle, I picked 4-star, and got the Westin.

I think it ended up, with taxes running about 65 bucks a night.

I didn't get points from this stay, but since the lowest rate the hotel offered directly was around 120 a night, the savings more than made up for lack of points/miles.

[This message has been edited by Boomer (edited 11-03-1999).]

I've bid many times, but only stayed twice.

1. NYC Marriott Marquis 4-star bid $125 (plus $25 bonus) for a mid-week stay just after Labor Day (first day of fall rate increases). GOOD

2. PHL Airport Sheraton. Bid $75 for a 3-star and was put at this former Days Inn and Four Points. OK property. Art Deco room interiors, but no new beds (i.e. leftover from Days). Sink o/s bathroom, antiquated air conditioning. Worse, AAA rate available for $75....foiled again! BAD

Still it's fun and I'll do it again.

I called Sheraton central res, to add my freq stayer# to the record for my Priceline booking at the ATL airport property. They said it appeared my res was booked with hotel directly. Called the hotel, and they said it looked like central res booked it. At first, the hotel could not find res either with conf# or my name. Then they found it with name and date, and the person seemed to say under her breath "very strange," probably referring to the way the res looks in the hotels computers. I assume Priceline reses have "weird" entries or codes that hotel employees might not be used too. Anyway, gave her Starwood number, she added it, and said I'll get points for the stay. I don't know if it will work, but perhaps I can at least get a Gold status upgrade. I agree it is kind of fun using Priceline, but wish you could get points for sure.

I had my Marriott Rewards # entered into the reservation prior to my stay. My bill had a zero balance at check out and and note at the bottom stating that I earned "0 points for this stay." However, I did get an upgrade to a Executive Level room on the top floor. Nice!

Entered an air bid today. BOS-BWI, 11/11 return 11/12, ok for 2 connections and ok for nonjet equipment, must be BOS and BWI airports only, bid $50, plus $60 for Discover card application, total bid $110 with bonus money. Lowest 14 day advance purchase fare is $89 requiring a Sat night stay. Applicable 7-day advance fare for my above trip dates is $347 on CO. My bid was rejected. I wonder...does the bonus money really count just as much as your bid price, or does the system somehow discount its value? Also this bid took a bit over an hour to process.

Thanks essxjay, for mentioning the Yahoo Club. And jetsetter, I saw your post today. Thanks for posting it on the Club.

When using Priceline for hotel bids, I can't stress enough the importance of going to as many hotel websites as possible, prior to bidding, to determine the lowest available rates for your paricular travel dates. Over and over, I've found where the hotel websites will offer lower rates than calling the hotel's reservations number or the hotel directly.

I've compiled a list of nearly 100 winning hotel bids through Priceline, so if anyone here is considering using them, please ask questions at the Yahoo Club prior to bidding. I won't post the entire list, but I'll give examples from it in answer to any question.

And while it surely doesn't happen all the time, I have several examples where travelers have saved more than 50% of the lowest available rate at very popular destinations at 4 star hotels.
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/pricelinedeals

I can't think of any major hotel chain that Priceline doesn't use. I'm aware of winning bids from Marriott, Renaissance, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Wyndham, Sheraton, Westin, W, Hyatt, Doubletree, Regal, Fairmont, Swissotel, Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Radisson, Luxury Collection, Residence Inn and Ramada. Is that enough?

As to airlines, for domestic travel, they use CO, HP, DL, NW, Midway (I think they're JI) and TW. Someone posted they got a Priceline routing on UA. Are you sure? I'm not aware that UA participates in Priceline's program.

I'm also aware, on more than one occasion, that DL does give FF points, when asked. This could definitely be at the discretion of the particular airline employee, as Priceline says you can't get FF miles.

Marriott brands do give program points.

OK, everyone, I've let you in on all these insider tips (no, I'm not affiliated with Priceline in any way; I just have used them a lot; 8 times for hotels), so if you decide to try them out, please share your experiences at the Yahoo Club.

It pays to read the whole post. OK, now for the best tip of all...you CAN re-bid without changing anything other than the bid amount. Just provide a different (valid) e-mail address. Works like a charm!!

Thanks for the tip regarding the email address Sheryl. That certainly helps to merit a try!

I've got a great Priceline story I thought I'd share.

Last week I successfully bid $160 (after lower bids were rejected) for a 4 star hotel in the Michigan Ave. Chicago zone for a 1 night stay 11/8. Rates I was finding at comparable hotel websites were $275 and up. Several hotels were completely sold out. We got the Renaissance Chicago. I immediately checked their website and the only availability for 11/8 was a $489 suite, so I was quite pleased with what I got for one of my co-workers.

Yesterday (11/8) was his birthday. When he checked in, he told the clerk it was his birthday and asked if he could be upgraded to the concierge floor. The clerk was extremely professional and very receptive. Not only did he upgrade him to the c floor, he gave him a suite!!!

Turns out, they already knew it was his birthday, because his wife had called the hotel earlier in the day to order chocolates to be delivered to his room with a Happy Birthday card attached.

He said the suite was spectacular.

Now I'd say that was a deal

The same guy is staying at the Wyndham Boston tomorrow night (via Expedia's Hotel Price Matcher, a competitive product to Priceline) for $147. Lowest available rate is $265 which is an AAA rate. Corporate rate is $295. This is the second time he's gotten that hotel through Expedia's Hotel Price Matcher. Last time was for one night during fall foliage, and the best we could do was $200 vs. the lowest available rate of $295.

Sheryl, I used Expedia PriceMatcher and got the Hyatt Regency Chicago (Wacker Dr.) for $110/nt. 11/10-11/12. It is 4* too.

Good deal, SD Flyer. Congrats!! Bet you saved at least $150/night. Just curious, did this give you the opportunity to stay in a nicer hotel and/or area than you would have otherwise, or are you in a position to spend the going rate? It's the former for us.

We also got the Hyatt Regency Chicago (through Priceline) recently at $140/night. See Message #77 at the Yahoo Club (site address above).

I was a bit late in getting Thanksgiving tickets. Both on and offline sites and travel agents were quoting $750 per ticket on all the majors, even incl America West. Combining two UA thanksgiving e-fares published today 11/17 (LAX-ORD, ORD-BOS) would only be slightly cheaper at $670.

I was down to the choice of actually paying the exorbitant amount or using the unimaginable 40k miles for a standard no black out saver award when I decided to go for Priceline.

I first bid $300 - the price I used to pay on UA transcon. My expectation was that I would get the tickets on America West, with one stopover, for hopefully <$500.

The first bid did not go through but I did receive an e-mail instruction to call the 1-800 Priceline #. The Priceline agent I spoke with signed me up for Net2phone calling card service (no need to switch long distance provider) which would boost my bid to $350, which will sweeten the chance but she cannot guarantee I can get the seats. I agreed and she provided a new PL request number.

Thirty minutes later an e-mail from Priceline arrived indicating that I have won with the $350 bid. The itinerary is the same as the $750 non-stop tickets I had hoped for: Thanksgiving day first flight out of LAX and coming back on Sunday evening.

But the bonus is... it's on UA!!!

Now I just need to see if I can get MP miles on these babies.

Congratulations. What a deal!! FYI, Priceline just recently signed United up with their program. In fact, it was just publicly disclosed today, but I'm aware of a couple other UA tickets issued by Priceline over the past few weeks.

Priceline's rules state that you cannot get FF miles on their tickets, but definitely ask when you check in. I've read about numerous people who've had Priceline-issued tickets on DL getting their miles, and even one was upgraded!!

Priceline's got a lot of naysayers today, but you just watch, some of those same people will start swearing by them.

The best Priceline deal I've ever seen was posted just a little while ago on the Yahoo Club I host to discuss bidding on airfares and hotels through Priceline <http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/pricelinedeals>. This person bid $99 for a 5 star hotel in Scottsdale and got the Camelback Inn. Their lowest rate on their website is more than twice that much.