Is priceline.com legit? Too good to be true?

[username]

Priceline kicks azz. I remember when I went to Hollywood I wanted to stay at the W. Since there are only three 4 star hotels in Hollywood I knew I had a pretty good chance of getting the W and if I didn't well then I guess I'd "settle" for the Roselvelt or the Renassance.

I indeed did get the W and my room as 120 a night for a room that normally would cost upwards of 300. Suffice to say the girl was pretty impressed with me on that trip.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Got a question for the masses. I'm thinking of renting a car in july for a trip to vancouver. Has anyone tried priceline's bid for rentals? If so, how successful/or not where you? And what price did you end up getting? I'm thinking of a 1 week rental.

[rd_aaron]

What are people's experiences with Priceline when they're booking a hotel during a major event? For example, I'd like to book a hotel downtown Vancouver for Grey Cup weekend. Am I going to save much, if any, at all?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

Got a question for the masses. I'm thinking of renting a car in july for a trip to vancouver. Has anyone tried priceline's bid for rentals? If so, how successful/or not where you? And what price did you end up getting? I'm thinking of a 1 week rental.

It all depends on availability. Start at $15 and work your bids up $5 at a time. We've had good luck renting vehicles through Priceline.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

What are people's experiences with Priceline when they're booking a hotel during a major event? For example, I'd like to book a hotel downtown Vancouver for Grey Cup weekend. Am I going to save much, if any, at all?

The biggest thing with priceline is to just try it. Figure out what the possibilities are (see www.betterbiding.com or www.biddingfortravel.com) and then find the best price for those hotels or something you'd be satisfied with.

Put in a bid that's significantly lower, and use free re-bids to work your way up. If you don't get something at a price you're happy with, go back to one of your back-up plan hotels.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

What are people's experiences with Priceline when they're booking a hotel during a major event? For example, I'd like to book a hotel downtown Vancouver for Grey Cup weekend. Am I going to save much, if any, at all?

I don't think you would save that much at all. Take a look at Hotwire's rates for Hotels during grey cup and compare them to normal rates. Usually you can win on Priceline by bidding 10-20% less than what Hotwire has rooms listed on.

I would say when expected booking is supposed to be 100% then Priceline likely wouldn't have very many rooms sold to them. Now if you were willing to stay as far out as Surrey I bet you could get deals but in the downtown core I bet there wouldn't be anything.

However you can always try. Book a Cancelable hotel room conventionally and then start bidding on Priceline at the price you are willing to pay and you might get lucky.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

How many free bids are you allowed? Also, once you use up free bids, does that mean you have to pay for more bids?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

How many free bids are you allowed? Also, once you use up free bids, does that mean you have to pay for more bids?

You can only bid once per 24 hour period. You are never charged to make a bid.

There are ways of using re-bid zones but make sure you understand how they work. Betterbidding has good info on how they work.

[burn_this_city]

You can delete the cookies and bid a bunch of times.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

You can delete the cookies and bid a bunch of times.

Really? I never thought to try that. I can't believe that the 24 restriction wasn't based on your account.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by GGG

I don't think you would save that much at all. Take a look at Hotwire's rates for Hotels during grey cup and compare them to normal rates. Usually you can win on Priceline by bidding 10-20% less than what Hotwire has rooms listed on.

I would say when expected booking is supposed to be 100% then Priceline likely wouldn't have very many rooms sold to them. Now if you were willing to stay as far out as Surrey I bet you could get deals but in the downtown core I bet there wouldn't be anything.

However you can always try. Book a Cancelable hotel room conventionally and then start bidding on Priceline at the price you are willing to pay and you might get lucky.

Well I ended up getting a pretty decent looking 3 star (Executive Hotel Vintage Park) right in the Granville entertainment district for $150/night over Grey Cup weekend. Looking at hotels.com, they wanted $339/night and right now have a "special rate" which is $254/night, so I'm pretty happy with what I got.

[BigBrodieFan]

I just booked a one way, non stop ticket with Delta on priceline from Austin Texas to Kansas City for $59.00. Love priceline!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by BigBrodieFan

I just booked a one way, non stop ticket with Delta on priceline from Austin Texas to Kansas City for $59.00. Love priceline!

I really wish priceline offered tickets in Canada. Not even Canadian domestic routes, where there isn't a lot of competition. I'm thinking more Calgary to Orlando, a market where there are tons of different connection options on numerous airlines.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Deleting cookie doesn't work anymore. Just thought I'd update. Still trying my bids.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

Well I ended up getting a pretty decent looking 3 star (Executive Hotel Vintage Park) right in the Granville entertainment district for $150/night over Grey Cup weekend. Looking at hotels.com, they wanted $339/night and right now have a "special rate" which is $254/night, so I'm pretty happy with what I got.

I think you got the "Riot Zone" discount.