Priceline is definitely offering some low prices. I got a Hertz rental car in Palm Beach for just $15 a day last week from them.

Posted By Globetrotting Bride on February 9, 2009, 1:24 PM

We just stayed at the Doubletree/PGA Blvd in West Palm Beach for $60/night. Stayed recently at the Tampa Grand Hyatt for $46. Agree with bidding 3 star and above. Hotels at this level of service treat you well. All you need to do is call ahead and request a no smoking room and request bedding type. Not that great of service with 2.5 star and below, i.e. Extended Stay & Travelodge brand. Two traveling adults can not sleep on 1 queen bed and that is typical of this brand. On last few purchases, ESA was our winning bid and not too pleased. Priceline price is not that far off from what the lower star brands offer on their website. For car rentals, we got $13 day in SFO last May. Agree with writer, check biddingfortravel.com to see winning bids. Good history.

Posted By Love Priceline on February 10, 2009, 11:56 AM

It is true that hotels will stick you in their worst rooms if they know you paid through Priceline. Happened to me three times and I'll never ever use Priceline again.

Posted By John K on February 11, 2009, 11:14 PM

I have used Priceline repeatedly for car rentals. You can get very discounted deals on rental cars. Start early so you can bid really low. They do not allow you to rebid for 24 hours unless you change your car type. It says you can rebid if you change the dates, but this has not been allowed when I tried it. Look at weekend rental rates for the area and start at that cost per day.

Posted By RHarris on February 12, 2009, 11:29 AM

Actually, I prefer to reserve car rentals at other sites and then try Priceline with a few days before my trip when I know that there is a zero chance of my plans changing.

If you need to change a Priceline rental car reservation, you lose all your money. They not only keep your $10-20 a day, but an additional $10-20 a day in fees, taxes, etc.

My best bids so far have been $9 a day in St. Louis and $12 a day in Las Vegas.

Posted By Tino on February 12, 2009, 3:59 PM

I have used Priceline's name Your Own Price for hotel bargains at least 50 times. Never had the experience being assigned the worst rooms. On the contrary - even with very low rates having been accepted we got excellent rooms, sometimes on the club level floors. Only once - many years ago in Brussel, Belgium were we disappointed with the hotel because it was undergoing a major renovation - but that can happen even after you booked at the regular rates. I often use biddingfortravel.com to arrive at the price level where a bid has a good chance to be accepted.

Posted By jens jurgen on February 12, 2009, 7:47 PM

I have good luck with cars, not so with hotels. I agree that you are treated differently..I will try and calling ahead to reserve non-smoking,etc. A few years ago we rented a room at a lovely resort in St Petersburg beach area..on the beach. The resort was probably a 3 star..however, the rooms we got were in an adjacent, really awful motel type attachment.They must have bought the adjacent property. We could use the amentities of the adjacent hotel..beach,rest,etc., but, it ruined our stay.

Posted By gerri on February 13, 2009, 9:07 AM

My biggest complaint...and mind you, I love Priceline and have used it many times in the past...is that there is no upfront disclosure of possible additional fees. I won a bid for a 4-star hotel in Chicago at a huge discount but then had to pay $48/night for parking. I've come to expect that now and then but it would be nice if PL would at least acknowledge that.

Posted By Java on February 13, 2009, 4:36 PM

I've used priceline over a dozen times. A few weeks ago I was able to stay at New Orlean's Intercontinental for $60 and am going to the Gaylord Disney for $80 (rack rate $279!) Priceline is the best! I just wish we could put our vacation rentals on there.

Posted By amy on February 13, 2009, 5:58 PM

I've been a Priceline junkie for a while. However, while planning my trip to Cozumel for this spring break, I consistently found that Priceline was about $100 more for the same flight and hotel package than Expedia. Plus I got a $50 mastercard gift (or will get, after my travel) so total, I saved $150. I now use Expedia for both personal and business when booking flights for myself or boss. It's hard to give up Priceline though.... I'm a big Shatner fan.

Posted By Shannon on February 17, 2009, 11:52 AM

I used priceline to win a 5* Venice Hotel for $139 per night. The best rate on the hotel's own website for my stay dates is over $400 per night. That's good savings.

Posted By Tim on February 17, 2009, 2:58 PM

Have you ever tried Hotwire.com?
Thats probably the best site. Only problem is that you do not know your Hotel name until you pay the price. But they have the best hotels for the lowest prices. I have stayed at Sheraton, LA for $60/night. Got rental car for $15/day with hotwire.

Posted By Neeraj on February 17, 2009, 3:06 PM

Will not use priceline and tell everyone I know not to: after several tries to utilize the services, each one was a disaster. Against my advice, my husband did try in mid January - renting a car at O'Hare in Chicago. It took three hours to get out of the airport area with a car!
Previously, I tried to book a car at Midway (Chicago) and in the midst of going back and forth on the pages, trying to find an acceptable size, it defaulted to a mid size car (which I didn't notice) and I booked thinking it -- despite problems with the web page's crashing -- was the previous page's mini-van. They wouldn't help me at all to up size the car, despite several attempts. And, neither would the credit card people based on their agreement with Priceline. So I had to book the appropriate size directly with a rental agency -- losing the rental fee Priceline took. I think this is one way they get their money!!

Another combo air and car trip I booked to Toronto put me at a Marriott with the wrong bed situation for a mother and adult son, when two doubles were promised Telling me that was all they had, the hotel very unhappily brought a cot to the room and it had fleas -- which I showed the staff the next day. The hotel, didn't care -- telling me to take it up with Priceline. They didn't want to sell the package in the first place.

It isn't worth it to deal with Priceline!! They are thieves and liars, and aren't able to create solid relationships to the point that their suppliers care!!!

Posted By Beth Stearns on February 17, 2009, 3:41 PM

I have nothing negative to say about the hotels that I have booked on Priceline. I have booked hotels in Toronto, Puerto Rico, and Miami and I have never experienced any problems. I've been using priceline for about 4 years now and always try booking through them unless it's a holiday.

Posted By GUS VALENCIA on February 18, 2009, 9:12 AM

I have used it for cars numerous times without a hitch. The only time I lost money was once when my anticipated trip was cancelled at the last minute. BUT the savings for all my other rentals far outweighs the cost of that single loss.

Have used it for hotels on fewer occasions than car rentals, and have had no problem with those.

Most recently, and for the first time I booked air travel from LAX to HNL. Lowest rate I could find was mid 400's. I was able to get it for $209.00, and the times worked out perfectly. I know bidding blind for air can be a bit of a gamble, but I was willing to take an inconvenient flight time to save the nearly 40%. In the end, I got the savings with no inconvenience.

Posted By Marc on February 18, 2009, 2:31 PM

I've used Priceline and they can get you a deal but you better be sure your plans don't change because once you pay that's it. I have had last minute unforeseen things come up and I had to just eat the prices I paid. They have gotten hundreds of dollars out of me and I never received services and there was no way to cancel and get a refund.

I also booked a good price on a 4 star hotel in the bay area and was not informed there was an outrageous parking fee, either 30 or 40 dollars for the embarcadero hotel. What a rip.

Posted By Chris on February 18, 2009, 5:49 PM

Excellent article & GREAT info. I have recently (since 08) started using Priceline for my traveling & have saved an abundance of dollars. We got a SUV in Boston for $10/day, flights rdtp to Puerto Rico for $125 & 4 star hotels in Chicago, Boston, DC & Florida for less then $50/day. You just have to bid w/confidence & know the market. I use them ALL the time now & recommend them to my loved ones. Again great article w/ USEFUL info!!

Posted By P Ramsey on February 22, 2009, 12:46 PM

I love Priceline, however I agree about hotels, it's annoying how it doesn't include other information like parking.

Posted By Kevin on February 24, 2009, 6:18 PM

I love Priceline (and sometimes I use Hotwire too). Only once did I get a "Priceline" room. I have gotten 4*s from $59 -$100. that often go for double or triple that price. I use www.betterbidding.com to check recent wins and for tips.

Posted By Tara M on February 25, 2009, 1:13 PM

First of all, most hotels in major cities have a rather high parking charge. I'm shocked that anyone would not know that. You can ALWAYS find that information before you book on priceline by checking out the hotels in advance.
Part of the reason that this website, as well as others, are able to sell cheap is because it's up to the consumer to do the legwork.

Posted By Donna on March 2, 2009, 12:08 PM

I wish to take issue with one statement made in the above article. You state that priceline doesn't charge booking fees for airline reservations. This is NOT TRUE! I recently booked flights from SFO to/from BUF and was charged $14.95 for the privilege. I was very surprised at this, but when I revisited their (lawyer necessitated) disclaimer, sure enough they state that fees will be charged. My bad- I should have paid attention.

Posted By Kerlin Farwell on March 2, 2009, 3:21 PM

We won a cruise from priceline last summer. Last month we booked a trip to Los Angeles from Cleveland, staying four nights at the wonderful Omni. I think getting a crappy room is all because of the hotel. The Omni treated us like first class guests, even with our Priceline deal. I have no idea what we paid since it was in a Priceline package with the airfare, but the total for two of us was under $900.

Now, other hotels have given us terrible rooms/hassle when booking like this. Read all the reviews you can stomach before you book.

I wonder if it makes any difference that we chose the Omni California Plaza hotel before booking? The hotels probably get that information.

Posted By tammigirl on March 2, 2009, 6:42 PM

Hi Kerlin,
Thanks for your comment. On Name Your Own Price tickets, as you point out, yes, there is a small processing fee and it's bundled into the charge for taxes and fees. Priceline has unfortunately never disclosed the exact fee amount.
But it sounds like you booked a published price ticket, and Priceline says that it doesn't charge a fee for such tickets. So I'm not sure what fee you're referring to.
Thanks,
Sean

Posted By Blog editor on March 3, 2009, 10:32 AM

I have not been able to get a comparable package rate using priceline as I have with Expedia- but, I have not bid on air, hotel, car rental individually. I'm also a bit worried about fees and taxes that may not be obvious to me. (So far, what expedia quotes me has been gold, outside of some local transportation and gratuities)
Recently, I was checking packages from several sites, plus an aggregator (sp?) Kayak. Priceline's pricing, flight choices, and form structure were very similar to Orbitz- Are they affiliated in some way?

Posted By rob on March 4, 2009, 8:01 PM

I agree with all the terrible experiences related to rental cars on priceline. I have tried them a couple times (because every else seems to get a bargain), but there really is no disclosure about taxes, fees, etc. Getting a price of $12/day car doesn't really mean $12/day-- you have to include something like $50/day additional for taxes and fees... and that is if you don't get any extras like a navigation system.

God forbid that there is a mistake on your reservation. NO CHANGES and NO CANCELLATIONS. With the way that the pages refresh when your booking online, you would think that an online company like priceline would make some allowances... I know that even the airlines will allow you to change reservations for booking errors if you call within a few hours. Hotels have a 24 hour cancellation policy. Not priceline. So what if the car size is wrong and it is the wrong date, wrong airport or whatever so that you can't even use it. You are stuck losing the money. They won't even offer you a credit toward your next purchase if you don't use a reservation. They just pocket the money and you get nothing.

Nice customer service.

Priceline is the biggest scam out there.

Posted By Never Again on March 11, 2009, 6:15 PM

I have used hotel.com several times for hotel reservations and each time was placed in undesireable room.

So now I always book direct with the hotel I want.

Posted By dave on March 12, 2009, 5:54 AM

I've used priceline many times for both hotels and rental cars and have had no problems or bad experiences at all. Once, when my plans were somewhat iffy, I bought the travel insurance (offered for 5.00) but did not need to change anything. Has anyone had occasion to actually use this service? If so, how did it work for you?

Posted By Terri Anderson on March 17, 2009, 1:23 PM

I've used Priceline at least 50 times in my business travels. I would have to say a large majority of the time I feel the rooms are less desireable than if you booked directly with the hotel. But, the savings incurred offset this and I grin and bear it, most times.

Posted By Jeff B. on March 23, 2009, 6:49 PM

I made a bid reservation on Priceline and I didn't see that their system auto corrected and changed my Richmond Kentucky request to a Richmond Virgina request until after I submitted my bid. I immediately tried to correct the reservation but I came up against a brick Wall in their customer service department. The only thing they could say is you agreed to the terms blah blah blah. I had to pay cancellation fees. I would not recommend using Priceline. they are not reasonable.

Posted By Felecia Landers on March 31, 2009, 9:53 PM

Almost the same thing happened to me. I bid on a rental car and the system changed the dates on the next page. When I hit submit I got a confirmation email and the dates were wrong. They charged me to cancel the reservation and would not change my reservation even though it was their fault. I called the car company and they met the price. I won't use Priceline again.

Posted By Ann on May 29, 2009, 7:47 PM

After reading all these posts I am confused. I have used the bidding process only once for a car rental for San Francisco in March. I put in $19 but was told $20 was the lowest price for this city. I ended up with a small car for $20 a day-it seemed like a good deal to me and the whole process was easy. I guess the only thing to say is "caveat emptor"

Posted By maureen Marconi on June 6, 2009, 10:10 PM

I really love Priceline. My husband and I make it our first stop for any hotel stay. We ALWAYS bid 3 star and above, often starting at 4. Hey, you never know when you'll get lucky!

But I will say this -- hotels do tend to put us in the worst rooms, the ones that haven't yet been renovated or have worn carpet or stains on the wallpaper or floor or furniture or bedding, ones with the cracked tiles in the bathroom or right by the elevator or once, even somewhere near the heating/cooling system. We didn't sleep at all, and there were, "no more rooms available, sorry," even though the hotel parking lot didn't look like it was a full night.

The most memorable was our still-pricey stay at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. Super location. But we were on the ONLY floor (and I'm absolutely positive about this, because we ran the elevator to each of the other floors to check) that had different carpet and doors and ABSOLUTELY NO MUSIC MEMORABILIA. The walls were bare. If it wasn't the "red-headed stepchild" floor, I don't know what it was! The attitude of the service people -- already not exactly the friendliest, based on what we saw with others -- dropped about 10 degrees when it came to us. We didn't know why, we'd just checked in! We suspect it was our "Priceline" designation.

We've also had some really wonderful accommodations and service and been absolutely wowed by some of our rooms. It just depends on the individual hotel (not even consistent within the hotel groups -- I've had a bad Hilton room in Ohio and an absolutely amazing one in Atlanta).

My advice is to make good use of the customer survey that Priceline sends after your stay. Be very detailed. And also, we write the hotels if we've had a particularly good stay to thank them for their service and the great deal. We let them know we'll come back again, even at full price, because of the great Priceline experience we had with them. And then, we do. At least for a night. For other hotels, we let them know the exact opposite -- during our Priceline stay we found the room to be incredibly shoddy and the service lacking and we won't ever be staying with you again because of the awful first impression you left us with -- and we WILL be telling our friends about it, too!

The smart hotels see Priceline not just as a way to unload rooms but as a way for customers who might not have stayed there to give them a try, and maybe like it enough to come back. The others just don't deserve any of Priceline's business.

Posted By Nikki B on June 7, 2009, 10:06 AM

I've never had a problem with Priceline, but I do wish that you could be guaranteed 2 double beds, even if you have a bid a bit higher. I'd use it much more often than I do, when traveling with my husband and 2 kids, it's just too risky. When traveling with only 2 people, I've gotten GREAT deals like $70 a night at Intercontinental Hotel in Atlanta, and a DoubleTree in Downtown historic Charleston for only $80 a night.

Posted By Alice P on June 29, 2009, 6:11 PM

Theres a major problem with the whole Priceline system! If your stay is so horrendous you cancel mid-stay they dont allow you to review the hotel. I got assigned to an absolute rathole of a hotel. It had filthy hallways with no lights in parts , the rooms were filthy and smelled, the carpets and bathrooms were soiled. It just was a sub 1* hotel.
Tripadvisor has 12 1* rating reviews with 3 non 1* rating reviews. You will be hard pressed to find worse reviews of any hotel anywhere.
Yet Priceline site has reviews rating this hotel as 3.2 out of 5!
Also on Orbitz this hotel is rated at 3*'s with a 3.5 out of 5 rating.
Beware Priceline seems to gear their system to cover up for these truly awful hotels by not letting people review them. Also some hotels are obviously shill rating their hotels to inflate their rating.
Its not helping Priceline I will never book in this town again for fear of getting stuck in a hotel that bad.

Posted By Duncan W on June 30, 2009, 11:29 PM

I've used priceline for car rentals many times. But the site seems to have changed. I used to get prices of $12 - $16/day for Florida but now I put in a price and it comes back offering a higher price. I wouldn't think the rental car business is that busy in Florida in the summer.

Posted By carol b on July 1, 2009, 10:56 PM

Priceline secured a room for us in Vegas at Southpoint for $110.00 per night. I called Southpoint directly and they would give me the room for $108.00. Priceline has refused to help me out and adhere to their "deep discounts" advertising that they go on and on about...

Posted By RaeAnn M. on July 2, 2009, 10:27 AM

Same thing happened to us as the previous post...My boyfriend just booked a hotel in Lincoln, NE for our cross-country trip at a 4 star hotel for $100.00. However, the hotel's website publishes a $79.00 rate! I think it's ridiculous that Priceline is taking more than the published rate, but I guess that's what you get for not doing the research ahead of time. I wish we'd have done a bit of research on some of the websites mentioned above for previous winning bids.

Posted By Tammy on July 20, 2009, 7:08 PM

The same thing happened to me w/Priceline several years ago. I found that the hotel I booked was considerably cheaper for the room from the website forwarded by Priceline with the confirmation of my winning bid. It was a Best Western in Severeville, TN. It was offered by Priceline as a hotel in the up to $129/night range, I paid $50 and the hotel only charged $39. I threatened filing a complaint with the FBI Fraud Unit and was refunded the difference between the $50 I paid and the $39 the hotel charges. I have never used them again and won't.

Posted By Ali on July 30, 2009, 1:52 PM

I have had very good success with priceline in the past with Hotels in the Los Angeles, Sacramento and Houston Areas. I was able to consistently get 4-5 star hotels for

One thing that never works for me anymore though, is the airfare. The site never accepts any bid I place for tickets and hasn't, in probably 4 years. I used to get phenomenal deals on airfare

Posted By Jon on August 20, 2009, 7:20 AM

Has anoyone tried using hotwire or priceline the day before you are getting your hotel? I am wondering if prices will drop or raise...

Posted By Jessica on September 8, 2009, 7:25 PM

My husband and I love booking with Priceline. We always view it as an adventure, and it has been a delightful experience, each time. Of course, some rooms/hotels are nicer than others; but I agree that the key is bidding on 3 or 3.5 star rooms. Sometimes you even get bumped to a higher star level. The parking fees are sad, but we expect them now. Some places offer free breakfast, so that's an added bonus. Once we were upgraded to a suite, and we had paid a minimal price for a regular room. The upgrade fairy has no favorites. We will continue to book with Priceline, and we're grateful for the get-away opportunities it provides us.

Posted By seasongs on October 29, 2009, 2:48 PM

Priceline and Hotwire work like large groups for a hotel. Since so many people use them, hotels give them a discount to these companies. The 3rd party sites (eg. Priceline) mark up the prices that they sell the rooms for and that is the price you pay. Hotels like them- because you can't cancel the reservations- so the hotel makes money even if you don't show up and so do the 3rd party websites.

Now, what they don't tell you... Hotels, have a hard time with these sites because:
The reservations come in for the wrong room types
Guests get upset and confused when they can't cancel the reservation
The number of nights cannot be changed
If you wanted to pay to upgrade to a suite- you can't
Many people who book through those sites tend to be the cheapskates and give hotel staff a hard time- being polite when a reservation was screwed up by the 3rd party site can occasionally land you with freebies (breakfast, 2 drinks, movie, etc.) Be polite and ask if the hotel can compensate you for the error. You may end up in the wrong room type, but a hotel will do its best to work with you.

What hotels do- if you are trying to beat the 3rd party prices, call the hotel directly. Most hotels will beat that price. But, please, don't lie about the price you found. The staff sees the rates for 3rd party sites- we have an idea as to what you're paying and if you lie the hotel won't give you a better rate.

The big name hotels- Hilton, Choice, Westin, Wyndham, etc. all have desk staff 24-7. The hotels that tend to close doors early are extended stay or discount chains. Definitely check with a bed and breakfast about check in times if you are coming late.

Check in time is 3 pm, because on sold out nights no rooms would be available for early check in. The big hotels you can check in between 3pm and 2am without worrying about loosing your room, unless you have a specific time hold. (A 6pm hold means that your room is only held until 6pm on the day of arrival)

Early check in can be requested in advance, but it is best to call the hotel before arrival to verify that a room is available early. If it isn't many times the hotel can hold your luggage for a while until it is ready.

Arriving after 11 pm is not always in your best interest. If you know that you are arriving after 11 pm, call the hotel earlier in the day and confirm it with the staff. This is because on busy nights, hotels will oversell their rooms- typically a hotel gets 1-3 no-shows per night so they account for this with a slight oversell. If you get to the hotel and they are out of rooms- you get a complimentary night at a different hotel- that your original hotel chooses. (Usually, it is comperable or better) If you're booking through a third party website, it isn't a freebie. You'll still be charged, so hotels prefer to "walk" these guests, because they pay for the stay at the comperable hotel.

What I recommend... Call the hotel about 30 minutes after you've made the reservation through a third party website and confirm the room type. Part of the reason that these sites are so cheap is that they put you in any available room type the hotel has. So, for a non-smoker... you could get burned and stuck in a smoking room (not as likely anymore since most states have gone non-smoking) But, when you need a double or have to have a single- CALL AHEAD. Even if the hotel doesn't have the room type available at the time, they'll keep an eye out for you for cancellations. Or, you could bring an air bed with you if you already know the hotel is out of doubles.

From the perspective of someone working front desk for over 5 years. It really is true that the staff gets more abuse from the guests booking through 3rd party websites. When you're getting a 3* or more star hotel for $45-60 and demanding loads of freebies (really, we get tons of demands, I had a woman literally try to fight me over an upgrade that I didn't have available to give.) it eventually causes the staff to expect this from third party bookings. That's the sad reality. But, I can assure you, no matter how you book, if you're nice to me or have a birthday I can verify on your ID, I'll try to give you an upgrade! :-)

We know how hard travel is some days. And, the airlines loosing baggage and flight delays are hard, so is traffic in some areas, but don't take it out on the staff. Getting to know the staff for long stays is really a great way to be treated like family. Hotel staff can help you find nearly anything in the area. Wanna shop? We know where the deals or great stores are! Wanna eat? Many times we get coupons for things like discounts and free appetizers from local restaurants, and we like helping you find somewhere you'll like. I have guides I constantly work on for guests to make everything about their stay easier and more fun!

Posted By Brandy on October 29, 2009, 5:56 PM

I used to use Price Line a lot for traveling but then I discovered Hotwire and we have never gone back to PriceLine, with Hotwire we have had some of the best three and four star hotels for very little money, I have flown with them numerous times with no problems, we are taking a trip to Europe in the spring with them as well.

As far as paying for the parking, if you travel much at all you should know that you always pay for parking in places like Chicago, New York, Washington DC, etc

Posted By Sherron Teal on January 10, 2010, 12:10 AM