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[…] Getting the Best Deals with Priceline.com […]
A warning about Priceline: don’t miss your flight.
I have a close friend who recently booked a flight on Priceline, and missed her plane. The airline wanted to re-book her on a later flight, either by changing her ticket, or putting her on standby, and couldn’t.
Priceline purchases tickets “in bulk” and “pays cash” regardless of what method of payment you use. As a result, the tickets are non-refundable, and you can’t go standby on another flight on most airlines. Priceline refused to help her, saying there was nothing they could do, and the airline was bound by the ticketing policy.
Buyer beware.
Ack! I haven’t used priceline for plane tickets yet so that is really good to know. Thanks!
I love priceline to book hotels and car rentals. I used the site several times and I have never being dissapointed. I got very good hotels and resorts for excelent prices. I use betterbidding.com for reference. I didn’t know about the other site. Thank you
I’ve been using priceline for over 9 years and love saving $. As for flights, I recently bought a ticket through priceline and was able to ‘confirm’ a seat for an earlier flight (the airlines stay far far away from calling it standby these days). It really depends on the customer service rep you get on the other line. I probably got lucky, but I also called twice before I was able to get the change made. I was told about the ‘buying in bulk and not being able to change’ deal, but somehow the 2nd rep I spoke didn’t question it. The rule is, be calm, ask for other options and be ready to pay some more if needed (Delta charges $50-$150 to confirm seats). I don’t book flights via priceline as much as I used to. I think you get better deals on hotels & car rentals.
I have also in the past been able to rescind bids as long as it was a legitimate error i.e., wrong location, wrong dates. I believe the unwritten rule is one cancellation per year, since I’ve done a couple cancellations. They charge a cancelation fee, but if you rebook within 7 days, you get refunded a portion of it.
I use and post on betterbidding.com and tripadvisor.
The best advice I can give on Priceline is to learn the art of “free
bids” which present the opportunity for placing a number of bids in a
short period of time -vs- the normal protocol. The
Bidding For Travel site does a great job explaining this and
providing feedback on success stories.
I need a rock bottom deal on a hotel next month and I´m diving in. 😉 Thanks for posting!
Great article! I do the SAME exact thing you do! We rarely use any other site for hotels. I have never been disappointed. We went to Florida last year and got a Springhill Suites for $40 a night.
Kristi Simmons….how did you get suites? Please help! 🙂
one other thing I like is it is paid for so they don´t tie up my money with a huge hold (they usually just hold $20 dollars and sometimes nothing) since we don´t have credit cards and use a debit card to pay for incidentals.
Thank you…we dont
don´t travel much but I will definitely consider trying this next tiem we do:0
Wow. That is awesome. Thank you!
Well, I thought I was good at getting priceline deals, but you have given me even more info. Thanks! One thing I have discovered about priceline is that the best deals are to be had 7-8 days before you want to travel, or after 3 pm on the day that you want the hotel. I once sat in the parking lot of a hotel using similar research techniques and pricelined a $159 room for $59, then went in and claimed it. I had just called the hotel and the best price the desk clerk could give me was $145.
I have been using Priceline for years. They are the cheapest out of all of the others like Expedia…etc.
I recently missed a layover flight by waiting at the wrong gate. I know! SMH. Anyway, they definitely issued me a ticket at no charge for another flight. It was so scary, but for them, it was no problem!
HTH.
Leah
I love priceline and have gotten some very good deals over the years. To get an idea of what other people have won (or lost) bids on, I go to biddingfortravel.com This site is a place where priceline bidders list where and how much they got their hotel for. This site helps to see what the going rates for bids are first. I do it with car rentals too.
Also bid for the highest star first at a low ball bid so you can work your way down if need be.
I also rely on tripadvisor.com for real people hotel references and critiques by travelers and guests of the property
Wish I would have seen this before booking my hotel in HI. 😉
Jenny Marble Wendi Barrett this is really good information for you girls learning to get the travel deals.
I have found rooms with 2 1/2 stars are good. I also check hotwire. Sometimes they have a better deal.
Umm…this is incredible! Thank you so much for a very thorough tutorial! Awesome!!
You’re welcome Shan! So glad it was helpful!
I tried going for the ExpressDeal, but at the moment to accept it said “the room accomodates up to 2 adults”, and “the hotel MAYBE an affiliate of the hotel in the list and any filtering search may not coincide..blah blah” And I got scared. Because, we are 6 and I followed your tips and after going back over adn over to be told that it may not be the hotel you were “guessing” in your steps was a huge risk. Did Priceline figure the trick?
I’ve stayed at Holiday Inn and Suites before through sites like Priceline and Booking.com and have received points toward my stay. I just play dumb and assume I will receive ether and have had no trouble getting them….I should get them! I’m staying there , aren’t I?? I wouldn’t take the first no for an answer if they deny you points…just stay nice. They want your future business.
Another thing that I do frequently is when my bid is not accepted I just delete my history and cookies and then I’m able to start over without having to add areas!
One of the problems with Priceline that you need to be aware of is that there is only a guarantee that the room will sleep 2. We have booked rooms knowing the room needs to sleep 4. After we find out which hotel is negotiated, we call the hotel and ask how many the room will accommodate. If it only sleeps 2, Priceline allows you to book another room at the same price. As well, if you have a problem with the room, you have to deal with Priceline and not hotel management–this has proved to be a problem for us in the past.