facts about Priceline.com

[homermott]

I did a little research on how much you can save by booking a hotel room through Priceline.com. I found all of this in their investor relation page. It was in their annual shareholder meeting. Here is a link.

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=pcln&script=10959&layout=6&item_id='http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/NSD/pcln/presentations/6_9_03.ppt'

The main points that I found were:

-The medium customer savings are 46% over expieda and 46%over Hotels.com.

-Their star rating system is on par with AAA. Hotels.com rated the same hotel higher 72% of the time. (So while Priceline might have a hotel rated 2 1/2 stars hotels.com might rate it 3 stars.

-92% of polled customers said that their Priceline experience met or exceeded their expectation.

-Priceline.com works with over 9,500 participating hotel properties in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Asia (China and Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia). All of the major hotels in the U.S. work with priceline.com. Hotels is one of priceline.com's fastest-growing travel products. In the 2nd quarter 2003, priceline.com reported that it sold a record 1.5 million hotel room nights - a 38 percent year-over-year increase.

I always thought that using Priceline.com was like taking a crap shoot. You pick a 4 star hotel but get stuck in a hole in the wall. Seeing that Priceline rates their hotels like AAA and almost always rates them BETTER than hotels.com sure proved me wrong. If the deals on their hotels are this good I'm going to look into their rental cars and vacations too. I hope this information helps people in their travel needs.

 

[nasmith]

Check out Bidding for travel - a site where people list what hotels (and airfares, rental cars) they've gotten at what prices for what dates. They also have lists of what hotels have shown up on priceline in which star categories (in which areas you are looking for), as well as good basic "bidding rules" to follow---

http://pub210.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding

 

[casiland]

I use them religously. They always give me the best rates. My luck so far as brought me Downtown Miami Hyatt at $25 on website was $150, Sheraton SLC at $30 on website was $99, Hyatt Downtown Tampa at $50 on website $125, etc..... Whenever I have to stay in a hotel I always priceline.

 

[denisenh]

homermott, welcome to DIS. Thank you for that info.
I have also had excellent resort stays using priceline. I would have a dificult time paying full price for a hotel stay after using priceline for the past couple of years. I prefer the resort catagory which is what I usually wind up getting. And I also recommend Bidding for Travel for help placing priceline bids.

 

[yecats]

I've used them in the past and have had good deals. I'll be using them again to book for one night coming up before my FTP begins.

 

[MaMudduck]

The first time I used them was in Aug, to book one night in Daytona Beach before I go to CBR. My very first bid on a 3* hotel got accepted. I bid $45.00 p/n and got ...............drum roll please..........................................................

The Adam Mark Hotel ( 5* really and internet rate for that night was $122. )

I'm know trying to get a rental car!

 

[~Sparkly~Zoe]

I recommend this site for bidding http://www.betterbidding.com/
They are very helpful and don't bite your head off when you ask a question.

 

[SamSam]

~Sparkly~Zoe, What a terrific, friendly site! Thanks for the tip, it's now listed in my favorites.

 

[homermott]

Thank you so much for all your help. I checked out both sites and found them FULL of very helpful info. It kind of makes me mad that I didn't find all of this out until now.....think of all the money I could have saved in the past. Oh well, live and learn. Thanks for all the help guys!!!!!

 

[yecats]

Got on priceline to get a hotel for my first night at WDW and won the Wyndham at DTD for $75 per night ($90 with taxes and resort fee). Woo hoo, just got to love priceline.