Priceline and Hotwire pros..

[mbb]

Submit your best tips,
web-links,
suggestions for international (non-US) travelers,
and anything else!

And we'll make a sticky at the top for some great info all in one location

 

[MiaSRN62]

this is an awesome suggestion mbb.
I was just involved in a Hotwire/Priceline thread this week and got some great information from some very knowledgeable DIS'ers. I was a total novice at bidding. I successfully placed my first bid this week for a hotel stay in Orlando in July thanks to some very helpful people here. I'm sure many would find a Hotwire/Priceline sticky a terrific trip planning tool on the DIS boards.

 

[CarolA]

www.betterbidding.com Good for Hotwire. has some good stuff on PL too.l
www.biddingfortravel.com Not sure what is really going on here. This used to be THE site for PL, but was run by a "witch" (Post your question in the wrong format and she BANNED you!) However, she seems to have disappared along with most of her moderators. As a result, some of the information is no longer up to date and there are rumors that no one is paying the hosting fee so.....

 

[MiaSRN62]

but was run by a "witch" (Post your question in the wrong format and she BANNED you!) However, she seems to have disappared along with most of her moderators. As a result, some of the information is no longer up to date and there are rumors that no one is paying the hosting fee so.....

Wow...that's unbelievable Carol. I guess she banned one too many.....alienate too many and you're left with none unfortunately. Hopefully someone else will pick up the boards and carry on the good work.

 

[jsmla]

I love Priceline! Hubby and I just spent 3 nights at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans during the French Quarter Festival for $60/night. We've stayed at the Hilton New York for $90/night and on the Riverwalk in San Antonio for $80. I am a Priceline junkie.

The best advice I could ever give is to do your homework. Check with biddingfortravel and betterbidding.com to see which hotels are available in your area/category and look at all of the hotel websites. You can get a pretty good feel for what may come up. If the Omni is sold out for your dates you can be fairly sure you won't be getting it on Priceline or Hotwire. Check the rates on the hotel websites and places like Expedia. I check the hotel's price and then knock off around 60% for my opeining bid. Too many people overbid because they're not willing to put in the time.

Check out tripadvisor.com for reviews on the hotels you could recieve. If something looks totally unacceptable don't bid in that zone! Only bid for zones in which you would be content in any of the hotels available.

Be patient. Most of the Resort level places around Disney are convention hotels. They often release huge blocks of rooms at a time. If you don't win anything at your price today try again in 24 hours. You've got to resist the temptation to overbid in order to get that instant gratification.

Priceline:
biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com are great but I always check to make sure the free re-bid choices are still accurate. If I want to use West Disney as a free re-bid for a Resort level hotel I'll put in a $1 bid for a Resort at West Disney. If no Resorts are available in West Disney Priceline will tell me so and I'll know that I can use West Disney for a free re-bid in the Resort category. That way I'm pretty sure I won't get any unpleasant surprises. BFT and BB are great sites but they cant always be 100% up to date!

If you put in a low-ball Priceline bid for a Disney area resort you will probably get the DTD Hilton. In my years of bidding I've only gotten a different resort (The Gaylord Palms) once. I'm usually bidding $65-80.

Hotwire:
After I check betterbidding.com I only take the room for my arrival night at first. If it turns out to be the hotel I'm looking for I'll book my remaining nights. I've gotten the Swan for as low as $75/night using this method.


Hope this helps!
Jennifer

 

[Vivianne]

www.betterbidding.com Good for Hotwire. has some good stuff on PL too.l
www.biddingfortravel.com Not sure what is really going on here. This used to be THE site for PL, but was run by a "witch" (Post your question in the wrong format and she BANNED you!) However, she seems to have disappared along with most of her moderators. As a result, some of the information is no longer up to date and there are rumors that no one is paying the hosting fee so.....

Are you sure the is gone? Any good one can hide from her victims.....My pretty

The Hyatt Airport is harder to ID on Hotwire since the tennis amenity is not listed any longer. The possibility of getting this hotel increases if you book closer to the day of your stay.

 

[DawnM]

We bid 2.5 start in the WDW area for a 3 week stay. We ended up getting the Marriott Courtyard at Lake Little Bryan. It was awesome!

Since then we have preferred SkyAuction if you plan to stay at least a week. We like having the condo, 2 TVs and a washer/dryer.

dawn

 

[mbb]

Excellent tips and tricks
Keep them coming...and we'll stick them at the top - and I promise, a Pool Home rental suggestions/info too

 

[jdm]

Mybe this is OT but wanted to throw in my 2 cents for www.easyclicktravel
This is a great website that has close to Priceline rates, and lets you cancel. I found out about it on Biddingfortravel. I don't know if they are connected. Sometimes it lists the hotel and sometimes it's unknown and you get a lower rate. I've used them several times, and have always been happy.

Jenn

 

[queenof2princesses]

I used biddingfortravel.com for research and got Gaylord Palms last August for $95 and Hotel Royal Plaza for $55. We were very pleased. I have been 'studying' lately for our May trip. bft's moderator is way too picky and fussy. The 'witch' wouldn't let me sign up..I don't remember why. I have since been watching betterbidding.com and people are updating there. bft is very useful when learning how to bid..
Gaylord Palms is booked on our weekend, or I would be bidding every day!

 

[dgaston]

I have used Priceline for stays in Orlando, Hawaii, and Worcester (MA) when we had plumbing issues this winter. I check prices on BFT, usually post my wins and do bid through their supporting site amazing-bargains.com One of my favorite tips is to bid on either a 2 1/2* (hoping for Amerisuites -- great hot breakfast) or 3* for our late arrival nights at MCO. I can't see paying for WDW when we get in at 10 or 11pm from New England. We take the hotel shuttle and get our rental car the next am, check in early, and off to the parks. Sometimes we're lucky and get into our room early, but it's ok even when we have to wait until afternoon.

 

[Darcy03231]

I tend to be particular about hotel rooms so I never bid less than a 3*. So far I haven't been disappointed by anything I've gotten on either Priceline or Hotwire.

If you have more than 2 in your party keep in mind that Priceline may not work for you. If we're traveling with our children I use Hotwire as they let you book for 4 in a room. While its never happened to me, I've heard from others that they've arrived at their hotel with a Priceline booking and had 4 in their party and got a room with one queen or king bed, or have been charged more for the extra people.

 

[Anc96]

Oh I love this thread!!

www.betterbidding.com is my first, and usually only source for PL/HW info!

I decided to priceline our first week in Disney this year to save some money since I was over budget (not a surprise).. But I decided to take a peak at Hotwire for my dates. I saw the "special" which was a 4* in Sea World/Convention for only $83 per night. When I checked www.betterbidding.com I was pretty sure it was the Peabody. After doing some more checking on the assumption it was the Peabody, I found the best I could do online was twice as much about $159.00 a night (hotels.com). The Peabody site had the rooms starting at $195.00 a night for my dates.
So I took the chance and it was the Peabody. Since we also have Sea World passes, and are considering giving Universal another go this year, the area is fine for us (I rent a car).
In checking, though the hotel is beautiful, it doesn't seem the most kid-oriented I've ever seen..lol. But I'm all ready for a grown up hotel for a bit (it's only 6 nights) and dd will have 2 weeks at POFQ to have the kid factor addition.

I love Priceline and Hotwire. I haven't been disapointed yet and I've used them at least once or twice a year for several years now.

 

[travelgoop]

Hey everyone,
I came across this board in search of forums with passionate Priceline users. I'm in the process of developing a website where consumers can research past bidding history for Priceline hotels. The goal of this site is to help Priceline users maximize their savings on hotels by creating an easy to use interface for finding past successful and failed bids. Furthermore, for personalized help on a strategy, users can create bidding profiles that can be used with sites like biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com. Hopefully, this format will help improve upon the forum format that people have been using for awhile for priceline research. Anyways, I would appreciate any and all feedback and hopefully it will help people save a bunch more money in the near future. Please keep in mind it's still in development, but it is functional at this point.
Marc
travelgoop.com