priceline.com

[Bossy22]

Hey fellow Disneyland fanatics. I had such great responses last time I thought I would bring my next question and hope someone here could help me too! I am currently looking at booking a trip for late July, early August. Hojo of course does not have deals at this time of year. I was checking out Proceline and it says you can make offers, how does this work? anyone use priceline and what have your experiences been?

 

[BlueBayou]

http://biddingfortravel.*********/

This site gives you an rough idea of what people are paying for where.

 

[tinkcollector]

I use Priceline Name Your Own Price a lot. Let me start with the down side of this way of getting a room. First, they only guarantee you a room for two. I have been placed in a room with one king on a few occasions. The other thing is if the hotel you get has parking and or resort fee's these will be added to your bill at the hotel. So, be prepared for that.
With that said here's what I do when I use Priceline. I check out the hotel rates in the area I want to stay in. I usually pick 3 (like Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt) and I get an average price from that. Then when I bid I offer 60% of that price. I always pick the highest amount of stars offered.
The site might not accept your offer, and usually gives you a chance to change something in your bid. Either your location or your price. You do not get to pick your hotel. But, you pick an area where you want to stay. So the hotel pick is a gamble but I have never been disappointed.
In the Disneyland area I have stayed at The Red Lion, The Doubletree, The Crowne Plaza, The Hilton and a couple of others that I can't recall the names. I hope that helps you. If being in walking distance is important to me I use Kayak.com to find a room. But, when walking distance is not an issue I always use Priceline. Good Luck!

 

[azdoughboy]

Make sure you use the Priceline "cheat". That way you virtually GUARANTEE the cheapest hotel price possible.


BC

 

[disneyobsessed808]

Make sure you use the Priceline "cheat". That way you virtually GUARANTEE the cheapest hotel price possible.


BC

What are you referring to?

 

[skiingfast]

www.betterbidding.com

 

[Annabell]

For those experienced Priceline users, what area do you select if you want to be close to Disneyland ? Is it Anaheim North or Anaheim South ? Or it doesn't matter much ? TIA

 

[Huff]

I've bid many times for Disneyland South. Hotels we've gotten are Red Lion, Hilton, Crowne Plaza or Holiday Inn Manchester. All are very nice. Holiday Inn is the only one with free parking. All others charge around $15/day but I figure that in to total cost when bidding. I've always gotten one of these hotels for $55-$65/night on priceline even in busy times. I've never gotten a king room but it is a risk if you need more than 1 bed. Most have roll aways available at extra charge.

Lately we've been using Hotwire and have had great success there. Usually rates are a little higher than priceline but you can guarantee 2 beds.

Looking at amenities and comparing them with known hotels in the area as well as looking at comments from others on betterbidding or biddingfortravel gives a good idea of which hotel you may get.

 

[lwilkison]

Make sure you use the Priceline "cheat". That way you virtually GUARANTEE the cheapest hotel price possible.


BC

What is the Priceline "cheat"?

 

[alohamom]

I am going to second Hotwire, if you look at the priceline charges after the bid price they are very close to the hotwire final price on many occasions

 

[skiingfast]

www.betterbidding.com

If you look at this site above.

• How to get the hotel you want
• How to get a low but reasonable price
• What extra fees you may end up needing to pay
• What hotels come under each star rating

Generally it has all the information you would need to bid. It is a forum like this so the information comes from user experience.


***Very important to know before using pricelines and bidding information***
About one year ago Priceline changed the zoning you bid within around Anaheim. So posts about bidding for Anaheim North and South and what hotels were won can be misleading if the experience is over a year old.

 

[azdoughboy]

What is the Priceline "cheat"?

It's explained best on www.betterbidding.com

I used it most recently for the 2/29 deal; got Red Lion Inn 2/28-3/2 for $50/night.



"PRICELINE requires that you wait 24 hours before placing the same exact bid, but will allow you to bid again if you change something... dates, zone, minimum star rating. Often our travel dates are firm and can't be changed, which leaves us with changing zones and/or minimum star ratings.

If your bid is rejected, you can often add a zone that does NOT offer that star level or higher (ie- add a zone that ONLY offers lower star ratings) and bid once again, raising your bid by a slight amount. An example follows:

Assume city XYZ has an uptown and downtown zone. You bid 4* uptown at $50 and are turned down, and are told you can bid again if you change something. IF downtown ONLY offers 3* Hotels and BELOW, you can add the downtown zone (so you are now bidding on downtown AND uptown) and once again bid for 4*. This will allow you to raise your bid and try again, essentially only bidding uptown, since downtown doesn't have any hotels that fit your star level criteria.

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is as follows:

1) List each zone that is offered in this region.
2) Next to each zone list the highest star rating offered in the zone. The way to determine the highest star rating offered in the zone is by selecting the first zone in the list, then scrolling down to see the highest star rating selectable (ie- not greyed out). NEXT UNcheck the selected zone, place a checkmark in the next zone, and repeat the process for each zone in the region. Each time take note of the highest star rating in the zone, make sure that only ONE zone is selected at a time.

THINGS TO NOTE WHEN USING THIS STRATEGY:

-when checking star levels in a given zone, only ONE zone/sub-zone should be added per round.
-the zone you add (that you really don't want) must NOT have the star level you are bidding OR HIGHER. If you are bidding 3* and add a zone that does not have 3* but does have 4*, Priceline can upgrade you to the 4*! When you selelct a star level, it is the MINIMUM star level that you are willing to accept.

-if you don't fully understand how this process works, shoot me a PM.


BC