Priceline Name Your Own Price

[luulu1999]

Has anyone done this before and how can I figure out what hotels they are? Can I not pick the hotel I want? I just wanted to see if maybe I could get a good cheaper room but I am a little freaked out by it

 

[My3Princez]

Has anyone done this before and how can I figure out what hotels they are? Can I not pick the hotel I want? I just wanted to see if maybe I could get a good cheaper room but I am a little freaked out by it

No, you can't pick the hotel you want using the Name your Price feature. There are websites that can help you guess what the hotels are (I think one is called betterbidding), but no guarantees as to what you will get. I haven't ever bid, but I used the express deals option one time. (You don't know what hotel that is until after you pay either.) We were going to downtown Atlanta and in the section of town where I was looking, there were only 3 hotels with indoor pools. I knew that since the listing said 'indoor pool' it would be one of those 3 hotels. I was fine with ending up at any of the 3, so I went ahead and booked.

 

[OneThree]

We used Priceline once for a trip to Seattle and it was a less than stellar experience. While we got a good deal the hotel had the room wrong, had the wrong name associated, etc... I'd recommend calling the hotel when you find out which one it is to confirm the info Priceline has is also what the hotel has.

 

[Winnowill]

We've done very well with Priceline, though I haven't used it in a very long time. We had a two-story suite in a hotel in the Gaslamp District in San Diego once, and once we got the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles. Both very nice places.

 

[wanderlust7]

No, you can't pick the hotel you want using the Name your Price feature. There are websites that can help you guess what the hotels are (I think one is called betterbidding), but no guarantees as to what you will get.

The other site is biddingfortravel. You can get a sense of what you might get, especially if there are some recent postings AND travel dates are similar. But yes, no guarantees. You can usually get better deals maybe 1-2 months before travel.

There's a little trick to get free rebids. Let's say you want a 3 1/2 star hotel. When you enter Anaheim, you will get a list of areas, some of them won't have 3 1/2 and above hotels (they only have 3 and below). Those areas are your free rebids. Bid first for the area you really want, but start low. If it's not accepted, then add an area with only 3 star or below and increase your bid (I usually add $5 unless I have a lot of free rebid areas, then I might do $2 or 3). Repeat until you are successful, run out of free rebids, or you hit your limit.

 

[sheetz]

You have to be careful with Priceline if you need more than one bed because they only guarantee accommodations for 2 guests unless you use their Express Bidding service and specify 2 beds. Hotwire is better in this respect because they do allow you to specify how many guests are in your party and you will receive a room that will accommodate your group.

 

[tarheelalum]

It is a great deal if you do not require mutiple beds or an exact location or anything specific like that. My wife and I use it often. We always select a 4 star in the southern/garden grove disneyland area. We get hotels like the Orange County Regency or the Marriott for less than 100 per night. Beware though some hotels like the Marriott have high parking rates so unless you are getting a great deal, don't do it. Hotwire also has very good deals sometimes as well. I use betterbidding.com forum to try to figure out what I will be getting for my money. The folks who run that forum are quite accurate.

 

[Huff]

I've used Price Line many times. I can usually narrow down which hotel I'll get to 1 or 2 based on features, rating and using hotel lists from betterbidding or biddingfortravel. As others have said if you need two beds it can be a risk as they only guarantee one bed.

Lately I've been using HotWire. You see the price, features and rating but not which hotel. I've found it fairly easy to figure out which hotel it is and gotten some great deals. Hotwire allows you to say 4 people, so 2 beds.

Generally I don't care exactly which hotel I get. I just want a 3 or 4 star hotel, good ratings and in the area I'm wanting.

 

[luulu1999]

Thanks! I didnt know about the beds!! We def would need two!!