Using Priceline for one night stay?

[Janemall]

We will be in Disneyland for a week in December, but wanted to add an extra day to our stay. Due to us staying at Dolphin's Cove we are unable to just add a night there.

To help keep our costs down, I'm thinking about using Priceline. Has anyone had any good luck using Priceline Express or Name your own price? I am primarily looking at 4 or 3.5 star properties.

I've never used Priceline before, and any help or tips would be appreciated!

 

[ParkHopper1]

I have never used it but I do know the Holiday Inn on S. Walnut actively will fill up their rooms and accept screamin deals from Priceline bid.

 

[Janemall]

I have never used it but I do know the Holiday Inn on S. Walnut actively will fill up their rooms and accept screamin deals from Priceline bid.

Thanks! It looks like you can really get an amazing deal, I'm just a bit nervous about using it for the first time!

 

[tarheelalum]

I've used Priceline bidding and hotwire many times over the years and I've got great deals. I use the forum better bidding to tell which properties that I will likely get through the description.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I used it once and got the Hyatt, which I was very pleased about. I believe I put $75. as my max price.

 

[mel2014]

How many people are you travelling with? The downside to Priceline is that they only guarantee you a double occupancy room with one bed. Any upgrade or change to a two-bed room is at the hotel's discretion. If you only have 3 people, you might be able to do a rollaway bed in a one bed room, but with four people I wouldn't chance it. Hotwire, on the other hand, allows you to specify the number of people in your party and will guarantee you a room that will fit your party (though the particular bed configuration isn't guaranteed). I've had good luck with Hotwire for our family of four.

 

[zanzibar138]

I've used it a couple of times and got both Marriott Suites and Red Lion for a steal!

 

[JKalai]

Room reservation agent here...

Only use third party websites if you are 1000% certain you are going and not cancelling your reservation. If you do need a refund or to change anything on your reservation, you have to go back through priceline which has horrible customer service. The hotel will not be able to help you, which is why I normally suggest booking through the hotel directly. We are able to do things we normally can't with third party reservations.

 

[DisneyPhans]

I'll try to help you out if you can tell me which dates you're going. There's a good chance that I or others saw that hotel description and picked it up. Prior customers of Express Deal or Name-Your-Own-Price have an edge if they've already booked that hotel - because Priceline will reveal it for them:

• Prior Express Deal customer will get a message indicating: "Hint - You've already booked here before "
• Prior Name-Your-Own-Price customer will directly see the name of the Hotel under Express Deals.

Advantage of Hot Rate/Express Deal over Name-Your-Own Price: You have access to Bed Selection, which means the deal also can apply to the suites or other rooms. You can sometimes identify the hotel simply based on the pattern of their room offerings. Normally the Name-Your-Own-Price deal only applies to the smallest available room for 2... no guarantees that you'd be able to slip 2 more guests in without having to pay more.

I love Hotwire/Priceline. As stated above, you need to be careful and make sure you can go on those dates. No refunds or changes. It's also better for families out of town to try this closer to the date that you're actually going, so you are more sure you can go.

It also helps to make your own excel sheet to have all the info on various candidate hotels at your fingertips. I've received a couple of +Likes on a previous post where I said I'd share my excel sheet and maybe start up a thread for DLR folks. With the help of some others, we could probably have the best DLR-Hotwire/Priceline thread about that here on the forums...

Another tip: Sign up for the email list on both sites. You will get private 24-hour, 48-hour offers for 10% off. These come at random, because I've signed up with multiple accounts (from different computers) -- and only one email address would get that offer. So you can get ANOTHER 10% off of the Express/Hotwire deals. On top of that, you can buy it through groupon, coupon cabin, ebates and get another 5-10% cash back. Then, if you buy it on a 1.5% cashback card, that's more.

For me, I live 10 minutes away anyways, so Hotwire/Priceline is bonus entertainment. For a lot of people who are out of town, it's more critical that they've made the right decision and I don't mind starting up some kind of thread to help these people out.