Misunderstandings about Star Ratings and Zones
In a big city such as Chicago, there are scores of bidding zones. If you bid on a zone that's 20 miles from where you need to be during your trip, you'll waste lots of time (and money) commuting. Remember that 20 miles in a big city can require as much time as a journey twice that long in less-congested areas.
Another warning: in some cities, "downtown" or "midtown" might not be defined quite as you would expect.
It is your responsibility to find out how Priceline sets the geographic boundaries.
The star ratings on hotels for Priceline are a topic of much debate. Many people will disagree with whether or not the property meets the quality levels to which they are accustomed.
For purposes of bidding, your opinion about star ratings vs. quality is irrelevant.
This is simply Priceline's way of categorizing hotels by amenities offered. Read their ratings definitions and choose accordingly.
Before you bid, click on each zone. Priceline will show you the star ratings available within each zone. This is a crucial step, because you can bid again immediately by adding a zone or a new star-rating category. Start your bidding by selecting only one zone.
The best bidding strategy is to look for zones that don't offer a certain star category, add that zone, and obtain a rebid.
For example, the city of Chicago has 12 Priceline zones. The North Michigan Avenue zone offers five-star rooms. None of the other zones has five-star hotels.
So if you fail on your first bid at a five-star in North Michigan Avenue, bid again simply by adding another zone. There is no danger of winding up out-of-zone because those zones have no five-star rooms to offer you.
Bidding without Research
You won't need to spend hours in the library or on the Internet, but research and strategy make for a successful Priceline bid.
For example, you might think $140/night for a four-star downtown hotel in Indianapolis is a good deal, and perhaps you are correct. But if you bid that amount, are you really getting the lowest price?
Priceline actually provides bidding research. At this writing, according to their own records, someone landed a four-star room downtown for $100/night.
Suddenly, that $140 deal doesn't look so good.
Beyond Priceline, there are message boards where travelers post their winning bids. Of course, there is no way to verify if they are telling the truth, so you'll need to look at a variety of posts rather than trusting just one.
On the BetterBidding message board, someone posted a winning bid of $90/night for a four-star downtown room in Indianapolis. The message even describes how they did it: the first bid was $75, then a second bid of $85 and so on. According to the successful bidder, the room listed for a standard rate (called a rack rate in the trade) of $199 at the time.
Keep in mind that this is only one example, and it represents market conditions at a moment in time. You might do even better, or perhaps not as well. But having some idea of how to bid is the best way to get a good deal.
Wasting Rebids with Unrealistic Offers
If you've done your research, you will know that a given zone's four-star hotels generally start at, let's say, $105/night. An average successful bid is more like $125/night.
It's fine to start at $95 and work your way into the success range. But don't start at $60 and waste multiple rebid opportunities with attempts that are doomed from the start.
Play the percentages, work your way up from a low offer, but keep a realistic bidding pattern in place throughout the process.
Expecting Refunds
Priceline is in the business of moving unsold travel products. If the car isn't rented, the airline seat isn't purchased or the hotel room is unreserved, Priceline offers companies the chance to gain some revenue, and it offers travelers the chance to pick up a nice bargain.
Read up on Priceline, and you'll discover that many of their offers do not involve bidding. But they are best-known by budget travelers for the potential of deep discounts using the "Name Your Own Price" option.
As with the purchase of most economy airline tickets, these transactions are non-refundable. If you're bidding, don't treat Priceline as a reservation service. You are making a final decision when you click "buy" and your credit card will be charged accordingly.
Unknowns can be important in this process. You won't know the name and address of your hotel, or the time of your flight, until after the transaction is final. If the unknowns become unacceptable, you could be out a substantial sum of money or face difficulties that require time and cash to fix.
Using Priceline for Small-Town Stays
I once undertook a cross-country trip in which I used Priceline to book every room. As a rule, naming my own price paid off handsomely in big cities, but not nearly so well in smaller towns.
If you're going to give up control of your arrangements, make sure it is worth your while. In small towns, where inventories of rooms are relatively tiny, Priceline often isn't worth the risk.
There are exceptions.
If you're booking a bank of rooms, saving even a few percentage points can add up quickly. But understand that Priceline makes the unaffordable rooms more reasonable in price.
Failing to Understand Why Hotels Use Priceline
Priceline offers travel companies an opportunity to target travelers who are ready to commit to a specific hotel zone, airline seat or car rental. That's quite a service. In exchange for this highly effective marketing opportunity, the vendors offer some discounts. If there are empty seats, cars and rooms on a given night, some revenue beats no revenue.
But you must understand that market conditions change constantly.
A downtown hotel might have 30 empty rooms to move on one Wednesday night, but only five the following Wednesday.
So the deals you get on Priceline one day might not exist the next day. It's simple supply and demand economics. You must decide if the deals are good enough during your travel period to merit giving up the control of your airline choice, flight time, car rental make or hotel selection.
Clearly, there are times when you are better off with control of these matters, even if the cost is slightly higher.
Because a honeymoon or second honeymoon are special occasions, you'll want complete control of your flight times, airlines, choice of hotel and more.
At such important moments, giving up that control to save some money is a risky strategy, even for budget travelers.
Many a honeymooner will write to say the risk paid off with an affordable trip. Bravo!
But others will be disappointed. The safest approach is to maintain control and save these techniques for a less important journey.
Most of the time, you'll enjoy the same amenities and views as everyone else at the hotel, and receive great service. But on rare occasions, Priceline customers have reported feeling snubbed at their hotels.
In a small inland city, I had a clerk tell me I was lucky to be staying in their hotel at the price I paid, and I wasn't entitled to make any requests. At another place in the same town, a clerk told me Priceline doesn't allow requests for additional beds, even if they're available.
In both cases, the clerks were out of line. In both cases, I sent complaints to the appropriate managers. One issued a full refund for the stay.
Requests for two beds in a room can be honored at the hotel's discretion, and Priceline does not dictate such matters. It's important to make the request as soon as you've made a reservation. It's also important to complain in a polite, effective manner. But don't let anyone make you feel as if you're a second-class citizen. You're filling a room that could have gone vacant. You're a paying guest with rights.
In a big city such as Chicago, there are scores of bidding zones. If you bid on a zone that's 20 miles from where you need to be during your trip, you'll waste lots of time (and money) commuting. Remember that 20 miles in a big city can require as much time as a journey twice that long in less-congested areas.
Another warning: in some cities, "downtown" or "midtown" might not be defined quite as you would expect.
It is your responsibility to find out how Priceline sets the geographic boundaries.
The star ratings on hotels for Priceline are a topic of much debate. Many people will disagree with whether or not the property meets the quality levels to which they are accustomed.
For purposes of bidding, your opinion about star ratings vs. quality is irrelevant.
This is simply Priceline's way of categorizing hotels by amenities offered. Read their ratings definitions and choose accordingly.
Before you bid, click on each zone. Priceline will show you the star ratings available within each zone. This is a crucial step, because you can bid again immediately by adding a zone or a new star-rating category. Start your bidding by selecting only one zone.
The best bidding strategy is to look for zones that don't offer a certain star category, add that zone, and obtain a rebid.
For example, the city of Chicago has 12 Priceline zones. The North Michigan Avenue zone offers five-star rooms. None of the other zones has five-star hotels.
So if you fail on your first bid at a five-star in North Michigan Avenue, bid again simply by adding another zone. There is no danger of winding up out-of-zone because those zones have no five-star rooms to offer you.
Bidding without Research
You won't need to spend hours in the library or on the Internet, but research and strategy make for a successful Priceline bid.
For example, you might think $140/night for a four-star downtown hotel in Indianapolis is a good deal, and perhaps you are correct. But if you bid that amount, are you really getting the lowest price?
Priceline actually provides bidding research. At this writing, according to their own records, someone landed a four-star room downtown for $100/night.
Suddenly, that $140 deal doesn't look so good.
Beyond Priceline, there are message boards where travelers post their winning bids. Of course, there is no way to verify if they are telling the truth, so you'll need to look at a variety of posts rather than trusting just one.
On the BetterBidding message board, someone posted a winning bid of $90/night for a four-star downtown room in Indianapolis. The message even describes how they did it: the first bid was $75, then a second bid of $85 and so on. According to the successful bidder, the room listed for a standard rate (called a rack rate in the trade) of $199 at the time.
Keep in mind that this is only one example, and it represents market conditions at a moment in time. You might do even better, or perhaps not as well. But having some idea of how to bid is the best way to get a good deal.
Wasting Rebids with Unrealistic Offers
If you've done your research, you will know that a given zone's four-star hotels generally start at, let's say, $105/night. An average successful bid is more like $125/night.
It's fine to start at $95 and work your way into the success range. But don't start at $60 and waste multiple rebid opportunities with attempts that are doomed from the start.
Play the percentages, work your way up from a low offer, but keep a realistic bidding pattern in place throughout the process.
Expecting Refunds
Priceline is in the business of moving unsold travel products. If the car isn't rented, the airline seat isn't purchased or the hotel room is unreserved, Priceline offers companies the chance to gain some revenue, and it offers travelers the chance to pick up a nice bargain.
Read up on Priceline, and you'll discover that many of their offers do not involve bidding. But they are best-known by budget travelers for the potential of deep discounts using the "Name Your Own Price" option.
As with the purchase of most economy airline tickets, these transactions are non-refundable. If you're bidding, don't treat Priceline as a reservation service. You are making a final decision when you click "buy" and your credit card will be charged accordingly.
Unknowns can be important in this process. You won't know the name and address of your hotel, or the time of your flight, until after the transaction is final. If the unknowns become unacceptable, you could be out a substantial sum of money or face difficulties that require time and cash to fix.
Using Priceline for Small-Town Stays
I once undertook a cross-country trip in which I used Priceline to book every room. As a rule, naming my own price paid off handsomely in big cities, but not nearly so well in smaller towns.
If you're going to give up control of your arrangements, make sure it is worth your while. In small towns, where inventories of rooms are relatively tiny, Priceline often isn't worth the risk.
There are exceptions.
If you're booking a bank of rooms, saving even a few percentage points can add up quickly. But understand that Priceline makes the unaffordable rooms more reasonable in price.
Failing to Understand Why Hotels Use Priceline
Priceline offers travel companies an opportunity to target travelers who are ready to commit to a specific hotel zone, airline seat or car rental. That's quite a service. In exchange for this highly effective marketing opportunity, the vendors offer some discounts. If there are empty seats, cars and rooms on a given night, some revenue beats no revenue.
But you must understand that market conditions change constantly.
A downtown hotel might have 30 empty rooms to move on one Wednesday night, but only five the following Wednesday.
So the deals you get on Priceline one day might not exist the next day. It's simple supply and demand economics. You must decide if the deals are good enough during your travel period to merit giving up the control of your airline choice, flight time, car rental make or hotel selection.
Clearly, there are times when you are better off with control of these matters, even if the cost is slightly higher.
Because a honeymoon or second honeymoon are special occasions, you'll want complete control of your flight times, airlines, choice of hotel and more.
At such important moments, giving up that control to save some money is a risky strategy, even for budget travelers.
Many a honeymooner will write to say the risk paid off with an affordable trip. Bravo!
But others will be disappointed. The safest approach is to maintain control and save these techniques for a less important journey.
Most of the time, you'll enjoy the same amenities and views as everyone else at the hotel, and receive great service. But on rare occasions, Priceline customers have reported feeling snubbed at their hotels.
In a small inland city, I had a clerk tell me I was lucky to be staying in their hotel at the price I paid, and I wasn't entitled to make any requests. At another place in the same town, a clerk told me Priceline doesn't allow requests for additional beds, even if they're available.
In both cases, the clerks were out of line. In both cases, I sent complaints to the appropriate managers. One issued a full refund for the stay.
Requests for two beds in a room can be honored at the hotel's discretion, and Priceline does not dictate such matters. It's important to make the request as soon as you've made a reservation. It's also important to complain in a polite, effective manner. But don't let anyone make you feel as if you're a second-class citizen. You're filling a room that could have gone vacant. You're a paying guest with rights.