Super Hotel Deals on Priceline
You could pay $340 for a room at the Hyatt Regency Maui . . . or you could get it through Priceline for $130.
by Wendy Perrin
With so many empty hotels aching to fill rooms these days, Priceline's opaque bidding tool can yield even lower rates than usual. As I've said before, the way to avoid overbidding is to check out Bidding For Travel first: It tells you which hotels Priceline users have recently gotten in which neighborhoods and at what price, thus providing a good sense of which hotel you'll likely end up in and how little you can bid for it.
Yesterday a quick search on Bidding For Travel turned up these amazing rates that travelers recently got through Priceline:
$115 at the Sofitel Beverly Hills, vs. $355 if you book through the hotel's web site.
$85 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, vs. $210 through the hotel's web site.
Given the glut of hotel rooms in Hawaii, there are scads of dirt-cheap digs even at top beach resorts, such as:
$111 at the Hapuna Beach Hotel, on one of Hawaii's best beaches, vs. $209 through the hotel's web site.
$150 at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, a perennial Gold List property, vs. $280 through the hotel's web site.
$130 at the Hyatt Regency Maui, vs. $340 through the hotel's web site.
I'd love to hear from you about your own experiences with Priceline and Bidding For Travel. Has anyone used Priceline competitor Hotwire? Or Bidding For Travel competitor Better Bidding?
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i always use betterbidding.com!
Posted by: juliana6 | November 20, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Another vote for betterbidding.com
Use both and you'll quickly see why!
Posted by: kjb1 | November 21, 2008 at 09:04 AM
We got a similar deal on a great room at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, also through Hotwire, and rather staying in a budget hotel the Hyatt was as much a part of our vacation with the kids as anything we went to do: http://travelswithbaby.blogspot.com/2008/11/stretch-your-family-vacation-dollars-in.html But while we were there, I overheard a gentleman who bragged he'd snagged a room (single) for $39 a night through Priceline!
Posted by: TravelswithBaby | November 21, 2008 at 02:12 PM
I agree with using Betterbidding instead. If you do a search on Bidding For Travel, you'll soon learn of the infamous reputation of the moderator. Visit the website, read some of her stern posts & you'll see that her reputation is well-deserved. You will be banned within a few posts if you submit your winning bid without going through Priceline/Hotwire via her link where she makes a profit. She also does not want you to submit a helpful review of the hotel unless you have posted your win, (which better have been via her affiliate link). In my opinion, she is shooting herself in the foot by alienating very helpful travel savvy people that can make the board better than it is. I'm sure that Better Bidding makes more profit. They politely ask to use their link but do not demand it.
Posted by: kareny | March 29, 2009 at 08:23 AM
Wendy,
I've used both biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com - I've seen more relevant and timely info on the first. Secured great Priceline deals on hotels in San Francisco, Brussels, and Geneva. I love the tactics shown for free re-bids.
Posted by: pamheld | March 30, 2009 at 01:15 PM