My first Priceline experience
Before tonight, I’d never used Priceline. I think the issue I had was one of control. I didn’t want someone (something?) to decide where I stayed or when/with whom I flew.
I’d visited a web site called biddingfortravel.com a few times in the past. It’s dedicated to helping people get the best deal from Priceline. After seeing the list of 3-star (the highest that Priceline has in that area) hotels in the Disneyland area that people had gotten from their Priceline bids, I decided to try Priceline.
But first, I read some mesasges on biddingfortravel.com and saw that the person that moderates the site actually will help you formulate a bidding plan if you fill out and post a set of 12 questions.
One of the things she has you do is check prices on the hotels you are interested in.
Here’s what I found from the hotel web sites for our dates:
Marriott Anaheim Suites $109/night
Hyatt Regency Orange County $129/night
Sheraton Anaheim $102/night
Hilton Anaheim $170/night
Crowne Plaza $95/night
The moderator suggested I make my first bid for $25 a night. If rejected, I could re-bid at a higher price.
So, I did bid at $25 a night. And that first bid was acceoted. We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency Orange County for three nights for a total of $90 (including taxes). Yup, that’s $90 total (not per night).
Wow.
->Paul B.
8 Responses to “My first Priceline experience”
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mitch
Said this at 9:11am:Let me give you the other side of Priceline. I booked a rental car specified on priceline as an SUV. I thought I was getting a great deal until I found out that some rental car companies have 5 catagories of SUV. An “SUV” rental could be for a GEO Tracker for all Priceline cares. The best part is that when there was a death in my family and I had to change my pickup day to 2 days later I forfited my 177$ rental fee AND THE CAR. Yes beacause I wanted to pick it up 2 days later and only use it for 3 days instead of 5 days I lost the whole thing, the car and the money! These people use death and emergencies as a big, fat, free profit item! Never again!
amv
Said this at 8:21am:absolutley a rip off….would never use priceline again. Booked a hotel in vegas, thought it was on the strip accoriding to priceline mapping not only was it off the strip found it for much much less at Expedia. Called Priceline immedialtly as stated in there contract, they offered a partial refund still could have gotten it lower on Orbitz of Expedia and would have known the exact location…. NEVER AGAIN its a RIP OFF. Don’t even try customer service they are so versed in the fine print its impossible to argue your point. Iam taking this through dispute with my Credit Card company. Let everyone know what a rip off Priceline, name your own price truly is !!
Jody
Said this at 10:28am:Our company used priceline on several bookings - NEVER AGAIN! The hotel we booked was 10 miles further from the airport than the website claimed and in a horrible part of town. We felt extremely uncomfortable and tried to have them book us somewhere else and they refused. Another time we booked an SUV (similar to the other bloggers experience). They said it had 7 seats, it only had five which led us making several trips to load and unload our party until we could get a replacement vehicle. I will never use priceline again and to anyone considering it - BEWARE! They only want your money and care nothing about where they stick you. And don’t trust the ratings - they flat out lie. The hotel says they can’t change the booking and priceline says they can’t change the reservation, even a day in advance. Priceline is a rip off!!!!!!!!
Daniel
Said this at 5:46pm:I couldn’t understand some parts of this article My first Priceline experience, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
David
Said this at 7:49am:I just had an experience with Priceline, that was very inappropriate. A friend and I book two nights in a hotel to attend a football game. When we got there, we were asked if we wanted to pay an additional $15 for a second bed. Being heterosexual males, we cerainly didn’t want to sleep in the same queen size bed.
I called Priceline and was informed that the agreement states it will accomodate 2 adults. I replied that this doesn’t accomodate two heterosexual male adults. They argued that one bed does accomodate two adults. This arguement went in circles and then I was told that I was instructed to contact the hotel (which is in the fine print). If they couldn’t accomodate us with two beds, I could call Priceline back and have the contract canceled. I asked where in the fine print it stated that I could call them back if the accomodations didn’t meet the need. She stated it didn’t.
How is one supposed to know to do that, if it isn’t stated?
John
Said this at 7:46pm:Priceline is a big ripoff. I bid on a three star Hotel. They gave me a room at Hotel that is rated by everyone other than priceline as a two star. I saw this immedisately an emailed them that I do not accept this and they start giving me the run-around. We will see where it goes with the credit card company.
Mark
Said this at 9:04am:I used Priceline for the first and last time. I have been on the phone for two days trying to get somebody to address the issue of refunding money for tickets I never received. The customer service is atrocious right up to the CEO who conveniently is not listed in the corporate directory when you call the company headquarters. This is the worst experience I have ever had with a consumer product company and the sad part is that nobody in the organization seems to care.
Aaron
Said this at 4:59pm:HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE! I was researching flights on Priceline.com and purchased one offer, but passed up another. I then received two emails stating that I had accepted both offers. I was trying to purchase a ticket for my mother to come and visit after Christmas. The ticket that was purchased by me was in her name flying to the location that I wanted. The ticket that was “supposedly” purchased by me also, was in my name (why would I be flying from somewhere I don’t live to somewhere I do live) and flying to a location that I did not want. I contacted customer service immediately and they explained that they could not do ANYTHING to remedy the situation. The “fine print” stated that if both tickets were not exactly the same, Priceline would not consider it a double-book. After being forwarded to the customer relations supervisor, they then provided me with an email contact for the VP of customer relations. The representative stated that I had to email my problem and someone would contact me within 24-48 hours, but could not promise (due to the holidays) that someone would actually contact me. I cannot believe that a company such as this is still in business today, so I will now take it upon myself to slander their name when possible.