Priceline Advantages

When booking a hotel, there are many Priceline advantages that travellers can benefit from. However, Priceline also has some pitfalls that you should be aware of. Here’s how to take advantage of Priceline while avoiding these pitfalls.

 Priceline Hotel Advantages

By far, the biggest advantage of Priceline is saving money. Like other opaque booking sites where you do not know the name of the hotel until after you bid, room rates are generally lower than published fares on other online agencies. How much cheaper? I have seen rates as much as 65% below published rates but this is rare. Savings of 25% to 50% are more typical. This translates into somewhere between $20 and $60 per night for most travellers.

Another Priceline advantage over other opaque bidding sites such as Hotwire and the less popular Last Minute Travel is the bidding process. With Priceline you can save even more money on hotels compared to, say, Hotwire. An easy way to do this is to simply find out the going rate on Hotwire and then bid less. If your bid fails, it costs you nothing.

Even better, there is a little Priceline trick that lets you rebid on Priceine without having to wait the full 24 hours that they normally make you wait if your bid is rejected. The process works like this: you can bid again if you add bidding zones, just add zones that don’t have your hotel level. For example, say you’re bidding on a 4-star hotel in Las Vegas. If your bid fails, add a bidding zone that doesn’t have a 4 star hotel (or better) and rebid. This is a major Priceline advantage as it allows you to bid low and work your way up to your bidding maximum.

Priceline Disadvantages

There are 3 major disadvantages of bidding on Priceline.

First, it is important to be aware that when you bid on Priceline you are taking a chance on the hotel and there is no guarantee you will like the hotel or that it will have the amenities you want or need. There is a way to mitigate this. Use the Priceline hotel lists to help reveal your hotel or at least find out what hotel you might get. You can also join the Priceline forum to ask fellow travellers to help identify your hotel.

Another disadvantages of Priceline is that reservations are non-refundable. This is consistent with other opaque hotel bidding sites, so take precautions when you book on Priceline. Do not book if your travel plans are not finalized, and make sure you do not make a mistake during the bidding process. If you’re really concerned, look into trip cancellation insurance as extra precaution.

Finally, a major disadvantages of Priceline is that you cannot reserve a room for more than 2 people. It is true that most of the time, your hotel will be able to give you twin or 2 queen beds, but this is not always the case and you should be aware that if you are travelling in a party of 3 or more, you are taking a chance that the hotel will not be able to accommodate you.

Overall, the main Priceline advantage is price. You are almost always going to save money booking your hotel on it. If you take the time to learn better bidding methods and approaches, Priceline is a great choice for travellers.

Here are some additional Priceline resources:

• Instant rebidding method: An article describing how to instantly rebid on Priceline without having to wait 24 hours.  This is a secret weapon to help you be a better bidder on PL.
• Priceline forum: A place where travellers share their Priceline wins and ask / answer questions about PL such as:  priceline rebidding, hotel identification, policies, and general travel chat.
• Hotel lists: A massive collection of hotels known to be on Priceline, as reported by fellow travellers.  This is an amazing resource to use before you bid.  Simply check the list for your city (we have lists for pretty much all cities in Canada and the USA).