Over the last three years, HotelDealsRevealed.com has amassed a collection of over 500 Vegas winning bids. These are actual winning bids submitted by Priceline customers in the Priceline forum. Wow, that’s a lot of winning bids. I wanted to spend some time digging around the data to see what I could find: perhaps some tips for better Priceline hotel bidding Las Vegas. Here are some interesting findings from the data.
Priceline 5 Star Las Vegas Hotels
Of the 512 winning bids reported, 104 of them were for 5 star hotels. These hotels were primarily located in the following bidding zones: Strip Vicinity South, Strip North, and Strip Vicinity North. The average price for a 5 star hotel in Las Vegas on Priceline was $124 per night. This varied significantly depending on the day of the week, with midweek being around 25% cheaper and weekend about 25% more expensive.
Trump Hotel: The Trump hotel is a bit of a Priceline anomaly. It is located in its very own bidding zone called the “Strip Vicinity North”. If you do not mind the Trump, ts pretty easy identify this hotel by simply bidding on a 5 star in this zone. Of the 15 Priceline winning bids for the Trump, the average price was $114 per night which was the cheapest of all the 5 star hotels in Vegas.
Strip Vicinity South: Both the Strip North and the Strip Vicinity South have roughly the same average price per hotel room per night at $126. If you are bidding in the Strip Vicinity South, there are really only 4 x 5 star hotels in Las Vegas: Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Vdara and Aria. Hoping for the Cosmo or Bellagio? You actually only have a 28% of getting either of these hotels. The vast majority of Priceline winning bids in this zone are at the Vdara (most popular) or the Aria.
Strip North: The other zone for 5 star Priceline hotel bidding in Las Vegas is known as the Strip North. If bidding in this zone, you have roughly an equal chance of getting one of these hotels: Wynn, Palazzo and Venetian. The Palazzo occurs more regularly and is cheaper than the other 2 hotels commonly found in this zone. People often ask if Encore appears on Priceline. In 500+ winning bid reports, it appears just once.
4 Stare Priceline Vegas Hotels
The average Priceline winning bid for a 4 star hotel in Las Vegas is $97 per night. This is around 25% cheaper than 5-star hotels. This is great to know. If you fail to get a 5-star hotel hotel and need to lower your standards to a 4 star, also drop your price by around 20% and see what you get.
Staying on the Strip (South or North) is the most expensive zone for 4 star hotels because its in high demand. Travelers can expect to pay around $100 per night in this zone. In the Strip North, chances are you will get Treasure Island as this is a very frequent occurrence on Priceline, but the Mirage does come up from time to time. In the Strip South there is a good cadre of hotels like Paris, New York New York, MGM Grand, Caesars, and Mandalay Bay.
Cheaper 4 star hotels can be found off the Strip. On Fremont Street, the Golden Nugget runs for around $95 per night on average. The real bargains when Priceline hotel bidding in Las Vegas are in the zones known as “West of Strip” and Convention Center. In the West of Strip zone, the 2 popular hotels are the Rio and the Palms which average $75 per night. In the Convention Centre, expect to pay just $67 per night on average.
3 1/2 Star Hotels and Less
Priceline works particularly well on higher end hotels, but if you are traveling on a budget, its still worth bidding on Priceline to see what you get. On the Strip, the most popular 3 1/2 star hotel (by far) is the Luxor, which goes for cheap — just $65 per night on average (17 winning bids reported). Another popular hotel on the Strip is the Flamingo. Travelers looking to save even more money in this calss of hotel can find great hotels east and west of the Strip for around $50 to $55 per night.
Surprisingly, 3 star hotels and lower surprisingly do not go for a lot less on Priceline. The average 3 star hotel is $54 per night and the average 2 1/2 star hotel goes for $55 per night. Generally, I do not recommend using Priceline for 3 stars or less in Vegas. The savings simply aren’t there.
Conclusion
It helps to know what others have paid for their Priceline hotels before you begin bidding. Regardless of the hotel class you are looking for, prices vary throughout the city. The most expensive hotels are on the Las Vegas Strip and (slightly cheaper) Fremont Street vicinity. Those who do not need to stay right on the Strip can save big, West of Strip and the Convention Center bidding zones are very inexpensive and for some, a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of being right on the Strip.
The data in this article was created by travelers who have posted their winning bids. If you have used Priceline recently, please post your winning Priceline bids to help fellow travelers. We also use this information to update the Priceline hotel list for Las Vegas, helping travelers reveal their hotel. Finally, have any questions about Priceline hotel bidding in Las Vegas? Members of the Priceline forum can help.