If you are planning on travelling, USE PRICELINE!!! 

I have probably used priceline about 30 times for hotels and car rentals, so I write this article based on my experiences as well as my research. 

First – the downside of using priceline. Nothing in this world is free, and while priceline will save you a ton of cash – there two major downsides. So lets get them out of the way.  First of all, there is no cancelling with priceline – once your bid is accepted your credit card is charged -and you have paid for your room.  All you have to do is show up to your hotel and say your name. Your info will be in the hotels system, and no money will exchange hands as the room has been fully paid for in adavance. The second downside is that you can not select the specific hotel that you want. You can only select the area and “star rating” of the hotel.

Now lets get to the upsides.  You save $$$ !!!. 

I personally have never cancelled a trip last minute, so the first downside has never applied for me.  If something ever did happen last minute, I would be out the money I paid for a hotel.

Regarding the second downside priceline allows you to select very specific areas and hotel ratings – I will give an example of this in a sec.  Generally, the upside is that you save alot and you get to stay in nice places.  I’ve done alot of travelling throughout the US and Canada, and whenever I go to a city, I end up staying in the best area of the city (whatever area I deem best by my research) and I end up staying in one of the higher end hotels – all for a fraction of the cost.  Each city is different, but the cost for my typical stays is between $55 – $90 a night. 

Right after I book a room with priceline, I actually go to the hotels website and see what the price would have been. Its usually between $140 – $200. I have done this time and time again, so as far as I’m concerned – I’m not giving up a thing. I’m staying in the area I choose and I’m staying at a 3.5 star or higher.

Most people are thrown off by the fact that you dont get to pick your own hotel – so I just wanted to give an example to show how its not that bad. I’ve been to vegas a few times, and I use priceline every time I go.  I always choose “south strip” as my area, and I choose “4 star”.  By doing this I know (from research you can do at bidformation.com) that I will be getting one of 5 hotels.

4* Luxor
4* MGM Grand
4* NYNY
4* Planet Hollywood
4* The Westin

Each one of these is an amazing hotel, and they’re al right beside eachother / across the street!  I don’t really care which one I get.  So I’m giving up choosing my specific hotel – but I’m staying for almost half the cost.  (I’ve gotten as low as $53 a night for a 4 star on the vegas strip)

I just wanted to scratch the surface of what you can do with priceline.  There is a site called bidformation.com that has detailed guides about how to bid, bidding strategies, as well as prices from other people who have had successful bids.  It’s a good site to check out and do some research before you use priceline.

Go to Priceline.com