A good night sleep is important when we travel. A nice clean room at a better hotel can be have for the same price you would normally pay.
The goal
The goal is to get a room at a fine hotel cheap. A room at Hilton for a same price of Motel 6. $55 for a room that normally goes for $119 or more.
The Background
Why would a hotel sell us the room at much lower rate? Unsold rooms. Hotels make the most profit when all the rooms are sold at their standard price. When that is not happen, they still be better off selling their rooms at lower prices than leaving them empty. Priceline & Hotwire help hotels sell these rooms without publishing their lower rates to the public.
See Winning Hotel bids in Top Cities from $28 per night!
The Rules
Are there a catch?
- You can’t change or cancel it. The date are set. You pay for the room in advance, whether you show up or not.
- Only two persons per room guaranteed on Priceline. Hotels may upgraded the room for you to accommodate more people, but they are not obligated. However, at Hotwire
, you can specific the number of people in advance.
- You can’t be specific of which hotels you want to stay. You will be in the area at the room quality that you choose, but you can’t be certain which hotel you will end up with.
- There is a few extra charges. On average around $12-$18 will be added to your rate for taxes and service charge. Some hotel may have mandatory resort fee for another $12-$15. Parking fee maybe extra.
- You must have a credit card and a valid photo ID.
- Can’t specific smoking, or non-smoking room. The hotel may change the room for you, but it is not guarantee.
If you find this is not for you, please consider booking a hotel the traditional way.
NO priceline Hotel cancel or change fees & lower booking fees!
The Game
How to get these best rate from the hotels?
At Priceline, you specific the date and the city, then you choose the area and the star level of hotel you want to stay. After that, you offer the price that you think Priceline will accept it.
At Hotwire.com, you specific the date and the city. They present you the list with prices, the area and star rating for you to choose without revealing the name of the hotel. Hotwire
is a lot easier to play without guessing the price. However, Priceline have more hotels in their system and you may get a lower price.
The Strategies
How much should I bid on Priceline?
Just the number please…
No strategies
If you just want to bid now, try $45 for three star hotels during weekday, $55 for weekend and $60 for busy weekend. if Priceline rejected it, add two and half star at the same price. For some downtown areas including NYC, LA , San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and any Hawaii, add $20 to that figure ($65,$75,$80).
I am quite busy
Short cut : The easiest way to derive the figure is by checking the rate of the same star hotel in the area on the same date and bid at half price of the lowest publish price, NOT the median that Priceline give you. You can easily get the price by click at the “click here” link on the right handhand side of ‘Name you own price’ Yellow box.
Tips: Priceline has been published recent wins on their website lately. It is actually a good number to work with. Try to bid $5 less on the win below $50, and $10 less on the wins up to $100.
See Winning Hotel bids in Top Cities from $28 per night!
This is fun. What else I can do ?
Intermediate
You can gauge how much you should bid by measuring the supplies of room in the area. The easiest way is to check the price of the large chain motels in the area. If it is $60 at the Motel 6 or Super 8 nearby, you should not bid less than $55 for the three star hotel in the same area. If some of big three star hotels in the area are sold out, it might be safe to start your bid at the same price as the motel. However, I would not bid less than $39 for three star hotel. Unless, I have a lot of free bid zone.
Tip: The lowest price that Priceline will considering your bid is: 1* $15; 2* $17; 2.5* $19; 3* $25; Boutique $50; 4* $40; 5* $55; Resort $40
Rebid : You can get a “free” rebid if you know for sure that there is no hotel of the same star rating available through Priceline in the nearby area. You can do this by checking one area at a time and notice the grey out star rating of each area. For example, in Seattle, there is only two areas that have four star rating hotels. The other eight can be used as a free rebid zone for four star hotels. See our guide Priceline free rebid zones, howto identify and use
The list of hotels on Hotwire tells give you the picture of the supply too. If two and a half star hotel is $65 and three star is starting at around $80, you are not likely to get three star for less than $65. Hotwire have a tendency to inflated the star rating by a half star. So, the rule of thumb is to bid on Priceline at the price of the lower half star rating on Hotwire, or 20 percent less at the same star rating. That means if three and a half star goes for $65 at Hotwire, I would start my bid for 3 stars on Priceline at $52.
When Priceline says best deal on the area or rating, It means they have more rooms there.
Priceline Last-Minute Hotel Deals!
Counter offer
Should I take Priceline counter offer?
If your bid is too low but very close (normally within $3-$5), Priceline may counter offer you with a higher price. The real lowest rate is normally $8-$12 less than the counter offer price, or around 20 percent less. If you do not have any free zone to rebid, you will travel within 24 hours, and you can’t find the lower price on Hotwire, it might not be a bad idea to take the counter offer. The counter offer price is normally still better than paying retail. You don’t need to take the offer right away, just save the email and you can come back to take the offer when all else failed.
Advance
For an extra saving of maybe $5 to $10, or to get the exact number of lower possible bid that Princeline will accept. You have to bid like a pro. If you are organized, patience, and willing to spend time study. You too can beat Priceline. Please follow this link to the next article “Advance Priceline Hotel bidding”(Not yet published. Please visit Priceline free rebid zones, howto identify and use in a mean time) Those who would like to bid on a 4 or 5 star hotel should read the advance section because the price vary greatly and I have yet be able to formulate a good guideline for four and five-star hotel bidding.
The checkin
Would it feel awkward walking in to the hotel knowing that I pay so little?
No. You should be happy knowing that you save a lot of money and helping the hotel with extra revenue. When check-in at the hotel. I would normally said that I have a reservation for tonight and give the front desk my ID and credit card. Their computer will tell them that the room is already paid for and off we goes… Enjoy your stay.
Priceline Last-Minute Hotel Deals!
See Winning Hotel bids in Top Cities from $28 per night!
4-star hotels at 2 star prices! Get up to 60% off retail rates at Hotwire!
