Priceline Works For Hotels in Big Cities
Written: Feb 12 '02
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I just got back from a trip to San Francisco and San Jose. I knew that San Francisco is a fairly expensive city and since I intend to go to Paris in a few months (a very expensive city) I was looking for ways to save cost on this trip. After some thought, I decided to try Priceline for my hotels.
What is Priceline?
Every night there are hundreds of hotel rooms across the country that sit unused. Going on the premise that any money is better than no money, Priceline brokers these rooms at discounted rates to travelers.
There are several other services that also cash in on these empty rooms, but Priceline is unique in that it essential provides an auctioning service. You decide how much you are willing to pay for a hotel and place a bid for a particular class of hotel in a particular general location (Priceline uses six class designations ranging from moderate to luxury). If that bid is accepted by any hotel within that location and class, you are immediately charged the agreed on fee, taxes, and a small processing fee. No negotiations, no choice.
What You Do and Do Not Know About the Hotels Before Buying
Because Priceline works on a bid system you know less about the hotels than even other hotel brokers that also sell these leftover rooms. You know:
* How Priceline classifies hotels
* Which classification your hotel has
* Either the city, or for large cities section of the city your hotel is in
* The price you want to pay
That is all you know about the hotel. You do not know:
* The exact location of the hotel
* The name/chain of the hotel
* The specific amenities of the hotel (although you have some idea of basic amenities including with many hotels in the classification level)
* Whether there is a restaurant inside the hotel
Once you submit a bid, it is a binding contract if a hotel accepts it so be sure you can live with that.
How Long Does It Take?
Priceline claims you will get an answer to your inquiry in 15 minutes or less. However, in my experience it usually takes longer. I have vague recollections of trying to use Priceline once before to find a room in Manhattan and not getting my requests denied until several hours after I submitted them. My recent successful request for San Francisco took over an hour to process. I suspect that the time is proportional to the number of hotels they need to ask to find you a room. In any case, don't panic when it takes longer to get an answer than the 15 minutes they state.
The Website
Priceline.com sells airfare, hotels, long distance phone service, and rental cars. From the main page, click on the hotels logo to enter the hotel service pages. At that point you will be prompted for the city or airport code and dates of your stay. In larger cities like San Francisco you are then prompted to select one or more sections of the city you are willing to stay in. This page includes a map of the regions so you know how Priceline defines them. Once you've selected one or more regions, you're asked to enter your name, select a classification, and chose a price. Here all six classifications are listed with a brief description of what to expect from a hotel in that range and Priceline's idea of the standard cost of a room in that range.
Once you've entered this information, Priceline will either start processing your bid or tell you that the chances of your bid being accepted are extremely low and offer you a chance to change it before processing. I wouldn't change it if it's what you really want to pay; my $50/night bid for San Francisco that was accepted got that warning.
Once processing begins, you get a link to a page that you can refresh every few minutes to check your status. If your bid is accepted that page eventually turns into a page with details about the hotel and a confirmation number. I don't remember what you get if the bid isn't accepted as my first bid was accepted and it's been a while since my failed NYC attempt.
The site is well organized, provides clear information on what to expect and what not to expect including maps of regions where your hotel could be, and provides a straightforward application process that is hard to mess up. Priceline did a good job with their site. My one and only complaint is that some of the pages load a bit slowly (but not painfully so).
Priceline in San Francisco
After checking rates and regions at other hotel sites, I decided to try Priceline for my San Francisco hotel. I was staying three nights and saw that I could get a room for $71/night at HotWire.com. I thought it worthwhile to see if I could do even better at Priceline.
I chose $50/night, knowing that taxes and fees would be added, decided on a three star (Upscale) hotel, and selected the downtown region. I got a warning that my bid was low and chances are it wouldn't be accepted and almost raised it. At the last second I decided to try it anyway.
After an hour or perhaps a little more, I got the good news that my bid had been accepted. I would be staying at the Crowne Plaza Union Square at the corner of Powell and Sutter a few blocks from Market. The hotel is right on the cable car line, in the middle of a lot of shopping and restaurants, and near both a BART station and several bus lines. Perfect. My final cost including taxes and fees? $176. Not bad at all.
The hotel definitely was within their defined downtown area and fit their description of a three star hotel other than perhaps the level of service promised. I paid less for my three nights than they normally charge for a single night. I made the right decision.
Priceline in San Jose
Priceline treats all of San Jose as a single region. Although staying in downtown San Jose or anywhere nearby is an expensive proposition, you can find cheaper hotels in other sections of town. Since I was in San Jose for a convention (PalmSource), I really wanted to be downtown near the McEnery Convention Center. Given that this is the most expensive section of San Jose (most hotels cost over $200/night), I doubted Priceline would give me these hotels over ones further away and thus cheaper.
Priceline was not a good match for my needs for the San Jose leg of my trip and so I used other hotel services. I ended up paying $99/night (AAA rate; the person I shared with had a membership) for a motel about a mile from the convention center for the two nights I was responsible for our lodging. I'm sure I could have paid considerably less with Priceline (given my $50/night in downtown San Francisco the weekend before) but unless the room was near the convention center it wouldn't have worked for us and Priceline couldn't guarantee this location. Again I made the right decision.
The Positives
Priceline is a way to stay in top hotels around the country for minimal cost. Hotels that normally cost $200-300/night may accept bids of $50-80 or even less (but there are no guarantees). In parts of the country where lodging is expensive and even motels cost $150 when booked directly (like San Jose), Priceline may be the only way to get affordable lodging.
The Negatives
Priceline does not offer you any chance to turn down specific hotels. If you have problems with a particular chain, need to be near public transportation, or want to be within walking distance of a particular museum or restaurant, Priceline probably isn't for you (except possibly in very large cities).
Priceline makes no guarantees about the specific amenities you'll get in your room either. If you need a particular amenity in a hotel such as a fitness center or a swimming pool or high speed internet access or a business center, Priceline probably isn't for you either.
My Recommendations
If you take a trip on short notice, or if you've left your planning to the last minute Priceline may be a great way to find affordable lodging. Since it's selling excess rooms, the closer to your travel you book the less you are likely to pay. Realize of course that there is no guarantee that you will get a room at an affordable rate, or even at any rate at all (although I suspect something will be available unless you're going to the Super Bowl).
I would make sure you know the going rate for hotel rooms where you travel. Priceline isn't a deal if you pay the same thing, or even more. Be conscientious. Once you've done some research, look at HotWire.com for hotel rooms in the same area. That will give you an idea of what a non-auction service is asking for those same excess hotel rooms. Make the HotWire price your maximum bid. Start lower.
If you're looking for hotel rooms in a large city be very clear where you want to stay. It can be difficult and/or time consuming to get from one section of a city to another. If everything you want to do is in one particular area of the city, look for a hotel there.
Personally, given that I don't drive, I wouldn't use Priceline in any but a very large city. It worked very well for me in San Francisco, but I wouldn't use it in San Jose because I can't chose a region of the city to stay in. Similarly I'd be comfortable using it in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York but not St. Louis or San Antonio. But that's my comfort level. You need to decide what your comfort level is and stick within it. As long as you do that, Priceline can be an excellent tool for saving money on hotels.
Recommended:
Yes
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