Priceline

[RAZZELL]

Has anybody any experience of bidding for a hotel using Priceline?

Wonder if you reckon it was worth the "risk" of getting a dud/overpaying.

RAZZ

[EndofDays]

Has anybody any experience of bidding for a hotel using Priceline?

Wonder if you reckon it was worth the "risk" of getting a dud/overpaying.

RAZZ

Try Expedia.com and compare it with Asia Rooms and the website of the hotel you are interested in. See which has the best deal.

[RAZZELL]

Has anybody any experience of bidding for a hotel using Priceline?

Wonder if you reckon it was worth the "risk" of getting a dud/overpaying.

RAZZ

Try Expedia.com and compare it with Asia Rooms and the website of the hotel you are interested in. See which has the best deal.

Thanks EOD'S...but I'm specifically interested in the "auction" or bid process on Priceline and come to think of it Hotwire and Luxurylink....I wonder if you can have a gamble and win

I already appreciate the benefits of Expedia, Agoda, Asiarooms and other consolidators....

RAZZ

[torrenova]

OK, back in the early 00's after the dot com boom and bust, Priceline was the daddy and it was the dog's <deleted>. Then, it was overtaken as it took so much time to keep up with what the public was getting from their auction results that time became more important than the savings.

For Bangkok, Priceline was great. Then as hotels turned to USD pricing and reovered somewhat from the post 1997 fallout, Priceline could deliver the results but it could also throw up some crap as well. 5* on the River is great if you hit the Shangri-La, Peninsula or Marriott. Not so good if you get the Holiday Inn if you see what I mean.

However, Priceline in Hong Kong could be emailed and you could "fix" which hotel you wanted, so the Marriott on Suk 2 became not a hit and miss for 5* on the Suk but a guarantee and at $40 or $50 it was a steal.

Where the others caught up was the fees that Priceline add on. Even today there are some fees on some sites, even on ratestogo.com which I like but Priceline was like Ryanair, promoting cheap and then coming at you with high %s of fees relative to purchase price.

I don't know if you can still do the HK thing but the website biddingfortravel.com was the bible for what you got, for what money and which options were the currnt options. Maybe it still is though it looks like not much data is being entered for Thailand these days.

http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/forums/11...kok-Phuket.html

http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/topic/512...HOTEL-LIST.html

[RAZZELL]

Thank you very much 'torrenova' for your reply.

I've looked at Biddingfortavel, Money Saving Expert and other forums and it seems that Priceline works well in the USA. I'll do a bit more research, especially about the HK version

But I was thinking about taking a punt on an hotel in Bali. Seems you could get lucky and get the Westin in Nusa Dua for $60.

I don't see the point in taking a gamble with such great rates available in Bangkok at the moment. I'm about to book 4 nights at Lebua at State Tower, Riverside view, wifi, breakfast for 2...£88 a night on Expedia

RAZZ

[torrenova]

Is that a good rate for the Lebua ? £88 seems just short of Bt5000 a night which seems very high. I see it at £86 and with points for future stays with ratestogo.com other sites may be cheaper and they may deal direct ? Do they have a membership scheme ? The Marriotts will deal direct and beat offers you have or just "make up" if reasonably plausible. I know as I've done it.

66sqm is a nice room and spacious. Just out of interest, another all suite hotel is the Banyan Tree, formerly the Westin in Silom. I've stayed there but not for some time.

If I didn't know where I could end up and if the options included some unknown local variants, then I would be wary. If way cheaper then perhaps but not just to save a few pounds. In this economic climate, I think many places will be more than happy to deal direct at a good rate.

[zzdocxx]

Personally I think that "better bidding dot com" is a better website than bidding for travel.

Although I found a quite satisfactory rate at the Majestic Grande at the time and didn't end up using Priceline.

There is a whole strategy and so forth worked out, based on winning bid histories submitted by their forum members, and knowledge of the algorithms used.

Good luck!

[RAZZELL]

Is that a good rate for the Lebua ? £88 seems just short of Bt5000 a night which seems very high. I see it at £86 and with points for future stays with ratestogo.com other sites may be cheaper and they may deal direct ? Do they have a membership scheme ? The Marriotts will deal direct and beat offers you have or just "make up" if reasonably plausible. I know as I've done it.

66sqm is a nice room and spacious. Just out of interest, another all suite hotel is the Banyan Tree, formerly the Westin in Silom. I've stayed there but not for some time.

If I didn't know where I could end up and if the options included some unknown local variants, then I would be wary. If way cheaper then perhaps but not just to save a few pounds. In this economic climate, I think many places will be more than happy to deal direct at a good rate.

The rate with Expedia is shown today as £83 a night which works out at £392 for 4 nights with all taxes, breakfast for 2 and wifi. A lot of other rates available are room only. River view suite is showing at £150 on ratestogo.

If you "look around" you can get a promotional code voucher which will save you another £20

Cheers!

RAZZ