Off-Topic

I have used Priceline for hotels, and got 3 star rooms for $45. You can probably get a good deal on an airline ticket, but you might get a flight that is not direct, or leaves very early, or late.

you should get the itinerary immediately.

I've only used it once, but got a 3.5 star hotel (Doubletree) in Pittsburgh for $70/night. No complaints from me, but I've never used it for flights. If you get something that meets your criteria, you should know immediately.

I'm pretty sure the strategy is look for what you want at Hotwire and go 10-15% below their lowest price and you should be able to get it.

Just as a heads-up, if you change one of the criteria you don't have to wait the 24 hours. So if you start with a 4-star in one specific area of the city and your bid isn't accepted, you can try a 3.5 and 4 star in that area immediately. If it's not accepted again, you can do 3.5 and 4 star in 2 areas of the city, etc. So if you're relatively flexible on location/quality, don't blow your wad early by selecting all of the relevant options on the first try.

[Postingfrom10yearsAgo] Yes [/Postingfrom10yearsAgo]

Hotel in Time Square for $100.

You should also look at the bidding strategy on betterbidding.com to game the system.

As Dexter implied, you don't have to wait 24 hours to rebid. You can choose your area, then choose the highest star rating (say it's 4-star). Put in your bid - lowball to some extent. If it's rejected, you can choose another area in the city that doesn't have a 4-star (say their nicest hotel is a 2.5-star). Choose this area, and keep the 4-star selected along with your original area. Then bid again. Because you chose 4-star, Priceline has to give you a 4-star hotel. Selecting the second area without a 4-star is sort of a fake bid - you can't end up here. It just allows you to bid again without the waiting period. You can do this for as many areas as are available without a 4-star hotel. You need to be a little cautious about clicking on areas that have 4-stars if you know you don't want to be in that area. Otherwise, it works well. I've gotten pretty big discounts on 4-star hotels in LA, Vegas, Atlanta, and just recently Va Beach.

so if i put a bid in for a hotel on the strip... do they pick which hotel i stay in or do they list out the deals they could give me and i pick the hotel?

So when priceline or whoever says "3 star hotel" what are they talking about? Who rates these things? That's the thing that always bugged me about those sites and stopped me from using them, getting stuck in some craphole that's "3 stars"

I think they give you an idea of what they consider a 3 star or 4 star hotel and so on, on the site. I don't know who "they" are though.

ok sweet. i just wanted to make sure i wasn't going to get the excalibur or circus circus.

Priceline is not so great for flights.

You pick the day you want to leave and return and it could give you a flight any time during that day. If you go to an airline site and look for the lowest fairs they are usually the 6:00am flights or the ones that connect three times. Those are the flights Priceline will put you on.

Use Priceline for hotel and rental car and use the money you saved to get a decent flight. If you use the Orbitz or Expedia route for a flight then you aren't going to save a ton by naming your price but you do get to pick your itinerary.

Got a 3 star hotel in Munich during Oktoberfest for 200 euros/night. Pretty awesome, considering the cheapest 2 star hotels we could find were ranging above 300 euros/night.