Save Big Money using Priceline
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Save Money on Hotels
I have been booking hotels on Priceline for over 5 years know and I have learned a few tricks to getting rooms under 50% almost every time. These are very nice hotels and most of them are from very popular chains like Hilton and Marriott. If you know the area you want a Hotel Inn then you are almost guaranteed to get a room at less than 50% retail. How much I should bid is a good question and the answer is bid as low as you want but make sure you do it within a few weeks of your travel dates. If you only have a day you will probably have to pay a little higher that if you plan several weeks in advance.
Step One - Signing Up for Priceline
The first thing you will have to do to use Priceline is setup an account and put a debit or credit card in you profile so you can bid on a hotel. You will need a email address and debit or credit card. If you have PayPal you can use PayPal’s new plug-in to create a one time use credit card. Once you have a card setup you are ready to go. Just remember that when you place a bid the money will be charge to your account instantly if you win the bid. If you’re bid is too low then your card does not get change and you can try again.
Step two - Pick location and Star Rating
The secret to getting cheap hotels is naming your own price. By naming you own price you can get hotels for less than 50% the normal rate. You can usually get better rates on weekends because business travelers usually fill up the hotels especially in big cities. A good way to find the lowest bid you can make is to bid a really small price like 5 dollars and you will get a message from Priceline that your bid is way too small. To name your own price click on the hotels link and you will see a little box that says Name your own Price, click on that box and you’ll be in right place to get low hotel rates. Select the city and the dates you want and then click the bid now button. You will see a list of areas in the city that you want and you can choose from. You will have to select a Hotel Star rating, the higher the rating the better the Hotel and the higher you will have to bid. You can get some great rates for 4 star hotels.
Step 3 - Name Your Price
First thing make sure you do this several weeks in advance because if you bid too low and do not get the hotel you will have to wait 24 hours to bid again. This is part of the strategy you need to get the lowest price so you want a few weeks to get the lowest possible price. Usually you can that low price on the first or second try. Some times it might take three times if the city you are staying is very full. OK now how much should you bid, I suggest that you bid only $18 dollars the first time, if its too low you will see a message
Based on recent data, your price has only a small chance of being accepted.
If you see this message just keep bidding a dollar higher until its gone. Now you are at the lowest possible bid rate. You are now ready to bid for the first time. You can now submit your bid and hope you win with the lowest possible first bid. If you do not win, no problem. You can bid again tomorrow, I suggest adding two or three dollars higher each day until you win. Once you win you will get a great Hotel because Priceline has nothing but good hotels, sometimes you might get a not so great hotel but that’s rare in my experience.
Step 4 - You got your Rate Now what
Now that you won you will get a message congratulating you and telling you what hotel you are going to stay at, I always call the hotel and asked about location, breakfast and for a double bed. Now that you won if you really like you hotel then you can got the page that you won and extend your stay for up to the amount of days you won. If you got two nights you can get an additional two nights for the same price. The only problems I ever run into is that construction or a hard to find location might be why the hotel is so cheap.
You Now save more then 50% of the hotel price, I am usre of this becuase using this method I have never made more, the chepeast hotel rate I got was for 22 dollars a night for a 2 star hotel. No bad it was a Homestead Extended stay and it was just like having a small apartment.
Any Questions please comment.
