Priceline is not for everyone. You end saving alot of money by booking through priceline, but you’re giving up the freedom to pick the exact hotel that you want.

It all depends on your personal situation.  If you are younger and travelling on a tight budget, you really cant lose by using priceline.  If you want to go to a certain hotel, or stay in an exact location – then you’d probably be better off booking directly with the hotel you want to stay at.

Priceline can save you alot of money – especially for longer stays.  Typically, you can get hotels for %50 – %60 of the regular price (the price you’d see on any travel websites).  Sometimes the deals can get even crazier.. I’ve seen resorts that charge $375 a night get booked on priceline for $90 a night.

The location also matters.  Some places like Vegas, or New York are great for priceline.  For Vegas, as long as you’re on the strip you’re fine. Why not select North or South strip and save a bunch of money on your hotel? (you’ll need it in Vegas!) In New York, some of the areas are only a few  blocks wide,  so no matter what hotel you end up getting within a given area, you’re within walking distance of whatever it is that you want to see.

If you have any more question feel free to ask them here. We’ll do our best to respond.

If you’re heading to Honolulu for your first time and you’re not sure where to stay – stay at Waikiki Beach.  There are lots of great hotels, restaurants, and of course the beach itself.  If you stay in this area, you wont need a car.

You can walk up to diamond head if you want (45 minutes or so).  Its a great walk to take in the morning.

And if you want to visit Hanauma bay, there is public transportation that you can arrange from your hotel for about $10 – or save some money and take the public bus.

Here is our list of hotels from the Waikiki Beach area:  (Taken from our Hawaii page)

Oahu (Waikiki Beach)
Resort Hyatt Regency
Resort Outrigger Waikiki On The Beach
Resort Marriott Beach
Resort Sheraton Waikiki
4* Westin Moana Surfrider
3* Ohana Waikiki Tower
3* Ohana Waikiki Village
2.5* Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber
2.5* Outrigger Reef on the Beach
2.5* Park Shore
2* Queen Kapiolani

If you want to save a bit more $$$ you can opt to stay in some other areas in Honolulu.  Waikiki City Central, Diamond Head, and Waikiki Marina are all great places to stay.

New York city is the most populous city in the united states with over 8 million people.  There are a bunch of great areas to stay during your visit to New York – it all depends on what you’re most interested in.

New York also has a very extensive public transportation system, so no matter where you stay you shouldn’t have any problems getting around.

Here we’ll introduce the different areas within New York City and explain a few of them in detail.  At the bottom of this post you can find a list of hotels in New York.

Also, be sure to check our New York page for recent successful bids for stays in New York City

Priceline divides New York up into 11 areas:

• Brooklyn
• Central Park South
• Chelsea
• Downtown – Soho
• Empire State Building
• Madison Square Garden – Convention
• Midtown East
• Midtown West
• Times Square – Theater District
• Upper East Side
• Upper West Side

Chelsea
Chealsea is located in south-west  Manhatten.  It is a popular dining and nightlife area.  It is also home to many gay friendly bars, restaurants and shops.

Downtown-Soho
Although originally know for the arts, the Soho is now famous for its shops and galleries that line its streets. It is a diverse neighborhood thatis a great place to stay  – Lots of great dining as well.  This area is also closest to the New York Financial district where you’ll find Wall St. and the site of the World Trade Center.

Empire State Building
As the title suggests, here you’ll find the tallest building in New York.  It’s definitely worth the trip to the top – but avoid weekends and holidays if you can.  Also, buy your tickets in advance!

Madison Square Garden – Convention
If your in town to catch a game or for a conference, this area will probably be the best choice for you.

Times Square – Theater District
This is a great place to stay for a first time visitor – one of the busiest places in New York.  See the great times square and choose from dozens of shows to see on (or off) Broadway. Rockefeller Center is also located in this district.

Midtown East
This district is home to the United Nations headquarters as well as St. Patricks cathedral.

Midtown West
Museum of Modern Art and the David Letterman studio can be found here.

Note:  If you’re cost conscious, and want to save money (and you are!)  it is good to keep in mind that Manhatten is a relatively small island – many of the districts here in New York are less than a mile apart (district center to district center).  Also, New York has a great subway system.  With this in mind you should be fine staying anywhere you want within Manhatten – and you should have easy access to everything a tourist would want to see in New York.

Here is the list of hotels for New York City (taken from our New York State page)

Las Vegas is a great place to take advantage of Priceline.  If you want to stay right in the middle of the action – then you should stay right on the strip.

On the strip is where you’ll find the big name hotels and casinos, as well as the biggest and most popular shows in Vegas.  Staying anywhere on the strip is fine.  You’ll be within walking distance to everything you want to see from the Bellagio fountain to the Eiffel Tower at Paris, to the lions at MGM.

Priceline has divided the strip up into two sections – North and South.

Here are the listings: (taken from the Nevada page)

Las Vegas (Strip North)
5* Palazzo
5* Trump International
5* Venetian
5* Wynn
4* Mirage
4* Treasure Islan
3* Imperial Palace
3* Riviera
3* Stratosphere
2.5* Sahara

Las Vegas (Strip South)
5* TheHotel at Mandalay Bay
4* Luxor
4* MGM Grand
4* NYNY
4* Planet Hollywood
4* The Westin
3.5* Monte Carlo
3* Bills Gamblin’ Hall
3* Hooters Casino Hotel

You can usually cut your hotel budget in half by booking Vegas through Priceline.

Priceline limits you to one bid every 24 hours.  However, if you change something about your bid (add an area, or add a star rating) you are allowed to bid again.  So if you get a little bit creative you can find ways to make several bids every 24 hours.  Lets go through an example to explain how this works.

Lets say I’m going to Las Vegas, and I want to stay at a 4 star hotel right on the strip (south).

First I’ll go to Las Vegas / Nevada Priceline hotel list to see what hotels are available.

Las Vegas (Strip South)
5* TheHotel at Mandalay Bay
4* Luxor
4* MGM Grand
4* NYNY
4* Planet Hollywood
4* The Westin
3.5* Monte Carlo
3* Bills Gamblin’ Hall
3* Hooters Casino Hotel

Now scroll down to the bottom of the page to see recent successful bids in Nevada – this will give you an idea of what these hotels are going for.

Once you have gathered the information you need,  go to priceline.com and enter the dates and city you’d like to stay in.

For the purposes of this example, lets say I’m heading to Las Vegas – Aug 27 -28 and  I want a 4 star hotel on the south strip.

Look for the name your own price box – click it.

You’ll be taken to a page that has a list of areas within Las Vegas along with a map.  Click each one of the areas to see which star ratings are available for each one.

Notice that only 1, 2, 2.5, and 3 stars hotels are available when “Boulder Strip” is selected. (I cannot select Resort, 3.5, 4, or 5 star hotels)

After looking at each of the areas individually, I’ve noticed that “Boulder Strip” and “Nellis – Las Vegas Speedway” do not have 4 star hotels available.  Just make a note of this information – you can use it later to get a few more bids in. (if you need to)

Ok, so now I am going to select the area that I want (Las Vegas Strip South), the star rating I want (4 stars), and the price I want to pay (lets say $45).

Click Next.

You are now taken to a confirmation page that looks like this:

Here you are told what the total charge (including all taxes and fees) will be.  You also have to enter your credit card information here.  Remember, if your bid is accepted, your card is charged immediately.

Click the “Buy my hotel room now” button.

Priceline will let you know in 30 seconds or so, if your bid is accepted or rejected.

If your bid is accepted - congratulations! You just booked a room (and saved abunch of $$). Your hotel is revealed to you, and your credit card is charged.   All you have to do is show up at the hotel on the days you specified.

If your bid is rejected, you have to wait 24 hours before trying again (with that exact same bid).  However, the trick is, if you change something about your bid, you can bid again right away.

Recall that “Boulder Strip” had no 4 star hotels.  So if I change my bid by selecting both “Las Vegas Strip South” and “Boulder Strip” I can bid again.  If I keep my star rating at 4 star as seen below, then there is no chance I can get a hotel in Boulder Strip (There are no 4 stars in Boulder Strip!)  So essentially, I’m placing another bid for a Las Vegas Strip South 4 star hotel.

This time try a $47 bid. If this bid is rejected, this process can be repeated again by selecting “Las Vegas Strip South”, “Boulder Strip”, and “Nellis – Las Vegas Speedway”.  (Remember, “Nellis – Las Vegas Speedway” didnt have any 4 stars available either)

At this point if you are still being rejected, you can try the whole process again 24 hours later.

The example we just went over was a very specific example to see how it all works.  Each combination of location and star rating will be different, so get creative and find a way to bid more than once!

If you need help, feel free to ask here.  Just put up a post saying when and where you want to stay, and we’ll help you out with your bidding strategy

Frequently asked questions

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Priceline Explained

Priceline is the best way to get quality hotels at lower-than-advertised prices.  Hotels like to advertise their rooms for the highest price that they can, but sometimes there are more rooms than people willing to pay such a high price, which can lead to empty rooms and revenue losses for the hotel.

Priceline has come up with a solution to help hotel owners by selling off those “empty rooms”, and this results in deeply discounted hotel costs for the end consumer (you!)

Hotels do not like their names and reputations to be associated with such a low cost, so the actual name of the hotel is not revealed to you until your price has been accepted.

Priceline will ask you for 3 key pieces of information:
-exactly which location you want to stay
-what class of hotel you want to stay in (what star level)
-and how much you are willing to pay.

After inputing this information, priceline will process the request – and within 30 seconds or so, you will be informed of either a rejected or accepted bid.

If your price is accepted – congratulations! you just booked a hotel room.  Priceline will show you a confirmation page where the hotel name is revealed. Yor credit card will be charged – and the room paid for as soon as your bid is accepted.  All you have to do now is show up at your hotel.

If your price is rejected you can try the exact same bid again in 24 hours – next time, increase your bid by a few dollars to increase your chances.  Make sure to  also see  priceline bidding strategies section where you can learn to maximize the number of bids you can make each day.