If you are planning a trip in the near future and are planning on using Priceline.com as an online travel booking agent, there are some strategies you can use to get the best deal. Priceline.com allows you to name your price for lodging and airfare, but before you place your bid there are some strategies to get the best available savings.
Priceline.com offers travelers the valuable option of naming their own prices on hotel rooms, airline travel and more. Through an online bidding system, you can earn discounts at far below the advertised rate while hotels and airline fill rooms and seats.
According to BidOnTravel.com, your first step in working with Priceline.com is doing some online research. Before you place that bid for your next hotel stay or air travel reservation, you need to learn what are the best prices being advertised. Sites such as Hotels.com, official airline ticketing sites, airport sites and other discount travel sites are good places to start. You want to avoid overbidding so you can get the best deal. As you are conducting your research, you’ll also want to consider the dates you are traveling. If your plans are flexible, consider booking when the rates are lowest. Hotels typically offer the best rates on the weekends, yet airfare is typically lowest at mid-week. According to BidOnTravel.com., you’ll want to try book air travel on a Wednesday and you’ll get your lowest Priceline airfare bid if you include a Saturday night stay.
Knowing the rules will help you get the possible bid on Priceline.com. BidOnTravel.com suggests strategies for placing a bid on hotels. If you are bidding on a hotel, you can only place bids once every 24 hours. You can change your bid immediately, however, if you change your city, your travel dates or the “star” quality of your hotel. Priceline.com uses a star-rating system to denote the quality of the lodging and also bases their searches on the star rating. BidOnTravel.com recommends starting with a higher-rated hotel so you can change your bid immediately to a lower rating if you don’t like the price of your first choice. This method of “smart” bidding will help you get the best pricing for the largest choice of lodging. You can continue modifying your bidding as long as you do not confirm payment. As a rule, you’ll want to make sure your Priceline.com bid is 30 percent lower than what you might have seen elsewhere. However, once you have confirmed, there is no going back. Your payment is non-refundable and cannot be changed, even by paying a penalty fee.
BidOnTravel.com also offers a bidding strategy for air travel. When booking through Priceline.com, you are often asked to include alternative airports in your bid. BidOnTravel.com suggests you include one departure airport and one destination airport. By choosing one destination, you can immediately place another bid with a different airport if your first bid is rejected or you do not like the price. If possible, you can bid again with an alternative date. You can alter your bidding strategy depending on your flexibility and your advanced planning. Ideally, you’ll want to get between a 20- and 30-percent discount off advertised pricing but if you are making last-minute arrangements, your dates are not flexible or if your flight options are limited, you might have to settle for less. Again, just as in hotel bids, you can tweak your bids or place as many bids as you want, but, once confirmed, the payment is final with no refunds available.
