Oct 09
16
Priceline bidding for Hawaii
1 Comment
I recently booked most of my hotel rooms for a Hawaii trip using Priceline. You can get some great deals on the Marriott Kauai resort, Outrigger hotels, and many others. Overall, Priceline offered savings between 30-50% over the hotel’s website. The secret to bidding on hotels is to
- Stick to resorts or 4 star hotels. This will offer the greatest amount of savings. You cannot choose the hotel you want to stay in with Priceline, so its best to stick to a hotel class that will offer consistent rooms that aren’t going to be a big disappointment. The caveat is that resorts will require a “resort fee”, which isn’t covered by Priceline. This resort fee covers the usage of the pool, amenities in the room, etc. In some cases, Priceline bidders get rooms that as designated as “Priceline rooms” which don’t have ocean views, older towers, etc. So, best to aim for the highest room class you can afford.
- Best time to bid is either a month in advance or within a week of the reservation. Always book a cancelable reservation at the hotel’s website in case no more rooms are available at the desired price. During slow seasons, you can get some real great deals within the week of the reservation since hotels would prefer to get money vs. an empty room.
- Don’t bid too high. Two resources that I find useful are biddingfortravel and betterbidding. Better bidding actually is my preferred resource since they seem to have a bigger community for Hawaii hotels. Bidding for Travel is a solid resource, great for many cities. You can also get an idea of what to bid by looking at Hotwire and matching the amenities with the lists on betterbidding.
- Flexibility. If you need cancelable reservations, then Priceline or Hotwire isn’t the best idea. If you can’t get a winning bid, try breaking a longer period of dates into multiple reservations.
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