Anybody have any good/bad experiences with Priceline?

Looking to get a hotel in NYC...4 stars are listed as the Hilton, Westin, W, etc. But worried they are going to stick me in the Michalangelo Hotel or some ghetto named place that is labeled by priceline as a 4 star. They kind of give you the impression you get a name brand and then you might get trapped into the deal elsewhere. Anyone use this in NYC?

7/8/2010 12:47:33 PM

paging JCASHFAN

7/8/2010 1:21:19 PM

i haven't used priceline. my aunt loves it. i have used hotwire.com, which sounds similar i guess. you pay a cheap price for a 4-5 star hotel and you don't know the name of the hotel until after you pay for it. we got a really awesome room at a crowne plaza hotel in philadelphia. we were super happy and it was way nicer than what we could have afforded otherwise, esp considering the location.

so yeah that's probably not helpful. sorry

7/8/2010 1:30:17 PM

http://www.betterbidding.com

DO not priceline or hotwire without that site

7/8/2010 1:31:59 PM

ive used them dozens and dozens of times to get 4 and 5 stars in big cities like houston for like $45/night. it doesnt help much for smaller cities but for large metropolitan areas with an abundance of hotels its a no brainer.

7/8/2010 1:34:09 PM

I recently had a pretty lame experience, but given the circumstances it was understandable. I ended up paying barely below the AAA/Honors rate and was unable to change my reservation over the phone like you normally can. The hotel was listed as 3* but was in desperate need of a facelift and more amenities imo.

Basically, on top of only having 1 zone to bid with -- there were a number of weddings in Charlottesville that weekend and at some point through the bidding process half of the city lost power. Shit was selling out left and right on a number of sites, so when I hit their counter-offer point I just took it.

definitely check out http://betterbidding.com and http://biddingfortravel.com before making any moves.

7/8/2010 1:55:01 PM

anybody use this for NYC?

7/9/2010 7:38:19 AM

^ why would NYC be any different than any other large city? i'd probably say:

Quote :

"large metropolitan areas with an abundance of hotels its a no brainer."

is pretty valid for NYC

7/9/2010 8:17:52 AM

we used this for Vegas and stayed at the Trump Tower for $125/night, which is normally $250+ per night. It was ridiculously nice. Do it and report back, but you should not be disappointed.

7/9/2010 8:31:38 AM

7/9/2010 8:53:08 AM

^

7/9/2010 10:42:04 AM

I've used it many times. The star system doesn't always match your expectations, but it still useful. One time a 3 star hotel I got was being renovated, so some features were unavailable, otherwise great though, and the last 2 star hotel was more like a 1 star hotel.

Every other time, I was very happy.

7/9/2010 5:29:36 PM

I use hotwire a lot and have had mostly good experiences. Just go 3* or above and you should be fine. Calling them up suucks because it is hard to understand some of their foreign phone operators, but the website is easy to use.

7/9/2010 5:41:26 PM