Guide to using Priceline.com

So as I was talking about before, Priceline is a good website if you know how to use it. I have used it numerous times myself for hotels, and have scored some awesome deals. For example, getting a 4 start hotel in Montreal for 55 bucks a night, or getting a Marriot in London, UK for $130/night (regular $700!). So yea, deals are there to be had with the Name Your Own Price tool! Here are my suggestions for using this:

1. It works better the closer you get to the date
Hotels are more willing to sell you a hotel room at a substantially discounted cost if they know it is likely to go unsold at all if they didn't. Therefore, the best deals will be available the closer you get to the date that you want. However, be advised that you are taking a big risk in the event that rooms are all sold out if it is a popular travel time (i.e. Christmas break, holidays, long weekends, etc...)

2. Make small changes
You can only make 1 price offer every 24 hours if the only thing you change about your search is the price. Therefore you have to make smaller changes so you can try a couple of prices to have a greater chance of success. For instance, if you are willing to have either 3 or 4 start hotels, in 2 or 3 parts of the city, my strategy would be this. Start with just 4 start hotels in your first choice area. If price is too low, raise it a bit then search with your 2nd area as well. If too low, try again in your third area. If too low, include 3 star hotels at a price you would be willing to pay for them. You can also try changing the days if you are staying for more than 1 night, since they will give you the option to extend your stay before and after your accepted bid.

3. Make sure your dates and criteria are what you want! It is final!
Because your travel arrangements for a successful bid are binding when it is accepted, and can't be changed, make sure you have bid for what you actually wanted because there is no looking back! I made a mistake in the past reserving a rental car, since I wanted an SUV but I accidentally picked standard car and didn't realize this until my bid was accepted! Luckily for me they had an upgrade option for $6/day more, so i took it. But yea, I was extremely fortunate, and I'm guessing that doesn't always happen! I cannot say it enough - check EVERYTHING before you submit your bid!

My closing advice is this. I usually only pick 3 stars or above when using priceline for hotels, because it is anonymous. Most of the hotels that I've stayed in have been wonderful, and the majority have been Marriots which are very nice. For cars, I have had Avis and National, both of which are very reputable companies and good picks, so you can be pretty sure you will get a good car with priceline.

Happy Bidding!

My tools for getting a good deal: The best websites

So there are many, many websites out there that you can look at to try and find a good deal for your trip. The following are a couple that I use regularly to find a good deal:

Kayak.com
This is a good website for comparing a lot of different websites and companies at once. I generally use them first to get a sense of how low I can go, or what is average for a flight. They also do hotels, and cars, and packages. I found looking for a rental car using the site was not that great, so I would stay away from that function.

Farecast.com
Farecast is a good site if you are traveling between major cities which they have forecasts for. If the cities are indeed ones that can be predicted for, I have found the predictor was accurate, and when they said buy, the fares did indeed go up the next day which would support their accuracy. The downside of this site is that smaller airports and many larger airports do not have the prediction function. Same applies to hotels - good site for predicting, but only if you live or are travelling to one of the major cities.

CheapoAir.com
I have just started looking at this website and using it. It is especially good for flights to far apart places, or places overseas. I believe that they look at flights that you can connect to, that do not code share - so essentially finding you deals that you wouldn't normally see. I am not positive on this because I haven't booked with this site yet. But I was going to book a flight I found on the site, from Toronto to New York for $120 round trip, but sadly I waited to long and it was gone by the time I decided to book it. So yea, it is worth taking a look at.

Priceline.com
Priceline is good for its 'bid your own price' function which I have used many times. I will write a post about that specifically in a later blog, but it does work if you know how to bid smart and are careful. The regular functions of the website are covered more adequately by the sites listed above though, in my opinion.

Hotwire.com
Similar to Priceline in the sense that you don't know what hotel or flights you are getting before you buy. There are sites out there that can help you decipher what hotel it really is, and you can do it yourself sometimes based on the tripadvisor.com rating and using the amenities listed. Haven't used it myself yet to book a trip though.

Couponcraze.com
If you go to the travel section, they have various deals by different travel companies, including codes for things like 20% off, $30 off, etc...Worth looking for codes for sites that you are going to be buying from anyways.

So there are just a few to start out with. The regular ones like expedia and orbitz are also good for scanning. Also, individual airline's websites can often have the best deals, and some do not have their fares included in the other sites search engines. This would be Southwest, JetBlue for the most part, and Allegiant Air. All 3 can have good prices. And I am sure there are other good websites out there to find deals, so hopefully I can find some more and post them in another post! Happy deal hunting!