Learn How to know Which Hotel You’re Bidding On with Priceline Express Deals + Find the Reviews Online Before You Purchase Your Hotel and Compare Prices.
Have you seen these awesome Priceline Express Deals that have been floating around? I just got an email for a $19 Hotel Room in Vegas! Seriously only $19!!!
I have gotten several emails and had several friends posting on Facebook about these deals recently, they are relatively new and the truth is while they see
m a little too good to be true, there are some great deals to grab, so I thought I would write a quick post on How to Know Which Hotel You’re Bidding On with Priceline Express Deals.
Tips for Priceline Express Deals
1.) Know where you want to stay
In a big city the area where you stay can have a big impact on prices. If you are traveling somewhere like New York or Vegas you need to make sure you know what’s in the surrounding areas. Priceline will give you an “Area” You can Check the Map Here, know whats in walking distance and what isn’t, the further away hotels are from the central areas the cheaper they will be. You could end up spending a lot on Cabs or Uber if you’re too far away from where you need to be and you want to factor all the additional costs in.
2.) Be Flexible on Dates
The more flexible you are on dates the better deals you can get! If you have a general time you want to travel then that works best for a starting point. Also, remember a lot of priceline deals are for last minute, so if you’re booking too far out you might be better off going with the name your price to get a lower deal.
3.) Always Compare Prices
Some of the Express deals might be amazing deals, others may not. Make sure you use a site like Expedia or Trivago to compare prices on other websites for the same or similar hotels. Because there are a lot of extra rules (Like no cancellations) with Priceline sometimes the prices aren’t worth the requirements. The discounts shown are just the savings off the regular priceline price, but you might find a similar price by going to a hotel website directly and get added benefits of rewards or free cancellation.
4.) Read the Fine Print
Anytime you use Priceline to Book a Hotel you want to read the fine print. Most do not allow for cancellation after you make the purchase and they reveal the hotel and you will pay instantly. So if you think there’s a chance you won’t actually go on your trip choose an option with Free cancellation. It’s also a good idea to research the hotels on Priceline before booking. Follow the tips below to help you get a better idea of what hotel you are bidding on before you purchase.
How to know which Hotel You’re Bidding On
Knowing Which Hotel Your Priceline Express Deal is for is the tricky part but there are a few things you can do to figure out Which Hotel You’re Bidding On with the Priceline Express Deals and the Priceline Name Your Own Price. Let’s focus on the Express Deals because those are really simple :)
Keep in mind you can never know the EXACT Hotel you’re bidding on with Priceline, but they do give you a lot of information which helps you narrow it down a little bit. I’m going to give you one example.
1.) Start by looking through the Express Deals
Look through the Priceline Express Deals to see what options are available during your travel dates. For example, I found this Hotel in Las Vegas, NV for only $19!
I also found a hotel for the same dates in LasVegas, NV for $106! There is a big difference between those prices, so it’s important to do a little research on the hotels.
2.) Look for the Star Number, Rating Number, and Area
Look for the Rating Number in the bottom left corner of the hotel details, this will tell you that it was a 8+ Rating by Hotel Guests, 6+ Rating, etc. You also want to know the Star Number and the area where the Hotel is Located. All three of these will help you determine which hotel you’re looking at.
I have 2 Hotels in my example:
4 Star Casino hotel, Las Vegas Convention Center Area, 6+ Guest Reviews Rating
5 Star Casino Hotel, The Strip – Northeast, 9+ Guest Reviews Rating
3.) Open a New Tab and do a Regular Priceline.com Search
Next you want to open a new tab and do a Regular Priceline.com Search for the exact details that you just pulled from the express deals. Search for a 4 Star Casino Hotel, in the Las Vegas Convention Center Area with a 6+ Rating and the SAME EXACT TRAVEL DATES! This is important because date and location are huge factors in Hotel Pricing.
My Search only returned 4 options and 2 were the Express Deals. :) In fact, there was only one option for a Hotel in that area with that rating on those dates. The price on that hotel was $32, the Express deal is $19. You can never be 100% Certain, but there’s a good chance that will be the hotel you will be booking if you opt for the $19 Priceline Express Deal. You can also use TripAdvisor and other sites to read the reviews of all the hotels that fit that criteria before booking to help you do a little more research.
You can do the same thing with the higher priced hotel, although you may have more options in those higher price ranges, you can still look up reviews on the hotels that fall within those specifications and decide if you want to book.
Here’s my search for the 5 Star Casino Hotel in the Strip Northeast with 9+ Reviews Rating.
There are 2 different hotels that have a 9 or higher in the rating, One is $149 a night and the other $179 a night. You can see that you’re actually getting a bigger savings on the more expensive hotel by using the Priceline Express Deals.
4.) Look at the Discount Percentage
Since there are multiple results for the Priceline Express Deal Ratings that we searched the next option is to compare the percentage off. The Express Deal says we will save 28%, If I look at the prices of the results and do the math (100% -28% = 72% of the normal price is what I’ll expect to pay with the express deal) Then I want to take each hotel price and multiply by .72 to see which hotel is closest to the express deal price.
Hotel #1 is priced at $149 (Multiply $149x.72 = $107.28)
Hotel #2 is priced at $179 (Multiply $179x.72 = $128.88)
Hotel #1 is very close to the $106 Express Deal price, so my guess is that is the one I would probably be bidding on, not the higher priced hotel, because if it was the higher priced hotel it would be a bigger savings showing on the express deal.
It’s not an exact science, but it will get you VERY CLOSE to understanding which hotels you’re bidding on and you can score some great deals on the hotels you need in the areas you plan to travel to.
If you have any more priceline tips be sure to leave them in the comments below!
Click Here to Start Searching the Priceline Express Deals for your Next Vacation!
