Interesting story in the NYT about travel bidding sites, and how more airlines, hotels, etc, seem to be putting their unsold inventory on-line with them. Tips and tricks as well, for so-called "opaque" travel sites.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
435 posts
Thanks for posting this story Norm. I have never bid for travel, so I'd be interested in hearing about the experience of those who have.
I tend to stay in super-cheap hotels in a super-central location, so I've always thought that these bidding sites were not a good idea for me. I'd rather be in a good location in a 1 star than in an inconvenient location in a 5 star hotel.
Has anyone tried this for budget hotels (under 70 euro?) How specific can you get about the location?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
I use priceline for expensive cities like London. I routinely get 4-star business class hotels for around $80USD a night. The hotels are usually located in the Kenisington or Euston/St Pancras areas. For smaller cities like Amsterdam, it's not as good a deal as the hotels are usually located way outside the city center, and not accessible to public transportation.
Posted by
Bend, OR, United States
1167 posts
I have used skyauction.com for airline tickets several times and have been very happy with them.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
519 posts
We've bid a lot on hotels and have gotten great deals through Priceline. In the past few years we've bid a number of times in Seattle, also in Minneapolis and San Francisco. We usually bid for the 4 star hotels and usually get them at 1/2 of the rate on the websites.
The caveat is you have to understand the process and restrictions, know the zone in the location where you're bidding, and understand it's non-refundable. I use the website biddingfortravel.com a lot to help with bid prices and the strategies they post.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
2792 posts
The risk for Europe is that often the zones are drawn so large it's hard to figure out WHERE you might wind up and you could wind up in out of the way locations with NICE hotels.
I have done it for London and gotten some great deals. The Kensington area zone works for me.
I have done it for Paris, but only because reading the various tracking sites had me pretty sure of what I would get. (Some of the Paris locales are not good)
I do it quite often for the US but the zones here for Priceline and hotwire, etc. are "narrower" so it's easier to figure out where you will be.
I also only bid 3 to 5 stars. These sites idea of a 1 and 2 star can be scary. (And I routinely stay in those levels in Europe, but I have done my research before I book. There are wide varations at that level)
A few caveats. On Priceline you get a gurantee of ONE bed. PERIOD! And in Europe that tends to be very strictly enforced. There was a poster on the Marriott subboard on flyertalk.com a few years ago FURIOUS that the Courtyard in Paris charged his wife as much for the 'roll away' as he paid for the room. So if it's you and the kids going to Europe I would NOT recommend bidding unless it's a site that lets you specify more then one bed. (Priceline doesn't!) This also holds true for major US cities, but folks seem to have more luck there with "pleading for exceptions"
I am not a fan of using them for airlines. You are going to get the "dregs" that they can't sell. Things like the 10 hour layover in NY etc.
They work GREAT for rental cars as you can select the size you need.