Pros and Cons to Using Priceline

Pretty much, the whole Pro to using Priceline is the price. Quite often, hotels can be had for 50% off the posted rates. This is a substantial savings and sometimes $100+ in savings per night in fancy hotels.

Pro: Priceline reserves the right to place you in a hotel at the star level you choose or higher. This means that you could end up getting a free upgrade. Some may not consider this a pro but I don’t see why not.

However, the rest are cons. You can’t choose your hotel which means you won’t know exactly where you are or where your staying until you pay. This sounds worse than it is. Since you can pick the area of city your interested in and the star level, you can pretty much guarantee yourself something you’ll be happy with.

Although you can choose a rough estimate as to your location, you can’t be quite sure where exactly your staying. However, depending on your selection, if your choosing a 4 star hotel you can pretty much be assured that it will be in a good location.

Another con is that you won’t receive any “points” for these kinds of stays. However, if your saving money then who really cares.

you wont get any perks. Typically if you’re a premium member of a hotel that scores you perks, you probably wont get them when booking through Priceline because of the deal you have received. However, I have heard of people still getting great perks through Marriott when showing their membership card.

Con: Charged up front with no cancellation. Once your bid is accepted, your card is charged. You can’t cancel the room either so you need to make sure you use it!

Con: Can’t request special features. Maybe your looking for a room that is non-smoking or specific bedding. You can’t do this with Priceline. However, you can always call the hotel after and ask them nicely. usually they will help but in the event that they don’t, you still cant cancel your room.

Con: Cant book multiple rooms for different dates. Maybe a friend wants to come join you in Vancouver for the last 2 nights of your stay. You can’t book it this way with Priceline. You can always try booking it separately after your own booking but they might end up at a different hotel.

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Next Page: How Much to Bid

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