Priceline Big Deal Guarantee on Name Your Own Price® Hotels

Priceline is running a "Big Deal" limited time promotion that promises the Name Your Own Price® hotel room you book will be the best deal available. If you happen to find something cheaper after you book your room, they will refund 100% of the difference, give you an extra $25 bucks and a coupon for $50 off your next Priceline hotel or vacation package. That's a big deal! This is a limited time promotion.

"Big Deal" limited-time promotion! ends 3/31

5 Creative Ideas to Saving on Car Rentals

By Mike Grasso

www.inFLIGHTout.com

Sure we've heard the advice to use websites sites as Kayak which search multiple sites at once, enabling you to easily compare car rental prices. Great recommendation, but if you are a bargain shopper (and who doesn't love a great bargain?), it's only a start. Here are five creative tips to ensure you drive off the lot paying some of the lowest car rental rates available:

• Once you locate the appropriate fare and car rental agency, do a web search for discounts that can be applied to your reservation. Literally hundreds of discount codes are available for use, it’s just a matter of finding the right codes. My favorite site for finding these discounts is fatwallet.com. Be mindful of the terms and conditions with discount codes. For example, if you are using a discount code which nets 25% off to Stanford Alumni, you should be prepared to show your credentials.
• Book early and revisit later. Most car rental agencies in the United States do not require prepayment of rentals. So make your reservation early, then revisit as your rental date nears. This allows you to take advantage of any last minute car rental discounts, but also piece of mind knowing if, instead rates happen to spike up, you still have your original reservation.
• Consider Priceline’s, “name your own price” bidding option. When companies have a surplus of cars on their lot, they turn to Priceline to unload these at discounted prices. I’ve easily saved 40% on identical car rental reservations by using this Priceline feature. Drawbacks: You don’t know which car rental agency you are matched with until your bid is accepted. Also, full prepayment is required, and changes are generally not permitted.
• One more place! Check with Hotwire.com – another favorite of mine. Like Priceline, they do not give you the choice of car rental agencies, but they are upfront about the price of the car rental – often heavily discounted. I’ve found $14.99/day rentals at SFO before.
• Finally, just before you click that purchase button, review your itinerary. If you are flying to Seattle, make sure the quoted car rental is for the airport (assuming that’s where you want to pick up), and not a downtown location. Are your dates and pick-up times correct? Are the discount codes being properly applied to your reservation? Sometimes getting so caught up searching so many sites, it’s easy to overlook the small – yet most important details. Resolving issues early on will help ensure a smoother process when you pick up your car later.

How to Bid Better With Priceline

Mike Grasso

If we think back just 10 years ago, our options for finding the best travel deals were fairly limited to travel agents and other good folks "in the know." Fortunately now we have a potpourri of resources, particularly online, that enable us to find a customized travel deals that meets our needs in term of value and taste. One website, a particular favorite of mine, called biddingfortravel.com takes finding great values to the next level. 

As their website states, their primary goal is to promote informed bidding when using Priceline travel products. Many of us are familiar with the popular "name your own price" line pioneered by Priceline many years ago.  Under this method, you can bid for travel (cars, airline tickets, hotels) at a price you feel is reasonable without, at least initially, knowing who the supplier of the travel is. If your bid is accepted, then Priceline congratulates you and confirms the details of your itenerary, including which airline, car rental, or hotel accepted your offer. But how do you know if you over bid? What if that good deal could have been a great deal? This is where biddingfortravel.com comes in. 

Based primarily on user successes with Priceline's bidding system, biddingfortravel.com organizes their site by travel product and region, allowing you to scan recent Priceline bids in order to put in an offer that is likely to get accepted and ensures you don't overbid. So while a rate of $200US for the 5-star Intercontinental De La Ville in Rome would be a bargain (rack rates are over $250), a rate of $154 was accepted by Priceline - as reported on biddingfortravel.com.

Of course if you underbid, Priceline requires you to become more flexible (i.e: larger car, expand hotel search to a different region, etc.) then rebid. If you just want to increase you bid amount, you must wait 24 hours. So a review of the biddingfortravel site before you place a bid helps ensure your offer amount is within reasonable levels. 

San Francisco to Rome $498 "all in" Summer 09'

Right from the Flyertalk forums comes this thread on flights from the U.S to Italy for less than $500 bucks from the West coast, and less than $300 from the East coast. The only way to make this hot deal work is to price it through a third-party side such as Priceline or Kayak, then choose AirOne and/or AirOne and United as the carrier. Initially it prices much higher, but after you make your selection, it reprices downward.

This takes a little work and patience, but in the end you wind up with a smokin' hot, unbeatable fare to Italy.

May 27-June 2, 2009 SFO-FCO (Rome) prices at $498 including all taxes and fees. Operated by United Airlines the entire route. This fare will not last long! Click here to book

JetBlue has announced today it has begun selling tickets on online travel sites, such as Orbitz, Travelocity and Priceline.com. The deals mean JetBlue can expand its customer base and step up competition on the US domestic market. Until today, travelers had to purchase tickets directly from JetBlue.

Priceline Eliminates Airline Ticket Booking Fees
This month, Priceline began eliminating airline ticket booking fees on all published domestic and international fares. The change does not apply to Priceline's Name Your Own Price airline ticketing service, which offers already discounted tickets.

There are many pro's and con's to using Priceline and other travel sites such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. A con has historically been the added service charge for airline tickets, though often only $5-$15 per ticket. This policy change at Priceline may be a wake up call to the other travel sites to reexamine their fees, while at the same time making such travel sites a more attractive option to consumers.