There are two major online discount travel providers, Priceline (www.priceline.com) and Hotwire (www.hotwire.com). Each takes a slightly different approach to offering sometimes substantial discounts to travel bargain seekers.
Priceline is the better known of the two for offering discounted hotel rooms, car rentals and air travel.
Priceline's biggest saver is usually in hotel rooms. Select a destination and dates through the “Name Your Own Price” option, and you'll be presented with a list of available room types according to a grading system between one and five stars, and a map showing the general area where the hotels are located. Major metropolitan areas often have several areas defined, such as “Airport” and “Downtown”, so it's usually possible to find hotels in the area you're seeking.
Enter a date range and price along with the star level you desire, and in a few seconds you'll receive an answer as to whether your price was accepted.
Priceline also offers a bid your own price service for airfare, auto rentals and cruises. The airfare service is usually for travelers who have the most flexibility, as you must be prepared to take any flight offered on a given day in order to have a chance of winning. Car rentals on Priceline are by days, location and vehicle class.
Hotwire offers specific hotels according to grading and location at a specific price without bidding. Hotwire also offers discounted car rentals by car class and location.
Neither service reveals the specific hotel, flight or car chosen until after a bid has been received, accepted and charged to a credit card. Both add a small additional booking fee to hotel rentals, and both add taxes as required to whatever the base amount charged is.
Travelers will also need to contact the hotels directly to insure they receive bed and smoking preferences. In most cases, hotels are willing to accept such requests, but they are not guaranteed at the time of payment.
The biggest issues with each service most travelers have is the fact they are not guaranteed a specific hotel, and this is indeed a limitation.
However, two user forums often provide information that with a little research, can provide both the likely hotel to be received, as well as the lowest amount to bid on Priceline likely to be accepted.
BiddingForTravel.com is often an excellent resource for hotel pricing information. With some practice you can often know ahead of time what hotel you'll receive in a given zone at a given star level, as well as the total cost with taxes and fees.
From my experience when using BiddingForTravel, I receive the specific hotel I am expecting about 70% of the time. However, any traveler has to be prepared to accept a different hotel than the one expected when using Priceline.
BiddingForTravel also contains feedback about car rentals and airplane rates, although air travel feedback is often very limited.
Another site offering user feedback on Priceline and Hotwire is BetterBidding.com. This site is especially useful for Hotwire, as travelers can often tell the specific hotel offered based on the amenities shown in the Hotwire description.
With a little practice, using these services can usually save travelers hundreds of dollars on hotel and other charges on a week-long stay.
Tom Meek is a computer and media consultant working with businesses and individuals on high-tech needs. Another Day In Cyberville is published weekly in print and online via The Gainesville Voice, a weekly publication of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. You can reach Tom Meek at adayincyberville@gmail.com.
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