# Priceline



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I've posted about this before but I save so much money through Priceline "bidding" that it's worth repeating. For big cities like Vancouver & Toronto, you must use Priceline (and Hotwire) for hotels. The savings are incredible.

My process is that I first look up regular prices using the regular places (hotels.ca, expedia, kayak). I figure out how much I'd have to pay for an acceptable hotel -- *always compare all prices after taxes & fees*. For my upcoming Toronto trip at peak summer prices, a regular hotel booking for an acceptable (low-end) hotel would have been $208 total. One night. Ouch.

Then I went to Hotwire and looked it up for the city's areas I want. I never stay in less than 3 stars. The best price there was $194 after all taxes & fees. Already saving a bit, but not much.

Finally I went to Priceline and used "bidding". There's an art to this, which you should read up on. I first bid for the best area I like, at 3.5 stars, and bid at a value that works out to $158 total. No deal.

I tried it again, widening the search area, and raising the bid to (equivalent) to $173. Deal!

Priceline gave me Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel -- a fantastic hotel -- for $173 total. This is 17% cheaper than than a very mediocre hotel I found in the first step (which was a Howard Johnson or something). This is such great value.

Basically I've paid less to stay in a significantly better hotel. An upgrade from mediocre/poor to world-class while reducing the total cost. The downside: you go in blind, not learning the hotel until the outcome. And nonrefundable.

Over the years Priceline, and sometimes Hotwire, have saved me hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars in Toronto & Vancouver hotels.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

As that savings (from $208 down to $173) doesn't sound too huge, I should point out: if I were to use Priceline/Hotwire to stay in an equivalent quality hotel (apples-to-apples) the price would very likely be under $150, so probably at least 30% discount.

All of these numbers are totals after everything. It's important to look at totals because each of these web sites will apply different kinds of fees, which is one of their tricks. So to make a proper comparison, always look at totals. Remember to convert FX if needed and beware of USD prices.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have used Priceline bidding for many years. Especially good in the US. For Europe, it has saved us a great deal of money and/or allowed us to enjoy better accommodation in London and in Paris. Not great for Italy. Used it this week for Chicago and Minneapolis (road trip). Also use Hotwire. Priceline is especially good for 4star hotels in airport areas and in business hotels over the weekends.

I find the biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com sites are very helpful in understanding how and where to bid.

Just working on our first Airbnb purchase now. We need two or three nights in Dublin.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Argh I'm booking about a thousand bucks worth of hotels right now, this is painful.

A warning sign! Hotels are getting increasingly deceptive with the "fees" they are tacking on. Do NOT compare hotel prices from any place just by looking at the "nightly rate". Some of them are adding on enough fees to completely warp these comparisons.

This didn't use to be the case. In any case, look at total prices because the hotel might be throwing in an extra $40 fee separate from taxes.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Yes. And I hate those so called 'resort fees'

A few weeks ago my spouse read an article to me about tourism levies, you know the tax they add to hotel rooms. Well guess what....it is not legal in Canada. You simply ask the front desk to reverse them out. And they will.

So, we have had three hotel stays in the last two months...Alberta and BC. In all three cases I asked the front desk to reverse those charges out. And they did with no questions asked. Why on earth should I be subsidizing the local hotel and tourist association? Not a lot of money, about $5. per stay. But better in my pocket than theirs. We will be travelling from Alberta to Ontario and then on to Quebec and PEI. Intend to hopefully get the charges reversed there as well.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Yeah that's ridiculous. Toronto has a tax of that type too. It should just be rolled into all the existing taxes & fees, or the room rate itself.

Another frustration: I booked 2 beds, and there might be 2 or 3 people staying there. The hotel wants an extra $50/night if there's a 3rd person! What difference does it make to them? I'm paying by the room or bed.

We're planning to just book it for 2 people and sneak in the 3rd person. What a rip-off, trying to charge extra per person when we're _sharing_ beds.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

When I travelled for business it seemed to me that the absolute worst cities for hotel taxes/add-on tourist fees were Toronto and Boston.


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## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

james4beach said:


> Yeah that's ridiculous. Toronto has a tax of that type too. It should just be rolled into all the existing taxes & fees, or the room rate itself.
> 
> Another frustration: I booked 2 beds, and there might be 2 or 3 people staying there. The hotel wants an extra $50/night if there's a 3rd person! What difference does it make to them? I'm paying by the room or bed.
> 
> We're planning to just book it for 2 people and sneak in the 3rd person. What a rip-off, trying to charge extra per person when we're _sharing_ beds.


While $50/pp/nt might be exorbitant, an extra person would use extra water/electricity/towels/toiletries. So, it isn't as though there generally is no extra cost borne by them. Obviously, it isn't always common to see that type of extra charge and I've never looked at it to figure out the underlying premise as to why a few places charge while others don't.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

My frustration is just the total cost. We're 2 guys, maybe 3, sharing a downtown Toronto hotel in peak summer. A suitable room for 2 guys is running around $300/night for those dates.

Touching on the frugality theme. This is one of those cases where I looked around and was able to reduce the cost by almost $100/night. The other guy's reaction? "That place looks too shabby"... ok, well, I guess we'll be paying a $100/night premium for modern decor.


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