Shame on Captain Kirk

Saw those commercials on tv about priceline and thought I would give it a try. I reserved with priceline for 6 days at a hotel. Come to find out I could have reserved directly with the hotel and received a much better deal. Lesson learned...:facepalm:

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

When I was on the road a lot I learned the same lesson. It's not just Priceline, but all of them. If you book through a third party, the hotel has to pay them a commission. Even if you book through the chain's 800 number, the same applies. Best way is to contact the hotel directly, and ask for their BEST rate.
That being said, my cousin uses Priceline exclusively, as he can name his own price and keep a 4 or 5 star level of room. It is then up to the hotel whether to accept his bid or not. I stayed in a hotel last weekend and I paid close to $300. (It was expensed by the government).My cousin stayed at the same hotel a few weeks ago for $89.

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

I heard that about PL a few years ago. Apparently hasn't changed :facepalm:

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

I've had mixed responses when calling hotels direct. Most of the time they willingly drop their price a bit lower than the online places, but I was surprised that several hotels wouldn't compete with the online reservation sites. Even though they knew I was going to book through an online site, they wouldn't match that price direct from the hotel. This kind of blew me away as they would rather pay the online site a percentage, and receive less money in the end. The only thing that made sense to me is that they think people don't have access to the internet and will have to pay the higher price at the hotel, but I always booked online and got the lower price....

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

leave captain kirk outta this......

by the time the 23rd century rools around...

those prices are gonna be a steal !

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

oops! said:

leave captain kirk outta this......

by the time the 23rd century rools around...

those prices are gonna be a steal !

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Ok... not Captain Kirk's fault...it was his evil twin that is doing those commercials.

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

Jeep Man said:

That being said, my cousin uses Priceline exclusively, as he can name his own price and keep a 4 or 5 star level of room. It is then up to the hotel whether to accept his bid or not. I stayed in a hotel last weekend and I paid close to $300. (It was expensed by the government).My cousin stayed at the same hotel a few weeks ago for $89.

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The name your price thing is great. Mrs Ken always uses priceline and names the price we are willing to pay for our weekends away. We have stayed at some really nice hotels for really cheap.
Business bookings are usually made on the hotel websites as the location of where I am staying is usually important.
I am heading off to Daegu, Korea this morning and staying in the same hotel I stayed at last time in Daegu a couple of years ago. I remember it as the "shower curtain hotel" due to the fact that the shower curtain in the bathroom did not quite fit correctly and I would end up with a flooded bathroom floor each time.
Hope they have better ones this time

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

kenmyfam said:

The name your price thing is great. Mrs Ken always uses priceline and names the price we are willing to pay for our weekends away. We have stayed at some really nice hotels for really cheap.
Business bookings are usually made on the hotel websites as the location of where I am staying is usually important.
I am heading off to Daegu, Korea this morning and staying in the same hotel I stayed at last time in Daegu a couple of years ago. I remember it as the "shower curtain hotel" due to the fact that the shower curtain in the bathroom did not quite fit correctly and I would end up with a flooded bathroom floor each time.
Hope they have better ones this time

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Just pack an extra shower curtain ... Then you don't have to worry about the nasty curtain mold rubbing up against you. Just saying'.

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

i have personally never used the capn kirk website

but, i have found some pretty reasonable prices for hotel rooms on hotels.com

i have never compared the prices there to actually calling the hotels for a quote, but i'm not too picky on room quality (clean and quiet is a must) and the prices on the website seem pretty fair

there is a review section for each hotel and i have steered clear of some "super deal" ones on occassion due to multiple lousy reviews

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

I've done really well on naming my own price for rental cars, that's about all I've used it on. I guess airfare once maybe but I like having control over the flights, stops, and times.

Re: Shame on Captain Kirk

Have had bad luck naming a price on cars on that site. They never accept my bids when they are marginally below the retail price. Given when you do name your own price, you give up all of your cancellation rights should your plans change at the last minute. Just on that basis alone, I expect to pay a decent amount less, then from that no rights/lower price baseline, I expect to pay a lot less on a site that toubts naming your own price.
Have done a hotel there once or twice but that was a while ago when you only got a zone where a hotel will be located not having the ability to bid on a specific hotel's room. I usually just call the hotel direct. Kind of like using Orbitz instead of dealing directly with the airline, orbitz charges a fee to make a change and sometimes has to refer you to the airline anyway.