I didn't name my price, and my flights are non-stop..no layovers or anything. And I'm staying at a hotel that generally charges 200 dollars a night. Orbitz and Priceline are the biggest ripoffs around.
Pick up Matthew Lesko's book sometime my friend....
not true...this is how you get the cheapest price for hotels and flights
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=34190&t=253736&highlight=pricelineSO LETS BEGIN ON GETTING A HOTEL FOR LESS:
1. Type the City of Interest
2. Try to get a major city such as Atlanta, GA
3. Figure out which areas have hotels for 2 1/2 stars or lower
(Just simply check a box and hit next and then hit the back button)
For those who don't understand why you are doing this here is an explaination.
Priceline has a requirement for you to make a change in either the LOCATION or DATE when RESUMBITTING YOUR PRICE.
By making a note of location where there is no hotel higher than the one you prefer you just eliminated that location from being chosen. So for example you want to stay at the city of Atlanta and you want a 3 star hotel there as well. Well you just bid $20 bucks for a hotel and the system came back and said you're not going to get it, so you need to change your price and add a location to bid again. Well y ou really had your heart set at staying in the city of Atlanta and you don't really want to go anywhere else, so then you pick Union City because the best it has is a 2 star hotel which of course will meet priceline's requirement of a new location BUT you won't have to stay there because there isn't a 3 star hotel at Union City so Atlanta here we come!
Just remember when you rebid is to only choose the location DON'T LOWER YOUR STAR RATING.
I hope this clears it up for everyone.
4. Select the area with 3 stars you want to stay at.
5. Name your price at $25.00
6. Enter a made up name you can remember such as John Smith
7. It may ask you again for price so hit the SKIP PAGE
8. Enter the initials of John Smith which would be JS
Now the fun part begins
9. Enter a real credit card number BUT WITH A FAKE EXPIRATION DATE and CODE OR Virtual Credit Card OR Gift Card
(This will prevent priceline from charging your account)
10. Name: John Smith
11. Billing: Address 20 John Lane
12. City: Beverly Hills, CA 90210
13. Phones 555-123-4567
14. Email johnsmith@fakeemail.com
15. Click BUY MY HOTEL ROOM NOW
This is where it will do the search but your result may
end up being "We're sorry, but we couldn't find a hotel..."
So this is where we try again.
16. Remember those 2 1/2 stars and lower hotels you picked?
17. Select one of those crappy hotels with your checked 3 star selection
18. Enter this time $35.00 and click NEXT
19. Then click Skip this PAGE
20. Initial it JS and click buy my hotel
You will increment the hotel price by $5.00 each time
until accepted and repeating steps 16 to 20.
How do you now your price was accepted? Simple they will
have an error trying to process your card when they have
found a hotel that accepts your price. They will ask you
to enter your credit card information again where this time
you will make a note of the price accepted and then sign
up with your real name and account information.
Example of message:
"We're sorry, the card you provided is expired or the expiration date you entered does not match..."
21. After you see this message just CLOSE ALL INTERNET WEBPAGES.
22. Go back to priceline.com and name your own price for the hotel
23. Select the hotel you guessed correctly for.
24. Enter the winning price and real info from now on.
You will get an error though after you submit your price which will be:
"We were not able to process this request since our records indicate you have already made a request for this same trip."
This is okay just simply add an area with a crappy hotel but with your 3 star still selected and repeat the process.
This time it will run your purchase through and you just got the lowest price on priceline.
