I'd like to bid for rental car in France, but it gives error:
Is this specific to my itinerary, or is France not available for Name your own Price?
Used the PRICELINE link to bid three times for a 3.5* hotel in San Luis Obispo or Pismo Beach, last bid was rejected at $161 per night for one night (day before Martin Luther King Day).
Surprisingly, it was rejected since I saw $149 offer on Hotwire for Apple Farm Inn which is listed as 3.5* on Priceline. Although with fees even $161 would have been less than the approximately $197 total on Hotwire for Apple Farm.
For PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals only 3* was offered.
Ended up calling the San Luis Creek Lodge directly and booked at that rate for total with taxes of around $147. They must not be on PRICELINE or HOTWIRE.
I've noticed that the taxes and fees have weird jumps I was pricing out possible bids to Boston Logan airport for various size cars and found weird results for two day rentals. For example:
What the heck is going on? Is this a bug or intentional on their part to trick you into paying a lot more by giving bidding approval to ones where fees favor themselves?
I found a great cancellable rate at Costco Travel on a mid-size/intermediate car in BOS from 11/30/16 morning to 12/3/16 evening (4 days) total including taxes and fees only: $82.10 from Alamo. I then tried to use the PRICELINE link to bid on a mid-size for $7/day and was told inventory is low and it has almost no chance of success. I bid anyway and it gave me the Negotiations on Hold message, but offered direct bookings, in which Alamo appeared for $7/day total with taxes $82 for prepay or $8/day with taxes $85 pay at the counter.
So why would Priceline reject a bid and then offer the same rate unhidden? I keep getting Negotiations on Hold message on this trip for over a month now, meanwhile the rental rates for this period keep falling. What is going on, why doesn't the Priceline bidding work in this market?
Reviews of this Hotel seem inflated at 3.5 stars, I read from PRICELINE's reviews quotes including the following negatives:
I called Priceline to complain it was overrated. They stated the 3.5 star is the consensus of many sites, such as hotels.com and tripadvisor.com. I asked them to look into it anyway and they filed a ticket for that.
How could this run down Motel with rooms that open into the parking lot qualify as 3.5 stars whereas other hotels in the same town ranked 3 stars are much nicer and have a higher list price to reflect their higher quality? Seems like an anomaly in the system.
I had to quit and restart browser.
On October 31 I used the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to find out that $51 was offered for 3.5* hotel in Mystic on both Hotwire and PricelineExpress, totaling slightly less on Priceline at $247.52. I bid on 3.5* for $30 (declined), $35 (declined), and $40(declined), adding in areas 5 and 8 without 3.5* hotels. Amenities listed on Priceline Express were:
On November 1, perhaps due to the new calendar month, the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal was gone. I bid on 3.5* for $41 (declined), $46 (declined), and $51 (accepted).
Inn At Mystic 3.5 out of 5 star Hotel
Wed Nov 30, 2016 - After 03:00 PM
Check-out: Fri Dec 2, 2016 - 12:00 PM
Address: 3 Williams Ave., Po Box 526, Mystic , CT , United States
Number of rooms: 2 rooms
Total charged:$246.68
Savings:You saved 35%*
Recently, on PRICELINE when I go to add another zone that is not in that star level and rebid, I get this error:
QuoteBefore we can submit your request we need you to check one or more of the fields that you just completed. We want to make sure that your information is correct in order to process your request. Please click the "Next" button below and we will help you finalize your request.
Is this a known issue? It never works on rebid, just goes in circles.
Used the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to first determine the upper bound price for 3.5 star hotel as being PRICELINE EXPRESS total (incl. taxes) of $233.56 and Hotwire being $243.31 (Hotwire was up $4 from two days ago).
I started at $175 and added zones without 3.5 star hotels until I reached $190 which was accepted ($185 declined):
Sheraton Burlington Hotel 3.5 out of 5 star Hotel
Check-in:
Sat Oct 22, 2016 - After 03:00 PM
Check-out:
Sun Oct 23, 2016 - 11:00 AM
Address: 870 Williston Road, Burlington , VT , United States
$12.36 less than PRICELINE EXPRESS offer and probably for the same hotel.
Used the PRICELINE link to bid and won on first try at $29/day mid-size car out of BOS airport. Many previous attempts stated "negotiations on hold". I had not tried again for about a month, but noticed that Costco Travel price had fallen significantly, so thought I'd try again since now closer to the date, perhaps they are finding inventory is too big. Because of the short time, I started much higher than I would have otherwise at $29/day. Priceline suggested $31/day.
Pick-up:Wed Aug 3, 2016 - 9:30 AM
Drop-off:Wed Aug 10, 2016 - 6:00 PM
Rental location:
Hertz Corporation
Gen Edward Logan Intl Airport (BOS)
156 Tomahawk Drive 42a, Boston Logan, MA 02128
Car type: Mid-Size Car: Chevrolet Cruze or similar
Purchase date: Jul 31, 2016
Payment method: Priceline Rewards
Deal type: Name Your Own Price
Daily offer price: $29.00
Number of days: 8
Taxes & Fees $134.18
Total charged: $366.18
National Car Rental in airport.
I'm trying to bid using the PRICELINE link and I keep getting the message: Negotiation on Hold: Please Try Again with offers for normal rentals, not name your own price.
What does this mean? Will it go away after 24 hours?
Used the PRICELINE link to bid and was declined a compact at $22, then denied a mid-size at $23, allowed to bid mid-size again at $24 and was accepted.
Purchase date:May 19, 2016
Daily offer price:$24.00
Number of days:17
Taxes & Fees$258.18
Total charged:$666.18
Added a second night using the PRICELINE link on 2/10/16, rejected at $170, accepted at $180 per night.
Room subtotal: $180.00
Taxes & fees: $39.02
Total charged today: $219.02
Total charged: $219.02
Used PRICELINE link to buy, was rejected at $140 and accepted at $150. HOT.WIRE offered $220 w/ tax and PRICELINE EXPRESS offered $201 w/ tax.
Offer price:$150.00/night
Number of rooms:1 room
Number of nights:1 night
Room subtotal:$150.00
Taxes & fees:$33.64
Total charged today:$183.64
Tried Name your Own Price using the PRICELINE link and failed up to $140, so took the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal. HOTWIRE offered $153.
Amenities:
Pets Allowed
Business Center
Restaurant
Free Internet
Fitness Center
Room price:$147.00/night
Number of rooms:1 room
Number of nights:1 night
Room subtotal:$147.00
Taxes & fees:$33.21
Total charged today:$180.21
Check-in: Sat, September 12, 2015 - after 03:00 PM
Check-out: Sun, September 13, 2015 at 11:00 AM
Hotel Address: 601 James Way, Pismo Beach, USA 93449
Number of Rooms:1 Room
Room Type: Room Assigned On Check-In, All rooms are booked for double occupancy
Deal type: Name Your Own Price
Offer price: $166.00/night
Number of rooms: 1 room
Number of nights: 1 night
Room subtotal: $166.00
Taxes & fees: $31.99
Total charged today: $197.99
Total charged: $197.99
Amenities:
I used the PRICELINE link to bid $19 on a Mid-Size car rental and won:
Mid-Size Car
Pick-Up /Drop Off: Gen Edward Logan Intl Airport (BOS)
15 Transportation Way, Boston, MA 02128
On Airport
Pick-Up Date & Time: Saturday, June 20 2015 - 9:30 PM
Drop-Off Date & Time: Thursday, July 09 2015 - 4:00 PM
Driver's Age: 25 and over
Purchased Date: June 06 2015
Your Offer Price: $19.00 (per day)
Total Rental Days: 19
SubTotal: $361.00
Taxes and Fees: $280.93
Total Rental Car Charges: $641.93
I had just previously checked the HOTWIRE link and found their best Mid-Size rate at: $29 99 per day for a $874.58 total. I had also been using my Costco Warehouse membership at CostcoTravel.com to get a backup cancelable rental whose price had kept coming down as I kept rechecking over the past two months and today I rebooked Costco at $647 for an Intermediate car with Carbon Offset $1.25 before trying Priceline again. I preferred getting Priceline at the same rate because I use my PricelineRewardsVisa.com card that gives me extra discount, so the same pricing on PRICELINE is actually significantly less than elsewhere for me. I was surprised to win and now wish I had tried lower first, but did not expect success given all the higher bids that had failed. It seems waiting to book, pays off in this market.
Back on May 15, I had been turned down by Priceline for these same dates at $24/day for a smaller Compact sized car when my Costco reservation for a smaller Compact had been priced at $747.
Used the HOTWIRE link to purchase a 4* Hotel at Pismo Beach
Not sure why the tax recover charges and fees was 36%, seems pretty steep, but the underlying rate was okay.
Listed amenities:
Used the HOTWIRE link to purchase a 4.5* Hotel at Pismo Beach:
Rate per night $136.00 (was at $134, but a subsequent search gave $136)
Nights 2
Rooms ( 2 adults )
1 Subtotal $272.00
Tax recovery charges + fees $97.77
Hotwire total $369.77
Not sure why the tax recover charges and fees was 36%, seems pretty steep, but the underlying rate was good.
Listed amenities:
The closest area I find is Atascadero that shows up under the San Luis Obispo area of Priceline. Do you have the list of hotels? What are the 3.5* hotels at Pismo Beach Area? Does it include the Cliffs Resort that Hotwire lists as 4*?
I need a car rental in BOS but am not seeing anything other than normal rentals and "Special" cars at Hot.wire. The "Special" car may be any size compact and up, but specifies the rental company. I see no option to pre-pay an uncancelable reservation for a discount. Has HOT.WIRE dropped this feature and ceded that market to PRICE.LINE?
I used the PRICELINE link to first see PRICELINE EXPRESS 4* offer, that was at $307 that failed to book, and was on previous day $271 and also failed to book, and was on day before that listed at $267. After failing, I bid on a 4* and lost at $311, but won at $321. Prior day I had bid $301 and lost too.
Check-in: Sat, Apr 4, 2015 - After 04:00 PM
Check-out: Mon, Apr 6, 2015 - 11:00 AM
Address: 633 East Cabrillo Boulevard, Santa Barbara , USA
Number of rooms: 2 rooms
Some Amenities:
Deal type: Name Your Own Price
Offer price: $321.00 /night
Number of rooms: 2 rooms
Number of nights: 2 nights
Room subtotal: $1,284.00
Taxes & fees: $197.40
Total: $1,481.40
I've notice this pattern a couple times now, I see a Priceline Express Deal, then try and bid amounts up to right below that rate, having failed, I return to try and take the Priceline Express deal and now they've raised the price a bit, e.g. from $267 to $273 per night. Has anyone else noticed this? Is this just the hotel doing this (both of my occurrences were for the same 4* hotel).
Used the PRICELINE link to bid and did not win and did not retry because I had a 3-star Ramada West Sacramento Hotel and Suites, West Sacramento for $100 including taxes and fees as a normal reservation.
4 Star Deluxe Hotel 4-Star Which hotel will I get?
Check-In Date: Friday, February 27, 2015
Check-Out Date: Saturday, February 28, 2015
Region Sacramento, CA
City Areas: Sacramento
Check-In Time: Varies by hotel. Guaranteed late night arrival if needed.
Check-Out Time: Check-out times vary by hotel
Room 1: Roberta L. Scott
Number of Rooms: 1
Guaranteed Amenities: Guest Score 8/10 or Higher
Number of Nights: 1
Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$ 84.00
Subtotal: US$ 84.00
Taxes and Service Fees: US$ 18.93
Total Charges*: US$ 102.93
Priceline Express Deal?
in Hotwire Car Rental States A-M
Posted
Does Priceline still have Express Deals for car rentals? I'm trying to find, but not getting it on their website. Their cancellable rates are really bad compared to Costco Travel car rental rates, around 4 times as much money.