Priceline Hotel: 2* Shawano Super 8 Shawano

[MR. C]

I used priceline's name your own price for the first time yesterday. I noticed their big deal guarantee gives you $25 if you find a lower price elsewhere. Now the hotel I was booking is listed at $76 a night at several sites, after many failed bids I ended up getting it for $60 a night. I'm only planning on staying in the hotel the one night. I'm wondering would it have been wise to overbid for $77 a night in order to get a $25 credit? Would this work? It essentially would give me a rate of $51 after matching and credit for the one night. In addition to the $50 coupon that I would also get for future use.

I should also mention this was a unique situation where I basically knew the hotel I was bidding on. There are only 2 hotels in the city and I could tell which one was which by the number of stars each was rated.

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please start with posting your win and we'll have a look at your question.

Please include, date(s) for your stay, price paid/night before tax/fee's, star rating, name of hotel and the zone.

Yellowdog.

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[MR. C]

Check-In: Sat, Sep 21, 2013

Check-Out: Sun, Sep 22, 2013

Rooms: 1 room / 1 night

Price: $60

Star Rate: 2 Star

Hotel: Super 8 Shawano

Zone: Shawano,WI

[thereuare]

The $50 coupon is for a flight+hotel purchase which, for me, is not of much value unless i had plans on purchasing a vacation product in the future... a better deal can usually be had by booking the airfare on your own and bidding for a hotel.

Which leave the $25 refund... in your situation above you pay an extra $17 for the hotel and an extra $2 in tax/fees... so you overpay by $19 in order to get $25 back, a net gain of $6. If you have use for the vacation coupon i can see how this could potentially work (and it's been considered before), but i'm fairly conservative and for a current net savings of $6 isn't worth it to me as 1) something could go wrong and get a different hotel, 2) PRICELINE could deny the claim (for whatever reason... one reason could be if the rate goes up between the time you purchase and the time they process your claim), 3) making the phone call, being on hold, and explaining the situation isn't worth the time or effort for $6, imo.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and enjoy your upcoming stay.