Priceline Singapore for Asia-Pacific hotels?

[cakobau]

Hi all,

In contemplating a trip to New Zealand, I checked into Priceline's coverage of that fair country, and I was disappointed to see nothing listed. However, priceline.com.sg, the Singaporean version of Priceline, DOES have rooms in New Zealand.

I have heard that Americans can register and bid at the Singapore site, but I have not yet tried this. I just was wondering if anyone has had any experience doing that.

And also, why are these hotels in Singapore's system, but not in the US flagship site?

Entering Auckland (even with "New Zealand" or "NZ" in the search box) leads to Tulare, California.

Entering Christchurch leads to Gloucester, Virginia.

Also of interest: The "suggested retail price" for 4 star rooms in Auckland or Christchurch (the real ones) as per the Singaporean sites is around US$77. Seems low. A glitch? Priceline saying how much you really need to bid in order to win? Hmm...

The Singapore site also has a list of all cities that they cover. It's a LOT more than the Asia/Pacific coverage of the US site. If you enter gibberish for a city to search, you have the opportunity to see the list. This link might work, too:

priceline.com.sg/eng/hotels/city_list.asp

The countries they list for Asia/Pacific:

Australia China Guam Hong Kong India Indonesia

Japan Macau Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Singapore

South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand

[nowhereman]

i dont think priceline (the us company) owns the asian site.. notice how similar the us and the uk sites are, and look at how different the asian site is in set up.

[Chris26WI]

The asian Priceline-sites are hold by Hutchison Hongkong, in a sort of franchise from Priceline US.

[southbay]

I have seen,when checking in at various Asian Hotels BOOKED through Priceline USA ( Looking over the desk) printed reservation card,that the form of payment always says Hutchinson Whompa HK.