Jaunted

My latest Priceline victory was for a room in Dublin this upcoming August. We'll be there for five nights, so even though it's high season, I liked my chances for a good deal, especially since the global recession has hit Ireland especially hard. In the end I did get a good deal, but it took longer than I had hoped, and I had to adjust my expectations in the process.

I started out by visiting betterbidding.com, which is a helpful in planning a bidding strategy. You can view its calendar of recent wins (people report successful bids) as well as maps of Priceline hotels in certain areas. You can also post questions to the forum, which can help you identify properties or bulls-eye your bids for certain neighborhoods. In the case of Dublin, it didn't have too much helpful information, so I figured that time was on my side and I'd just start with a really low bid and inch my way up.

With Priceline, you can only bid once every 24 hours unless you change some parameter of your search, like the dates you'll be staying, the star level of the hotel, or the neighborhood. If you're intent on one specific scenario like I was, you need to keep coming back. I was under the impression that I could get a five-star hotel in the Dublin City Center South area for less than $175 a night, so I started at $100 and kept a record of my bid amounts and the time of my bid on scratch paper. Each day I upped the amount by a little bit, from $110, $120, $130, all the way up to $180 a night, at which point I was rejected and gave up.

I had concurrently been entering even lower bids for a four-star hotel in the same neighborhood, and that's where I eventually hit, with a $170 bid. The Maldron Hotel Cardiff Lane accepted, so that's where we'll be staying for our big Dublin holiday this August. The whole process took 14 days, and the total cost, including all taxes and fees, was $987.09, making it about $197.42 a night. Of course I wish it was cheaper, but it still seems like a good deal, and the hotel looks nice. I'll give you my full video review when we get back.

As for the Priceline experience, it's actually kind of fun. You enter your bid and hold your breath to see what happens. You're either rejected, in which case you're charged for nothing, or you're accepted, and your credit card is immediately charged for the whole stay. Those few moments while the engine is humming can be nerve-wracking.

So, who here has gotten a killer deal through Priceline on hotels, flights, or rental cars, and who has gotten the shaft? Please share your highs and lows in the comments.

[Photo: Priceline.com]

Related Stories:
· Priceline.com [Official Site]
· Priceline Coverage [Jaunted]