Priceline Travel Booking Online – Discount Rates for Hotels and Flights
www.priceline.com
Is Priceline a Reliable Travel Agent for Hotels and Flights?
Priceline is a travel innovation company that specializes in the supply of proprietary price comparison and shopping technology for the travel industry. The company also provides an online travel booking platform for cheap flights, hotels and car rentals. It is well known for its Name Your Price booking system that allows travelers to name their preferred rates and compare them against thousands of hotels and airlines to find the lowest rate. The company’s travel shopping system and business model has proven to be a huge success with consumers, and this has seen the company acquiring big online travel booking agencies like Booking.com,Agoda,TravelJigsaw,Kayak ,Active Hotels and Expedia’s car rental section.
Combination of World Famous Travel Brands
With all these travel booking giants under the fold of Priceline and using its business model, it makes sense to book your travel needs with Priceline.com if you want to get the best price and value for your money. You have a wide selection of hotels and airlines to choose from, a wide net to fish the lowest rate and a wide selection of destinations to spend your holiday. The company also offers cruises, vacation packages, adventure tours and attractions.
Besides its unique booking system and wide network that spans over 180 countries in all continents, travelers will find other reasons to use this booking platform. The platform has Booking.com in its portfolio which is really a boost because Booking.com is the biggest hotel booking site in the world and one of the most trusted by travelers. Although booking.com was acquired by Priceline, it operates as a brand allowing it to retain its professional staff and excellent service. As they say, there is no better testimony about a service or product than a customer review. The sea of reviews, approximately 18 million, left by travelers on the site is a powerful resource that attracts users to the site when they are looking for a review about a hotel.
Priceline does not charge booking fees and users have a choice between the Name Your Price booking system and the normal Search & Compare system. The Name Your Price booking system is available for hotel s, flights, car rental and cruises only. Users have to understand the difference between the two systems to make the best use of them.
Name Your Rate for Hotel, Airline Ticket and Car Hire
The Name Your Price system allows users to enter their desired rate on the booking form including their desired quality, service type, location and destination. The hotel room and the price will not be revealed until a user makes a booking. The advantage of this service is that you get a hotel room that is closer to your price even if the rate is slightly higher than your purchase. If you only care about price and saving money, then this is the best option to use.However, you might be disappointed if you are expecting high quality or a much higher level of service because the goal of this Priceline system is to secure the lowest price and net a booking for the hotel owner.Sometimes, depending on the season, getting a booking is better than not getting one if the competition is very tough. If you need higher quality, then you must increase your bid. This will guarantee you a much better room. You have to know the average price for certain levels of quality to get the right accommodation for yourself. Do not bid something like $25 per night and expect 5-star service. You have to be realistic. However, you might get a high quality room if the hotel is offering a great deal on that day. The Name Your Rate system simply asks you “How much are you willing to pay for a hotel room?” and you have to give a well thought price.
Search and Compare Rates for Hotels, Airline Ticket and Car Hire
If you are a quality freak who has the money to get what he wants, then you should use the normal Search & Compare booking system provided by Priceline. This is what most online travel agencies provide on their websites. It’s a search form that allows you to enter your preferences, then click the search button to get hundreds of results which can be sorted accordingly by price, star rating, user rating, types of facilities, services and location. This information will give you an idea about the expected quality before you make a booking. If you are satisfied with the hotel, you can book it.
Hotel Discounts
To book a hotel, go to http://www.priceline.com/hotels and fill the search form. Priceline has access to more than 201,000 hotels in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and Asia. Its 5 brands Booking.com, Kayak, Agoda, TravelJigsaw and Active Hotels add to its database of hotels, giving the traveler a wider choice covering all continents including Asia Pacific, South America, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Africa (Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa, and Egypt).
When you hit the search button after entering your destination, you will be presented with a list of hotels that suit your preferences. Hotels that give out freebies like free breakfast, internet and car parking are indicated. The cheapest hotels can be seen on the first page of results but you can get even much better deals by checking out hotels on sale. This shows you the results of hotels offering instant discounts.
Priceline pricebreaker deals are a money saving system on steroids because they give you an extra night free. You can take free riding a step further by using the Name Your Price booking system to get deeper discounts as high as 60%.In fact, the travel company states that there are over 200,000 freebies to be taken advantage of if you book one of their hotels. Last minute deals are also offered to reward instant booking.
Priceline also works with brand name partners such as Marriott hotels, MGM Resorts, Walt Disney World Resort, Starwood Hotels and Universal.
Flight Discounts
To book a flight, go to http://www.priceline.com/flights. A normal search form that gives you 3 options to book a flight can be seen. You can book a flight separately or you can include your flight with a hotel or flight + hotel + car. You can book a one-way trip, round trip or multi-destination trip. No booking fees are applied for flights and there is a rewards program that allows you to earn miles for every airline ticket purchase made via Priceline.com.These miles, when they are equivalent to the price of an airline ticket, can be redeemed to book a free flight with Priceline. Other ways to save on airfare is to make use the Name Your Price booking system to make your offer for an airline ticket and let airlines bid on it.
Airline ticket discounts up to 40% are available to people who participate in this bidding system. Last minute flights can also be extremely cheap if you constantly check Last Minute Flight deals on the website. It is common to get a maximum discount of 50% on these deals.Lastly, make sure that you sign up for a promotional email to get instant access to airline coupons and deals when they are available.
