Priceline.com

[Marksbride]

Has anyone used Priceline.com?

How does the "name your own price thing" work?

I know you name a price and the bid has to be accepted.
How long does it take to get accepted?

[imstilldreaming]

I LOVE Priceline. It's what everyone used to get hotels for my wedding. I've gotten a night at the Hilton for as low as $50.

You type in the place you want to go, and they'll give you areas on a map you can choose (like downtown, etc.) You type in what you are willing to pay. If it is too low and they don't think it will be accepted, they will tell you. You put in your credit card info b/c if they do accept it, they bill you immediately. It takes maybe one minute for them to tell you it's accepted. I think you can only try two or three times though and if it's not accepted, you can't try again. But don't let that keep you from trying to get the lowest price, like I said, a thing will usually pop up that says 'average hotel prices in this area are $xxx, your price may be too low'.

[Heather]

We don't like playing the waiting game, so we used Orbitz for our last vacation. We paid just over $2K for hotel, flights and rental car.

[BJC777SRL]

Yeah I dunno...I haven't used priceline, but if you have to wait for acceptance and they already have your card #....I think that'd bother me.
I used hotels.com for our hotel (Got a hotel right on Waikiki beach at $99 a night in July.) And I went straight to the airline website for plane tickets, and the airline (ATA) offered the tickets I wanted cheaper than any of the big package sites. (and I paid just under 2k)

[anna32182]

i LOVE sidestep.com

i always find cheaper deals there... check it out.

*insert textbook 'i dont make money from this'*

[birdie]

Ultimatefares.com is awesome. We booked our honeymoon a couple days ago and this was the source for the cheapest rates on hotels, flights, etc.

[tripsdown]

Ok, so I am coming from a travel agent standpoint, but those big online guys like Priceline.com and others you mention are not great for a honeymoon or a destination wedding. It is find to get cheap airfares to fly or hotel room at a non-resort type destination, but for the most important travel times of your life, not worth it! Come one, this is a major point in your relationship, either getting married or relaxing after the vows. You should be booking to get service. You need to find someone who has already been there, or knows the area to make sure you picked the right choice. Because that could make or break the whole travel.

When you book online or call those "big guys" you might be getting someone who is more worried about making a quota, then actually what you need. Big example with allot of agencies is the Couples, Sandals and Super Clubs. They try to sell them because you see the advertisements on the TV plus other factors. There are some resorts within these chains that should not be there. Let's face it, they are not like the brochures. Actually we have some that we will not book the lower room categories because you will be disappointed. Why do we tell you this, service? We have been there. They want you to upgrade when you get there, but what if your budget was only for that amount. How will you feel?

That is why it is important to find someone who has been there and sold the resort many times. We have turned away destination wedding couples because they want a certain resort, however we have had problems with them in the past. Any resorts, travel agent and/or wedding planner can slap up a webpage, site or whatever and say they know, but that does not mean it is great. Yes, those online guys are great for prices, but ask them about a resort and see if you don't get a preprogramed response.

Any excellent agent will be honest with you to make the sale for years to come, not to make the cut this month. Just be careful and ask questions!

Best wishes!

Lindsay

[AshyBekka]

I've had amazing luck with bookit.com. I used it for a hotel for my friend's bachelorette party in New Orleans (60/night on Bourbon) and Cliff and I are going with another couple to Playa del Carmen for a week after I take the bar exam, and we got an all inclusive with a free upgrade for less than $3000.

I will say that we used a travel agent for our honeymoon though (granted, my MOH was a travel agent and she gave us her discount). I just wanted everything to be perfect and didn't want to worry...and it was a benefit that she had actually been to the property in Costa Rica that we selected. I still run hotels by her when I find a deal, and I also check out tripadvisor.com before booking-it's real ratings from travelers and they are brutally honest-although I typically ignore one really crappy rating if the rest are great-not everyone can be pleased, you know?

Happy planning!