One of our staff members is travelling to the Big Island of Hawaii this month, and wanted to save on their stay at the Hilton Waikoloa resort. After hours of searching for a discount offer (and almost giving up completely), they remembered the
Priceline.com Name Your Own Price & Save up to 50%" deal. Hey...nothing else was working, so why not give it a try?
BIG SUCCESS!The regular rate per night is currently $229, and the bid was accepted at $152 per night, or a nifty 34% off! Because the reservation was for eight nights, this translated into $686 in savings (including taxes) - AWESOME!
What's even better is that higher discounts are available. It's high season in Hawaii, and the discount received was 34% - that number can go as high as 50%!
Pros to using this
Priceline.com service:
- You can easily research which hotels might be included in your bid by getting a quote through the regular channels. Enter the dates of your trip, and you'll see which hotels are available by star level. Then you can narrow down how you will place your bid.
- You can get incredible savings that aren't available anywhere else!
- You can purchase travel insurance for $5 per night of your hotel stay so that you can get your money back in case of an emergency.
Cons to using this Priceline.com service:
- You purchase is final (unless you purchase the insurance and need to exercise it), and your credit card will be billed upon acceptance of the bid.
- You can't choose any specific hotel, just the type of property (hotel or resort), the star level and your bid amount. The exact hotel name is shown only after purchase, and you can't change it if you are not happy with the result.
- There is no guarantee that hotels or prices will be available.
Trying out this service was a bit nerve-wracking, but the end result was wonderful. That's a fantastic amount to save for about 15 minutes of research on Priceline.com.
