Priceline Review

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Priceline launched its website in 1998 after a year in business. At the time, many companies were starting similar websites that help people find low prices on travel services such as flights, car rentals and hotels. Expedia purchased many of these websites, but Priceline decided to remain independent. Eventually, Priceline acquired other companies, including KAYAK, Booking.com and agoda.com. Collectively, Priceline and its subsidiaries form the largest travel company in the world.

Priceline isn’t as independent as it once was, but it gets a lot of support from the other brands owned by the Priceline Group.

How Does Priceline Work?

Priceline has a rather simple interface that makes it easy for users to schedule and pay for travel services. When you visit the site, you will find tabs for hotels, cars, flights and cruises. If you want to book a hotel room, then you enter the name of your destination city, the number of rooms you need, your check-in date and your check-out date. The search engine will find rooms that match your parameters.

Once you give Priceline the information it needs, the website presents you with a list of hotels in your destination city. The listings include prices, amenities, guest reviews and ratings. You can get even more detailed information by clicking each item in the list.

When booking flights, you must tell Priceline your departure and arrival cities as well as your departure and return dates, how many adults will travel with you and how many children will attend. The website processes your information to create a list of options. You can compare your flight options by price, number of stops, layover lengths and overall travel time.

Like other travel agencies, Priceline wants you to bundle services. You may qualify for a discount by purchasing a flight and hotel room or a flight, hotel room and car rental at the same time.

You can also use Priceline’s Name Your Own Price or hotel room bidding options. However, most people use the site’s main search and booking services.

What Makes Priceline Stand Out?

Priceline has a Name Your Own Price program that, as the name suggests, lets people name their own prices for hotel rooms. Naming your price ensures that you don’t pay more than you can afford on a hotel room. However, the program doesn’t work as easily as that.

When Priceline has a Name Your Own Price event, it doesn’t reveal many features about the hotel you will stay at if you participate. Other than what city the hotel is in, you don’t know much about it. You won’t find out until you name your own price and win the bid. In most cases, people get excellent deals through this program. After all, no one wants to commit large sums of money for hotel rooms they know little about. If you’re willing to take a chance, you could end up spending very little money for a few nights in a four-star hotel.

Priceline also lets you bid on hotel rooms. Depending on how many people bid on the room, you could get an extremely good deal on a four-star hotel. Bidding, of course, takes time and concentration. If you want a fast way to save, then you should use Name Your Own Price or one of the company’s express deals.

Common Reviews of Priceline

A lot of travel websites get negative reviews. Priceline, however, receives an abundance of positive remarks from happy customers. People say that the Priceline website works quickly and gives them accurate results. Customers also praise Priceline for helping them find remarkable deals. Ideally, all online travel agencies exist to help people find better deals. When it comes to Priceline, customers want to share their experiences.

Of course, there are a few negative reviews about Priceline. A small number of people complain that some of the site’s information is inaccurate or misleading. This complaint occurs most often when people discuss hotels. Travelers get upset when they don’t feel that their hotel matches pictures on the Priceline website.

No one wants to feel tricked into paying for a hotel room they don’t like. Blaming Priceline for outdated information, though, isn’t entirely fair. Priceline does research for availability and prices. Hotel owners are responsible for providing accurate information about their establishments. If a hotel sends beautiful pictures that don’t reflect reality, then it’s the hotel owner’s fault. Customers may feel some anger toward Priceline, but they should focus their complaints toward their hotels, instead.

The good news is that Priceline doesn’t tolerate fake information. Businesses that leave inaccurate photos or info in their listings may get removed from Priceline’s search results. This shows that Priceline takes its position seriously and wants to help travelers choose services that meet their expectations and budgets.

Can I Get Deals on the Priceline Site?

Priceline exists to help people get good deals on travel services. Bundling services is perhaps the easiest way to get a better deal. When you bundle your hotel room, flight and car rental into one package, you can potentially save hundreds of dollars.

Priceline also maintains a huge list of cheap flight offers to select cities. These deals can change at any time, so you need to visit the website often to get the best deals to places you want to go.

Of course, Priceline also has its Name Your Own Price and room bidding programs. Priceline says that you can save up to 60 percent on hotel rooms with Name Your Own Price. Name Your Own Price doesn’t require any bidding, so you get to save time and money when booking a room.

About the Author

Alex