Rapid Travel Chai: Hotwire and Priceline at FTU DCA 2014

Hotwire and Priceline
FTU DCA 2014
Stefan Krasowski
Rapid Travel Chai

Itinerary
Hotwire
Priceline
I hope you aren’t expecting something else 
©Stefan Krasowski, All Rights Reserved

What is Your Priority?
Hotels?
Rental cars?
Flights?
Vacation packages?

My Hotwire and Priceline Experience
My travel is 75% international
Rented cars weekly for 2 years of NY-Atlanta commute
Many hotel bookings
Many rental car bookings
No air bookings
No vacation package bookings

Why Hotwire and Priceline

What are Hotwire and Priceline?
Tools to potentially save on travel costs by giving up
certainty, flexibility, status, and miles and points

The Hotwire and Priceline Tradeoff
Why to Not Use:
No changes, no refunds*
Unpleasant surprises*
No elite status recognition*
No miles and points*
Why to Use:
Save Money
*There are always exceptions and luck

Rental Car Tradeoff Hypothetical
When to not save $10:
Orlando, FL car rental
Spring break
Huge lines at counter
Eye-rolling spouse
Screaming children
When to save $10:
Moline, IL car rental
Always off-peak
No lines
No spouse
No children

Need to Know

Why No Deals?
Not every market or trip will have opaque offers

Hotel Star Ratings
Star ratings are subjective and generous by ½ to 1 star
You have limited recourse
Stick to 3-star and above
‘3-star’ Monte Carlo Inns Toronto Markham
My wife has not forgiven me

Getting the Room You Want
Room type – call hotel after booking if you want a king bed
Better room – call hotel with self-deprecating sweet talk
Non-smoking room – yep, call
Photo by Ben Tesch, flickr

The ‘gomike’ slide
gomike on FlyerTalk – Priceline, timeshare hacks & more
Contact hotel programs to add your number to reservation
Charge small incidental spend during stay to your room
Hyatt:
Status often recognized, including Diamond 1k check-in
May get elite stay credit
Marriott:
Status often recognized, including check-in amenity
Others: you may get lucky
Photo by Isabelle Plante, flickr

Fees
Hotwire Hot Rate and Priceline Name Your Own Price™ rates
often loaded with fees
Do not compare per day rates
Do compare total price
Portland 1 day car: Expedia vs Priceline $18/day = $23 vs $29.34

Resort Fees
Watch out in frequent offender markets like Las Vegas
“This hotel charges a resort fee of about $25.00 per room per night”

Car Credit Card CDW
To use credit card CDW entire rental must be on same card
Use same card at Hotwire/Priceline purchase AND pick-up

Hotwire

Hotwire
Opaque ‘Hot Rate’ no-bid offers + transparent offers

Hotwire – Transparent Offers
Similar to other travel sites, let’s skip to opaque Hot Rates

Hotwire Hot Rates – Flights
New York – Los Angeles example
Hot Rate

Hotwire Hot Rates – Flights
New York – Los Angeles example:
6 am – 10 pm departure window
Up to 1 connection
Up to 3 hour layover
No one-ways or multi-city
No airline benefits
No credit card free checked bag
…all to save $40

Hotwire Hot Rates – Cars

Rates often not as good as flexible reservation portals
(BJ’s, Costco, Capital One, Chase, etc.)
Guaranteed major agency – but includes Dollar/Thrifty
No off-airport, no one-way
Must be age 25+
Los Angeles weekend Hotwire $57.57 vs Costco $48.12

Pick-up up to 24 hours late – book Sun night, pick-up Mon
(call agency to hold a car on peak times)
Atlanta Sun 10 pm pick-up $63.65 vs Mon 8 am $81.26

Always unlimited miles (important for international)
30-minute grace period on returns
Extensions at agency rates – can be very expensive
All add-ons billed at agency rates
(e.g. Dollar/Thrifty huge toll charges)
Welcome to Newark from Dollar/Thrifty – tolls $17.49/day

Hotwire Hot Rates – Hotels
Princeton, NJ example:

How to identify the hotel?
Amenities &
TripAdvisor rating
provide clues

Check the Forums – Better Bidding
Doubletree is only reported 3.5 star
Amenities match
Look for distinctive amenities (if any)

Other Forums
As with all forums, there is LOTS of drama

Check TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor lists 7 4-star traveler rating hotels available
Only 2 are 3.5-star chain hotels – Doubletree and Marriott
Amenities are same so TripAdvisor is inconclusive

Best guess is Doubletree, possibly Marriott
Either will work, go for it, or try Priceline…

Hotwire – Vacations/Packages
Hotel packages are transparent, choose each component
Except Hot Rate flight + car – no extra savings to bundle

Hotwire – Hotwire Express
Invitation only program ≈ $1k annual spend
Claims to have better service, case-by-case support
Occasional ‘Star Upgrades’ – e.g. pay 3-star hotel, get 4-star

Hotwire – Low Price Guarantee
48-hour guarantee for identical booking
Hotwire refunds the difference

Hotwire – Cancellation/Refund
Air & Hotel:
No official exceptions – consider trip insurance
Car:
Flight delay exception for 24+ hours delay
You can always plead your case

Hotwire – Cashback
Discover – 5% on car, hotel and packages (not flights)
Chase – 2x
Others come and go

Hotwire Questions?

Priceline

Priceline – Transparent Offers
Similar to other travel sites, let’s skip to Name Your Own Price®

Priceline Name Your Own Price® – Flights
Similar terms to Hotwire:
6 am – 10 pm departure window (US), international anytime
Up to 1 connection
Up to 3 hour layover (US), international 75% < 3 hours
One-ways but no multi-city
No airline benefits
No credit card free checked bag

Priceline Name Your Own Price® – Cars

Priceline Cars - General
Rates often 10-30% lower than Hotwire
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, and National only
My experience is most often Avis
Rates not always available – change search parameters
No off-airport, no one-way
Always unlimited miles (important for international)
Extensions and add-ons at agency rates
Drivers under 25 allowed for additional fees

Priceline Cars – Bidding Strategy
Example: Wilmington, NC Aug 23-25, midsize car
Step 1: Get a baseline at Hotwire or others:
Hotwire $17.95/day, $57.84 total

Step 2: Book a flexible backup
Costco $66.42

Step 3: Priceline Lowball Test
Enter a lowball bid and click “Choose”

Step 3 (cont): Lowball triggers “low chance of being accepted”
If you don’t get this screen, you are starting too high

Step 3 (cont): “Previous Page” and step up the bids

Step 3 (cont): Priceline Sweetspot when goes to offer page
You’re not done yet!

Step 4: Bid around Priceline Sweetspot
For short, economy rentals, $1-$2 under often works
Longer rentals and bigger cars can widen the gap
Can be more aggressive depending on lead time
Needed car next day so bid $16, final price $54.36 with Hertz

Priceline Cars – Re-Bidding the Official Way
Same trip wait 24 hours to re-bid
Can immediately re-bid for different car type (up or down)
Compact may be same price as economy
Change return date may allow re-bid (e.g. Tue 6 am, then
try Mon 11 pm – you get the car for 24-hour days)
I generally find 1-2 weeks out is good time to bid

Priceline Re-Bidding Hack
1. Use browser private window
2. Don’t log in
3. Bid with low balance gift card
4. Repeat in new private browser

Priceline Re-Bidding Hack
If bid is accepted you get a processing error
If not accepted, no processing error
You can enter correct number or abandon

Priceline Name Your Own Price® – On Hold
Sometimes bids go to pending
Go to account to check offer status
If not accepted, start to re-bid with new search

Priceline Name Your Own Price® – Hotels

Priceline Hotels – Where to Use
Use where the zone is targeted and fits your needs
Use when you do not need a specific amenity like a pool
Use when transport situation works for you
Use when companions are easy-going

Priceline Hotels – Where to be Careful
Mumbai is 1 zone – have you ever been in Mumbai traffic?

Priceline Hotels – Bidding Strategy
1. Compare market rates
2. Research Priceline zones
3. Research winning bids on forums
4. Prepare bid strategy – write it down!
5. Go for it

Example: Providence, RI 11/1-4
Step 1: Compare market rates

Step 2: Research Priceline zones
I only want Zone 5 – Providence Downtown

Step 3: Research winning bids on forums
Not many recent data points

Step 4: Prepare bid strategy – identify available stars by zone
Zone 1: 1-3 star
Zone 2: 1-3.5 star
Zone 3: 1-3 star
Zone 4: 2-2.5 star
Zone 5: 2-4 star

Step 4: Prepare bid strategy – target 4-star in Zone 5
Bid 1: Zone 5, 4-star
Bid 2: Add Zone 1, 4-star
Wait, what? Zone 1 has no 4-star
Priceline let’s you re-bid
Only Zone 5 has 4-star hotels
5 zones = 5 bids for 4-star

Step 4: Prepare bid strategy – what about 3.5 star?
Zone 2 has 3.5 star
I don’t want Zone 2
So can bid 5, then 1, 3, 4
Increase each bid in increments

Step 5: Go for it
For each star add zone one by one
For each new star start new search to reset zones
Or Ditch Strategy and Do The Re-Bid Hack

Priceline Hotels – The Bidding Traveler
The Bidding Traveler does the work for you

Priceline – Hotel Express Deals™
Similar to Hotwire Hot Rates
Frequent sale offers

Priceline – Last Minute and Weekend Deals

Priceline – Hotel Freebies℠
Fun way to search – from free nights to spa credits

Priceline – Vacation Packages & Cruises
Nothing special, no Name Your Own Price®

Priceline – Rewards Bonus Cash
Public and targeted offers appear from time to time
Cash added to bids, e.g. hotel $75 bid + $5 bonus = $80 bid

Priceline – Low Price Guarantee
24-hour guarantee for identical booking, refunds difference
‘Big Deal Guarantee’ for Name Your Own Price™ and
Vacation Packages: difference + $25 + $50 off next
2-night or longer Vacation Package

Priceline – Cancellation/Refund
No official exceptions – consider trip insurance
Possible flight exception for schedule changes
You can always plead your case

If you think some silly metal credit
card is a conversation starter…

…get the Shatner card!

Priceline Rewards Visa Credit Card
5x on Priceline bookings
(except 1x on cruise bookings, non-Name Your Own
Price® car reservations, and hotel reservations designated
as Pay When You StaySM)
1x everywhere else
Old accounts have 2x everywhere else – no current offers
10k sign-up bonus (requires $1k spend) = $100 cash rebate
No annual fee
Issued by Barclays

Priceline – Cashback
Mr Rebates – 3% except published flights ($3/ticket)
TopCashBack – 3% on several categories
Others come and go

Priceline – Best General Airfare Option?
Priceline getting good at replicating ITA Matrix fares
Complex itineraries often need Hipmunk to price in Priceline
Receive all airline benefits
Priceline Rewards Visa 5x

Priceline – Airfare Example
New York – Moscow: United + Lufthansa + Swiss
Hipmunk can only price it correctly on Priceline

Priceline Questions?

Thank You
rapidtravelchai.com
stefan@rapidtravelchai.com
@rapidtravelchai

Rapid Travel Chai: Hotwire and Priceline at FTU DCA 2014

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