Which booking sites do you prefer?

[brendahamlincoln]

My boyfriend and I are planning a couple of extra days in San Diego after our upcoming DLR trip and we still need to book a hotel. I've been checking out places like Priceline, Hotwire, Travelocity, etc. I was thinking of doing a "name your own price" deal, so that'd be Priceline. Then I noticed Travelocity has a similar deal where you see how much the room is but don't know which hotel you're getting, so for example: a three-star hotel for $70 a night.

How have your experiences been with these sites? Do you prefer one type of deal over another? I've never booked "blind" before so I'm curious to know if one site is better than the next. Thanks in advance!

 

[bcla]

Hotwire was the pioneer in getting a room where you get the hotel description and a fixed price. However, I don't believe they patented it (or didn't have a rock solid patent) such that others are copying the concept. I think Priceline has a lock on their bidding process via patents.

If you want a better idea, check some of the websites like betterbidding.com. They have clues as to which hotels one might get. It's probably more reliable for Hotwire, since Priceline doesn't really give you any information and the inventory and prices they can get vary a lot. Having a description of the hotel gives clues. With Priceline you're really blind as to the hotel, and you could easily get different hotels depending on which hotel gives PL the better price.

 

[brendahamlincoln]

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely look into betterbidding.com.