Using the right tools when you plan a trip can save you a lot of money. A favorite travel tool of money expert Clark Howard and Team Clark’s is Priceline.com.
In this article, we’ll show you how Priceline works, how to get the best hotel rate and whether it’s worth it as a legitimate money-saving travel tool. We’ll also share some tips from Clark, who uses Priceline frequently to survey fares, hotels and car rentals.
Want To Save Money on Priceline? Read This
“I do my surveying first on third-party websites like Priceline. I’m looking to see what’s out there. And I’m looking to see what kind of deals there are,” Clark says.
Quick Links: How To Save With Priceline
How Priceline Works
Priceline works as an online travel aggregator that lets you see the latest rates on cars, flights, hotels and cruises with all the major travel providers.
When Priceline launched in 1997, it operated on a name-your-own-price business model, but that’s no longer the case. Today the site might be more well known for its “opaque” pricing of hotels, which hides the name of the lodging site until after you’ve booked.
These “mystery hotels” might be a turnoff for some, but Clark has a strategy involving them that has saved him a lot of money through the years.
If you’re not familiar with Priceline’s homepage, just click on the mode of travel that you want and it will show you the prices, including Express Deals and Pricebreakers.
Screenshot via priceline.com
What Are Priceline Pricebreakers and Express Deals?
Express Deals are typically up to 60% off, which Priceline says is the lowest price it can offer. Meanwhile, Pricebreakers are deals that are up to 50% off and are often shown in a group of three hotels under one price.
Both Express Deals and Pricebreakers are non-refundable.
How To Get the Best Hotel Rate on Priceline
By doing some meticulous research before and after booking, Clark has been able to consistently get the best hotel rates on Priceline.
Here’s Clark’s three-step strategy that allows him to save on hotel costs:
- Book a refundable hotel on the day that you book your flight.
- Check for deals on Priceline mystery hotels one week before your trip.
- Cancel the original booking if you find a better deal.
Please note that some hotels require that you cancel refundable hotel reservations up to 72 hours before your check-in, so you need to read the fine print before you book one.
Let’s go a bit deeper into Clark’s strategy on saving on hotel costs with Priceline.
How To Book a Refundable Hotel on Priceline
Sign in to your free Priceline account or create one if you don’t have one.
In Priceline’s hotel tab, Clark wants you to adjust the filters for star ratings and recommendations to your preferences. Clark only books four-star properties (3.5 star if none are available) that are recommended by at least 80% of guests.
You can also filter hotels for the following:
- Free breakfast
- Free parking
- Luxury
- Comfort
- Fully Refundable
That last one — Fully Refundable— is the filter that Clark especially wants you to select when booking travel.
“If I’m flying somewhere — you usually book your airfare pretty well in advance — I also book a hotel room at the same time,” Clark says. “I book the best deal I can find for where I’m going but always a refundable room.”
Now that you’ve booked the best rate and you have the flexibility to cancel if you find a cheaper rate, as you get closer to your trip – one week out – it’s time to search Priceline again.
Check Priceline’s Mystery Hotels
“What often happens most of the time … as you get close to arrival, the prices go down,” Clark says. That’s why Clark continues to look for cheap hotels up until it’s time for his trip.
Priceline’s best deals will be its mystery hotels that are either Express Deals or Pricebreakers.
As I mentioned earlier, both Express Deals and Pricebreakers are nonrefundable, but one week out from your trip, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Screenshot via priceline.com
Let’s say you’ve booked travel to Los Angeles and you want to re-shop your rate a week out. As you search Priceline, you find a really good Express Deal, which hides the name of the hotel.
To give you a good idea of the hotel’s name, Clark wants you to:
- Open a new tab in your web browser and go to Priceline.com.
- Filter your hotel search for the same amenities as the previous one.
- Go to Google and cross-reference the amenities to eliminate hotels that don’t match what you have on Priceline. That should shrink your list of possible hotels a bit.
- You can shrink the list further by using Google to see the hotel’s location, dates and price, then subtract the latter from the Priceline sale price to see if the discount percentage matches up with what’s on Priceline.com.
Read up on how Clark finds hotel deals.
Cancel Your Original Hotel Booking
If you’ve found a cheaper rate, don’t forget to cancel your original booking, which is refundable.
For additional savings, pay for your hotel with a rewards credit card to earn cash back and other perks. Check out our best travel credit cards.
Priceline’s website says it offers free cancellation with most hotels and rental cars, but it’s up to you to read the fine print on each policy.
Is Priceline Worth It?
Priceline is one of the most popular travel sites for good reason. Clark says it’s worth the time it takes to log in to Priceline.com and re-shop his hotels for better deals, which can be 50% to 60% off.
“For hotels, it’s kind of a 50/50 shot that you’ll find a better deal close to travel than what you already have. But if it’s the other 50% — it’s not cheaper or it’s more expensive — you already have what you have that’s cancelable.”
Final Thoughts
If you want to save on travel, it’s a good idea to always check Priceline, along with its competitors like Google Flights. Prices can vary wildly between them, and no one site is cheapest every time.
Before you use Priceline, make sure that you’re OK with those “opaque” deals that only reveal the full details until after you buy. And always be careful to check the fine print.
Want to save more on travel? Follow Clark’s #1 travel rule.
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