I have used priceline twice and both times have gotten great deals Best deal was the nationals in york where I paid 60 a night while my friends paid 110 for the same place
They made me buy beer after I told them

Priceline is a beautiful thing for BMX Travel, no doubt. Here are a few tips of importance:

1). Book early. It seems that the bid price tolerance goes up as the time to your arrival gets shorter. In Guthrie, we heard of people a few weeks out getting $50 nights at the Holiday Inn Express and the Fairfield, but by the time we started bidding, the $51 bid was turned down, and the $55, and the $60 and the $65. "Rack Rate" was $79, so it did not make sense to bid over $65. I had this same thing happen at the Christmas Classic. Some people got the Crowne Plaza for $40/nt, but I waited til the week before and was only able to get a $65 rate at the Courtyard.

2). MUCH better to bid on one room. If you are traveling with other BMXers, it reduces the chance you will be at the same hotel, but if you are all about the savings, have each room bid on their own. In our case, we were trying for three rooms, and had no joy. Because we were all in the same car, we were willing to ultimately pay rack rate for the convenience (and I'm sure Priceline knows that, which is probably another reason why our $65 bid was turned down).

3). Do some online research into the system. Google "Priceline Bidding" and you will find some good tips.

4). Know your zone. If you don't mind being a little farther away, bid the closest, then expand your zones for an immediate re-bid.

5). Use the Priceline button on the right side ---------> to support VintageBMX.com. When someone books a room, car or flight using that link, the site earns a commission. It doesn't cost you any more, but helps us provide this service for free.

Hope this helps. Help your fellow VBMXers, and post your Priceline "Wins" and "Declines" here in this forum (under the race name. if one does not exist, create one), so we know how everyone is doing for the various races coming up, and where the "sweet spot" is.

Best,

M

Cool, thanks for the tips. Always use Priceline anyways, I'll make sure that I go through Vintage. I support bmx, so no prob for me helping out

will start doing it through here as well.......... I use it for all our bookings.....just know what you're doing first. Only time we don't get a killer deal is trying to get too close to a track on a big race weekend.....for us...Desoto, TX is always tough during state/national weekends.

We generally get 3 to 4 star hotels for about $50....sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less ($39 is about the bottom I've gotten nice hotels for).

btw - next time make them buy the beer for teaching them how to save $50 the next year!

Recently booked Bakersfield 3 star for 40 dollars. Like it says above, if you know you're going, start bidding early.

Before you do any bidding go here

Bidding For Travel

Find the area you are looking at you'll see some recent low bids that secured a room. This way you are not over-bidding for your location.

I use Priceline a lot and have saved 100's using that site. I just got a room in Redding, CA for Spring Break at a Holiday Inn for $70 including fees/taxes......normal rate is $135.

Of course, come back and use the Vintage link to Priceline!!!!

After your bid is secured, call the hotel to confirm (usually takes a few hours till it's posted) and ask for a room with 2 beds, as the standard deal is a room for 2 adults, not 2 beds.

-albright

Definitely call! Also, specifically ask for nonsmoking, if that is your preference, because as a priceline booking, you are "Run of House" meaning they can put you wherever they want. And by the time you show up at the front desk, chances are they are out of rooms, so you'll be stuck on a smoking floor. Good news is that many newer properties are 100% nonsmoking, but don't assume that.

I also ask for a room close to the elevator (or preferably near the entrance on the ground floor), but that's just my lazy ass preference.

Seems like Priceline for Oldsmar is around $75. I booked in at $85 last year at the Residence Inn.

Best,

M