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(Trip and Travel Tips.com) For those of you who have not yet discovered the bidding feature on Priceline.com, you have no idea what you are missing.  Simply, Priceline is the best thing to happen to travel since the airplane.  Let’s take a look.

The website Priceline.com has two main features.  First, is the hotel, airfare, cruise, and rental car search feature.  It’s similar in concept to Travelocity, Expedia or any of the other travel search engines.

The “name your own price” feature is exclusive to Priceline, and here is where you can put together a super affordable vacation or business trip.

To use this feature you define your destination (for example, Philadelphia), a specific area within your destination (for example, the downtown Philadelphia zone), and the type of property you seek (star level ranging from one-star to resort hotel).

Once you have made these selections, you enter your personal information along with a credit card number.

When all of the above information has been entered, it is then time to place a bid for your hotel room.  To review, let’s say we are going to Philadelphia, we want to stay in the downtown Philadelphia zone, and we seek a 4-star deluxe hotel. 

The difficult part now is knowing how much to bid.  To solve this problem, we go to the website BetterBidding.com or BiddingForTravel.com.  These two sites are public forums where members post their bidding results from Priceline.  Simply, look up Philadelphia in the forum and review the history of bids for the downtown Philadelphia area.

If you research reveals that recent winning bids are in the area of $85 to $95, you might try a starting bid of $75 or $80.  Your bid will be for the bottom line cost of the room.  Priceline will show you what the total cost with taxes and other fees may be so there are no surprises. 

Now, when you enter your bid, confirm your bid and press the button “Buy My Hotel Room,” you are committed. 

If your bid is approved, your credit card is instantly charged.  The screen will then give you the exact hotel where you will be staying.  At this point there are no refunds or changes.

If you bid is not approved, you must make a change in your itinerary.  You must change either the hotel star level, the zone or the dates.  After making a change, you can offer a higher bid.  Many Priceliners like to bid in increments of $5.  Let’s say your first bid was $75.  We’ll try $80 for a second bid.  Just like before, your bid will be accepted or rejected. 

If rejected, you will have to make an itinerary change again and submit a new bid.  This time we’ll try $85.   This time it is accepted.  Your screen will give you a confirmation number, total cost with taxes and fees, and, of course, the name of the hotel where you will be staying.

Okay, it may seem like a lot of aggravation, but it's really not.  The deals you can land on hotel rooms can be mind blowing. 

Some of the recent winning bids include the 5-Star Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas for $90. per night, The Gran Melia, an incredible, resort-level hotel in Cancun for $60. night, and the Omni Champions Gate, a beautiful resort-level hotel in Orlando for $95. per night.  The retail price of the Omni for the same dates was $199 to $239. 

For lower level hotels it’s not uncommon to see nightly fees in the $30 and $40 range.

Good Travelin!