Try the Priceline iPhone App for Better Bidding
I took the bait. I received an email from Priceline with something to the effect of “Download our new Priceline iPhone app, book, and save $25.” Save even more money on Priceline? This was enough for me.
I downloaded the iPhone app, which is called Priceline Negotiator and decided to give it a try. So far, the verdict is out on whether this iPhone app is any good or not. In terms of usability, it is a bit clunky. Like the Priceline website itself, submitting a bid is somewhat labor intensive. There are many bits and pieces of information you need to provide. Your hotel zone, hotel class, price, as well as personal and credit card information. The Priceline Negotiator app is no different. In fact, I found it worse…
When I finally submitted my bid, rather than finding out whether my bid was accepted or not, I received a message that said, “We’ve encountered a problem. Check your email to see if you have a winning bid.” Off to check my email…
After several minutes, I finally receive an email and the message doesn’t tell me if my bid was accepted or not. Instead it contains a link to Priceline’s website which is supposed to tell me. I click on the link and for some reason the page has trouble loading on my iPhone. Not sure why but after 15 minutes of trying, I finally learned that in fact my bid had been declined. Rather than “this bid is too low” which is the usual message, I received a message that said “our hotel inventory is always changing”. Weird.
So, after about an hour of effort downloading the app, bidding on a hotel, and finding out my bid results, I kind of feel like the App was a waste of time. Perhaps I had a bad internet connection or encountered some other one-time problem. I will definitely try the Negotiator app again at some point in the future, but it certainly won’t become a mainstay app on my iPhone.
One last thing. You only get the $25 bonus cash if you book a hotel on the Priceline iPhone app, which I did not. Since my bid was declined, no bonus cash for me.
Bottom Line: Use the Priceline iPhone App to get the Bonus Cash offer, or if you’re on the road, but its not a good substitute for their full featured website.
If you are looking for Priceline discounts, why not check out the Priceline Bonus Cash page, where travellers report bonus cash offers they know about. You can also see lists of hotels known to be on Priceline, or view actual winning bid prices.