How to Hack Priceline: Express Deals, Car Rentals, and ‘Book Now Pay Later’ Secrets They Don’t Tell You

How Good Are Priceline’s Express Travel Deals? 

For those unfamiliar with Express Deals offered by the travel website Priceline, these are special offers for airfare, hotel, or car rental where the buyer (you) doesn’t find out who the travel vendor is until after making their booking. Priceline Express Deals are geared toward travelers who are late bookers seeking maximum savings and are willing to take their chances with a hotel’s location if they need a place to stay.  

Prior to Priceline’s Express Deals the company offered a name your own price format, but that was phased out in favor of the clearly more popular current structure that has endured for more than a decade.  

Priceline is just one of six brands operated by Booking Holdings, Inc. and was previously named the Priceline Group. Other familiar travel and hospitality companies that reside under the same umbrella include Booking.com, Kayak, Agoda.com, RentalCars.com, and Open Table, well known for restaurant reservations around the world.  

Let’s explore the positives and possible negatives about Priceline’s Express Deals. 

What Will You Like About Priceline’s Express Deals? 

• For starters, you can save some serious money on your air ticket, car rental, and hotel accommodation. And who doesn’t want to hold onto more of their money to spend on great food or entertainment while on vacation? 
• Priceline is easy to navigate. All you need to do is enter your destination, travel dates, and whether you are seeking flights, a rental car, hotel, or maybe a combination of these. The “express deals” button is located on top of the listing. Click on it and you’ll be taken to the exclusive offers currently available.  
• In addition to their Express Deals, you’ll find other interesting offers. For example, instead of choosing a hotel deal where you don’t know what hotel you’ll be staying at until after you complete your booking, there are deals where you’ll stay at one of three named hotels. While you still won’t know which of the three hotels will be the one that you are assigned to, you will at least be able to look at which properties are possible before making the booking. Some travelers will prefer this booking option.  
• If an out-of-town trip comes up at the last minute, an Express Deal may be exactly right for you. Many airlines, car rental companies, and hotels will not display extremely low pricing on their corporate website, preferring to move distressed inventory via third-party vendors such as Priceline. You can find better prices here than on say the American Airlines, Hertz, or Marriott website, and potentially fly with American, rent a Hertz car, and stay at a Fairfield Inn.  

Be aware that only a select group of air carriers, hotels, or car rental companies will be offered with Express Deals. This is a moving target that can change from minute to minute, so if you see something that you want, act quickly. However, we still suggest shopping around to be as certain as you can be that you are really getting a deal.  

We highly recommend downloading the Deal Miner web browser extension where the comparison shopping is done for you. Deal Miner searches numerous other websites for the exact same information you input with Priceline, so it’s easy to compare. If a better deal is found, and these will include the name of the airline, hotel, or car company, you will instantly see it. The browser extension is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. 

If you are the type of traveler who is willing to head out of town with a degree of uncertainty, Priceline Express Deals may just be right for you. Let’s say you really don’t care how you get from San Francisco to New York, just that you get the lowest possible airfare. Are you willing to fly early in the morning or on an overnight redeye, or make a couple of connections to get to your destination to save money? Again, Priceline may be exactly what you’re looking for.  

What Aspects of Express Deals May Not Thrill You? 

As you might expect, there are some things about Priceline’s Express Deals that may not be to your liking. It’s frequently said, “the devil is in the details”, and that holds true here as well. 

• Express Deals offer extremely limited flexibility. You will be unable to pinpoint your hotel’s location before completing your booking, and you won’t know what specific room type you have purchased or what a hotel’s amenities may be. But if you’re just looking for a reasonably located place to set up base, Express Deals may be just right for you. 
• The total price may be higher than expected if there are taxes, fees, or resort charges that may be add-ons at your assigned hotel.  
• Most importantly, Express Deals, once confirmed are non-changeable, non-cancellable, and non-refundable. In other words, you OWN your reservation once you confirm it. If you have concerns that your plans may not pan out for whatever reason, either book something else where you can get a refund or at the very least a future travel credit. Travel insurance is always a good option as well, just in case.  
• It’s a chance you take with any “deal”, but there are some online comments from past travelers about receiving inferior rooms upon checking in. Whether these are actually a hotel’s worst rooms or just a disgruntled customer who expected the Ritz while paying for a budget motel can’t be ascertained. And for what it’s worth, this isn’t just a Priceline problem but can be true for other discounted travel websites who promise the world at a surprisingly low price.  

Closing Thoughts 

Consider becoming a Priceline VIP member, with three different membership levels depending on how many bookings you make on the website over time. VIP members can apply for the BPG, Best Price Guarantee, which states that you can request a refund of the difference in rates if you find a lower price on Priceline within 24 hours of making your initial booking. There is no charge to become a VIP member. 

While you won’t be eligible for elite status benefits from your purchased air, car, or hotel provider, you will still earn miles/points for your bookings.  

Last but certainly not least, do your own hotel research to lessen the chances of being disappointed. Read online reviews from past travelers so you have reasonable expectations of the quality and service level to expect from Express Deals vendors. Keeping your expectations down a bit may lead to a better than anticipated travel experience.