Where to find the cheapest hotel prices
How to Find Cheap Hotel Rooms on Priceline
[Music]
hey you all
carpetbagger here coming to you live
from a truck stop somewhere in the state
of Tennessee and I wanted to talk about
something they had talked about a little
while here and that is the Priceline app
that I use to book hotel rooms with and
I used to kind of incorporate it into
the road trips somewhat because it is
usually how I find hotel rooms I don't
have any bad experiences with the app
and ended up not talking about it kind
of on purpose
because I didn't want there to be a
feeling that I something I was like
endorsing it because I definitely have
mixed feelings about it but I do still
use the app to define hotel rooms while
I am on the road I tried using some
other apps but it practically does seem
to be the cheapest way to find hotel
rooms at least for me at least for what
I am looking for no there's a couple
other apps like hotels in hotels calm
booking calm but I personally had the
best luck with Priceline that being said
I've had some horrible horrible
experiences using the Priceline app and
and one thing I did quite a bit was use
their function where you get a mystery
hotel room where you pay a price they
give you that out of the basic specs of
hotel you pay a price and tell you the
general area and then once you book the
room its unveiled you get to find out
where you're going but you've already
paid for it so it's kind of like a
gambling it's kind of fun to see if you
can get good deals sometimes it blows up
in your face there's also a big fan
tease in that sometimes was fun to put
it in the videos
it's kind of you know hunting for a
hotel room so yeah that's what they call
the Express deals the ones were you they
won't tell you the hotel room until you
pay for it
and I've had that blow up in my face a
few times especially when I'm traveling
with other people when you're a single
person traveling by themselves it's a
lot more effective I found that when I'm
doing solo road trips when me and my
friend John from exploration unknown did
a big road trip beginning of 2019 we hit
some snags we quickly learned that when
you use the Express deals option you do
not know what sort of bed situation
you're getting yourself into and we
found ourselves stuck in some situations
where there's only one bed so I my
number one tip for Priceline would be to
do not use the Express deals option
unless you are committed to sleeping in
the same bed as everyone that's with you
I mean they could get one queen bed one
double bed I guess it's possible you
just don't know you don't know what
you're dealing with so I really wouldn't
use that option unless you are one
person or maybe two people who really
like to cuddle another thing that you
want to watch out for what this
Priceline app is once you book your
reservation it is written in blood I had
an experience where I was I was booking
so we were looking at several different
days where we were gonna be at different
times and I ended up booking a room for
the wrong day and it was the point where
I was like hitting the button and
looking at that like literally saw my
mistake right there so Mike oh crap I
booked it for the wrong day I'm gonna
have to I'm gonna have to fix this so I
immediately call Priceline like within
we did a minute with less than a minute
I call them like listen minimus take
booked through and pretty much get told
sorry you booked that room you use your
problem I pleaded
they did call the hotel and basically I
found myself in an incredibly awkward
battle between Priceline and the hotel
hotel basically saying they can't change
it because Priceline won't change it
Priceline telling me they can't change
it because the hotel won't change it
basically I got a too bad for Priceline
we can't do anything
we went physically went to the hotel
begged and they showed us some humanity
and moved it around move something
around where we were able to to do that
night and we didn't have to stay you
know we'd have to lose out the money
because we actually booked a week in
advance but we wanted it for that night
and sometimes you just get a hotel that
just seems to not understand how
Priceline works and I think it's really
good to be very clear with your hotel on
what is expected I have multiple times
I've paid through Priceline only to have
the hotel charge my card anyways for the
price of the room make it really clear
when you're checking in that the room is
paid for with Priceline and I would
still check your credit cards to make
sure that you've not been double charged
as I've said it's happened to me
multiple times I had a bad experience
right checked into a hotel
they said that Priceline hadn't sent
them the payment yet they don't know how
hard they made out to be like Priceline
was going to be faxing them a cheque or
something and they so I sat in the hotel
lobby after you know all day traveling
with my bags just waiting for this
theoretical thing to happen trying to
talk to some other priceless trying to
talk to someone from Priceline is oh my
god you be very frustrating you know
even put on hold for long periods of
time you can have
you can you keep giving people just just
will not help you you're on your own I
mean it's like I guess it's part of
gambling you know your when you take
Priceline and then you try to use it you
are absolutely taking a risk just using
the app like I said you can get some of
the best deals ever but it is a total
gamble and you got to be careful booking
room two you put you put your you put
your area that you want to be staying in
into the Priceline app make sure you got
your date's right we already went over
that and but you still gotta be really
careful you gotta look what area you're
booking in I've put in a city and had
suggestions come up that were an hour
and a half away from the city so you
really clear on where you are you know
again you have to have everything
perfect for you hit that that let book
button because there's no guarantee
anyone is going to help you so yeah make
sure whatever city you put in make sure
that the room that comes up that you're
booking is actually in that city that
you want to actually be staying in and
so yeah there's inherent risks to
booking hotel rooms or an app hotels
that you've never seen definitely
recommend if something seems maybe a
little off about Hotel go to TripAdvisor
or some other site to double-check the
ratings the Priceline star system makes
very little sense I've looked at trying
to find like what it means or what their
criteria is and I found very little
information you can get a two-star room
that's nicer than something that shows
up as a three-star room probably more
important than the star system is
actually the guest rating system kind of
what I you know different people have
different standards when it comes to
hotel rooms generally what I go for is a
two and a half
two and a half stars at least because
I've had some very sketchy to star
realms so look for two and a half stars
he's kind of area look for and then you
got a look at the guest ratings and make
sure that it's not really low I can
guess we go five is usually pretty scary
six is a huge gamble
seven seven is pretty safe for me and
what I look for in a hotel room
generally is just something that's clean
something that's clean something that's
you're not gonna feel unsafe in another
another major thing you want to be
careful of when using the express steals
option or booking and in general is you
may end up getting a pet room or a
smoking room you would think I thought
that smoking was not something that
people did in hotels anymore but it is
and you if you end up with a smoking
room and that's something that does not
agree with you that can be a major
derailment it's definitely a
deal-breaker for me personally I don't
want to sleep as woking room and I've
ended up having that happen because
that's the room that was assigned with
the app also you you're allergic to pets
you might end up in a pet room so if
those are two things that are absolute
deal-breakers for you you may consider
not using the Express Express option so
it's not a lot of bad things out
Priceline so far but they're like I said
some of the deals you will find our on
believable you'll find really nice
hotels I've found super nice hotels for
around $50 a night that are clean
comfortable what you may end up spending
probably well over a hundred dollars a
night for out-of-pocket all right so if
you end this video by actually booking
my room for tonight I am headed towards
Memphis Tennessee I've decided to stop
in the area around Jackson Tennessee
tonight so let's go to the Priceline
and see what we can figure out all right
I see some good options right off the
bat here for the Jackson Tennessee area
we got this Howard Johnson it has a two
and a half star rating with a 7.3 guest
score that's decent and Plus you know
exactly where you're going for that one
and then we've got the Express deal but
we don't know it's a higher rated you
got a three star hotel and eight guest
score that is also really really decent
64 it's a little more another extra ten
dollars they that's going to be added on
there and for me a big consideration is
how long am I going to spend in the room
because if I'm just getting in sleeping
getting up and leaving it kind of
doesn't matter that it's a nice room as
much I just want a clean bed to sleep in
so if I was staying for a little more
than just tonight I would probably go
ahead a book this three star mystery
hotel in Jackson 464 but I'm really
gonna probably in late not gonna have
that much time in the room so if I can
find something a little cheaper that
might be good so let's take another look
okay I use the sort to put all the
hotels in order of cheapest to most
expensive so just kind of scroll through
and look for something that's not so
cheap Casey Jones motel that is very
poorly rated I like the name though it's
got a one-star to point on review that's
probably not a great hotel and here we
have another another expression it's a
two a half star hotel it's cheaper than
that other one it's only 50 it's got a
two and a half stars 7.0 rating for
guests I think we're gonna go with this
one
because we could say a little bit of
money like I said if I was gonna spend
more time in the hotel room I go for the
the three-star room oh yeah this is very
important to you want to look and see
what area it's in sometimes they'll take
you Brea way off the highway but that's
looks like it's right off the highway
which is what I will
because I don't want to go on some back
road adventure to find my hotel room so
I think we're gonna book this $50 a
night
let's choose room
okay some of them will give you the
option to kind of pin down exactly what
you want these are all non-smoking rooms
which is good let me see
king bed or two double beds I like
having a big giant bed and it's
interesting the two double beds will
often be more expensive than the one
king bed I think it has something to do
with with occupancy taxes so let's go
here you see there's me about fifteen
dollars worth of taxes and fees and
other special fees that you get hit with
four hotels
all right drumroll please let's book
that room and they're confirming a
reservation and what are we gonna get oh
the anticipation anticipation we are
staying at the Howard Johnson oh I
remember that actually listed the Howard
Johnson how much let's go back and see
how much that was all right so in this
case I only saved three dollars from
using the the Express deal this you
could have booked this Howard Johnson
for 53 I booked it for 50 so save $3 I
think sometimes you get better deals
than that but let's travel to settle or
Johnson and see if it's worth $50
we have landed at D Howard Johnson here
in Jackson Tennessee and now we will see
what room our money purchased for the
evening well maybe it's the other way
and everything all right yes sir turn on
the lights
oh okay
doesn't look too bad you got bright
colors brightly painted walls this bad
seems relatively comfortable there's no
gross stains on it oh look at this
it's cool little lamp in these mirrors I
get that artwork
I love these bags I always put my dirty
laundry in these bags
I guess that's that's the entire purpose
that's how I bring my dirty laundry Oh
with me I do notice I don't think mostly
there's a fridge you never know yeah
yeah big old fridge it's actually larger
than a normal hotel fridge right there
and let's check out the bathroom it's
always potential for scariness
yeah it's pretty normal pretty normal
and make sure I've come into hotel rooms
that had them not flush the toilet
before that's pretty gross oh here's one
thing easier there's a lot of hotels
you're not gonna play bath in that yeah
the plug is gone a lot of hotels is just
missing and it looks a little grimy you
went on lay down and there but you
probably did probably take a shower and
these
[Applause]
some wash clothes everyday oh these are
well well used wash claws but they're
clean they don't have gross stains on
them not covered in blood
oh there's me hey so I'd say I'd say
this is a win as I said the most
important thing to me is simply that
it's clean you don't feel gross that you
don't feel like you're going to get
stabbed while you're here so I don't
feel like I'm either going to be stabbed
I feel like I can get some sleep on this
bed so appreciate you guys coming along
with me I just got wanted to do a little
video explaining how I find hotels on
the on the road hopefully this can help
someone out there if you'd like to see
different places I've visited please
check the interactive map in the
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support the channel there's different
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description but until then until next
time this one's in the bag
