I used Priceline about a year ago to book a hotel and a rental car in Las Vegas and I was happy with the experience.  I have tried to use their bid system several times since then and I noticed a change - the bidding seemed to be rigged.

Last night, I got my real proof of this.  I was trying to book a couple nights in Las Vegas for a business trip.  I was hoping to land a room in a Marriott property - such as Marriott Suites, or Courtyard.  At least something that comfortable.

When I started bidding, I tried to book specifically into Henderson, NV - southern suburb of Las Vegas.  I knew that Priceline considered the Courtyard Marriott property in Henderson to be a 2 1/2 star rated property and I requested that I bid on a 2 1/2 property.  Priceline says that you can save 40% off rack so I did a little math:

Rack at the Courtyard: $129 per night.

40% off: $77.00 per night.

So I bid $77 - and the system replied back that I should raise my bid by $17 to increase my chances of getting a hotel to accept my bid. (Look this $17 figure up on the internet - you'll see a pattern here.)

So I opened up my search area to include the Las Vegas strip and a couple more areas of town.  This also brought into light that there were 3 & 4 star properties available.  So I moved up my 'Star' rating from 2 1/2 to 3 'Stars'.  Since I had widened my search, I thought I might try a lower price - $50 per night.  The system refused and asked me to raise my bid by $17 per night (familiar number?).  So this time I did raise my bid and BINGO - my bid was accepted.  Here's where it gets weird...

The hotel that the system booked me into was the Sahara Hotel & Casino ( a very very old property).  I had stayed at the Sahara quite a few times in the past and never liked it.  I won't go into details, but there are lots of them.  BUT the interesting thing is - Priceline had me raise my bid from $50 a night up to over $65 - saying that no hotel would accept my bid - when in fact, I could call the Sahara or go to Travelocity.com and book that same room for $40 per night. Hmm - seems like fraud to me.

I called Priceline and spoke to customer service.  I bent this guys ear for quite a while.  I was very angry and felt abused.  The customer service rep finally agreed to refund me the difference between what I had paid - and the Rack rate (which was 40% LOWER than Priceline).  Big deal!  I was still stuck with a hotel room that was less quality than what I originally requested - and with no discount what-so-ever from what I would have paid if I had not used Priceline. And for my lost time and effort - not a thing.

So now - I am fulfilling my duty as a consumer - I am talking to you about my bad experience.  Don't be a victim of Priceline - and do your friends a favor and warn them not to fall prey to Priceline's phony scam.