http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T11:23:31Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/priceline http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/23/12280/0236 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/negotiatorbuhbye.jpg" class="top"><p><i><b>Scroll to the bottom of the story for an update on the Negotiator mobile apps.</b></i><p> For several years <b>The Negotiator</b>, aka William Shatner, had been the face of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/priceline"><b>Priceline.com</b></a> chopping his way through TV commercials and magazine ads showing off victorious defeats in cutting down hotel rates. But recently, the Negotiator himself got chopped. <p>Priceline is doing away with the Negotiator persona but fortunately, they are not doing away with their Name Your Own Price feature which we love so much. Instead, Priceline is putting their <s>money</s> energy into spotlighting the site's published rates. In the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120123-705459.html">Wall Street Journal</a> today, Priceline's chief marketing officer, Brett Keller, said the company wants the public to know "that you juliana 2012-01-23T15:00:02-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/9/29/102814/958 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/priceline_tonightonly.jpg" class="top"><p> A good sign that you've gone and created something useful and effective? You've got copycats which is what <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/hoteltonight"><b>HotelTonight</b></a> is dealing with today as hotel discounter <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/priceline"><b>Priceline</b></a> has announced their newest mobile booking feature--<b>Tonight-Only Deals</b>.<p>Tonight-Only Deals let travelers book last-minute hotel rooms for that night at Priceline's deeply discounted rates (although no cancellations are allowed and your card is charged immediately.) Multiple night bookings are allowed too.<p> The deals open at 11am (HotelTonight opens at noon) and are good for hotels in 34 cities. And yes, you can see which hotels they are. No blind booking here with Tonight-Only Deals. Rooms can be booked as late as 11pm or until they sell out. (HotelTonight actually juliana 2011-09-29T10:36:44-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/3/30/14744/9188 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/21888/marriottboat500.jpg" class="top"> <p>We've heard of water features in the lobby, but this takes the biscuit&#133; a full on harbor with boats available for guests. Amazing! In fact, as heavyweight Vegas connoisseurs, we thought we'd seen all the ostentatious look-at-me posing a hotel could do - but then, this weekend, we checked into the <a href='http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel/local/2266'><B>JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa</b></a> in Palm Desert. <p>Yes, we probably should have guessed something special was on the cards from the flock of flamingos in the palm tree lined drive on arrival. And we'd seen the huge waterway with vaporetto-style boats on the website. But nothing prepared us for the vision that was the <b>boat dock in the lobby</b>. <p>Yup, there's a juliab 2011-03-30T14:46:27-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2010/9/17/82139/3839 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/pricelinefreebies.jpg" class="top"><p> We've always loved <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/priceline"><b>Priceline</b></a> for their "Name Your Own Price" blind booking feature which gets us incredible steals at good hotels. But we've never used Priceline as a traditional booking site--you know, where you can see the name of the hotel before you book and all that jazz. <p>For that type of booking, we're a bit dependent on Expedia but we also firmly believe in booking through the hotel directly (if you find a cheaper room rate elsewhere, the hotel usually offers to match it.) <p>Yet Priceline is throwing something in our faces that we can't ignore--<a href="http://travela.priceline.com/hotel-freebies/?plf=pcln"><b>Hotel Freebies</b></a>. This week, the site rolled out their new Freebies function which allows folks to sort their hotel juliana 2010-09-17T10:16:53-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2010/4/5/172232/1841 <![CDATA[<p> <img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/toomanykeycards.jpg" class="top"><p> <i>Sleeping around may not be worth it if you can't earn loyalty points.</i><p>If you've been following our <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/adventures in blind booking"><b>Adventures in Blind Booking</b></a>, you would know that we are on a serious blind booking kick. It's all about the best deals, baby! But we have momentarily come down from our bargain-hunter's high to reflect upon a very serious issue--<b>our loyalty program points.</b><p>When we Facebooked our love of blind booking, a fan of ours pointed out that while he loved getting the "awesome deals" on sites like <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/hotwire">Hotwire</a> and <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Priceline">Priceline</a>, usually hotels will not give you loyalty points because you did not book through the hotel.<p> This is very true. Many hotel loyalty juliana 2010-05-12T10:21:19-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/