HotelChatter

Tags: Priceline / Hotel Booking Websites / Hotel Deals / → All Tags

Priceline's New Tool Speaks To The Google Maps-Addicted Masses

Can we just say that it's about frickin' time that Priceline, who's been somewhat ahead of the curve since touting their ahead-of-the-curveness through William Shatner, finally gathers their huge amount of hotel data to produce a spiffy map view of their hotels and current rates.

The new tool, unveiled just before the Fourth, features mapped-out and color-coded price quotes from hotels in cities from good old NYC all the way to Sharm El Sheikh. If you've used Google Maps before, this system will be second-nature to you. And if you're headed for a popular destination, the three search scales will majorly help narrow it down: by price range, by star rating, and by guest rating.

We've already had far too much fun using this thing to attempt finding $100-and-under hotels in Venice for this summer's Biennale art festival, and just from looking at the map we see it's possible in several areas of the city — or we could splurge to stay at the 4-star palace that is the Boscolo Bellini for $166 a night. Nonetheless, we're super impressed with it and wouldn't be surprised if the map functions ends up as a Priceline widget in the future.

Tags: Expedia / Hotel Booking Websites / → All Tags

Expedia Gets Rid of Cancellation Fees

Remember that time we booked a Seattle hotel through Expedia and then we got so sick we couldn't make the trip and had to cancel at the very last minute? And even though we had a doctor's note we still had to pay $135 for a hotel room that we never stayed in. (However, a sympathetic Expedia rep did feel sorry enough to throw us a $50 Expedia credit.)

Right, well: since we canceled the booking on the morning of the reservation, we were forced to eat the whole room rate — but if we'd canceled a little further in advance, we'd have at least gotten charged a standard $25.00 Expedia cancellation fee.

But! That fee is all gone now. Expedia announced today that they're totally getting rid of cancellation fees altogether. If we have to change or cancel our hotel for whatever reason, we won't get charged the $25 Expedia fee — we'll just be hit with whatever fee the hotel charges for changes or cancellations.

Will other third-party booking sites be following suit on this one? Yeah, probably.