Priceline.com is perhaps one of the best online travel sites out there, pioneering the “Name Your Price” model. While the site offers discounted prices on hotels, airfare, car rentals and vacations much like competitors like Expedia and Orbitz, it distinguishes itself from these competitors by offering this unique “Name Your Price” feature.

The only catch with this feature is that once you specify your criteria, you don’t have control over what you get. For example, in Las Vegas, bidding on a 4 star hotel could land you the Tropicana, which is certainly not in the same category as the Monte Carlo or Treasure Island.

Hotwire is the only other site that comes close to offering something similar to Priceline. They offer deeply discounted prices on airfares and hotels, but don’t reveal the details until you pay.

In both cases, there is a site (well, more of a forum) that allows would-be travellers to inquire about what they might end up with if they were to name their own price on Priceline or if they were to accept a deeply discounted price on Hotwire. This site is betterbidding.com, operated by actual people and having used them myself, I can say with some certainty that they generally get it right.

Update – You can now See Winning Hotel Bids in Top Cities on Priceline.com

Happy bidding!