How to Use Priceline to Get Hotel Deals

It took me awhile to catch on to the priceline.com phenomenon. I used to think it was only for flights and my travel plans are usually very tightly scheduled that I didn't have the flexibility to travel whenever during the day priceline.com thought I should. I often fly to bridge tournaments with plans to play at 1pm, meaning I had to take an early morning flight, or maybe I wanted to work a whole day and then fly out meaning I needed an evening flight.

Last year, I discovered that priceline works for hotels, and I've booked many cheap rooms using the popular website. It's pretty simple - you pick an area you'd like to stay in, and these areas are usually no more than a 5 mile diameter or so. If you absolutely have to be walking distance to a certain place, there's no guarantee but if you don't mind being, say, anywhere in midtown Atlanta, which is 2 or 3 miles from end to end, it will find you some really good deals at nice hotels. I've gotten rooms in midtown Atlanta at the Wyndham and Courtyard, both 3 stars, for $45/night. I've gotten rooms at a Marriott in Washington DC for $50/night, and the Hampton Inn in Augusta, GA for $34, among others. Those prices are all less than half the normal rates and well worth it. I didn't mind a few extra blocks of walking or driving.

How does it work and how can you be sure you get what you want? You select the dates you want and the level of hotel you want. Enter a credit card and the price you're willing to pay, and it will search its pool of hotels for one willing to accept your price. Within 30 seconds, it's back with a decision. If you're been declined, you may have to wait 24 hours before trying a search again on the same area and same star level. I've never opted for a 1 star hotel, and I wouldn't recommend trying. There are enough 2 and 3 star places that are quite nice that you'll be able to get for about the same price. Priceline doesn't let you select what type of room you want but you can call the hotel and confirm with them what type of room you'll be in.

I've found that if you try booking on priceline months in advance, you won't get very good deals because they are still trying to book the rooms at regular price. Besides, it's probably not a good idea to book that far ahead anyway, as these are non-refundable. Using priceline a week or so before your trip is best as hotels are then trying to fill up their rooms. They'd rather get $40 for a $100 room than nothing. So, if you know when you're going to be traveling and don't care much about the exact location, and aren't traveling to panama city on spring break or some similarly known peak travel time, get on priceline.com a couple weeks before the trip and get yourself a 50% discount on your hotel room.