I don't know about you, but the act of traveling is a pretty tiring ordeal for me. Whether its by air, car, plane or train there's always a lot of standing, sitting, walking, or waiting involved. When I get to my destination, I want at a 3 star minimum hotel to stay in with fresh linens, fresh towels and a nice hot shower.

I get it though, times are tough. Those hotel stays add up quickly, and three star hotels in the West coast average starting at $80 a night (and that's discount rate) in major cities and climb higher up the closer to the popular destinations.

When I travel with friends, they know to count on me to get them the best deals.

So how do I get 50% off or more on that suite hotel? (Most recently $39.99 on a $89.99 hotel in SF Bay).

Priceline is the first place I visit. Not only can you name your own price, but you can tell them what region you want to stay at, and if you need to contact customer service for some reason, their response is relatively fast and friendly. (Response time within 3 hours, 24/7 typical with email form - which is fast for discount travel brokerage).

The way I look at it is my friends are willing to pay $69 a night for some 2 star, far away from the main attraction, if I can score a 4 star for less than that, and closer - its a big win!

If its the night before, and you know you definitely don't want to stay in some cheap-ie motel and spend the night with roaches, do yourself a favor and bid the $69 (don't forget tax and other miscellaneous fees). Chances are you will get an upgrade or two.

Make sure you do the: name your own price option, and not the Priceline fixed rate.

Either book really early, or book last minute. I tend to get the best deals booking just the night before. If you think about it, that makes sense. Some hotel out there has vacancies, why not book it and get something for the room rather than nothing at all?

If you are booking really early, do yourself a favor and pay for the cancellation insurance. You are already saving a lot of money on the reservation/booking, whats a few more dollars? The worse that could happen is you lose a few dollars for the convenience of being able to cancel or move your travel time-line.

Some of you might ask why you need cancellation insurance in the first place. Well Priceline is only able to provide those awesome deals by securing and booking those rooms immediately when they are accepted by travel partners. That means - no cancellations! ... unless you paid for the insurance.

True story, and I'm sure it happens to many others. I booked a hotel just the night before my trip for two days. Couldn't actually make the trip due to car trouble on the way. Contacted Priceline and hotel. No love. $100 lost.

And very importantly, Priceline is cheaper. Overall, they are cheaper than the competition. They want your bid to win. They have more partners in more cities, which means better deals!

Every plan needs a plan B. Let's say you couldn't make the deal happen. There's no hotel in the region, you've tried booking other regions close by.

With Expedia, its sort of the opposite. You don't name your own price. They do give you a list of prices to choose from. What you pick is the rating, and amenities.

Hotwire bonus is that they give you more information about the hotel you might be getting, what amenities, services is offered, etc. So if you have very specific needs, Hotwire may end up being your first choice.

Know that, and take what I've shared with you on priceline and find your deal!

Update on 2011-10-06 05:22 by Mike Mu

I just wanted to update on a few new strategies which work well.

First, I check Hotwire.com to get a general feel of the going rates around town. If I really want to know which hotel it is that I'm looking at, I use BidGoggles.

Next, I jot down the same area, same star rating and head on over to Priceline Hotels and Name Your Own Price! I bid at roughly 20% below the best offer I got on Hotwire.com. I usually win, or get so close that Priceline tells me just how much more I might need to bid to secure the deal.

Update on 2013-07-04 01:01 by Mike Mu

Another Comparison site. The times I used it, I ended up saving more than $30 on the same hotel for the same night. Pretty impressive. Don't forget to use the coupons!

Update on 2015-10-26 22:56 by Mike Mu