Travel Tip for Bootstrappers

This might not quite consitute "new knowledge", but recently, I got a great travel tip from some bootstrapping entrepreneurs who've been traveling a great deal for fund-raising and business development: try using the Priceline.com service for hotels.    Without this service, these entrepreneurs could never have afforded to do the travel they really needed to do.

The Priceline hotel reservation system ain't bad.  Unlike their airline travel service which has some significant shortcomings and I can't really recommend (and probably inhibited me, and you probably, from even thinking about trying their hotel service), the Priceline hotel service allows you to pick your day, general location, and quality of the hotel.  What more do you need?

I traveled to Boston recently and stayed at the Hyatt Cambridge, a four star hotel, which I bid $50/night for.  Did the same in several other cities on the east coast.  I probably saved about $1000 in the last month, probably more.  And the best part is that if you opt for the $5 of insurance you can cancel anytime and get your money back (less the $5 of course).

The drawback is that you can't pick the exact hotel you want to stay in (in which case, if you need to pick a hotel specifically, I recommend using hotels.com).  But for a 50-80% discount, it's almost stupid not to use the Priceline hotel reservation service, especially if you or your team travels a great deal.   I recommend trying it out.  There are some inconveniences that you can encounter, some hotels that are a bit more run down that typical, or not in the absolute best location.  But the rooms are still 3 and 4 star and comfortable in my experience so far.   Furthermore, in small towns, you often have a choice of limited number of hotels anyways, and location really isn't that big of a deal.  Might as well book it through Priceline.

If you know of some other good travel tips like this one that are not too obvious but you find yourself doing it yourself with regularity, do share.

Comments

[Tom Ransom]

For even more control - use www.hotwire.com and purchase the hotel/car package. They let you choose exactly which hotel you want hiding only the name of the rental car company. If there is a travel option where transparency has no price - it is in car rental. All will be at the airport. But now you can exactly pick the hotel (by location and features) and know the price associated with it. Resorting by Star Rating frequently reveals pricing anomolies.

[Johnie]

New Reader here.

Check out http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding or http://www.betterbidding.com/

Both of those sites tell you best practices in getting good prices for the hotels that you want. I've used them a couple of times going to Vegas and have gotten Venetian for $99/night. The basic gist of it is that the locations are broken up by zones. In each zone, you know what hotels are offered by Priceline [through those forums] and what stars they are.

So for the Venetian for example. The only 2-5 star hotels in Vegas are Venetian and Bellagio. So you bid for 5 stars on the strip for $80. Don't get it? Add the downtown zone and raise the bid for $90. And keep doing this until they accept it. With this method, you are always guaranteed to get the hotel you want for the lowest price.

[Oscar DeMaria]

Great information. You are really true in what you said. If you get a chance, you can check out my blog on priceline at http://www.pricelinequote.com.

Oscar DeMaria
http://www.pricelinequote.com