Affordable Accommodation On Trips?

[unclemick]

Hmmm

Things change with time and season. Perhaps starting a thread as early as possible stating intented destination is maybe the best one can do.

Like 'the perfect retirement spot' the eye of the beholder rules.

[Beachbumz]

Quote:

Personally I think this is a very important subject. People have been indicating that there are $31 & $20 something prices hotels about in places they have visited. But no one ever gives any more info as if it is a big secret. I would like to make a request to the administrators of this board. I think we should start a database of certain items. This could be one of them. (Affordable Lodging, domestic and another for Overseas) Other ideas would be Low cost Financial services although Vanguard appears to be the king here. Also high interest investment CDs (I know Bankrate does a good job here, but a while back a local in the east coast indicated that his local CU has a 3% 11 month CD, at the time that was an exceptional rate.) In the case of Lodging, what is very important is if the poster have actually stayed there, as opposed just looked it up on Expedia, which could still be OK. but if they had stayed there it would warrant a personal opinion. I am not sure how this could be done but I think Lodging info is pretty static and could be set up. Example: Name: Intown Suites WWW: www.intownsuites.com In this case phone and location is not applicable because the web site is great and they have multiple locations. But in the case of perhaps a mom and pop guest house the phone number would be invaluable. And of course the address. Any Ideas? SWR

I don't know how to go about setting it up, but it sounds like a great idea.

Beachbumz

Use www.priceline.com in conjunction with www.biddingfortravel.com .

Scour biddingfortravel.com first. Try to stay clear of the owner who has a personality that could curdle milk. Then you will know what $$ amount to bid on Priceline.

It's all supply and demand, but I have spent many nights at the Park Hyatt (Hyatt's premium product) in San Francisco for $25-$40/night. That is unusual (rack rates for the Park Hyatt's are usually $400 upward/night), but it is rare that I don't save 50% or so off the lowests Travelocity/Expedia/Orbitz/whatever rate.

Priceline/Biddingfortravel normally works better in urban or resort areas with lots of inventory. If you are staying in a rural area you will have to resort to your own personal wiles.

[gwix98]

Quote:

Use www.priceline.com in conjunction with www.biddingfortravel.com . Scour biddingfortravel.com first. Try to stay clear of the owner who has a personality that could curdle milk. Then you will know what $$ amount to bid on Priceline.

I have to second Tozz's recommendation of these two sites used together. After you have had success with this strategy its unlikely you will ever pay full price again for lodging unless its an area not served well by priceline.com
We just returned from our third year of travel to the southwest, staying in $150-$250 hotels, and never paying
more than $75 a night. You can figure on paying about 1/3
of the lowest advertised rate. In our case the range was
$55-$75 a night, for very decent places.
But, like with frequent flier miles, you have to be a little flexible about when you travel, and deal with some
uncertainty about where you might stay within a geographic region. If you have ever used priceline, you will know what I mean.
Often for a few dollars more than the "motel 6", you can
upgrade to Hyatts and Omni hotels.

gwix

[ShokWaveRider]

I guess what I would really like to see is a list of Suite type hotels in the same class as InTown Suites. They do not change other than Winter and Summer rate fluctuation. They are weekly or monthly but not nightly. There has to be more than the one in this catagory, (below $250 per week)

SWR

[Chris24]

I found this great website http://biddingfortravel .com . It is a free service/forum that tracks priceline.com latest bidding rates and hotels. Recently got the San Francisco Marriot for 75$ a night. Hotel web site rates were $240 for same room. Once you read the F Q&A and learn to navigate the site, they help you build a bidding strategy for what you are looking for. They just ask that you link to priceline through there web site. Well worth checking out, Had fun with it , never mind great savings.

Hopefully this will work as a link

http://biddingfortravel .com