Comments on: How to Save Even MORE on Hotel Rooms

By: Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:55:38 +0000

@ Azra – Thanks for reading! As I mentioned to Impulse Save above, I haven’t tried to use a combination of discount sites to find better prices on airlines since my sister told me that the airlines set it up so that their website offer the lowest prices. However, it sounds like a worthy idea, and I look forward to seeing what you find out! :)

By: Azra, ReadyForZero

Azra, ReadyForZero — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:50:04 +0000

Loved this article, the tip seems so obvious once you’ve read the post but I’ve never even thought about! I bet you could do the same for airline bookings as well..I smell an experiment coming up! I’ve been using Airbnb more recently to save $ on hotels + have a more unique experience during my travels. Have you tried it?

By: Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:54:10 +0000

@ Retire by 40 – haha – Thankfully, I was flying solo that night at the hotel without the girlfriend. She would have thrown a fit as well with it’s state! :)

@ Brent – Great tip about the parking. On a recent trip to NYC/Manhattan, my girlfriend insisted on bringing a car, and we paid $45 per night for parking! Yikes!

@ Money Smart Guides – Good luck on booking the reservation for the DC trip! I hope you have success applying this method!

@ Little House in the Valley – I also use VRBO whenever I am wanting to book a condo for more extended vacation (multiple day trips). However, for just a night or two, I find that just getting a single hotel room saves on the cleaning fees, etc that are associated with condo properties.

By: Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:48:14 +0000

@ Pinch that Penny – I would bet that if you’re using 50% of the price that Priceline quotes, you’re probably saving about the same as using the 70% Hotwire price strategy mentioned above. Not too shabby at all!

@ Tanner – Thanks for sharing the friends/family discount idea. I had a good friend in high school whose family owned an Accor hotel. He often mentioned that he could get us a good discount at other hotels, but nothing ever materialized from it.

@ GB – I look forward to hearing what sort of success you have with this method for your Napa trip.

By: Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:39:37 +0000

@ Impulse Save – Unfortunately, I don’t have as “slick” of a hack for getting low prices for plane travel (at least not yet). My sister, who is a pretty avid plane traveler, tells me that the airlines have set up the system such that their websites actually give the lowest price (lower than Travelocity, Expedia, etc). Therefore, what I usually do is go to Kayak.com to compare prices in general and scheduling, and then I proceed to the actual airline websites to make the purchase, for the reason mentioned in the previous sentence. Good question though!

@ Riley – haha – I definitely have to apologize about the look of the room. I got in late to the hotel and had to get up at 4 am to start a half marathon. Not up mt. everest, but the race did go pretty well! When I took the picture, I actually wasn’t even thinking that it would turn in to a blog post! :)

@ Kaye – Glad you found this strategy to be effective. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people are already doing this on a subconscious level. However, I figured putting it in to a post would help spread the idea and get some good discussion going!

By: Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:30:06 +0000

@ Brian – That’s cool that there are sites out there that tell you what hotels Hotwire is showing. Can you share the specific URL’s or names of those? I’d love to check it out!

@ Carrie w/ Careful Cents – Glad you enjoyed the article! How long does it take you to accumulate enough points to get some free stays at hotels using Expedia? For me, I haven’t pursued that avenue since I travel fairly infrequently and it would take me FOREVER to tally up enough.

@ LB – Thanks for reading. Using these travel sites like Priceline and Hotwire, it definitely saves a lot of time over physically walking to each hotel to negotiate. Plus, William Shatner as the Priceline Negotiator characteris is just AWESOME! haha “Beam me up Scotty!”

By: Young Professional Finances

Young Professional Finances — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:58:35 +0000

Great tips! I looked at Priceline but then got confused so I stopped using it. I’ll have to check it out now.

By: Melissa @ Little House in the Valley

Melissa @ Little House in the Valley — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 01:47:02 +0000

We have started staying at VRBOs (vacation rentals by owner) to avoid the high hotel cost, but I am going to try this strategy and see how much we can save. Thanks for the tips.

By: enahlerra

enahlerra — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 04:49:52 +0000

I used to make our reservations, usually through Priceline, the night before. Now I make them right before we want to check in.

By: H.D.

H.D. — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:36:33 +0000

Priceline permutations allow you to really find out the minimum bid that is accepted. When used in conjunction with research on each zone, you can have a decent idea of where you’ll end up staying too, or at least narrow it down to a few properties. This beats the 70%, eyeball, or guessing techniques. This is a real strategy, not an estimation.

http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/topic/615/Use-PERMUTATIONS-to-maximize-free-rebids#.T2OHwIrMCkQ