Captain Kirk Will Get You a Cheap Hotel

I don't really want this blog to turn into a series of ads for services that I like, but if there's something good that I think saves me money, then I'll definitely give it a post. In this case, I really like Priceline negotiator for booking hotels. It's not so great if you're looking for a cheap motel during a roadtrip, but if you want something pretty nice for a good value, I've never found a service that works better. So without further ado, this is my (mostly) foolproof system for getting good rates on hotels:

1. Figure out the general details of the trip. You obviously need to know how you're getting to your destination, how long you'll be there, etc.

2. Once you've got the general outline of things and it's time to get a hotel, then go to priceline.com and click on the "Name Your Own Price" section. After you enter your info, you'll get to the important stuff.

3. Priceline won't let you enter identical (or nearly identical) bids within too short a timeframe, but with small changes you can put a lot of bids in during a short time period.

4. Decide what level of hotel you're interested in. As I said, this really only works with slightly better hotels, so I put my cutoff at the 3.5 star level.

5. Go through each of the different areas and note the ones that don't have 3.5 star hotels in their area. This will be important.

6. Now select all the areas that you're interested in staying and put in a bid. I usually start at $30. If it's accepted, fantastic. If not, go back and add one of the areas to your list that doesn't have a 3.5 star hotel in it. That way, you're still bidding on the same pool of hotels, but the site will let you enter bids rapidly back to back.

7. Move your bids up in increments of about 5 until you get a hotel.

8. Congratulations. Thank Captain Kirk because he just got you a cheap hotel.

Using this method, I've gotten 3.5 and 4 star hotels for as cheap as $40 a night. It's way cheaper than the posted discounts. I'm a big believer in frugality as a general rule, so anything you can do to save money on a vacation or business trip is totally worth it.