How to Save on Hotels 

You might be surprised to learn that there are several way to save substantially on Hotel costs. This author has used Priceline to book many hotels at a fraction of the ‘normal’ rate. In Fact, recently this author used Priceline to book a beautiful five star hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong for less than $100. Below is a list of hotel saving tips.

Priceline

The best resource for informed Priceline bidding is Bidding For Travel.com. It is indispensable for the lists of hotels by zone and quality level and the tremendous amount of successful and unsuccessful bids that have been posted. Their Hotel FAQ is also important reading to understand how to get the hotel(s) you want in the right location and at the best price. Furthermore, their discussion boards contain really interesting tips such as advanced rebidding techniques that increase your free re-bids beyond those conventionally recognized.

An alternative to Biddingfortravel.com is BetterBidding.com which is newer and not quite as extensive. However, it covers Hotwire as well as Priceline, so adds some  value (see below).

About.com has a good, clear explanation of how free re-bids work. Rebidding is the single most important trick for using Priceline.

Hotwire

Hotwire generally doesn't provide deals quite as good as Priceline. This may be because hotels set rates that Hotwire offers. Their markup is greater than Priceline's booking fee. However, it is often a good idea to check Hotwire before bidding with Priceline  because you can often figure out what hotels specifically are offered easier than with Priceline. This is especially true if you check BetterBidding.com which maintains a list of Hotwire hotels.

     
                Other Booking Methods

SideStep is a downloadable tool which detects when you're browser is on a travel site and takes the information you've entered, searches the internet and brings back prices. It's a great way to compare prices.

TravelAxe is a downloadable tool, more powerful than SideStep. It seems to be the ultimate hotel booking device -- it checks different travel portals, pulls results for a large number of hotels, and shows comparison rates in a simple grid.

Hotel Reservation Service sometimes offers the best price on rooms.

QuickBook is a consolidator and is useful in some cities, sometimes beating the best price elsewhere.

Once you have selected a hotel, it is often useful to check the rate on the hotel's website. If the hotel's price is higher, check the website's Best Rate Guarantee -- they often promise both matching rates and something extra.

   
            How to Decide Which Hotel to Book

Obviously the location as it relates to events or attractions is often the deciding factor. Features or amenities offered are also key factors.

Star Ratings from some sources are more reliable than others. Hotels.com used to allow properties to "self rate" meaning that a hotel would decide how many stars it should have. Now they do some independent checking and verification. Expedia's star ratings are known to be unreliable. AAA and Mobil guides are far better, but there the guides don't always visit each property regularly.

When considering a property, it is a good idea to checkout independent reviews. TripAdvisor.com is a better source of hotel reviews. But you should recognize that different people have different experiences and standards, so they may be picky about things that wouldn't bother yout. For instance, resorts have expensive food. People who don't expect the prices  are likely to write a negative review. The best approach is to read many reviews and look for common themes across them all.  BetterBidding,  Epinions and Biddingfortravel.com all offer reviews.