How I Stay in Resorts for Motel Prices

Here’s a fantastic little travel trick I picked up from my best friend and fellow traveler Rachel Rofe:

It’s easy to get as much as 50% or more off of your nightly rate at hotels and resorts. I’ve used this trick to stay in four-star resorts with nightly rates of $200 for just $54… a Best Western in Flagstaff AZ for just $30 per night… and so on.

This requires embracing a bit of flexibility as you can’t choose the specific hotel you stay in. But as long as you’re comfortable with any hotel in a specific area (and you can choose the quality of your hotel), then this is ideal for affordable travel.

How to Book Resorts and Hotels for Motel Prices

You’re going to name your price. But with a twist…

1. Visit the Priceline and Hotwire Forum. This site lets people post the deals they’ve gotten on hotels, organized by state. Select the forum for the state you’re interested in and browse it for posts regarding the city you want. These posts will tell you the winning bids people have gotten in that city and what hotel it booked them.This will help you gauge what price you can get away with bidding (if you bid too low and don’t win a booking, you only get so many chances that day to change your price or other factors such as lowering the quality of the hotel you’re trying to get or changing the area of the city you want). It’ll also give you a clue as to what hotel that price might get you.
   
2. Make sure the posts are for roughly the same time of year you’re trying to book and pay attention to whether it’s around a holiday or a weekend.  Holidays and weekends will typically cost more. If a bid is during the week but you’re booking a weekend you may want to slightly raise your bid. The same holds true in the reverse. Also make sure they’re for the same quality hotel, or at least take the discrepancy into account.
   
3. Visit Priceline.com and “Name your own price.” Most cities, particularly urban areas, will have several areas of the city you can select for your hotel. You can also choose the lowest quality you want your booking to win you, such as two-star, three-star, four-star or resort. Priceline will tell you which selection will get you the best deal, i.e. the largest discount on regular pricing.
4. Once you make your selection, Priceline will tell you the average rate for your selection. When I look at this rate, I try to bid around 50% of that rate. Since they say that you can get as much as 50% off the typical rate, and an average means there are hotels with a lower rate than the one shown, I figure I can even go slightly below 50% off and still win my bid. If I’m flexible and willing to change the options I selected on my second round if I don’t win the first bid, I’ll gamble a lower than 50% bid, especially if I saw that price win when I browsed the Priceline and Hotwire Forum. But if I know what I want and I really want it then I’ll bid a bit higher to ensure I win the bid.Upon entering your bid Priceline will also tell you if it thinks it likely your bid will win. Once you’re satisfied, submit your bid. As their terms explain, you must pay before you see if your bid won. If it does win, you’re charged and you can’t back out. So you’re paying before you know which hotel you get. However I don’t mind it and the huge savings are totally worth it in my opinion.

There’s also another side to this that is particularly attractive to me.

I find I’m happiest when I invite a bit of uncertainty and surprise into my life – when I invite the unexpected. Adventure and synchronicity usually swing by for a visit when I do this and the flow allows the universe to step in and orchestrate in my favor. Since I’m not controlling where I end up I give permission to the divine to place me where I need to be to attract what I want (which isn’t always what I think I want).

I wish for you the same adventures, bliss and growth in this that I have experienced!