Rack Up the Value

We’ve all been there: You find a great hotel or rental property, only to be completely taken aback by the checkout price. You react with one of two reactions, either “I could’ve gotten a better deal online!” or “What a waste of money to pay that much!”

While you may feel as though you are getting ripped off and have lost out on catching some extra cash, you might be doing more harm than good by staying away from booking hotels through priceline.com or other sites. Let me explain why.

Let’s start with a hypothetical example. Let’s say that you are planning on staying in a hotel in New York City for $150 each night, but you can only pay $100 each night. So you go to priceline.com and find a hotel for $100 each night, but it is outside of the city. This can be a great deal! If you have the time after your meetings, take the train in to the city to check it out—the extra cost may have been worth it if you really enjoy what the city has to offer on top of its business offering.

On the other hand, let’s say you do a google search for “New York City hotels” and see that the average hotel price is $250 per night. This can be a great time to actually book a hotel through priceline.com or hotwire.com. Even though you may have to drive further out to get there, you have saved $50 each night by paying $150 through an online travel agency (OTA). You can even think of this as your “bonus”, or money you didn’t know you had.

Let’s say that you really want to stay close to the action and find a $250 a night hotel with a traditional travel agent. If you book directly through the hotel, then you are paying full price. Even though priceline.com and other OTAs take a commission from the hotel, they still offer better deals.

However, if you book through an OTAs and then find that the hotel’s prices have gone up and have to pay full price, then you're just out of luck. You're stuck with no choice but to stay in a hotel that is way too expensive.

Even if you factor in the extra fee you would normally spend on booking online along with the savings you may get from booking through an OTA, stay away from hotels that are too cheap! Sometimes they do not offer amenities like a coffee and tea maker, room service or concierge services. Therefore, by staying in a place that is too cheap on priceline.com or another site, you will be paying a lot more in the long run.

So when is the right time to book on priceline.com? Priceline.com or another OTA may be a good idea if you are trying to save money, you want something that’s not in your city or it is during the peak season and you know hotels are going to be expensive.

Here is another scenario where booking through priceline might not be such a great idea: Say that someone recommends a Marriott hotel that's around $250 for each night. Let’s say this hotel is out of town but would provide convenience for business travel and has lots of amenities like a coffee maker and room service.