I'm planning to do some extended travel with my girlfriend for about a year or so and am trying to figure out the best strategy for finding hotel accommodations. We're currently in Southern California, and the current plan is to go up the west coast exploring various cities along the way, and then make our way by train across the US towards the east coast, and then head off towards Europe and Asia afterwards. All travel will be paid for personally, so minimizing costs would be ideal.

I've gone through the airline miles card promos (Citi AA 75k personal/biz, UA 50k, CO 50k, Amex MR 75k, BA 100k), but have essentially no hotel points and no status with any of the hotel programs, so I would be mostly starting from scratch there.

Right now I'm trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to book hotels at points earning rates, in order to redeem those points towards future award stays, or to simply save the extra cash and book everything via Priceline. My average daily hotel budget probably tops out at $100 or so (and of course, I would like to spend less, where possible). It seems like Priceline can get you pretty decent hotels in the $40-80/night range in most cities, whereas most hotel programs points earning rates are closer $80-$120/night.

My initial impression is that it would be difficult to make up for the 30-60% Priceline savings via hotel points and award nights. But perhaps I am wrong and there are certain programs better suited for that purpose? If so, which ones?

I imagine if I can get 1 free night for every 2-3 paid nights, it might be worth it to go with the hotel program route, especially if the award nights can be redeemed at higher end hotels. But is this even remotely feasible? It seems like many of the hotel loyalty programs are oriented more towards business travelers whose expenses are reimbursed, because they can generate points on expensed stays and use those points towards personal vacation stays.

So what do you guys think? If you're paying out of pocket for extended travel, is Priceline too cost effective to beat, or can you make up for added cost of a standard hotel booking via the extra points, status, and perks that it generates?