Husband stays wherever the company sends him. Family trips, value for the $ is the key. I still PL business reservations for my boss (frequent) and myself (very infrequent).

I don't know how this suggestion would apply to airlines other than NW, but I have used nwa.rewardsnetwork.com 3 or 4 times now. I've gotten an equivalent, better or competitive price than found on the hotel websites, and gotten substantially more frequent flyer miles. (Check the cancellability factor before booking, however -- I booked all on such short notice, I knew I wasn't going to be cancelling and didn't check that).

At a Fairfield Inn, I attached my Marriott # to the reservation prior to the stay, and ended up "double dipping" with miles posted both from Marriott (1 per mile) and rewardsnetwork (5 per mile) to my NW acct. This was for a $99/night stay where I had unsuccessfully bid on PL up to $50 (pretax/fee).

I also had a night in Tampa for an unbranded independent suite resort for $79, and got 10 NWA miles/$, where I had unsuccessfully bid on PL up to the mid $40s. ~~this one was for my aunt and I, and I had been bidding on 2 conventional rooms, so the one suite hotel on rewardsnetwork didn't cost me a dime more, but even if I paid the full share, it was worth it. I was also watching for Hilton's Best Rate Guarantee for that night, and didn't find anything on HH that was comparable, in the preferred area, near that price point (at the time it was $119ish per room compared to $40 for my share of the suite).

I'm not trying to be anti-PL, nor anti HH or any other program. My last two stays in Seattle area in August and September '04 were $30 and $35 at HGI Renton on PL, and I couldn't come close enough to justify a regular rate by booking it any other way. We have no hotel status anywhere, and probably never will as we're primarily leisure and husband only travels for work 10-15 nights per year. We're not particularly picky as long as it is clean and at least 2.5*, I do chase the best price, and I know these comments mean little to the corporate road warrior.
Once I got over my personal hangup of my "all PL, all the time" mindset, where I couldn't wait to get the next great PL bargain, I found there were sometimes great alternatives without breaking the self-pay budget. Thus, I now chase the Best Rate Guarantees first, try a reasonable PL bid after looking at www.betterbidding.com, and finally book wherever I can to either maximize the points/miles or potential PL savings within my budget.