Priceline is a valuable tool when you have to pay for your hotel out of your own pocket, or if your company is cheap on your travel expenses. My point above was that many business travellers who spend scores of nights each year at high-end hotels are clueless about hotel programs, even though they are paying high rates. These same people know a lot about airline programs. (But they are also clueless about PL!)

One of the perks of my job is to be able to stay at nice hotels when I travel extensively, and my company doesn't really care how much it costs. If they put a per diem limit on my hotel, I would find a new job, and they would be the losers.

It depends on where you travel, as well. I can tell you that Priceline is useless in expensive cities throughout Asia and Europe.

If you use PL extensively for your hotels, then the hotel programs are indeed of lesser value than they would otherwise be. But then I assume you are also using PL for your airline tickets, right? No??? Why not??