I would question the above advise from Sweet Willie.
You do not get to stay in "where you want"using priceline.You get to fill the bed that would otherwise go empty in a general area(sometimes a little too"general"for some folks taste)and you have little recourse if the hotel puts you in an undesirable room.
If you do not stay in nice hotels for leisure travel/vacations then perhaps priceline makes more sense than hotel loyalty programs.
I like to stay in nice digs whil traveling thus the free nights I have obtained from SPG and Marriott in Europe and Canada this year have far out valued any savings I might have had using priceline/hotwire.
All of my travel dollars are discretion based,most are leisure stays.I have not used PL in 4-5 years or so after a series of horrible customer service snafus that would have never has happen to a status guest with one of the chains.