hotel program vs. priceline
 

i'm am a marriott rewards member and have collected some points throughout the years but have been using priceline for all my hotel stays in the past year. i have been getting good prices, alot less then sites like expedia would give me for 4 star hotels. my question is: would it be beneficial for me to stick to a hotel program, book on expedia, collect points for future stays (have not redeemed my points yet, planning on a big trip in future) or keep with priceline. i have searched but could not find a thread on comparison. i would think priceline would be the way to go to get 4 star or resorts for under $100 a day. please convince me otherwise

another question i had was if i keep with marriott and become gold or plat member, would that be worth it more in long run then just pricelining hotels?

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers for you.

How much are you saving by using Priceline versus Expedia? Is that money you can save and use on a future vacation? Lets say you are saving $20/night using Priceline and you stay on average 50 nights per year. That would mean you could be saving $1000/year. Assuming you used Expedia and you paid $150/night (and you are a Gold elite using the Premier Marriott Visa card) you would be making about 135K points per year plus throw in a few bonus points for promos like the Megabonus (we'll say around 50K/year). That gives you a grand total of about 185K points/year. (Given a few more promos, use of CC on non-Marriott stays, etc, you might be able rack up some more points.)

Two items of thought here:

1. You now have Gold status as you are getting credit for your stays. If you are staying at FS Marriotts, this would mean CL access and free breakfast. That might save you some money as well. (How much do you currently spend on breakfast during your trips?)

2. You should have enough points for a Standard 7-night award at even a Cat. 7 hotel, which means you could stay at places where it would cost significantly more than the $1000 you saved.

Now you can play with your nights, savings, hotel costs, etc and decide if the savings is worth more to you than the cost of the awards.

When paying for your own stays....Points/Status are great but cash is king! :D

In my experience, bidding on priceline saves much more than $20 per night... it is typically 33%-50% for me.

thanks hhoope01 for the reply and explanation. everything you say makes perfect sense. i always felt that priceline was the way to go but i guess it matters how many times you get a hotel.

One thing to note is that if Expedia are giving you better rates than the Marriott website, have a look at invoking the 'Look No Further' best rate guarantee and save yourself some cash whilst still earning nights and points.

This is where Bonus Bucks and Premium Pounds have come in handy for me. I went from using Priceline 90%+ of the time to always using BBs and PPs while adjusting my schedule for two nights stays.

Can you use Look No Further with a rate you found on Expedia?

i'm sorry but what exactly are bonus bucks and premium pounds? i myself use priceline 90+% as well.

A quick search using "Bonus Bucks" will provide a lot of illumination. But in a nutshell, BBs/PPs are coupons in $50/$100 denominations (or British Pounds for the PPs) that can be used almost like cash for 2 or more night stays.

I have done lots of times.

I'm also one of those who used to use Priceline a lot but now use a combination of Premium Pounds coupons and 'Look No Further' discounted rates. Like treefrog, I also try to arrange my stays so that they contain an even number of nights, maximising the benefit of the Premium Pounds coupons.

Yeah. If the money's coming out of your wallet, stay on Priceline and use the various web sites that tell you what to bid (see the "Budget Travel" forum on FT).

Priceline for my money, Marriott when its OPM
 

I used Priceline 3-4 times last year for some personal stays. However when travelling for work, I always use Marriott or Starwood.

There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on several factors including:
- How frequently you travel and whether you can reach elite levels
- How long your stays are
- Whether you normally travel at your own expense or work pays
- Whether you are mostly/always able to use a single brand (i.e., Marriott)
- How much using Priceline (or Hotwire) would save you, and how much time you want to commit checking betterbidding or biddingfortravel to see how others have fared to maximize savings

I don't travel all that frequently for work, so for many of my personal trips, I end up usually using Priceline or Hotwire. Some locations you get better deals than others. For example, we just returned from a weekend in Ft. Lauderdale - I had bid and won a room for 2 nights at the Courtyard Ft. Lauderdale Beach hotel for $64/night. I checked Marriott's website after my successful bid and the best rate they listed was $319/night! And I have a stay in March in Dallas where I accepted a Hotwire room for $42/night which turned out to be a Hilton Garden Inn, and the best rate at the Hilton website is $101/night. When you can save at least 50%, it is hard to argue not going the Priceline or Hotwire route - regardless of your status level - in my opinion.

KJ

I am a Marriott Gold and have just booked my first Marriott stay using Priceline (saved around 60%!) my question is will I still get the "Gold" benefits on this stay as I cannot add the booking to my Marriott account number? As I said it is a first for me and maybe the last as I do like the added bonuses!!

Yes.

Thanks for that, one more question though, will they automatically recognise my status or will I have to flash the Gold Card around?

You should add your Marriott number to the reservation so you can get points for incidentals at FS properties.

Tried to but received an error, I emailed Marriott and they said that because it was booked at a wholesaler eg Priceline, Hotwire Expedia & Orbitz then the booking could not be added to my Marriott Account. It was at this point that I wondered if I had made a mistake!!

I use to be in one of the big consulting companies, but about two years ago went out on my own.

I have been using Priceline since the start and typically stay around 200 nights / year (3-4 nts per week). It's saves me around $100 / night over the rate I could get otherwise and since I can't pass my expenses to the client, that's money in my pocket.

When good promotions comes up, I will sometimes shell out for a qualifying rate, but otherwise the savings on PL are tremendous. I pay about the same as a cheap apartment, but get the benefits of staying in a hotel (maid service, internet, HDTV...).

I think I will drop to Marriott nothing this year since I typically use Hyatt and SPG.

I've stayed at Marriott group properties on Priceline rates before and have never had a problem having my MR account associated with the reservation. If all else fails, flash the Gold at checkin and you should be ok.

Just do not expect elite tier treatment using PL or other 3rd party sites.
It MIGHT happen-just do not get mad if it does not.

That said-I get mad when I see PL folks getting better rooms than I do when paying rates found on Marriott.com and being an MR elitebecause the front desk(you know what)Is in a good mood/likes them/gets a bribe/whatever.
If I discover this it's letter writing time :D
There should be bennies for loyalty is all I am saying with the above.

Just to add that I was Silver when I stayed at Marriotts on Priceline rates so no Elite benefits for me anyway. I always got points for incidentals though.

One of the things I like about Hyatt is that they provide the same elite treatment no matter what the rate or booking source. You are in fact the same person even if you sometimes book a cheap wholesale rate.

My experience with Marriott is a bit different, often not getting elite treatment (when I was gold last year) on PL rates. I think Marriott's policy and lack of consistency is a bit shortsighted.

Who do you think is more likely to get my loyalty when paying full/regular rates?

Marriotts are supposed to be the same way. While I have not used PL a lot, the few times I have I was able to get my MR# added to the reservation and received all normal elite benefits.

Just call reservations and they will usually add your MR number to the PL reservation.

The Marriott's that I won recently did recognize my gold status but YMMV since it's a PL reservation

Thank you!!! Just rung reservations and both bookings are now linked to account!!

There is just no way that going with standard prices and rewards points is cheaper than PL barring very high traffic periods where there aren't any PL rooms available. Even being very generous with the value of points there is no way to make up the 40%,50%+ discounts of PL. Take the money saved and get your breakfast out.

I use priceline all the time & also use $100 BB, w/no problems. Only once 3 years ago in Aruba, they would not take the bucks, 3 rooms, 6 nights, because it was booked through a "3rd party website". Actually it was booked on the Marriot vacations site, but obviously that brings up an outside travel agency, some last minute deal I found. The price was unbeatable for us, but the $300 would have been great to use on food & other items charged to the rooms. I am always aware that they do not have to take the bucks. I even use them when booking the gov rate.

Thanks for all the help that I received here!!! Both our Priceline bookings were added to our Marriott rewards account and on both occasions we were upgraded to the executive floor. We had a wonderful stay both times so thanks everyone!!!

Out of curiousity did you get credit for nights stayed for the PL reservations?

you're not supposed to...but it sometimes happens that you get stay credit.