Priceline.com

GULP!! I haven't used Priceline.com in quite a few years, but regularly used it when I traveled somewhere on my own. Later this summer, I will be taking a classic road trip vacation to the Northwest with another family. We will camp in our VW Eurovan's most of the time, but planned on staying in a hotel in San Francisco for a few days before I swing back to Colorado. Schedules and procrastination led us to just start looking for hotels...and we needed to stay on a budget. Unfortunately, budget and San Francisco don't go well together.

After looking for a few weeks and even trying Craig's List , I finally resorted to Priceline.com . For those who haven't heard the William Shatner ads about 'naming your own price, Priceline allows you to make an offer...any offer for hotels, cars, and plane tickets. The gimic is that you put in a price, dates, and location (and you can pick neighborhood in larger cities), and if the bid is accepted, your reservation is made and is iron clad. You can't change the dates, location or haggle any more with the price. Your credit card is charged immediately and you are on your way.

It has worked quite well for me in the past, but as mentioned earlier, it was just for me. This time, I was making reservations for two rooms and eight people. I decided to opt for a three star (out of 4) hotel and made a bid $75 less than the 'going rate' just to feel out the process. Within two minutes, Priceline flashed a congratulations banner and a reservation number and information! I then went to Tripadvisor.com (my favorite place to read hotel reviews by actual visitors) and found about a 60/40 split of people who liked the hotel versus those who hated the hotel. I hope we end up on 60% side of the equation.

Next time, I plan on starting much, much earlier. For this trip, I just want our hotel to be clean and safe with no surprise. GULP!!

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