by Lois Lawrence

Created on: April 04, 2009   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

When asked for an example of a bargain hotel in Manhattan, few people would name the 4 star Grand Hyatt hotel on East 42nd Street near Grand Central Station. After all, the lowest advertised rate for a double in April on Hyatt.com is $319.

But buying hotel rooms through hotel websites is not what bargain hunting for travel deals is all about. But how about grabbing the same double room in that award-winning upscale hotel for $105 a night? Now that's a budget hotel deal anyone can sleep easy about.

The web site biddingfortravel.com is what just made this happen for a lucky Priceline bidder. Biddingfortravel's mission is to help budget-conscious travellers get the most out of Priceline by telling Priceline's secrets. Nothing too tricky, just little tidbits of trivia such as which hotels are participating (Priceline will only tell you what star level you are bidding on) and what prices are those hotels accepting lately,(Priceline would like you to think you need to bid more than you really do) Bidding for travel also explains in detail how to chances you have to increase your bid within a twenty four hour period. (Priceline leads its customers to believe that there is no way around their one bid per day rule for a given location and star level. Not true.)

All this empowerment is accomplished with the help of actual bidders who often give step-by-step accounts of how they got to "yes" with a particular hotel. The site also provides tutorials for using Priceline in the smartest way possible and, for those who still feel like newbies in the bidding game, actual one-on-one assistance. Rather comprehensive hotel lists are kept for each distinct area of a city that Priceline covers and links to reviews and hotel websites are provided as well so potential bidders can see what the hotels are charging others not so savvy about hotel shopping.

Recently, then, in addition to the poster who scored a room at the Grand Hyatt for $105, we see that another Priceline bidder landed at the four star Midtown West Sheraton Hotel and towers for a mere $115 for one night in April. Another scored the Times Square Sheraton for $100 per night for three nights in in May. The 3.5 star Millenium Broadway went for $95, and the 4 star Royalton in Midtown West accepted a bid of $120 per night for two nights in April.

For a bidder willing to forego some of the frills and bid on 2.5 star digs, the Holiday Inn Express in Brooklyn held out the welcome sign for $65. Rack rate on the hotel's web site? $171.

The bottom line here? Well, it's the bottom line. The trick is to ask the hotel to sacrifice before you do.

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