While one cannot recommend Priceline without some caveats, SPG and other chains are shooting themselves in the foot with their direct market pricing. It has become standard practice for me and other people in the company to check regular available prices and in any situation where the prices are not "reasonable", just to get a priceline stay. Knowing which hotel to book into is worth some premium but not what the frequent spread between the two are.

What the successful bids on Priceline are saying in essence is that the market pricing of the hotel rooms for direct sales is way above what the market, in general, is willing to bear and the Hotels are afraid to acknowledge it in public.

As long as some people are willing to pay several hundreds of dollars to subsidize my priceline stay, I am not complaining. But I don't see this as a sustainable model.

 

I like being *wood Platinum. Some of my favorite hotels are *woods. But if hotel elite programs disappeared tomorrow, I could deal with it. The upgrades and other benefits are are nice perqs, but they're not essential to my hotel stays. Only a few (late check-out) really make my stays easier. They do serve the purpose of making me more loyal to a certain chain, so I'm not advocating their demise. But when I face the pricing issues described above, my loyalty will go out the window, too.

Airline elite programs are a different matter- the benefits they offer can make a trip significantly more pleasurable (elite check-in and security, increased baggage allowances, upgrades).

The difference between a coach seat and a J or F is huge: a Heavenly Bed is a Heavenly Bed, regardless of the color of the SPG card in your wallet.

 

I always wondered this. What would happen if us FF came together and formed a club of sorts. Would we be eligble for our own SET which if we have enough visits (if enter was plat status) would allow us a bigger discount than normal if we were on our own?

 

AAA probably has a few more members than FT. Try AAA.

 

Just to affirt all the previous posts about low rates on Priceline. After researching using biddingfortravel.com, my priceline bid was accepted for the Westin rio mar resort in Puerto Rico this weekend for $71.00 per night. The lowest rate shown online was over $200.00