Welcome to frequentguide.com. This site was conceived really as a result of many of my friends and colleagues, who kind of see me as the defunct encyclopaedia on everything travel related. Even though I don't have a travel background (until recently...), I truly love travelling - experiencing different cultures, different people, different cities and all the great food too.

Don't forget - if you need to book a hotel, go to: http://www.hotelsincities.com

In order to achieve this passion, I've found by being smart about how you travel, will get you "where you want to go". Simple things like using airline and hotel loyalty programs, taking advantage of low priced specials, and knowing which hotels and which airlines to fly and how to book these will all help you make your $$$ go further.

Podcasts: Access the latest frequentguide.com podcasts, download the MP3's or subscribe to our XML feed. Learn from what to do in Bali, Visiting the Greek Islands, Where to go in Barcelona and even what to do in Australia's Red Centre - Ayres Rock. Learn more now - click here

A Little About Me: Well... i've been using the internet since 1989 and well that was back in the days of Unix, elm, pico, gopher, IRC, news and all those other fun Unix based environment things - even ytalk! (remember that!). Then this weird thing came across me in 1992.. it was called the "World Wide Web". Some program called "Mosaic" was all the rage. So I ended up creating my faculty and college's website back in those days.... Since then, I've finished University and landed three qualifications later, including a postgrad in Law, For nearly the last ten years i've worked in senior roles in the telecommunuication, IT, law and financial services in Australia. I still however, manage to find the time to travel, and boy do I enjoy it. My latest hobby - Podcasting. How cool is that? It brings me back to early days of the WWW.... where corporations didn't dictate what we saw, rather, us, as consumers as the everyday folk are the content producers. This site, is my return back to all that the internet has given me over the last 15-20 years!

Free Subscription: So come with me, and enjoy this website, please tell your friends, and most of all, please do click on the "Subscribe" link at the top right corner and become a member, it costs you nothing, and i'll keep you updated on all the latest happenings at frequentguide.com. Alternatively, just send an email to: subscribe@frequentguide.com with the words "Subscribe" in the subject line and you'll be set.

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Warm regards, Bryan.

Editor, Owner & Travel junkie, @ frequentguide.com

 email: bryan@frequentguide.com

Need some help with frequent travel and loyalty programs?

I'm a UK based international executive with 10+ years internet industry experience in a range of sectors including travel, banking, broking and telecommunications. Worked for a range of organizations from startups to Fortune 100 companies including directorship and head of roles. I have cut deals and negotiated at senior levels with some of the world's largest organisations such as: 

How could you get some help from me?

* Marketing: Marketing communications, advertising, CRM, brand strategy, planning and tactics, budgeting and analysis

* Creative: Agency management, website design and concepts, content and layout. Copywriting: and ideas for print and banner advertising

* Management: Leadership, team building, project management and personal development

* Legal: Qualified lawyer, contract negotiation, drafting and dispute resolution.

* Information Technology: Search marketing and optimisation and website management, usability and design.

Where Bryan is quoted:

Bryan has been quoted in various articles, including:

* Yahoo! Search Marketing - "According to Bryan Lip, “Yahoo! Search Marketing’s Sponsored Search is like the Holy Grail of advertising. In my experience at E*TRADE, dgm and Yahoo! Search Marketing have effectively worked together to enable a higher level of return on investment and new customer acquisition rates.” - Yahoo! Search Marketing (global)

* E*TRADE - An accomplished presenter, articulate in every way - having presented to over 50,000 people. "Bryan has been involved in a range of E*TRADE initiatives including the development, deployment and communication of a wide range of E*TRADE products, services and feature" - E*TRADE's Asia Pac's Key Seminar Speaker

* Messenger Marketing - "...E*TRADE a couple of times on Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad tours of Australia. Lisa is a strategic thinker and understood the needs of us and the corporate needs of Robert..." - Messenger Marketing

* WebQEM - "Underpinning our growth has been providing a market leading product with a range of investment choices for customers. Over the past couple of years we’ve revamped our active trader products - Power E*TRADE and E*TRADE Pro, introduced our conditional orders service which assists in providing more discipline in share trading, online options trading, SMS alerts and our recently launched Contract for Difference (CFDs) service. This coupled with successful and valuable alliances including ANZ, Qantas, Bendigo Bank and Yahoo! has helped grow our customer base and build awareness with the Australian public." - WebQem's Web-Brief

* Money Magazine & Expo - "Having run exhibitions around the world I am used to shortcomings. The Money Expo was outstanding for ..." - Money Magazine

Where to from here?

Just contact Bryan at: bryan@frequentguide.com or call UK +44 (0) 773 069 4799

Well it is the 20 November 2005 and i've completed a grueling day in Boston, taking in much of the famous sights - this insight may give you a bit of an idea of what you can do when you plan your trip to Boston....

I got to Boston taking the Chinatown Buses from New York's Chinatown - they are all US$15 each way, and no tip is necessary.

They stow your bags below and the trip is typically about 4-5 hours in length, never less than 4 hours, never over 5 hours and this includes a stop at the local fast food place (which ever is offering the best deal to the bus driver - ie plenty of free big macs, etc!). This time it was "Roy Rogers". We stopped for about 20 mins.

I took the "Lucky Star" bus. I felt like a star with an empty seat next to me! - unlike the crammed Bus to DC last time I took a NYC Chinatown Bus!.

I was planning on taking the Fung Wah bus lines, the biggest, but I was running late and grabbed any bus I could jump on... Fung Wah was too hard to find.

There is one other bus operator - Boston Deluxe but they aren't as regular as Fung Wah and Lucky Star (try your luck!)

Boston is a beautiful city, I have been to a number of American cities and Boston comes across as a very liveable, enjoyable city, with the exception of the drivers and pedastrians - it's nuts! But i'll talk about that another time, it is a quaint area and I learn't alot of History about it today from an ex-pat Aussie living in Boston now.

Bit of a background on Boston -

Population - approx 600,000 in the proper boston area, but in the greater Boston surrounding area - we're talking 2-3 million total. Parts of Boston and north of Boston were reclaimed from the water (ie built on land fill) which actually is not uncommon (much of downtown San Francisco is actually built on landfill - including I believe (?) the TransAmerica Pyramid (the tallest building in SF and famous for it's tall, but pyramid like structure / design).

There is a subway network in Boston metro area called the "T" - it includes trains, but also buses. It's not as enviro friendly as say SF, but some buses do use electric overhead cables. The train network closes at midnight. Boston will uses the antiquated "token" system - like the NYC subway used to use until recently. You basically buy a token for US$1.25 and it gives you entry through a turnstile, and when you exit - you just come right on out.

The train system runs of 3-4 different lines and each train on each line is different in terms of it's width, etc so they can't interchange on tracks.... interesting fact! Another interesting thing I found about the trains was they have alot of tear off coupons on the ads - kind of a funky, interactive, engaging idea.... good for a direct / response marketers dream! We should do this down under!

Anyhow, where am I staying? Out in Medford (nearest station is on the Orange T line) to Wellington Subway station. It's a suburb of Boston to the north. About 3 miles from downtown boston, not far. There is a free shuttle to the Wellington subway station provided by the hotel - When staying you rates vary but are usually very very low - typically about US$60-90 on their site amerisuites.com, US$40-60 on Hotwire.com or 3,000 Gold Passport points if you have some spare hanging around. 3,000 points is not alot and is probably one of the most generous awards of all hotel loyalty programs. Check the "Hyatt Gold Passport" section on the left navigation or use the search facility for more information on that hotel program on frequentguide.com.

I've stayed at 3 different Amerisuite properties in the US so far, and they are like McDoanlds - virtually identical, right down to the bathroom sink (not kidding you!). They use the same bathtubs, showerheads, desks, lounges, bed spreads, cutlery, plates, granite on the floors of the elevators, elevators, prefabricated cement walls, signage,

...breakfast sausages, waffle machines, door locks, lamps, etc etc! So you know what you'll get each time and I have to say - they're great, I always know what to expect (ie a large Hilton Garden Inn room), free hot breakfast daily, free popcorn and tea/coffee at night and during the day, free parking, daily room service, and a pretty good rate. The top 2 amerisuite properties in terms of value in my books are:

1/ Secaucus Meadowlands New Jersey - only a 12-17 minute bus ride on the NJ transit (bus 320 - see www.njtransit.com for more info and search for bus route 320 there is a PDF you can download with timetables, fares, etc) and best of all it costs just US$2.85 each way to 42nd St Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square! (buses run till 1am daily and resume at 6:30am-7am). So this is a great option - without paying through the nose for hotels in NYC and NYC prices (read US$140-200 for a crappy hotel and US$400-450 for a reasonable 4.5* hotel, go figure - even priceline.com and hotwire.com you'll be lucky to find something sub US$170/night depending on season). There is also free parking at the property, free breakfast and you get a huge suite! (you could really basically fit 6 people in the suite if you really wanted and each could get a great breakfast (read 6 backpackers, great deal here!! at US$15 / night including hot brekkies!

2/ Las Vegas Paradise Road Nevada Amerisuites - well this isn't "on the strip" it is actually a solid 15-20 minute walk up to the strip, it is opposite (diagonally) the Hard Rock Cafe/Hotel. Next to a big German beer house (very cool!). It's close to the airport - but best of all they offer a free shuttle to the Aladdin (on call - no tip necessary and free chilled bottled water) and free pickups/drop offs at the airport. This is particularly good when trying to get a fri/sat night on the strip (never expect anything cheap on fri/sat nights - yes on other nights not these tho).

So i digressed, but I wanted to point out Amerisuites - superb, love 'em!

Back to Boston.....!!!

So I arrived in Boston in the evening (well about 4:30pm which is pretty much starting to get dark - did a little look around the city then went to Harvard / Cambridge to look there

...and also grab some dinner at a popular Mexican Restaurant (I mean REAL popular - ie 2 hour wait) called Border Cafe

So, today (20 Nov), what did I do:

Woke up, enjoyed my free breakfast - featuring sausages (basically like McDonalds Sausage & Egg mcmuffin paddies) with scrambled eggs in a paddy shape, waffles, yoghurts, fruit compoete, bagels, muffins (including blueberry - my favourite - with real blueberries inside - abundant in the US, an absolute luxury in Australia (A$8 or US$6 per punnet, SMALL punnet - yike! - I saw a punnet which was the equivalent of 6 aussie punnets in downtown (expensive Boston) for US$1.99! - woh). You can pick (not recommended) blueberries in the forests here they are so abundant --- or so i've heard! And of course they have cerals, fruit juices, boiled eggs, toasts, etc.

After breakfast, went to downtown for the freedom trail, but first stopped by Watertown which is on the west of the city which was a nice suburban area.

I'll bullet point what I did and go into more details in another blog - but here it is:

1/ Freedom Trail

2/ State building (with gold roof)

3/ Followed the red track of the freedom trail (about 4-5km - 2-3 miles in length)

4/ Stopped at a cementry which included Sam Adams

....John Hancock, Paul Revere and a number of other famous people of the American Revolution)

5/ Walked up to an old church with an old cementry next door with the burial site of Williams Dawes - the person who actually let them know up in Lexington the British were in fact coming - not Paul Revere who was actually arrested half way there  - but his name rhymed better for the poem!!

6/ Went past the Old City Hall

7/ Saw another hall/church which was having a service at the time

8/ Walked past a great choclate fruit dipped shop, unfortunately it was closed to noon!

... then landed at E*TRADE Financial's Centre in Boston!

... and then... thought, wow, they are truly BEING E*TRADORINARY! (not funny?? - sorry that's an *inside* joke).

9/ Went to the Finuiheil Hall - which was an old meeting hall atop, a rifle club right at the top and a market down below with shops. Got a great talk from a national parks reps which I will play in a podcast sometime...

10/ Went across to Quincy Market - a pretty cool place (like darling harbour in sydney - so very commercial but fun none the less of foods, etc. Got a choc coated pretzel here - was great!)

11/ Then went up to Boston Tix (bostix) and got half price tickets plus US$3.50 service fee to Shear Madness (HIGHLY recommended - even if you don't like plays). Was $23.50 US all up. bargain.

12/ Kept walking up to another church this time it had no electricity and the bells were ringing. Got to go up to the bell tower and pulled a bell

...got some great snaps of the bell

...and climbed to the roof to take some amazing photos of Boston - the public can't come up here. Paul Revere was one of the original bell ringers here!

After this ended up in the Italian area and had a great vanilla florentine and then went to Paul Revere's original house - this is a great area.

13/ Went down to the Charlestown Navy Docks and saw the USS Constitution.

This is the oldest operating US Navel ship and boy it's old but it's been restored a number of times - had full security but went through. And was great.

In the distance saw the tall tower atop bunker hill (looks like the Washington Monument). and went into the Museum Shop. Have some snaps here.

14/ Caught the tourist ferry (only $2) with full narration back to the Long Dock where Quincy market is once again. Got some great snaps of the Boston skyline here.

15/ Went to Urban Outfitters for some quick shopping then went through the shopping district (main shopping area) grabbed the choc dipped fruit shop and got a white choc dipped oreo (wow!), white choc dipped pretzel (nice!) and a blueberry milk choc tart (fresh.. ).

16/ Went to H&M for a look around then to Chinatown for a great dinner.

Got some snaps of the Chinatown entrance area - synonumous with most Chinatowns around the world, particularly in North America.

Then ate at Vinh Sun (great and busy - unlike other places there). Got some fresh (yes, saw it moving) lobster and a mixed bbq dish with fried rice and chinese kai lan (chinese brocolli) with oyster sauce - was great! And reasonable.

17/ Went then through to Cheers via a park in the middle of downtown Boston and grabbed a great Sam Adams beer (their non standard one but not the colonial on tap!)

Had a nice chat with the barman and also took a walk up to Senator John Kerry's house in Boston and took a snap outside....then headed through another park across to the show -

,,,,Shear Madness - a play about a murder who done it set in a hairdresser shop in Newbury St in Boston! Very funny and interesting

18/ After that went to an ice cream shop

... it was called "Cold Stone" where you choose the icecream and then the ingredients and they mix it up for you, manually, superb! And choose a cone, waffle, or on it's own. Bostonians just love Ice Cream, it doesn't matter if it's snowing, they'll still howe into their ice cream... INSANE!

19/ And that was it, an exhausting but exciting day in Boston...

Tommorrow - JFK Memorial Library (should be great, some shopping in Worcester (west of Boston - Sam's Club, Walmart, Best Buy, etc) and probably some dinner at a funky Pizza place called Upper Crust... then the Chinatown Bus back to NYC, and then the hotel in NJ!

Email me at: bryan@frequentguide.com  if you have any ideas, questions or comments!

Here are some tips I got from a good mate in the US and where to eat and what to see. Lotus of Siam I've tried - it's great, it has a cheap buffet lunch (would only go for lunch, not dinner) - great value, a little off the strip so you need wheels to get there, but at $5.99 for all you can eat, you can't beat it! There is a great wig store next door too..... if you like wigs (my mom does!!):

Here are a couple suggestions...
One of the best thai places supposedly in the country - I think it's pretty good and it's super cheap.

Lotus of Siam Cuisine Thai Hours Daily 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30-9:30pm Address 953 E. Sahara Ave. #A-5 Location East of the Strip Reservations Reservations strongly suggested for dinner Phone 702/735-3033 Prices Lunch buffet $5.99; other dishes $3.95-$14 Credit Cards AE, MC,

One of the celebrity chef places in Vegas that is fairly reasonable and interesting french bistro food.

Bouchon Cuisine Bistro Hours Daily 5-10:30pm Address 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S Location Mid-Strip Reservations Reservations strongly recommended Phone 702/414-6200 Prices Main courses $17-$30 Credit Cards AE, DC, DISC, MC, V

Good old fashioned America food from our southern area.

Rosemary's Restaurant Cuisine Nouvelle American Hours Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30-10:30pm Address 8125 W. Sahara Location West Las Vegas Reservations Reservations strongly suggested Phone 702/869-2251 Prices Lunch $12-$16; dinner $18-$29 Credit Cards AE, MC, V

Best Mexican food on the strip

Border Grill Cuisine Mexican Hours Sun-Thurs 11:30am-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-11pm Address 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S Location In Mandalay Bay, South Strip Reservations Reservations recommended Phone 702/632-7403 Prices Main courses $15-$20 Credit Cards AE, DC, DISC, MC, V

Very good New Orleans type cusine - they have one of the best places in NO and they opened a place in Vegas.  This is the most expensive option.

Commander's Palace Cuisine Creole Hours Mon-Fri 9-11am for breakfast, daily brunch 11:30am-2pm, dinner 5-10pm Address 3663 Las Vegas Blvd. S Location In the Desert Passage in the Aladdin Hotel, South Strip Reservations Reservations suggested Phone 702/892-8272 Web site www.commanderspalace.com Prices Lunch $16-$28; dinner $25-$39 Credit Cards AE, DISC, MC, V

Hope that helps!  I still like the Begallio buffet - I do that every time - I think it's the best buffet in vegas.

If you want to see a very popular and cool show - probably one of the Cirque De Soeil shows.  I saw their O show at the Begallio.  To get tickets start lining up by their ticket office around 3:00 p.m. the day of the show you are interested in getting in and you can almost certainly get tickets since people cancel etc.  Tickets are pricy - I think they were like $100 a person - but the show has dramatic effects and all the seats are good. Considered one of the best shows in Vegas on the strip.

So you're hungry.... VERY hungry and you want to know where are the cool, funky places to eat in New York City, well here you go. Here are some tips on great Upper West Side eats, from an Aussie local who lived there for 8 years:

YUM YUM YUM!!!!

Harry's Burrito's
Columbus Ave bet 70th/71st
Margaritas - happy hours till 5-7pm I think

Emerald Inn
Columbus Ave bet 68th/69th
Irish Pub & Pot Roast Tuesdays

Blondie's Sports Bar
79th St bet Broadway and Amsterdam
buffalo wings!

Dive 75
75th St bet Amsterdam and Columbus
local casual bar

Cafe Luxembourg
70th St @ Amsterdam
Good for brunch
(my old apt is across Amsterdam - The Nevada Towers)

Gennaro's
Amsterdam and 93rd St
Good homestyle italian

Zabar's
Broadway and 83rd
walk around and get the freebies

Fairway Cafe (upstairs from the market)
Broadway and 74th/75th
good lunch

Beard Papa's
Broadway and 76th
japanese chain selling freshly made cream puffs (really, really good)

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I've got an airfare to Europe here...going once...going twice...SOLD to the fella in Philly with the Macintosh who already gave us his credit card number and can't back out now!

"Supply and demand" is a two-way street, and the Internet is the traffic cop who pointed that out to us. Auction sites have truly come into their own—witness the stupefying success and broad cultural effects of eBay. Bidding for travel is no exception—indeed, back in the old days (1998), its champion in shining armor, Priceline.com, was once of the true darlings of the Internet. Even Captain Kirk loved it! Well, Priceline is still around, and it has a bit of competition (see right), plus there's that variant on bidding sites called opaque fares, but we'll get to that in a minute.

First: online travel auctions. Simple. You give them your home airport, your destination, and your travel dates, they provide you with a deal up to 50% lower than official fares. The catch? You gotta be flexible on departure time and you don't get to pick your airline. Also, you have to brush up on the going rates before you get started.

The idea is you put in your itinerary and a price you're willing to pay, it lets the airlines (all the biggies are members of Priceline) decide whether to accept your bid and sell you a seat. Once you enter a bid, you are obligated to pay if an airline accepts the bid, so you have to be sure of this going into it. After all, they have your credit card number.

You also have to do your homework and find out the absolute minimum you could get a ticket for through regular methods. That means going through the whole rigamarole described on the "Getting the Cheapest Airfare" page. Then, armed with that fare, hack maybe 35% off it and plug that amount into Priceline. No, that 35% isn't scientific; I just made it up. It's a fairly reasonable rate—and yes, it's pointless to try and get a transatlantic ticket for $10—and you may get a bite.

Seriously: find out the going rate first. Whenever I go to these sites, I wince to see folks bidding ludicrous sums for trips that would cost them less if they just rang up the airline and asked for a ticket straight out—like bidding $250 for a round-trip ticket from NYC to London when the going rate at the time, on the very same airline, was $170. (Yeah, I know: great price. That’s what you can find on the sales page of Virgin Atlantic in the wintertime.)

Now you can always raise your bid if the first one doesn't get a nibble on the line. In fact, even if Priceline sends you a "counteroffer," don't take it yet. Just raise the bid a bit. Nine times out of ten, you'll get a taker before you ever reach the level of that counteroffer.

Note that you get the most restrictive ticket imaginable; you won't be able to change the dates or travel times, not even by paying the normal change fee. Also, you might end up with a circuitous routing. (I'd rather pay an extra $20 or $30 to fly direct from New York to Rome than be forced to waste an extra day flying from New York to Detroit to Amsterdam to Rome—which is a distinct possibility if Northwest/KLM accepts your bid.)

You can pull out before the bid is accepted if you get cold feet or feel the number is going too high. But once the auction closes or your bid is accepted, that's it. Your Visa bill instantly gets longer and your ticket goes in the mail (so to speak).

Opaque fares are not quite as loosey-goosey as auctions. You give an opaque fares booker like Hotwire your dates (departure/return) and cities (where you are and where you wanna go), and they give you a price to match. You pick the price you like (hint: it's the lowest one). Only after you pay the virtual piper do you find out the name of the airline and precise times of the flights.

There's nothing fishy about all this (well, not with the legit operations listed to the right). It’s just a way for airlines to move empty seats at amounts that far undercut their published fares without admitting that they're willing to sell seats for so little.

The two big opaque sites....

priceline.com - Though William Shatner no longer sings (poorly) its praises on national television, this darling of the dot.com bubble is still alive and well and accepting bids. Though you get to pick your travel dates and departure and arrival cities, you don't get to be picky about the times of your flights. For international, the airline that accepts your bid is free to assign you a seat on any flight from 5am on your stated departure date until 2am that night (well, technically the next day). To help you be vague so as to cast a wide net, when you enter your departure/arrival cities, Priceline will provide you with a selection of airports in or near your choice cities, and you can select as many as you're willing to possibly use (the more you pick, the greater your chances of getting that low fare). The airline that accepts your bid will tell you where you're flying from and to. Also note that the price you bid out will not include taxes, which can tack on an additional $85 to $115 (this isn't fleecing you; that's actually how much government taxes, security charges, airport fees, etc actually run these days), plus $6.95 for processing and, if you get paper tickets, $19.95 for S&H.

hotwire.com - Industry leader in online opaque fares, offering up to 45% off published airfares, 75% off hotel rates. Hotwire's 33 associates include founders America West, American Airlines, Continental, Northwest, United and US Airways. They also rep over 6000 hotels in 150 US cities and resorts. Unlike some bargain sites, they encourage you to shop around and try to beat their fares, and will hold a reservation free-of-charge for one hour. They also have some juicy last-minute deals. Hotwire was purchased in Sept 2003 by Barry Diller's insatiable InterActiveCorp (the same guy who owns Web travel powerhouses Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com, and CitySearch plus other household-name business like TicketMaster, Match.com, and LendingTree.com), so be ready for possible changes—though Mr. Diller seems to operate under a "don't fix what ain't broken" mantra in companies he acquires; he just uses his clout to make them bigger.

Below are recent winning priceline.com bids for properties in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area
Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area
Hotel	$79 , Dates, Area

2.5*, Convention Centre, UNLV Residence Inn, $47, 18 June 2005

4*, Strip, Alladin, $90, 6 June 2005

2.5*, Convention Centre, Residence Inn Hughes, $47, 17-19 June 2005

Quick overview of hotel bidding

• What you need to know about priceline's accommodations and its best price guarantee.
  
  
• Hotel bidding tips for the smartest hotel bids and greatest savings.

June 2005 update

• With occupancy increasing again, you can no longer expect 75% off at the most popular destinations, such as Midtown Manhattan, Orlando, or Seattle. However, still expect to save 40% over Expedia.com at popular destinations.
  
  Check out typical discounts:
  priceline Hotels: Our 10 Best Neighborhoods!
  
  
• Generally, you'll receive the biggest discounts on 3- and 4-star hotels and resorts.
  
  
• Hotels near large international airports continue to offer the best values in the U.S. and Canada when you use priceline.com (Hotels) or Hotwire.com. A Hyatt or Marriott often costs less than a nearby Motel 6.

Priceline's accommodations

• At priceline.com (Hotels), you bid on a star-quality range in a neighborhood. Most people want particular amenities, price, and neighborhood, rather than a specific hotel.
  
  
• You can bid up to 6 p.m. local time on the day of arrival in most cities.
  
  
• Priceline's star ratings closely approximate the American Automobile Association's 1- to 5-diamond rankings.
  
  
• For each city, priceline lists the amenities standard for each star rating. These could include a fitness center, room service, restaurant, a business center, and many more. Note, however, that using these amenities may cost extra.
  
  
• Rooms at some hotels may not be large enough for more than two people. If you require a larger room or kitchen facilities, check prices at priceline's main competitor, Hotwire.com.

Best price guarantee

Priceline.com guarantees you the lowest online price available on your hotel room. If you reserve a hotel on priceline, and then, within 24 hours, find a lower price on another website for the same type of room at the same hotel on the same dates and available to the general public, priceline will refund 100% of the difference.

You can't lose!

7 bidding tips for hotels and resorts

1. Do your research.
2. Consider days and seasons.
3. Remember priceline rules.
4. Prepare your money-saving bid on hotel rooms.
5. Compare your proposed bid to Hotwire's price.
6. Submit a "smart" bid that increases your chance for savings.
7. What to do if your bid is accepted, or if it isn't.

1. Do your research.

Here are some of the places to check:

• Discount travel websites, such as Hotels.com and Travelocity Hotel Deals, which give prices for specific hotels, rather than offering a bidding opportunity.
  
  (Hotels.com lists hotels with best values first.)
  
• AAA auto club members may access http://www.aaa.com to check on price ranges.

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2. Consider days and seasons.

• Keep in mind the days of the week you want to book.
  
  Hotels in most cities offer their lowest rates and biggest discounts on weekends—Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sunday nights—and around holidays, except during special events.
  
  Because weekend rates are usually priced 25 - 50% off regular rates, do not base your bid on a Wednesday rate if you are actually arriving on Friday.
  
  Exceptions: Weekends in Orlando, Las Vegas, Reno, and most resorts are more expensive. (In Vegas, Sunday through Wednesday are cheapest. The prices rise each subsequent night, with Saturday night the most expensive. You can practically (well, almost) name any price at the best hotels in Las Vegas if you book for mid-week nights when there are no conventions in town.)
  
  
• Of course, hotels in resort areas give bigger discounts during off-seasons.

3. Remember priceline rules.

• You can only rebid on a hotel range with the same particulars once every 72 hours. You can rebid immediately if you change the neighborhood, city, dates, or star category.
  
  For maximum savings, be sure to read how to submit your initial bid and any rebids in Section 6.
  
  
• Once you authorize priceline to charge your credit card, your reservations become non-refundable and cannot be changed in any way, even by paying a penalty.

Click on priceline.com (Hotels) to bid

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4. Prepare your money-saving priceline bid.

• When determining your bid, consider everything, such as season, school holidays, days of week, the prices for specific hotels you found in your on-line research, as well as how much you want to go.
  
  
• In general, the higher the star category, the greater percentage off the listed price you should bid.
  
  
• If you saw a lot of hotels in your quality range available at an on-line site like Travelocity.com, you can bid lower on priceline.com (Hotels). If not, you'll need to bid more.
  
  
• Currently, the majority of successful priceline bids range from 25 to 55% off discount sites, such as Hotels.com or Travelocity, which list prices for specific hotels. Priceline customers save on average over 40%.
  
  Never bid less than 30% off the prices you see on sites that list prices for specific hotels, unless you are traveling during a large convention or another exceptionally busy time or have no time to rebid.

Click on priceline.com (Hotels)  to bid

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5. Compare your proposed bid to Hotwire's prices.

• A great way to avoid overbidding on priceline is to check Hotwire.com's prices just before you bid on priceline.
  
  Priceline and Hotwire.com are similar. (You don't know your hotel name until you pay, no refunds, no changes . . ..) However, Hotwire offers only fixed prices and no bidding.
  
  Although priceline has relationships with many more hotels, which increases your chance to save, Hotwire.com does give you more room choices (such as kitchenettes).
  
  
• The 15% rule: In most cases, plan to make your priceline bid 15% less than Hotwire's displayed price, which excludes taxes and fees.
  
  
• The 30% rule: Before you submit your priceline bid, make sure that 15% off the Hotwire rate is at least 30% off the rates you have found on other online sites, for the same dates and star rating (except during large conventions or other special events). In the rare instance when Hotwire's price is unusually high, this policy will help you avoid overbidding on priceline.
  
  
• If your priceline bid or rebids are not successful (see rebidding strategies), you can go back to Hotwire within its payment deadline, and still get a bargain price.

6. Submit a "smart" bid to priceline hotels.

• Remember priceline's 72-hour requirement for rebidding on the exact same quality and dates. However, you can bid again before 72 hours if you change a date, city, star category, or neighborhood.
  
• When you tell priceline.com (Hotels) what city you want, you are usually given a choice of neighborhoods. If you are interested in more than one neighborhood, hold back your second choice neighborhood (or several), in case you have to bid again.
  
  Using this flexibility allows you to rebid immediately, and also to make an especially low first bid. You may get lucky.
  
  
• Also, use star quality as part of your bidding strategy. Start bidding with a higher star quality so that you can make immediate rebids using lower stars.
  For example, if you start bidding with 2 stars, priceline checks for 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-star hotels in your price range. You cannot re-bid using 3, 4, or 5 stars (even if you want to bid a higher price).
  
  But, if you start with 4 stars, you can re-bid for 3 stars and then for 2 stars right away.
  
  
• When you enter a bid, priceline gives your total cost, including taxes and fees, before you confirm payment. If this total is higher than you want to pay, adjust your bid as many times as you like before you submit it as an official bid.
  
  
• Click on priceline.com (Hotels) to bid on accommodations.