Trust The Shatner.

Historically, Captain Kirk is a great traveller. He was pretty much homeless, had a cool ride, visited interesting places, always impressed the ladies and collected great stories along his way. How Brilliant is it to put him in charge of terrestrial travel bargains for mere earthbound wanderers?

Still, it took me a long time to warm up to the idea of trusting a website with my travel destination. I was, however, convinced to give Priceline a try back in May when my exact hotel didn't really matter over a couple of days off in Scottsdale, AZ. I rolled the dice, bid way too low and was assigned the Sheraton for less than fifty bucks a night. Great pool, great bar, really nice room... Less than half the cost of the Holiday Inn Express. I was impressed....

The Lobby of The Governor Hotel.
A step up from HIEx, for the same $$

A couple weeks later I was due to stay in Portland, Oregon with a few down days with nothing more than a couple of meetings that I could drive to from anywhere in the downtown area. In the past, the thing that had kept me from using Priceline was the idea of giving over my credit card before I knew exactly where I was staying. After the good experience in AZ, I was willing to trust the Shatner. I rolled the dice, went for lots of Stars and little Dollars and hit the Hotel deLuxe (cheesy name panic set in at first, then I checked the website...). this hotel was one that I would never have chosen without a first hand recommendation.. but it turned out to be awesome. GREAT atmosphere, comfortable room (though on the smallish side, as many old boutique hotels are), and a really awesome little lobby bar with an awesome menu. Try the sauteed mushroom skillet thing. After the first night, I inquired about extending my stay as my itinerary had changed. The best they could do was offer me a room at $249/night. I had prepaid all three of my nights for less than than (about $65/night) with Priceline. I went to my room, typed up the URL (which I bookmarked this time...) and booked a room at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland at less than $100/night.  I was Hooked...

So, all summer and fall long, I've trusted Shatner to help me out when location didn't matter very much and I wanted a nice hotel and a fair price. Now, the savings haven't always been 50+%, but I set my limit of what I'm willing to pay for a really nice place and if I don't get it, no big deal... I'm either biting the bullet if the atmosphere is important or defaulting to Holiday Inn Express to keep my platinum status in good standing (usually, it's the latter!). I've used the service all across the country and stayed in 2 to 4.5 star hotels without ever being disappointed and, often, being very pleasantly surprised with the quality for price.

Of course, don't forget that the amenities, bar, parking, internet usage and other costs associated with luxury hotels are not discounted with your room rate. It can be frustrating to pay an overnight parking fee that is 35% of your room cost (trust me). So, don't put your entire budget into a 4 star hotel at 2 star pricing and then get frustrated during what should be a great stay at a great price.

I also started using Shatner for rental cars... Super deals even if you don't "bid"... just pick your city and dates and see what they have to offer. Priceline gives you a great comparison chart with all levels of car and the companies that have availability. It is the simplest way to book a rental that I have ever experienced. If you do choose to bid, you set your level of car and they pick the company. I've found that you can get a "full-size" car really cheap most of the time and then take advantage of $5-$10/day upgrade fees to get just about whatever you want (Luxury, SUV, Sportscar...). I've gotten Avis a couple of times in the last few months and upgraded to a 425hp Mustang 5.0 for less than $50/day total... once under $40 before taxes.

So, my advice to you is to give Shatner a try. You may get to boldly go to a higher level of luxury without having to change your budget or simply get to save a significant amount of cash on whatever level of hotel you were going to pay for anyway!

-RJP