Clark Howard's Tips

December 28, 2006

Did you know that from mid-December through the first week in January, you will get the best hotel deals of the year?

Aside from resort locations, hotels are empty because there are no conferences or business gatherings during that time. So rates are ultra low. If there were ever a time to learn how to use Priceline and Hotwire, it's now!

Clark has several rules of the road with these sites. First of all, stick to a 4-star hotel and never pay more than half of the lowest priced room. For example, Clark is going skiing over the holidays and the cheapest room he could find in Salt Lake City was $159. So he's been bidding for days and hasn't gone beyond $79.

He tries to see what other people are bidding by going to biddingfortravel.com, which gives you information about the rates people are getting. The second best site is betterbidding.com.

Next, he goes to hotwire.com, which gives exact prices on hotels. Everything you book on Hotwire is non-refundable, but it's so easy. Hotwire had a four-star hotel listed for $59. So he knew prices had gone down. So he bid $55 on Priceline and got it!

Yes, it's work. It's a lot of work. But it's worth it if you want to save.

People doubt that Clark really gets these deals and they ask him about it all the time. Believe us — they are the real deal!

Consumer advice courtesy of