What do people focus on most when travel-planning?

A little while ago, I spoke with a number of people about how they plan their trips. One of the questions I asked them was what they focus on most when planning:

  • What to see
  • How to get there/around
  • Where to stay
  • Where/what to eat

Y'know what I heard? When planning a trip, the one thing people focus on the most is where to stay. Meaning, finding a hotel.

Isn't that sad? I mean, we're talking about planning a fun trip to someplace cool or exotic and the #1 thing on people's minds is finding a room with clean sheets. Ideally, the hotel should be the LAST thing on your mind. It's basically a necessary evil when traveling (unless you're going to some sort of all-inclusive resort). Conversely, everything ELSE is part of the adventure. That's where your focus should be.

So, why do people stress so hard about the hotel (accomodations, to be more general)?

  • accomodations can be pricey and nobody wants to overpay.
  • the location can make or break a vacation.
  • nobody wants to end up in a dirty, smelly, and/or loud room.

OK, ok - all of that is true. I won't dispute any of it. But, there's a way to address all three of those points without spending hours and hours researching. How? Use Priceline. More specifically, name your own price for a hotel on Priceline.

I expect a lot of you just furrowed your brow at that. And some others just plain left. But, hear me out. I'm a very organized, plan-everything, cover-all-my-bases type of guy with somewhat demanding standards. And I'll tell you that I bid for hotel rooms on Priceline all the time. It works. It addresses all three of the points raised above:

  • If you win a room using an informed bid on Priceline, you're paying the lowest a hotel is willing to go.
  • If you stick with higher-quality hotels in the proper zones, you can rest assured that you'll be staying where you want. After all, they don't put Marriott's in slums.
  • If you stick with higher-quality hotels, you benefit from the general consistency that hotel chains are known for.

Now, I conditionalized all three of those above statements with "if's". I did that very much on purpose. In order to come away happy from naming your own price for a hotel on Priceline, you have to do a little learning and researching and planning. Because once you come up with a winning bid, no refunds or modifications are allowed. I'll help you get there in subsequent posts. And then finding a hotel will be the thing you focus on the LEAST when travel-planning. 😃

Why do YOU stress about finding hotel accomodations? Have you had luck naming your own price for a hotel on Priceline? Let me know in the comments.