I'm choosing Indianapolis because I've never been there, I haven't done any prior research, and because I want to see how long the process would take (35 minutes, as it turned out). My hotel location will be determined by the availability of public transportation and the cost. I tried this booking on the evening of April 11, 2011. (I'm telling you this because deals change all the time. This was what I found that night.)
My phantom meeting is downtown the next morning, with an evening departure that night. I am a three-star hotel kind of guy, so no Econo Lodges for me!
I start at my computer by opening some browser windows:
- Indianapolis Airport Official Website
- Kayak.com
- BiddingForTravel.com
- TripAdvisor.com (for unbiased reviews of hotels)
- SPG.com (Starwood Preferred Guest's hotel offers and loyalty program)
- PriorityClub.com
Step One is the airport website and ground transportation. I hate renting a car in a strange city for one meeting downtown, and I've found that I can get an Express Bus for $7 each way. This information not only helps me get downtown, but it also opens up airport hotels and their shuttle buses back to the airport to catch the Express Bus downtown. Airport hotels are quite often cheaper than downtown hotels. I have that covered. Now it's time to check out some prices.
So I head over to Kayak (www.kayak.com/hotels) where I can compare hundreds of travel sites at once. Kayak shows me that the least expensive, well-known, three-star chain hotel in downtown Indianapolis is the Sheraton at $129 per night. The airport search shows rates of $87, $90, $93, and $119 for hotels with shuttles.
I now have retail prices so let's find the deal. So it's time to head over to BiddingForTravel.com where page one shows accepted bids of $48 and $49 for higher-rated downtown hotels and $39 for a Radisson airport hotel. I may just stay downtown if it's only $10 more, go the night I arrive, and be downtown already in the morning for my phantom meeting.
Now I have more work to do. I'd better do a TripAdvisor search on those three hotels to see if any of them are lemons. Since I'm a month out, I have plenty of time to bid on Priceline in the range of accepted bids, but I'd better have a back-up plan.
The next step: PriorityClub.com. I'm looking for Priority Club Points Breaks hotels for 5000 rewards points per night, and I find one: The Crowne Plaza airport location is a Points Break hotel for that night.
My search may be over. I could also check Hilton Point Stretchers and the Marriott's discounted awards as well, but I find that the Priority Club Points Break is usually the best deal in town.
So I decide on the Priority Club hotel where I'll redeem 5000 points (which costs me $30 to obtain). Remember: The lowest retail price I found was $87. The airport has a 24-hour shuttle to and from the airport and TripAdvisor gives the hotel a solid thumbs-up. I think I'm done and happy.
What if I hadn't found the Points Break hotel? I could have gone with the Expedia Best Price match guarantee to take $50 off the retail rate of another hotel. The lowest retail rate was $87 for an airport hotel, so I could have gotten in for $87 minus $50 or $37. Or I could have bid in the high $30s to low $40s for a room downtown or at the airport on Priceline [Priceline.com]. And if those ideas hadn't found results, I would have checked SPG.com (Starwood Preferred Guest) for cash-and-points or all-points redemption with Starwood. It's tough to beat that Points Break deal, though, when you can find it.
Good luck with great deals!