travel prices
From TERB
Priceline (
www.priceline.com) is the best for U.S. cities. I just came back from Chicago on a 10 day tour and had booked a 4 star through priceline ( Wyndhamn Chicago) and received a very nice room. I only stayed there for a few days and then booked a suite at the House of Blues hotel which was amazing. The price for a 800 sq ft suite was $209 U.S. ( 2 full separate bathrooms, a t.v in the bathtub, living area, 2 desks, a safe in the closet) and the deal was found through the hotel's 1-800 number which just goes to show that if you book through Expedia or Travelocity, you may be paying more than the actual hotels rates that a hotel offers. Be sure to check the hotel website before prepaying through one of these sites. If you're touring in the U.S as I did, you may want to book a 4 star which offers good ammenties as well as making your clients feel comfortable in an incall environment.
Priceline does accept bookings from Canada. I do it all the time. You have to have a Mastercard or Amex in order to do it. Type in all your regular info but when it comes to state, type in California which is also considered CA for Canada and then for the zip code, type in 99999. It will work if you follow this. I pay $35 Us/night for a 3 star hotel or $60-70 U.S. for a 4 star when I'm in Toronto. Here is a message board related to Priceline:
http://biddingfortravel.com It is a message board that gives you an idea of what to bid in different cities, states, provinces, and other countries. I have saved a lot of travelling expenses by doing this. You can also do it for rental cars in the U.S. or get a plan ticket as long as you fly out of the U.S.
You also may want to check out this message board
http://biddingfortravel.com. It is where priceline users post their bids for different cities so you will know what to bid.
My own experience.
I have now twice used Priceline, and I just checked the message board and noticed some incredible prices for Edmonton.
I got a room in Ottawa at the Radisson for 4 nights for less than C$ 280.00 (TOTAL incl. tax) and I just booked 2 nights in the Kansas City area in a Holiday Inn Suites for US$ 26.00 per night, where AAA book shows US$ 84 – 109 per night.
Check it out.