We just took a two week trip to Florida and were really happy with the prices we ended up paying.  But we could have paid hecka more!

Our flights were with Continental from Guadalajara to Florida.  When we started pricing them, most airlines were charging close to $600 or more.  Then suddenly the price dropped, and we booked it fast — for under $400!

Our next task was to rent a car.  We went onto all the websites that claim to provide car rentals at a discount, and were shocked by how much they were charging.  Two weeks rental was going to cost us anything from $500-700.  No way!  Even Hotwire, advertising a “hot” price, was charging over $14 a day which with all the taxes and extra costs worked out at over $400.  Priceline’s best rate was similar.  So we went decided to name our own price with Priceline.  We offered $9 a day — and it was accepted immediately.  (Boy, were we sorry we didn’t start with $7 or $8!)  Our total for the car was under $300.

Our trip to Florida involved finding hotels in multiple destinations.  For all of them we ended up naming our own price with Priceline, and we got some fantastic deals.  We never paid over $50 a night, and we saved anywhere from 30% to 50% on our nights’ lodgings.  Our first hotel, in Tampa, was the Baymont Hotel and Suites.  Great pool, excellent fitness center, hot buffet breakfast — and we paid just $35 a night.  We were so comfortable there we decided to spend one extra day beyond the 2 we booked.  We asked the hotel if they would match the price and they were shocked we’d been able to get it that low (but they did end up matching it!).  Our favorite hotel was in St. Petersburg beach where we had a waterfront suite that normally goes for $100, for just $40.

So remember — always consider naming your own price at Priceline.  You really can get better deals than you’d expect!  Just start planning with enough time that you can start real low, and build up (you can only name your price once a day and if it’s declined, you have to wait till the next day to try again.)

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