How cool is this – a new website letmego.com lets you name the price you would pay for a hotel room. How?? Well, it is the reverse of Priceline, where you bid on hotel rooms that fits your budget. At letmego.com, you name how much you’d like to pay and then hotels bid on your business! So practically speaking, you could actually wind up with a bid that is LOWER than what you want to pay. Perfect for this economic climate.
I tried it to see what I could get and made up an upcoming trip. (The service does try to weed out “bookers” from “lookers” by asking for your credit card, but won’t charge you unless you book a room.)
I chose to to go New York City March 26-29…a three day weekend and spring break for some. I had to choose how many people were staying (5 – 2 adults and 3 kids)…what kind of hotel I wanted (Family? Casual? Historic? )…and if I wanted upscale, five star, or and economy hotel.
I chose an upscale family hotel. Then I had to choose how much I wanted to spend for three nights in NY. I said $300 a night, thinking that this is not a great deal, but in NY this is still reasonable for five people. I was hoping to get lower. I also had to type in a time limit that I needed to hear back from any bidders. Since I wanted to write this post, I gave the bidders a mere 12 hours to respond.
There’s a small snapshot of the place I got – a Park Avenue loft for $760 for three nights – $140 under what I had bid! It is a loft so there is only one bedroom, but three beds that can sleep 6, and a kitchen, which is nice with kids. Good location.
If anyone actually uses this website, let me know. It’s always nice to pass on ways to save travel dollars.
