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Hostels in the US are like showers in the rain forest – they’re great if you can find them, but you better not plan on them being there when you need them.

The country’s largest cities have hostels aplenty. If you find yourself in NYC, you’ve got a nice selection to choose from. The same can be said about a few other of the country’s largest cities, Chicago and Los Angeles included.

But outside of these megalopolises and off the international traveler path, travelers need another option. With the average hotel outside of a backpacker’s budget, what’s a backpacker to do?

Priceline.com is the answer.

If there was a traveler’s cheat sheet, Priceline would be at the top of the list. If you’re not familiar with the service, it allows customers to offer prices in a hotel bidding platform at significant savings. With prices at rates normally 50% normal price, it’s a fantastic way for travelers in large groups in expensive cities (like New York) or smaller groups or independent travelers to find a place to stay when they travel off the beaten path.

And by off the beaten path I mean everywhere outside of New York, Chicago and LA.

Enter Garrett’s Guide to Priceline for Backpackers. Here are some basic rules to live by:

1. Be patient and plan your purchase weeks ahead of time, but a same-day purchase is possible
2. Test the city market first via Priceline.com. Go to the non-bidding area and localize the neighborhood you’re interested in to get a sense of available hotels.
3. Transportation – know how you’ll get around once you’re there.
4. Parking Fees – In big cities, nice hotels typically have overnight parking fees of $15 or more ($50 is possible on Michigan Avenue in Chicago). Be aware of this if you have a car.
5. Once you have a sense of the hotels available in town, start bidding at the HIGHEST star rating you would like. If you don’t get a bid, you can go to fewer stars, but not the other way around.
6. Your first bid should be 40% of the average price for that hotel. If this is WAY too low, Priceline will warn you that your bid has absolutely no chance.
7. Make your bid. If you don’t succeed, travel down the “quality” funnel if you don’t mind going down to save some cash. You’re trying to save cash, so only bid $1 more for each star (Priceline requires you raise your price by SOMETHING, so $1 gets you approval).
8. If somehow you exhaust your options without a successful bid, come back 24 hours (or more) later. Rinse. Repeat, with a slightly higher price.
9. 9. Priceline offers great prices because you pay AHEAD of time. Hence, there’s no refunds. Ever. Well, almost. I think the only time I’ve ever been offered a refund was when a friend’s brother jumped out of a window and broke both ankles. Unable to attend, they offered a refund.

Let’s look at a possible scenario:

Jose and Laurence, travelers from Europe, make the decision to see what American skiing’s all about. With plans to visit Salt Lake City, hotels are plentiful but at an average rate of $80 plus tax, things aren’t looking pretty.  They also plan to arrive via airplane, sans car.

Jose pulls up Priceline.com and focus your efforts on downtown a week ahead of time. Jose spends some time getting a sense of the neighborhoods in Salt Lake and the average hotel price for each. If he doesn’t get downtown, he can venture to outer neighborhoods if he’s willing.

Going into the Bidding Platform, Jose clicks on the 3 STAR (always go as high as you can) as he sees average price is $90 in town. If he gets it at 40%, he’s looking at $36 plus tax, which may be $10.

Jose approves his bid for downtown, $36. And then, he waits.

Priceline chugs and chugs. Poof. He got it!

Jose got a 3-star hotel, downtown, for $46 total. This is the final price, no questions ask.

But What About the Hostel Experience You Say?

Yes, being in a hotel means you won’t have hostel happy hour, shower with other folks or get woken up in the middle of the night when Joe and Christine start taking their clothes off. But hey, YOU have to determine what you’re ok with.  Sometimes nice linens at no extra cost will seem appealing.

And that’s it. Welcome to Garrett’s Priceline Secrets for Backpackers.

Now venture forth and see this great country!