TripAlertz.com’s hotel offers drop price if enough people book

TripAlertz.com offers hotel deals that get cheaper as more people buy them.

What’s hot: This private-sale member website is free to join. Here’s how it works: After you join, click on “View Deal” to see the current Trip Alertz sale price and the lower “Epic Price” that the site will offer after a certain number of bookings. If enough people book, you’ll get the lower price; if not, you still get the original deal. Pretty cool, especially if you have a large family booking a reunion getaway. There are buttons to share the deal through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. You can cancel or change your reservation up to 15 days before the scheduled travel date for a $25 fee; after that, the website won’t accept changes.

What’s not: There wasn’t enough variety in the destinations, and prices weren’t always the lowest. When I tested a two-night deal at the Atlantic Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., I found a cheaper price at Expedia.com. That said, the Trip Alertz deal offered a spa credit and extra amenities to the first 20 customers who booked it. And the deal still had 16 hours left to gain more customers, which would drop the final price.