Hotwire Hotel: 3* Iowa City - University Holiday Inn Express Coralville

[SC1980]

Hi there,

 

It's been a long time since I used this board (about this time last year, when with your help I scored a great deal in Boston), and I'm not sure this is the correct place to post this question - please let me know if not.  I'm planning a trip to Iowa and Illinois in late Sept/early Oct.  At the front end of this trip I'm going to be looking for a fairly cheap place to stay in Iowa City on Sat Sept 27. I think I've decided that a 2 1/2 star will do the trick.  I'm aware of the 'process' for rebidding before 24 hours from when I've used Priceline before, however, when I click on the Iowa City zone in Priceline, there aren't any 'surrounding' zones that show up like there are when you choose other zones (e.g., if I choose Muscatine, IA, as I was initially thinking it would be an OK place to stay, there are a number of other surrounding zones that come up as alternate options, but when I indicate that I want to stay in Iowa City, it's just Iowa City that comes up without any other zones) - does this mean that I can't go through the typical process of re-bidding with lower star zones so that I can proceed more quickly instead of waiting for 24 hours?  Any info/advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated as always!

 

Thanks in advance!

Steph

[AaronJB]

Did you decide to reschedule the trip for different dates as discussed in your prior Boston Priceline thread? Please provide the details of the win as a separate thread. For this stay, what would be your desired max bid?

 

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[thereuare]

...with your help I scored a great deal in Boston

Can you please follow-up your previous Priceline Boston thread with the details of your purchase for that trip... use the 'ADD REPLY and REPORT WIN' button on the bottom right corner of that thread.

Please follow-up your previous thread with your results/decision for that trip, then reply here and we'll have a look at your post above.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[SC1980]

Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry about that - I didn't realize that I had overlooked that part!!!!  I will do that now!

 

Thanks again and thanks for your patience!

[thereuare]

Can you please further reply to your Boston Priceline hotel win with the dates of that stay so that win can appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins and Priceline Maps.

In regards to your question above, if you want to stay in Iowa City you won't have any re-bid zones since there are no other zones offered in the region... if Muscatine is acceptable you could bid that region and have re-bid zones available (depending upon what star level you decide to bid)

Let us know your thoughts, and expected budget, and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[SC1980]

Done (further reply to previous post) - sorry again about neglecting this last time.  I won't make that mistake again. 

 

Thanks for the info re Iowa City.  I think we'd really prefer to stay there versus Muscatine, so if you have advice about how to bid/rebid for just Iowa City (I understand it might mean waiting 24 hours in between), then that'd be great.   With that said, do you forsee us getting a much better deal if we decide that Muscatine would be OK?

 

Thanks again and in advance!!

[AaronJB]

Rates really don't seem all that bad in Iowa City for this night - there's a $55 3* on Hot.wire that gets a 95% approval rating. I don't think Muscatine (or other small towns that may have a few hotels, and therefore less competition and likely less in the way of discounts) would get you a better deal. Even if it did, there's the "cost of convenience" - would it be enough of a discount to drive from there?

 

That said, what would be your desired budget per night for this stay? The Hot.wire listing that I'm seeing is also showing a 4.5/5 tripadvisor rating on the detail page - if that is within your budget, this listing gets excellent reviews and would seem like more of a "sure thing" versus bidding and potentially getting any hotel within the zone.

 

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

 

 

[SC1980]

Thank you for your quick and informative response!  I looked at the Hot.wire listing you mentioned and just decided to go for it (used the link provided by you above to get to Hot.wire). I purchased the 1 night (Sept 27) for $60 (no longer $55 I guess) - it turned out to be for the Holiday Inn Express Coralville.  Do you need me to post the results of this deal anywhere else on the board as well?

 

Thanks again and talk to you soon (will also be posting shortly about Chicago for a few nights in late Sept, but have yet to figure out which zone(s) or star level(s) we want),

 

Steph

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing your results with the board.

We have edited your topic title to reflect your win (usually you would click the 'ADD REPLY and REPORT WIN' button on the lower right corner of this page, but the button can only be used once, so it gone now since we have used it to edit the title).

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the amenities shown before your purchase... you can still view this information by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

Thank you for sharing your results and using the HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchase.

Enjoy your stay.

[AaronJB]

Looks like a really nice Holiday Inn Express property! Glad you are pleased with the win.

 

Please post a thread in the Illinois section for your Chicago stay and we would be very happy to help. I'm very familiar with the area and can definitely help with any planning.

 

Enjoy your stay.

[SC1980]

Great - thank you!  I'll be posting my queries for Chicago in the Illinois sections shortly!

 

The amenities for the Holiday Inn Express that I got on Hot.wire for Sept 27 are: Free Parking, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Indoor Pool, Fitness Centre, Business Centre, Self Serve Laundry.

 

Thanks again for your help!

Steph

[thereuare]

Thanks for the follow-up.