comet52

I don't travel as much as I used to so I was pretty stunned to end up in an Extended Stay America after taking a 2.5 star PRICELINE EXPRESS deal. It was $44 for one night 11/26/16 in Holland,, OH. they must really be lowering the standards because some of these ESA's aren't much better than a Motel 6. If I thought they'd listen to a complaint I'd make one but past experience tells me they aren't interested in what the customer thinks about anything.. One more reason I'm glad to be off the road for the most part.

Americinn Of West Burlington, IA 628 S. Gear Ave. West Burlington, Iowa 52655 319-758-9000 Check-In Date: Sun, May 15, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $43.00 Subtotal: $86.00 Taxes & Fees: $18.72 Total Charges*: $104.72 Not sure how useful this is, I can't imagine anyone going to this place unless you had work like me or family or something. This is only $11 lower than the cheapest (refundable) rate I could find on Kayak and with tax/fees, it works out to about a 13% discount, which is not great, but in small towns where 2* is the highest hotel Priceline carries (there is a HI Express there but no 2.5* available for bidding), I don't expect a big discount. The bid was made in 3 dollar increments over a couple of days 34-37-40-43. In fact this would almost qualify for a refund on the Priceline guarantee, because Americinn offers a partially non-refundable advance purchase for 44.95, and when you add it all up I am paying $4 more a night for the Priceline deal. I just didn't see the deal with the hotel until after I made this buy. However, Priceline's guarantee does not count their fee so in reality, the hotel price is about 2 bucks a night higher.

Didn't have time to put this in last week. Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Dubuque-West 2080 Holiday Drive Dubuque, Iowa 52002 563-556-4600 Check-In Date: Tue, May 10, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, May 12, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $50.00 Subtotal: $100.00 Taxes & Fees: $20.68 Total Charges*: $120.68 A short review - this is a new property which is nice - nothing is worn out, room is spanking new, shower was great, big flatscreen t.v. Internet from the wall didn't work but the wifi was ok. I asked them to troubleshoot the wall jack and get back to me and they said they would but nothing happened. I like HI Express breakfast because they have killer cinnamon rolls, but everything else about it was below average at this location. At 6:45 (breakfast starts at 6) the eggs and sausage were clearly leftovers from the day before that had been microwaved and tasted awful. The staff was a typical hotel staff as far as I can tell. This was retailing for $114 at the time so it was a good deal.

Aloft Green Bay 465 Pilgrim Way Green Bay, Wisconsin 54304 920-884-0800 Check-In Date: Sun, Apr 10, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Tue, Apr 12, 2011 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $44.00 Subtotal: $88.00 Taxes & Fees: $19.04 Total Charges*: $107.04 Bid 2.5* 37, reject with $52 counteroffer. Added Kimberly (no 2.5* zone) and rebid $44, was upgraded to 3*. I have stayed here before, it's sort of a weird, "ultramodern" design but ok.

Holiday Inn Neenah Riverwalk 123 East Wisconsin Avenue Neenah, Wisconsin 54957 920-725-8441 Check-In Date: Sun, Apr 3, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Apr 7, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $47.00 Subtotal: $188.00 Taxes & Fees: $33.04 Total Charges*: $221.04 They are advertising rooms at this time for $109 so this is a good 57% off.

Courtyard By Marriott Goshen 1930 Lincolnway East Goshen, Indiana 46526 574-534-3133 Check-In Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Mar 17, 2011 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $46.00 Subtotal: $92.00 Taxes & Fees: $19.56 Total Charges*: $111.56 Bid as 2.5* and was upgraded. I had bid $40 a day earlier and got a $54 counteroffer. Usually I split the difference the next day and it gives me a room somewhere.

Country Inns And Suites By Carlson Merrillville 8311 Ohio Street Merrillville, Indiana 46410 219-736-1300 Check-In Date: Sun, Mar 13, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $53.00 Subtotal: $106.00 Taxes & Fees: $21.76 Total Charges*: $127.76

I stayed at this property for 4 nights starting Feb 6th for $35/night. This is kind of a review and a rant, I hope you enjoy it! First I have to say, this is not a 3* property imho. It could be 2.5 but frankly, I don't think so. It reminded me of a slightly upgraded Extended Stay America. But of course, I think of that as a 1* property for which Priceline has taken over the 2* tapdance from Hotwire. I could understand Hotwire calling a 1* joint 2 stars--that's their game. But when Priceline started booking ESA's as 2* hotels, that was the last 2* bid I ever did on Priceline. But I digress... This place was on a side road in an office park. There were some various restaurants and things on nearby main roads but most required some driving. I generally don't like these extended stay type places, though Residence Inns can often be very nice. The reason is that the lower end properties are usually populated by a mix of people actually traveling or transitioning from somewhere to somewhere else, along with residents who somehow can afford the big monthly fee to stay there yet seem to be one step from jail or a trailer park they are pining to return to if only they could get the double-wide out of hock. I never quite get that part of it. The entire time I was there, a menacing looking, angry guy who was really under dressed for the weather in what looked kind of like early-80's punk gear, spent the days walking back and forth in front of the building talking on a cel phone to someone about how he was being 'tossed out soon', 'don't come over', 'I can't party here any more', and who knows what else while going in and out of the apartment below mine. I feel grateful he didn't break into my car or something. The check-in included a signature on a sheet which informed you how you'd be kicked out for having a loud party, a bunch of parties, any party at all, too many people in the room at a party, etc. Naturally, I arrived on Super Bowl Sunday to the noise above my head of a very loud Super Bowl party. Lucky for me I had to leave at 7 for night work, and missed the festivities. I don't know if they have kicked out or not. The stove was broken--one burner was dead, the other had two temperatures: off and incredibly HIGH. I started some oatmeal before I knew the stove was busted, then tried to rescue it by boiling it a bit, then taking it off then boiling, removing, etc. I like steel cut oats and they have to simmer for a long time to get soft. Not on this stove - a hopelessly ruined breakfast was all I got. The fridge worked but rocked back and forth on it's legs like I don't know what. The heating unit had to be turned to the max temp (85) all the time just to keep the room reasonably warm - there was a cold snap and it was below zero at night and single digits daytime. I liked the fact that the bed was in a seperate room with a door until I realized that without the door being wide open, it would never get enough heat into the room and I'd catch a cold at night if I closed it. The dishwasher worked, at least. They had a free breakfast and some evening drink/appetizer deals, but I attended none of these. I didn't feel like walking 200 yards in the freezing cold at 6am for a free bowl of cereal when I had same in my fridge in my room. Not that that's their fault but this place is built on the townhouse model and so the units are spread all over and there is no inside route to the front desk. The good news was the maintenance guy fixed the kitchen issues. He could not however, fix the internet which never worked right and frustrated me the entire time. Apparently the WAP that served my part of the hotel was having problems and in 4 days of trying he could not get it working properly. It had a wired internet in the wall which could never get a signal. I have 20+ year IT background and made some suggestions but I don't think he took me up on things like just checking if it's actually patched, etc. Oh well. This is a huge black mark for me at any property, I depend on the net for business as well as just killing a lot of the dead time on these trips. He also banged on the door when I was asleep with a do not disturb on and woke me up. The staff was clearly trained to be SUPER FRIENDLY, HOW ARE YOU SIR, ANYTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU SIR, WE LOVE YOU SIR! Ok not that last part but you thought it might be coming next. Maybe it's to relax you after wondering what creepy cel phone guy might be doing out there while you're sleeping. I'm being a little sarcastic, they were quite nice and let me "spin the wheel" at check-in for a prize which was 1000 bonus points on my PriorityClub card, which is nice since I never get points, I just use it for stuff like free bottles of water and 2pm checkouts, since my stays are all Priceline and they don't qualify for points. I will never get enough points on the card to get anything even with the other 1000 freebies they gave me for answering a checkout questionnaire, but it was a nice touch anyway. Now, for $35 it's hard to complain about anything, but at least I got to vent some here. :) I feel this property is overrated by Priceline and I let them know this in followup comments. I expect that a 3* property really is such. I really don't want to be booked into IHG's answer to ESA that somehow gets an extra star just because the t.v. has more than 12 channels, the room doesn't smell like burned meatloaf, and the desk set is fake wood instead of white vinyl with cigarette burns in it.

I got this for $41/night for 4 nights starting February 13th. It was a newer Country Inn and bigger than most, 4 stories high and wide/large. It sits on a hill with a huge parking lot setback north of the main road. Coming from the east it's almost impossible to see until you're nearly past it. I was given a room that was noisy - this is always my issue when traveling. Constant t.v. or mechanical noise will drive me nuts and I will ask to move every time. The lady at the desk was very accomodating and upgraded me to a king suite on the top floor. Very nice! Big flat screens in both the living room and bedroom, hard-wired internet that was very fast. Fridge, microwave, very comfortable overall. Only problem - it was still quite cold out and for some reason all along the bedroom wall it was very cold/drafty. The room had a vent unit with a blower in a closet instead of a wall/window a/c. It was still noisy and took a long time to get the room warm. It was kind of a struggle all week to keep the climate regulated due to this and the cold leakage I couldn't quite pin down the source of. I suspected cheap construction and poor insulation in the wall. Maybe some contractor cutting corners. They had the typical hotel free breakfast which I might not have even tried once, can't recall. They have no snack stand like a lot of places do now and very limited vending. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, a good 15 miles west of O'Hare. I actually wanted to be much closer in and added this area as a rebid zone thinking I would get a property that I sort of deduced was available in Elmhurst. So I sort of took a hit by ending up out in Roselle, but that is all part of us Priceline beggars not being able to be choosers :) Overall I'd rate this as a typical Country Inn, my stays there are usually very satisfying, my only issue was being so far from anywhere but that is not anyone's fault, it's just the luck of the Priceline draw which I'm used to by now. Sometimes you get very lucky too.

This is the first Country Inn I ever stayed in that wasn't the basic "barn" design that Country Inn has used for years now. It was formerly a Wyndham and its more of a squarish brick building with an inner courtyard. It was built with a spa and a lot of meeting space but the spa is apparently closed due to health regulations of some kind. It has a lounge area near the front desk which overlooks the courtyard and has a small bar that is open in the evenings. The staff were pros as always, this is one thing you can count on at Country Inns, and a reason I like them. The breakfast was the very typical free hotel breakfast you see everywhere and I only bothered once in my 4 days there. I paid $40/night for 4 nights starting February 27. This is an office park area and there is not much around. There are some restaurants down the road and further out on Ogden Road some malls with a Panera and some fast food places. I've stayed in the area before so I pretty much know what to expect. One thing I liked was the room had a vent system for hvac instead of the usual wall/window unit that blows noisily all the time and tends to get too hot or too cold. This had a thermostat and kept the room exactly as I wanted it and never bothered me with fan noise. Extending my checkout to 1pm on the last day so I could get extra rest after working overnight was no problem. I barely turned on the t.v. but it had the usual large batch of channels. Internet - they had a hard-wired system with wall jack, speed was great the whole time. Much better than a lot of places which have only wifi and are grossly underpowered. Overall it was a decent stay, for the money I could not complain.

Got this February 20 for 4 nights at $40/night. 2.5* rating. Fairfield used to be 2*, I view the increase as part of Priceline's ongoing star inflation, though I don't necessarily feel this property didn't deserve the rating. It was clean, comfortable, and served a free breakfast that was one of the best I've encountered. These are usually very generic and not worth a lot of time. I skip them most days unless I really need to eat that time. This one I attended daily. The room had a fridge and microwave in it, and this is always a big plus mark for any hotel I encounter. My only complaint was that my first room was too noisy due to incredibly loud vending machines on the other side of the wall. The desk clerk expressed surprise at this which isn't useful. Telling a guest you "never heard of that before" isn't good customer service. Just solve the problem which she did, after first making me uncomfortable. Similarly, when I couldn't get the shower hotter than lukewarm in the room I ended up in after the move, I got a similar "that's a weird complaint" type of response. However, someone from maintenance came by and the problem was fixed. Other than that the staff was friendly and professional.

I got this last October as a 2.5* for a $53 bid. I was really disappointed. I thought of it now because I am going to Merrillville next week and will not bid less than 3* as all the lower level hotels in the area are lousy--I've stayed in several. I could not believe that Priceline rated this 2.5. There is little to distinguish it from the average Super 8 except for the fact that it's a bit bigger. Very noisy - noisy in the hallways, noisy people who seemed like residents not overnight guests, chainsmoking in the rooms at the end of hall and never leaving them, noisy mechanical equipment, noisy a/c unit in the room. I could not sleep and that is rarity for me as I'm in hotels 100+ nights a year. A very low-end free breakfast, and desk staff consisted of a husband and wife from India who barely spoke english. Run down furniture in the room, clearly in need of a renovation and nowhere near the quality or comfort that I expect at 2.5*, like a Country Inn or a Hampton, etc. The joke was on me and I let Priceline know it in my follow up comments. I usually ignore the please comment emails but I zinged them good on this one. They are going through some sort of star inflation in the last year as all kinds of properties are suddenly rated higher than they used to be, and marginal places like this one are being given ratings they clearly don't deserve. Makes me angry because if I wanted a lower end hotel at a higher end price, I would go use Hotwire!

Well, interestingly, I checked in and they didn't mention it. Which means either they aren't doing it, or they forgot, or it's the clerk's discretion? Now, if my car gets towed, I will raise a ruckus. If I get charged after the fact, same deal. I figure if they aren't going to tell me at check-in, I'm parking free. And frankly I don't get how they can enforce it. The lot is a surface lot with no gates or controls, and it's shared by the various properties around here. What if someone drives in for an afternoon meeting, do they tow the car? It's just ridiculous, imho. On an unrelated topic, this property: 3* Holiday Inn Select Naperville IL has closed. It is getting a renovation and will reopen as a Marriott sometime in the future. Too bad, it was my Priceline choice when I had to stay in Naperville as they always had nice rooms in the mid $30 range during the winter slow months. 3* bids in that range almost always landed me there. Even the 2.5* bids usually got upgraded because the actual 2.5's in that area wouldn't go that low!

Courtyard By Marriott Midway Airport 6610 S Cicero Avenue Bedford Park, Illinois 60638 708-563-0200 Check-In Date: Sun, Mar 6, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Mar 10, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $50.00 Subtotal: $200.00 Taxes & Fees: $39.92 Total Charges*: $239.92 They will also jack you up $12/day for parking but this was the most convenient location for where I am working this week so I will just have to put up with it.

Country Inn And Suites By Carlson Naperville 1837 Centre Point Drive Naperville, Illinois 60563 630-505-3353 Check-In Date: Sun, Feb 27, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Mar 3, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $40.00 Subtotal: $160.00 Taxes & Fees: $28.20 Total Charges*: $188.20

Fairfield Inn And Suites St Charles 2096 Bricher Road St Charles, Illinois 60174 Check-In Date: Sun, Feb 20, 2011 / After 04:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Feb 24, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $40.00 Subtotal: $160.00 Taxes & Fees: $28.44 Total Charges*: $188.44

Country Inn And Suites By Carlson Roselle Bloomingdale - Carol Stream 1490 W Lake Street Roselle, Illinois 60172 630-351-0101 Check-In Date: Sun, Feb 13, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $41.00 Subtotal: $164.00 Taxes & Fees: $28.96 Total Charges*: $192.96

Staybridge Suites Shaumburg 901 E Woodfield Office Court Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 847-619-6677 Check-In Date: Sun, Feb 6, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Feb 10, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $35.00 Subtotal: $140.00 Taxes & Fees: $25.48 Total Charges*: $165.48 Bid 2.5* and was upgraded. Nice because it has the full kitchen and they serve some free meals as well.

Country Inn And Suites Elgin 2270 Point Boulevard Elgin, Illinois 60123 847-426-6400 Check-In Date: Sun, Jan 30, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Feb 3, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $43.00 Subtotal: $172.00 Taxes & Fees: $29.92 Total Charges*: $201.92 Bid $38 Elgin, they countered $53, added Algonquin and upped it to $43, score.

Holiday Inn Express Hotel And Suites Rockford Loves Park 7552 Park Place Rockford, Illinois 61114 815-654-4100 Check-In Date: Sun, Jan 23, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $37.00 Subtotal: $111.00 Taxes & Fees: $22.26 Total Charges*: $133.26

Ramada Plaza Milwaukee Airport South Milwaukee 6331 South 13th Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53221 414-764-1500 Check-In Date: Sun, Jan 16, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Jan 20, 2011 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $35.00 Subtotal: $140.00 Taxes & Fees: $29.52 Total Charges*: $169.52 Don't know how good this property is, listed at $60 for a 2.5*? Will find out...

The Wyndham Milwaukee Airport And Convention Center South Milwaukee 4747 South Howell Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207 414-481-8000 Check-In Date: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Tue, Jan 11, 2011 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $40.00 Subtotal: $80.00 Taxes & Fees: $19.72 Total Charges*: $99.72 Last time I got this property on Priceline was last September at which time it was rated 3 stars. After staying there I could see it clearly wasn't so the downgrade makes sense. It's 30 years old and in need of a renovation.

Aloft Green Bay Greenbay Airport (GRB) 465 Pilgrim Way Green Bay, Wisconsin 54304 920-884-0800 Check-In Date: Wed, Jan 5, 2011 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Jan 6, 2011 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $44.00 Subtotal: $44.00 Taxes & Fees: $12.88 Total Charges*: $56.88 This was a 2.5* bid for Green Bay east and then added airport zone on rebid, Priceline upgraded to 3*. They did a counteroffer of $59 for the 2.5* in Green Bay east which I declined. This would have likely been the Country Inn. I have found that splitting the difference on a rebid the next day usually gets whatever property it is, in this case a bid of $51 or $52 would probably land that fish. I've never heard of this hotel. Reviews note that it's brand new, very modern, and hotel itself advertises being "gay friendly". Not that this does anything for me, but hey, it might for someone :)

Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Grand Rapids 6569 Clay Ave. Grand Rapids, Michigan 49548 616-871-9700 Check-In Date: Tue, Oct 19, 2010 / After 04:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Oct 21, 2010 / 11:00 AM Offer Price Summary Bonus Cash Per Room, Per Night: $15.00 Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $40.00 Total Offer Price Per Room, Per Night with Bonus: $55.00 Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $40.00 Subtotal: $80.00 Taxes & Fees: $24.06 Total Charges*: $104.06 I had $30 bonus they gave me so it bumped my bid from 40 to 55. 24 for tax/fees is a lot for 2 nights. But, HI Express has been a good place to stay when I get one.

Springhill Suites Grand Rapids Airport Southeast 5250 28th Street Southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512 616-464-1130 Check-In Date: Sat, Oct 16, 2010 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sun, Oct 17, 2010 / 11:00 AM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $42.00 Subtotal: $42.00 Taxes & Fees: $13.33 Total Charges*: $55.33 Published rate for this date is $99 + 14 tax.