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OldRelayer

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Posts posted by OldRelayer

  1. Actually I don't see anything in the amenities that would distinguish it from a 3 star hotel but we have stayed at Hyatt's and they are indeed very nice and well worth $99. BTW now that same room is $107 for that date, so I must have caught it just right. One thing about hotwire they do vary their prices often, I saw it change 3 times in a few hours the last time I booked a room through them, I was lucky and caught it about $25 cheaper than the high for that day. One thing good about Hotwire is with a little investigation you can ID the hotel pretty accurately, although I am sure if you didn't mind risking getting another hotel, you could do $20 or $30 better at Priceline.com, I wanted this hotel because of the convenience to The venue for the event we will be attending, that and I really like the Hyatt chain.

    If anyone posts a reply, please PM me to let me know, having trouble getting email notification, but the PM notification works fine. I will be off midday to Portland for an overnight at a Sheraton that I got for $55 through priceline and then two nights in Philadelphia at another Sheraton through Hotwire for $127, in this case I had bid up to $145 for what most likely would have been the Hyatt at Penns and it was rejected. According to Priceline the Sheraton is 3 1/2 and the Hyatt 4*. I think they are probably comparable, we have enjoyed the Sheraton's as well and it might be a better location for what we want to do. I don't have a laptop but most of the good hotels have free access to a business center that is quite nice. These Opagues (which means I don't know what) have given us the opportunity to do more than we normally would or could afford, pretty cool.

    Airport Shuttle

    Fitness Center

    Pool(s)

    Restaurants

    High-speed Internet Access

  2. I did get it all sorted out. The Hyatt Harborside is the best bet, just a water taxi across the Harbor and your there. It was a little harder to pin it down on Priceline but Hotwire had a reasonable deal of $99 for what they call a 4* hotel, I have always liked the Hyatt's so I am sure it will be great.

    If you want to move this to Hotwire forum and change the title appropriately, I don't have any problem with that.

    As an ID the Customer favorite 4* hotel in the Logan Air Port / Saugus zone is the Hyatt Harborside. The reason I knew this is the reviews talked about how close it was to the Airport and how it had Harbor views, could only be this hotel.

    BTW, I still don't get email notification, if I don't check a thread, I never know if anyone has posted, not very convenient.

    Thanks,

    Barry

  3. I just bought some tickets for May 29th for STeely Dan at the Bank of America Pavillion. Parking is always a problem in these cities for such events so I would really like to park the car at the hotel or a parking garage near the hotel and take a taxi to the venue. It would be nice if it were a 3 or 4 * hotel. But where it is only one night convinience might be more important that amenities. Although there a couple of places I would rather not stay do to bad experiences, Doubletree, Days Inn, Holiday Inn. A Sheraton, Hilton, Hyatt , Marriot would be nice. For the $35 they want for parking even coming in from Cambridge can't be more than $20 by taxi, but not sure of that. We will probably drive down the day of the show and leave the next morning May 30th. Will to listen to any ideas.

    Thanks

    Barry

  4. Thanks for the help.

    No computer.

    jewlery, just rings on person?

    If I bring a belt, which I sure would like to, have it on? in bag? does it matter, it is metal.

    No cell phone.

    I was thinking of wearing a light spring jacket, not a good idea, actually I thought the other way it wouldn't take up space in the bag if I wore it.

    Funny you should mention shoes, I would normally where walking shoes for the tourist things we are doing and nice shoes for the event and dinner, but I was thinking of wearing a light black shoe that could actually double as both in a pinch and wear them, again trying to travel light. I have flown both ways, just with a carry on and with baggage, no baggage is much better, we can be at our hotel sipping hot chocolate before we get our bags.

    I guess on the arrival at the airport, I will go with what the Airline reccomends, haven't asked yet.

    Thanks for the help,

    Barry

  5. Thanks for the reply Jason. It is only two over nights, so we are going to travel light, that is only take what we can carry on. We don't fly much, but the one thing I do remember is the nightmare of the baggage, trying to avoid that. Yes, I thought hair spray might be a problem, might just have her buy a small can when we get there, actually all liquids are suppose to go into a one quart zip lock baggy, a quart size sounds bigger than it actually is, barely larger than a sandwich baggy. We are planning to spit the cash between us. Scan our Credit cards and have them in the carry on just in case they are lost or stolen. Trying to think of everything, but as usual its the thing you didn't think of that will bite you. Our friends have been asking us for several years to visit them in Florida, of course in the winter, if this goes well, maybe we will do that next year.

    Thanks,

    Barry

  6. We haven't traveled by Air after 2001, so a whole lot has changed. My plan is to travel light with each of us having a legal carry on bag. According to Delta that is 45 inches W + H + D or their example is 22 X 14 X 9.

    I found some nice bags that are under this limit they are actually 16 X 14 X 9, with enough room for what we want to take for two days. I went to the government site and other than weapons I guess the big thing is liquids that have to be in one "1 Quart plastic baggy". Seems pretty straight forward, actually I will probably bring a disposable razor (not sure about this) and deodorant, everything else should be supplied by the hotel. Although my wife is another story, the one thing I can't figure out is hair spray? Anyother fluids that can be a problem? Other than that, everything will be clothes and papers for the trip. Is there something that is going to bite me if I don't pay attention?

    I know they say show up early, most of our flying that day will be waiting. Going it is a 1:30 flight, checkout at the hotel is 12:00, thought we would leave as close as possible to 11:30 for the 5 minute shuttle ride to the airport. Is that safe or would more time be better?

    We are very non frequent flyers, so any helpful advice would be nice.

    I know someone is going to point me to a thread on this, honest I did look.

    Thanks,

    Barry

  7. Thanks guys for the posts. I am getting an idea of the topography using points on Mapquest and tapping them together, rather comical, but it gives me a better idea of the distance. There is a big difference between the 4 blocks that the Sheraton web site talks about to Reading Terminal and the real 3/4 plus that I can see on mapquest. I think a good plan and spending a few dollars on short taxi rides will help the situation. I am afraid that the day will run away pretty quickly and never see anywhere near what you want to. What further complicates it is that I thought we were getting a 7:00PM flight out, at first I thought that was good, less stress on us(and that is probably true) but when the confirmation came it was 7:00AM. I suppose I could complain and get the later flight but not so sure I want to get into Portland at 11:00PM. Either a 2 1/2 drive home or another hotel stay in Portland seems like a lot. I am really sorry that I didn't do an extra day, there is so much to see and I doubt in my life if I will ever get back again.

    Still not getting email notification, anyone else have that problem. On a PM I do get it but no on a subscribed thread.

    Thanks,

    Barry

  8. Wow, jquero, what an insightful post. I have never thought of tipping the Desk person and frankly don't know how you would go about doing it without looking bad. "I hope your having a nice day" and shake their hand and slip them a $10 or whatever? Before you actually get your room assigned. I am not above spending an extra 10 to get a great room. At PL/HW rates spending a little extra isn't going to kill you, still way ahead of the game. My big concern is not the view, we won't be looking out the window all that much, but I understand at a resort hotel that may be a bigger issue, my big concern is getting a non-smoking room and a room that hopefully is sparkling clean.

    thanks,

    Barry

    Still not getting email notification, maybe a moderator could look into this for me.

  9. Another thing occurred to me about hotels using PL or HW. It's a done deal, they are not going to keep a reservation for 2 months only to have a customer cancel at the last moment because they found a better deal somewhere else. Its not all a one way street for the PL/HW user, the hotel gets quite a lot of value from the deal. It is a bird in the hand kind of thing, I don't know how many cancellations a typical hotel gets on average, but I suspect it can get high, people hedging there bet, making 3 or 4 reservations while they decide which one fits their needs and offers them the best value. I have to think that a hotel that uses PL/HW at the end of the year has a better bottom line, simple mathematics. A few years ago, we went to the Goodwill Games in Long Island. We booked a room at a Holiday Inn that we hated because most of the decent hotels were booked. After the first night there, we wanted out badly. We went to the Host hotel for the games a nice Marriott and asked to be put on the cancellation list and to our surprise they had rooms. We took it right off and checked out of the Holiday Inn as quickly as possible. I suspect if we had gone there and asked the same question the night before we still would have gotten a room, sold out, doesn't necessarily mean every room is filled. I have paid way to much for a room and still had a problem getting something nice. We stayed at the Sheraton in Burlington Vermont a couple of years ago and it took 3 rooms before we got a room that was somewhat acceptable. We are not that fussy really, one room had such a strong smell of chlorine it could gag you, another room was adjacent to the Ice machine I think, which is never a good room for obvious reasons. The hotel wasn

  10. I have never used Restaurant.com before. I just missed the offer that expired 3/11/07 so I signed up and asked to be sent promotional materials yesterday and sure enough in my email today was the offer that Dina is referring to. I used it immediately to get a %50 off of a $50 certificate which made it $10. It happens that our hotel restaurant actually does Restaurant.com, making a very expensive meal a bit more affordable. A great find, would not have know about it but for Betterbidding, thanks.

  11. DJS, I think your thinking on this is quite right. The money a hotel gets from the room is usually only the beginning of the money that will be left behind by a guest, and probably when there are deals like are had on PL and HW not to mention they just plain sell more rooms. I have only booked into one PL hotel but have two already paid for in the near future. The one time, we were treated quite nicely, got a very nice room on one of the upper levels, all and all a very nice experience.

  12. Not sure why I don't get email notification, sorry for the delay. That does make a little bit more sense.

    Actually your system of just renting a car for the night is really sane. Not sure if I can get out of the rental car, I might be able to, they didn't charge my CC. If we take a cab from the airport, we will probably be in our hotel an hour earlier than renting a car, sounds good to me, and then have to go through the hassle off parking the care.

    The next day, we hadn't plan to drive the car at all until after 5:00PM to go to an event and then that is it. I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the area and it seems that The Reading Terminal is only 4 blocks from the Hotel. My plan was to do some historic tourist things, have lunch, do a bit more of the same. It sounds like a very easy city to get around in by foot. The whole reason we wanted a downtown hotel, actually I think the Sheraton is probably going to work out better than the Hyatt would have, as I understand it, the Hyatt is close but not easy to get down town, on of those, you can see it but can't get to it things, been through that many times in Boston, also a great old city. The other thing I like about the Sheraton as opposed to many of the 3* hotels down town, is that there are 3 restaurants or at least places to eat without leaving the building. I bought a coupon for Shula's Steakhouse which takes the edge off a bit, where a it is reputed that two steaks, two potatoes and two waters will cost you over $100, ouch. I bought a $50 coupon for $10, seems like a great deal to me.

    I will look into renting a car through the hotel, I actually only need the car for about 4 or 5 hours and not even that, if I could get someone going to the same event we are to give us a ride (not likely to happen).

    I think I figured out why I wasn't getting emails notification, changed my setting, hopefully will get them now.

    Thanks Guys,

    Barry

  13. There is really only one true 3* Hotel in South Portland and that is the Marriott. We generally stay at the Marriott but I wanted to try out Priceline for some research on a trip we will be taking in April and have a nice weekend in Portland. We live in Central Maine and do this often for one reason or another. The front desk person we had was cordial, polite and efficient. We asked for a non smoking room with two double beds and was given just what we wanted on the 7th floor. There are actually two towers one is 9 floors and one is 7 floors. The room was somewhat small but adequate and sparkling clean. The hotel does really need some renovation, the carpets were worn but clean and the grout in the bathroom badly stained although also clean. The beds were the high point of the room, super clean, new bedding and very comfortable. The dining was very disappointing, they once had decent dining, but now the room that was once the dining room is a function room and the bar is now a bar/small dining area with a menu that rivals the fast food chains in the area. We really don't like going out for diner when we stay but had to go to the Marriott for dinner which was great, the Marriott has a fine restaurant. We went to Eggspectations for breakfast which is only about a mile from the hotel, although Portland does have some great restaurants, there are a couple of good places to eat within a mile of the hotel without going to the Mall. Without a decent restaurant the Sheraton is more like a "B&B" like the Comfort Inn without the nice free breakfast, actually the Comfort Inn in South Portland is quite nice, we have stayed there a number of times. The beds and the great nights sleep I got will bring me back again on April 16 for a trip we are taking to Philadelphia, to catch a flight out of Portland. At $60 that we paid this was a nice stay at a very good price, however, if I had paid the hotel rate, which I think is $149, I wouldn't be a happy camper. Did even better in April got the room for $55, if we have the same kind of experience, it will be a bargain. Thanks for the tip, I will try to get a room not on the ice machine floors. The 7th floor was nice with great floor to ceiling windows but the view was of the Mall, not a pretty sight. If your going to do a priceline hotel, I think taking the 3* route is a good idea, there are some really crappy 2* hotels that you are bound to get if you go with 2* and for $55 or $60 you are really getting an almost 3* hotel for a 1* price.

  14. This is during the week. It will be a rental car that is going to be more of a pain that it is worth. If it wasn't for the event we are going to Wednesday night, about 20 miles out of town, I think we wouldn't even need a car and I should have booked it for Wednesday and saved a ton, I might try to change it. I am confused, there are hours that you can't get your car either in or out? Do you know the exact hours that this applies?

  15. The big one for us is a good restaurant. We won't get to the hotel till 8 or 8:30 and I don't want to be wondering around looking for a place to eat. Most of the 3* down town Hotels didn't have that but all either said or even listed with mileage local restaurants all supposedly within walking distance. That was the reason we wanted a 4* Hotel that had better facilities, but this might be better, with walking distance of many of the things we want to see and do.

    * Indoor Pool

    * Complimentary Fitness Facility

    * 24-Hour Business Center

    * Valet Service and Self Parking Facilities

    * Concierge Service

    * Room Service

    * Jogging Path

    * Luggage Storage

    * Covered Parking Facilities (Charge)

    * Gift Shop

    * Safe Deposit Boxes

    Not sure about the parking, it looks like parking outside is free and covered is a fee, I did read in someones review that parking was $10, which would be very good, either free or $10 would be great. I also read somewhere that there is a PC area for guests that is free but high speed in your room is a charge, but I don't know this for sure. But the Sheraton we stayed at this weekend had a room with two PC for the use of guests. I like this feature because I don't have a laptop.

    Ok, this is from Hotwire.

    This Hotel features the following amenities:

    Fitness Center

    Pool(s)

    Restaurant(s)

    Business Center

    High-speed Internet Access

    Tennis Nearby

  16. I didn't know it would count as the same thread, a different hotel, rating and vendor.

    Yes I used your HOTWIRE link, actually I didn't know about Hotwire before and until this offer came up I wasn't too impressed, I guess it is the kind of site you really have to know what you are doing and when to buy.

    I don't have a Hotwire account and I don't really know what you mean by amenities, but I see people post the following kind of information. I guess you might be interested in the actual Hotwire charges more than anything else.

    1 room(s) @ $127.00 per night x 2 night(s)

    Taxes, recovery charges, and fees

    Hotel subtotal $254.00

    $38.20

    $292.20

    Total

  17. The last time I booked this hotel I bid $60(3/04/07) and it was accepted right off, this time I thought I would try a little lower and it is more into nicer weather for $55 and it was accepted right off, not sure if I should have bid a little lower, although at this point it is just a game, I am quite satisfied with $55 for a nice nights stay. The Marriot is really our choice for a 3* hotel in South Portland but it doesn't come up on priceline often and for a $100 less a night we can suffer through it.

  18. Thanks, for your post.

    Yes your right I was shying away from Cherry Hill, The Windham is apparently Priceline's hotel of choice, a falling down relic of a Hotel according to everyone.

    I wasn't haven't much luck with Priceline for any 3 or 4 star hotel downtown. But surprising I did find a decent buy considering the week that it is at a 3 1/2 according to Hotline hotel, The Sheraton Center City West. Talk about being diligent and having to know what your looking at. The price of this hotel changes 4 times in less than 4 hours, 146, 149, 127, 134. I booked it at $127 and someone posted that parking was only $10, that would be a bargain. It has an on site resturant and walking distance to all the things we want to see, I think we did ok, considering. At the moment, I am just glad I have that loose end close up, things undone, drive me crazy.

    Thanks,

    Barry

  19. I have been trying to get an upscale hotel in Philadelphia for about 2 weeks. I was up way too high on my bids on Priceline.com and was hoping to get the Hyatt, I suspect they are booked.

    Then I saw angelalovestotravel's post about the Sheraton, we just spend Sunday night at the Sheraton in South Portland Maine, all and all a nice night. This morning when I checked it was $146, then it went up to $149 an hour later and then to $127 an hour later, wow, I had no idea the prices changed so rapidly, I grab it, I thought it was a good buy, this week is a hard one in Philadelphia a big Urban Planning Conference, I was surprised, this hotel is pretty near to the convention center, I thought I would have to go out of the city to get anything for this price. I am not very experienced at this, but every time in the past I looked at Hotwire, it didn't seem like a great buy, and many of them are still not a good buy, even now all the 3* hotels on hotwire are over $175 and some over $200, except this one that is right now $134, wow(4 changes in price in less than 4 hours). I am not going to look again, don't want to know I could have done better.

  20. I am looking for a hotel in downtown Philadelphia, really want the Hyatt, but it might not be easy to do, I am already way above what I was expecting to pay. HOTWIRE is listing a 3.5* hotel for $146 for the nights we are looking for. I am not an experience Hotwirer and actually only have done one thing with a priceline hotel so I really don't know what to expect. Is there only one hotel for each star level that hotwire uses, in other words, If I research this Shearaton and I like it and accept their $146 offer, will this likely to be the right hotel? Is Hotwirer's fee in this $146 or do I have to add tax plus their take to the $146? There is a big Urban Planning Conference that week in Philadelphia and the hotel rates are out of sight for that week, so this $146 for a nice hotel with a resturant would be good. Parking in downtown Philadelphia is a big variable, I have seen as little as $20 a day at the Hyatt and as much as $36 a day at many other places. I calculate that into the price of the hotel, in other words I can pay $16 more for the Hyatt and still be even or $162 if the Sheraton had $36 parking. I am off to reseach the Sheraton. Actually spent Sunday night at the Sheraton in South Portland Maine this weekend, very nice but for the after thought dinning, we went to the Marriot to eat.

  21. Thanks for the reply and the information. Hotwire at the moment doesn't seem like a great bargain, it is actually about $10 more than the hotel website. I will eventually get the hotel I want, but it will be a bit more costly than I initially thought. One other question about Hotwire, do the prices go down as the dates become closer and the hotel hasn't booked to capacity? If that is the case trying to get a room now for April 17 - 19 may be premature and I have also thought that it might be a little too early for Priceline as well. I do know that there is an Urban Planning Conference during that week that is suppose to bring in 5,000 people, which to me doesn't sound like a big deal for a city Philadelphia's size and it would seem that there will always be something going on that brings in thousands of people.

    And yes you are a friendly bunch, I have tried another site that do this kind of thing and they made is sound like you wanted a kidney if you asked a question and God forbid expect it. Keep up the good work and I will definitely use your links.

    Thanks for your help,

    Barry

  22. Hello all. New to bidding, although picking it up pretty quick. I was trying to get a room at the Hyatt at Penn's. But something in one of the review post leads me to believe it might be the wrong choice. We are going to a concert at the outskirts of Philadelphia, arriving a day early and wanted to tour the city by foot. It seems like starting from this hotel is a bit of a tricky maneuver. Although it just occurred to me that for $10, we probably could take a cab a couple of blocks to the district and still stay here.

    The thing about bidding on the Hyatt is that your pretty assured of getting the hotel you want, where as if your drop to a 3* there are a few more choices and after reading the reviews not all good ones. The whole deal with Priceline is you just don't know where you will be staying, a big trade of, your save in some cases major money and in some cases not that much but give up control.

    I will be posting my bid experience so far for April 17 - 19, as it turns out on the 14 rates start going up dramatically from 209 to $259 and even to $344 in May. My last bid was $105 when 2 days before we probably could have gotten the room for $67, as many people have been seeing.

    My question here is not so much on bidding, but rather how do I get a really nice room, with access to the tourist traps and of cours not get my car banged up with valet parking, for it will be a rental and don't want that.

    Is there an option to stay out of town, but so close to mass transportation that it is an easy hop to the city for the day, that's another option, although the 3* hotel in Cherry Hill for instance is not liked by anyone.

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