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lowballer

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Everything posted by lowballer

  1. Good lord, the Hyatt McCormick Place is NOT close to downtown, NOT close to the Field/Shedd, NOT close to Amtrak, NOT close to public transportation, NOT close to Union Station, NOT close to any neighborhood, NOT close to the Museum of Science and Industry (what I presume you mean) NOT close to any other touristy things and NOT close to anything other than McCormick Place itself. OK, it's about a mile and a half walk to the Field and the Shedd. But hotels in the Loop will be just as close, and a more enjoyable walk. Proximity to the Museum of Science and Industry doesn't really matter, because the L doesn't go there and you can't walk it from anywhere unless you stay down in Hyde Park. I've biked down there but you do NOT want to walk it unless you are VERY sure what you are doing. Do not stay at McCormick unless (1) you need to be near McCormick and/or (2) getting around quickly and cheaply is not a priority to you.
  2. Yes, I think you have a much greater chance of running afoul of a hotel's own policy than Priceline's. Even then, age restrictions tend to be enforced mainly in places high school/college kids might use the hotel as a place to party: around graduations, football games, New Years' Eve, vacation areas etc. Vegas and other gambling areas probably fit this too.
  3. About US$60 in a country where that's the better part of a month's wages for cleaning staff. She (presumably) was clever about it, not taking all my cash but only a few bills so that I wouldn't immediately notice. I think I even had it in the safe, too, which is a good lesson about inroom hotel safes. I mean, there has to be way to open it if you forget the combination, right? Nothing in the US that I can recall.
  4. Usually if you return when the counter is closed, you can use a drop box. To see if this is an option, pretend to make conventional reservations on the agencys' own Web sites with your early return time. Or call the counters directly and ask. I wouldn't mention PL/HW. I just tried this with Hertz at ONT, and it works. (It opens at 5.30, but will price a reservation returning at 4am.) Then when using PL/HW, just put in a later return time, when everything is open. I can't imagine being charged extra for returning early on the same day, as long as the return time you specified doesn't result in an extra days' charge.
  5. Cubs tickets are the least of your problems. The market has become VERY soft. I am trying to sell several games myself (not that date) and it is difficult to get much, if anything, over face for common games. Mentioning specific Web sites is apparently frowned upon here, so I won't say anything further.
  6. My first thought was that you're screwed. But after careful consideration, I'll let you sleep on my conveniently located Gold Coast couch for $300/night. Seriously, unless you're spending all your time in Hyde Park that Ramada's location is terrible. The L doesn't go there, I wouldn't want to learn bus schedules, walking can easily get you stuck in a dangerous neighborhood and if you drive, for the love of God stay off the Dan Ryan. Enjoy.
  7. Huh? The Chicago Drake is a Hilton. The Swissotel Chicago is a separate property.
  8. If you are asking whether there are any downtown hotels in the "University" zone or vice versa, the answer is no. They're completely separate parts of taaaahhn. I've never heard that area referred to as "University Center", btw. Not all of it is convenient to Pitt and CMU, in fact. It would be better called "Oakland/Shadyside" or somesuch. PL's opaque zones should be considered on their own without regard to what is offered transparently. Very often the opaque zones are drawn specifically to include or exclude specific properties, and sometimes have strange boundaries. The Pittsburgh North zone is an example of this. Another is that the downtown zone includes Station Square across the Mon and thus the Sheraton there. That is actually the bigger concern when bidding 3* "downtown".
  9. I undercut that by a buck :) http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=24631& Still a good deal at $42.
  10. Just finished a stay here. Three nights, not a bad place. $40 failed, so this was the bottom. Total = 123 + 23.93 = $146.93 See review I wrote.
  11. Had a three-night stay here. Despite a few problems it's still a decent 3*. This hotel is not located on Airport Way as many of the other PDX properites are, but a bit south. It is usually easier to use U.S. 30 to get between the hotel and I-205 than to use the airport road. There are no restaurants (other than the hotel's own) or stores nearby; when I needed stuff I headed east on I-84. The parking lot is large and the place runs a park-and-fly operation. Although I was always able to find a space, spaces become scarce late at night. Parking is free on nights you're staying there. The shuttle to and from the airport runs on a seemingly erratic schedule; you may want to ask about it ahead of time. Many Radissons are hand-me-downs from other chains and thus feel a bit frayed, but not this one. Everything was fresh and modern, and the halls and lobby are decorated with an appealing "Fly Oregon" theme. I received a large nonsmoking room with a king bed. Although not what I'd call a suite, it included a couch, fridge and microwave. The Sleep Number Bed took awhile to get used to, but once I did I slept very well. The linens were good, with plenty of pillows. An exercise room and a pool/sauna/hot tub area are adjacent to the lobby. The pool area is in plain view of the front desk and supposedly closes at 10pm. However, I stayed in there until after 11pm and was not bothered. (You probably don't want to make too much noise, have kids running around, etc. that late.) The sauna makes an annoying buzzing sound when warming up and seemed not to work one day. A business center with two free Internet computers and printer is on the second floor, directly over the lobby. Two significant problems I encountered: First, neither of the two ice machines closest to my room worked, and my card key didn't work TWICE. I found this annoying, especially considering the key would work everywhere else, including getting into the building immediately before failing to get into my room. On weekday mornings a USA Today was left at my door. The Wall Street Journal and the Oregonian are also available for free at the desk. The hiccups seemed like the kind of things that were unique to my stay, and if I were paying rack I'd be less tolerant. But for the $41 I paid on PL I'd be happy to stay here again.
  12. If PL is unwilling to lay out a recourse available to customers when a hotel is misrated, what exactly makes it a "guarantee"? My complaint here is not with anyone's opinion in this thread, but with PL. If it's not a guarantee, isn't it unethical to for PL to call it that? People are OK with this? I just checked whether AAA guarantees its ratings. A 2005 TourBook states: "When you find your room is not as specified... you should be given the option of choosing a different room or finding one elsewhere. Should you choose to go elsewhere and a refund is refused or resisted, submit the matter to AAA/CAA within 30 days along with complete documentation..." "As specified" presumably means conforming to everything printed in the TourBook such as amenities and diamond level. A legal contract is two-sided. Both buyer and seller have obligations. And generally, if the seller contradicts himself in the contract by saying "star level is guaranteed" in one place and "star level is not guaranteed" in another... then the buyer pretty much wins any disputes. Most of us frequent PL users have stayed in misrated hotels by now. (If you haven't, consider yourself lucky.) Most of us know of zones to stay away from and levels not to bid -- thanks in part to this board. Doesn't this taint the PL experience? Wouldn't PL be more useful if we had a more consistent idea of what a 3* was? Finally, while it's fair game to point someone to a link or posted FAQ answer a question or support one's point, statements such as "If you would have continued searching their FAQ, you would have seen..." come across as crass and remind me of That Other Place. PL's Web site is not the easiest to navigate or completely digest (I think this is a bit intentional on PL's part), and usually we're nicer here. Something like "Elsewhere in their FAQ, it states..." would have been friendlier. Others may disagree, and I'm cool with that.
  13. Is it getting TOBB in here, or is it just me? ufjoe makes a good point. The law supersedes Priceline's FAQ. How much wiggle room is in Priceline's star ratings, and how much force this "guarantee" really has, is a matter of valid debate. I'm OK with Priceline's ratings maybe 90% of the time. But they're not perfect; I stayed at a blatantly misrated 3* just a couple weeks ago. It would reflect well on PL to stand behind their ratings and respond to complaints.
  14. I'm posting this late, but if you were thinking of the sheraton on the river (and *not* actually on Michigan Ave but a couple blocks east), that hotel almost never hits on PL. As you may be aware it's a bit nicer than the usual downtown Chicago PL 4*s. You never had a chance at it, honestly.
  15. If you can get this for the $24 I bid for one night, it is a very good value. To get there, take the exit off I-75 immediately south of 275 (Sharon Road), then go west, then north on Chester Road, past a high school and look for the hotel on the left. Or from I-275 exit immediately west of 75 (Route 747), then go south, then past Tri-County Mall go east, then south on Chester and it's on the right. The interstates in this area were smothered with speed traps on Friday night; be careful. (I was OK.) Check-in wasn't perfectly smooth. I arrived around 5 pm to find the front desk having trouble checking in another PL guest. When it was my turn the clerk couldn't find my reservation in the first place she looked, either. It was somewhere in the computer, though. Anyway, I'm not sure how the "Suites" comes into play, but my room was decent. I got a nonsmoking queen, and the room included a refigerator (with a separate real freezer compartment) and microwave. The TV, while only around 25", got tons of channels. Everything was quiet and the hotel didn't seem too busy. A step down from say, a Residence Inn, but a fair 2* nonetheless. There's a seasonal outdoor pool and a good continental breakfast from 6-9 am. Note the hours aren't pushed back any later on weekends. There are other hotels in the immediate area, but not much in the way of grocery stores or places to eat unless you go to the mall or elsewhere along I-275. I got a knock on the door from housekeeping at 11.30 am but otherwise was able to fudge the noon checkout time by half an hour or so without asking.
  16. Probably as cheap a place as you're going to find in Cincy. And not bad at all. I tried the CVG and Downtown zones up to about $30 or so but nothing bit. ("Downtown" includes Covington, and cheap places sometimes hit there.) Failed at $23 in the Sharonville zone, so I lowballed it. This is at 11385 Chester Road in Sharonville. Total = $24 + 10.88 = $34.88.
  17. Got this a couple weeks ago. Not to be confused with the Red Lion in the downtown zone. Also not to be confused with a legitimate 3*; see hotel review I wrote. Two nights, Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend. Total was around $80 with taxes and fee.
  18. Had a two-night stay here recently; don't remember the specifics but I bid $32. Hey, $32 for a 3* isn't too bad, right? Well, read on. Now that there's no airport at Stapleton, this place is in the middle of nowhere and is convienently located to nothing. Getting to to the place isn't obvious: from I-70 go south on Quebec Road, then get in the right lane as soon as possible to exit. Take the left immediately after the exit (back over the road), then straight at the stop sign to snake around to the main entrance. Now there are some promising hotels in the Stapleton zone, such as a Renaissance and a Courtyard, surely left over from when the airport was there. You might think you'll get these, but think again. Do NOT bid 2* or 2
  19. Lumberton? You're better off picking up one of those "interstate guide" coupon books you can find in rest areas and Shoney's and such and just shopping around when you get there. I don't see the benefit to locking yourself in and paying the extra fee.
  20. Ehhh..... MOST of the hotels in the ORD zone charge a fair amount for parking. Go farther out to Elk Grove or Schaumburg and it'll be free, though. The L takes 45 minutes or so from the ORD station to downtown. That doesn't count getting to the station and waiting for the train to leave. Also, slowdowns for track work are very common late at night and on weekends. If you get the 4* ORD Hyatt you can walk to the Rosemont L station, otherwise you're probably better off taking the hotel's shuttle to ORD and taking the L from there. You may also wish to investigate using the CTA parking garage at Cumberland and taking the L in from there. If possible, you may want to consider staying downtown for a couple days, then out in the suburbs for a couple days doing your suburban things. As for June 22-25... I think that's when we're scheduled to have our week of perfect weather.
  21. OK, I just got one, but it took longer than usual. Maybe they were reading this and know who I am.
  22. I had a Priceine stay that ended a few days ago and I haven't gotten an E-mail back asking for an evaluation yet. I was receiving them all the way through last month (March). Has PL stopped sending them? Figures they'd quit as soon as I ran into a place I had a thing or two to complain about. :)
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