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purplepat

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Everything posted by purplepat

  1. Was looking at 2 star in Burnsville on PRICELINE EXPRESS for $43 with a 7/10 guest rating, was pretty sure it was the LivInn Hotel as the other two Burnsville 2 star properties on Priceline's regular price hotel page have customer ratings of 6 or less (the LivInn has a 7.7 customer rating) Listed amenities on PRICELINE EXPRESS are: Free Parking Restaurant Free Internet Free Breakfast Non-Smoking Used the BiddingHelper.com link to Name My Own Price through PRICELINE. Starting bid of $38 was accepted. Total price was $49.57 (PRICELINE EXPRESS total was $54.65, booking direct through PL would have been $78.48, $90.85 if booked directly with hotel)
  2. Going to Minnesota for a preseason football game on 8/28, was looking for a hotel east of there for that night to shorten the long drive back to Ohio on the 29th. Originally saw a 2 star in Tomah, WI for $48 on Priceline Express (about 2 hrs 45 minutes east of Minneapolis) and figured I'd try to Name My Own Price on PRICELINE to save a few bucks. Bid for a 2.5 star at $38 and was rejected, added 2 star and increased price to $40, still rejected. Added Mauston area and increased bid to $42, still rejected. Added Black River Falls and increased bid to $44, won the Days Inn Black River Falls. The hotel is about 2 hrs 15 minutes east of Minneapolis, and may have also been listed on Priceline Express for $47. The listed amenities in the PRICELINE EXPRESS offering were: Pet Friendly Free Breakfast Indoor/Outdoor Pool Non-Smoking Rooms These all jive with the actual amenities of the hotel, which include a heated indoor pool, hot tub and sauna, game room, free WiFi, free parking. All rooms also include a microwave, refrigerator, and flat screen TV. Total cost of room after PL fees was $54.89, which was a slight savings over the PRICELINE EXPRESS total cost of $58.50. Hotel website listed room rate at $64.99 plus tax. Used the BiddingHelper.com link to connect to PRICELINE.
  3. Booked this deal using Priceline Express, as I needed to be sure I had two beds. Some Express Deals show a "bed choice" option, which you can use to select what kind/how many beds you want/need. Listed amenities were: Free parking Free internet Business center Fitness center Restaurant Non-smoking Not shown as an amenity, but this hotel currently does offer a free hot breakfast (hot meaning I've seen pancakes and eggs mentioned in reviews). And to clarify, "free internet" does mean "free in-room wifi". A recent Priceline win of mine in a different Minneapolis hotel claimed "free internet" meant "free in public spaces only" 7/10 guest rating by Priceline customers. About 2/3rds of the reviews on Tripadvisor rate the hotel Excellent or Very Good. I'm guessing the property has been recently renovated. Recent reviews complemented the flat screen HDTVs with free HBO, the comfortable bedding and large rooms. Rooms have microwave and fridge. Hotel's advertised rate for my stay ranged from $112 to $120 per night before taxes. I'm coming into town that weekend for the Vikings home opener vs the Packers in the new US Bank Stadium, and my searches on Priceline and Hotwire suggested that room rates all over town were higher than normal. Tripadvisor's Price Finder had a low total price from Hotels.com for my 4 night stay of $490.04 ($122.54/night). My Priceline Express total price was $216.84 ($54.21/night), a savings of $273.20! I believe Hotwire had the same property as one of their offerings at a total cost of $261.92, so I still saved about $45 off that price.
  4. Checked out a 3 star Hotwire hotel for $58 a night in Schaumberg with a 90% Hotwire guest rating, posted Hotwire reviews looked great. Research on this board indicated it was the Quality Inn Schaumberg. Double checked the hotel's website, which indicated this hotel only has rooms with king beds or two queens (although they do have a "suite" with a single queen at a higher price than "normal" rooms). This trip is my wife and I and our 9 year old daughter (who frequently sleeps in our king size bed at home anyway) and a adult male friend of mine. Double checking the hotels bedding situation was important to me, as Hotwire reviews for some other hotels I was looking at in the Oak Brook area said that one hotel (with an 85% guest rating) thought nothing of placing 3 Hotwire guests in a room with one double bed, and had an bad attitude about Hotwire/Priceline customers in general. Sure enough, I booked the property and it is the Quality Inn Chicago Schaumberg. Used the BiddingHelper.com link to book the property, and used the green "Full Amenities" button to get the following list of amenities: Free breakfast Free internet Indoor pool(s) Fitness Center Pool(s) Business Center Golf (nearby) Tennis (nearby) 2 rooms, with 3 adults and 1 child, $58 per room per night, total cost $145.15 Hotel website lists rates for that date of $109 for a king, $119 for two queens, plus tax As an aside, Hotwire had given me $100 "Hot Dollars" as compensation for a bad review I gave of a Hotwire hotel we stayed at in May. Hotwire had listed the hotel as a 3 star property, but it was clearly a 1 star (or less) property. We stayed there 4 nights, so Hotwire gave us $25 Hot Dollars for each night of our stay. Considering we had only paid $27 a night (plus fees) for the property, the Hot Dollars were a nice bonus. The hotel (actually motel) we stayed at was worth the $27 price, especially considering it was on Cape Cod, but the original 3 star rating was a joke. Apparently quite a few other Hotwire customers reviewed the property negatively as well. At any rate, I used the 100 Hot Dollars for this booking, so we are only paying $45.15 out of pocket.
  5. PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals 2 rooms for 2 nights (9/26/15-9/28/15) Listed amenities: Free Parking Business Center Restaurant Free Internet Indoor or Outdoor Pool Fitness Center Guest rating: 8+ Best rate I found elsewhere was $95/night plus tax. CAVEAT: Priceline amenity list says "Free Internet". Hotel website says in room internet will cost you $10.95 per night (web browsing speed) or $15.95/night (video streaming speed). Chatted with Priceline Customer Service, who attempted unsuccessfully to resolve directly with hotel. CS rep said Priceline will refund any internet charges on my bill if I fax them the receipt. Noticed later on my "after the booking" Priceline Itinerary that it is "Free Internet (public areas)". There was no such caveat on any of the pre-booking screens. I hope Priceline doesn't use this as a loophole/excuse to avoid paying the in-room internet charges. That would be equivalent to saying "Free Parking", and then finding out there was a charge for their parking garage but you can park on the street for free six blocks from the hotel. If they had clearly stated that the Free Internet was only in public areas, I would have booked a different property.
  6. Going to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Vikings home opener on Sept 22nd. When I go there, I either like to stay out by the Mall of America or Downtown Minneapolis. Hotels out by the MOA usually have a free shuttle bus to the Airport or MOA. The MOA is the hub for the Metro Bus service and the Hiawatha Light Rail line, which I use to get downtown to the stadium (and other points). Doing this, I almost never need a rental car. Looked at PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals. They listed a 2.5 star property in the Bloomington West MOA area for $45 a night plus taxes/fees. Better Bidding's PRICELINE Hotel List for that area shows only two 2.5 star properties in that area, amenities matched up to the La Quinta Inn and Suites. Also checked out Hotwire and (with info from Better Bidding and the hotels websites) found the La Quinta ($48 + T/F), as well as a deal on the downtown Crowne Plaza Northstar ($62 +T/F). Great deal on a downtown hotel, but they charge $10+ daily for in-room internet, and there's no free breakfast. So I'd prefer the amenties at the La Quinta, but the location, convenience and luxury of the Crowne Plaza. I'd be delighted with either property. I thought about just buying the Express Deal outright, but suspected I could beat it using "Name My Own Price", so I set out to try that. PRICELINE said average rate for a 2.5 star in Bloomington West for my dates was $69. So I started off at roughly half of that ($35) for a 2.5 star in Bloomington West and was rejected. There is only one 2.5 star property downtown, Towneplace Suites, that I would have also been happy getting, and it would be sweet to get the Crowne Plaza for a song. Added Downtown Minneapolis and increased bid to $37 and was rejected. Getting tougher. Looked at the Better Bidding Priceline Hotel List in each Minneapolis area. Fridley showed no hotels above a 2 star, so I added the Fridley area and increased my bid to $39; rejected again. I could have waited 24 hours to bid again, but I'm a gambling man. Plenty of 2.5 and 3.0 star decent properties in the Bloomington East MOA area, though not sure I'd like any of the 2.5 star properties as well as the La Quinta (which has an indoor pool-important to my 7 year old, as well as free breakfast, free internet, new flat screen TVs with HD channels, and well reviewed to boot). But the 2.5 star Bloomington East property offered by PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals was priced at $59, so I had reason to suspect that I'd win the La Quinta with a lowball bid over the 2.5 star Bloomington East property. So I gambled and added the Bloomington East MOA area and increased my bid to $40. Voila, I was successful and won the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Bloomington West. Used the Priceline coupon code 'SUMMER' to save 5%, total for two nights was $95.44, which saved me $12.50 over the Express Deal total price. Amenities listed (on the Express Deals) were Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Indoor or Outdoor Pool, Free Parking, Pets Allowed, Airport Shuttle, Business Center, Fitness Center.
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