Pat Barclay

Last minute decision to come see Christian Ponder's debut as the Vikings starting QB.... Was looking to get the 3.5 star Doubletree South in Bloomington based on past bids. Used the Better Bidding PRICELINE link to do my bidding process: Bid $40 for a 3.5 star in Bloomington West-MOA area. Rejected, Priceline was going to let me bid $56 without changing zones, star levels etc. but I declined. Added Downtown Minneapolis and increased bid to $42. Rejected again. Added Airport MSP-MOA and increased bid to $45. Rejected again. Added 3 star hotels and increased bid to $46. Took a long time for Priceline to confirm that bid was accepted by Crowne Plaza Bloomington MSP Airport/MOA. Offer Price: avg. per room, per night $46.00 Rooms: 1 Nights: 2 + Add nights for the same rate! Room Subtotal: $92.00 Taxes & Fees: $20.16 Total Charged to Card: $112.16 Hotel website listed cheapest stay for these two dates at $203.42 total, so I saved about 45% using Priceline. Amenities include an indoor pool, which will no doubt thrill my 5 year old, and a free Starbucks coffee cart in the morning (though free coffee of any kind works for me), free high speed wireless internet access, and a 42 inch HDTV in the room. Hotel website mentions nothing about a free breakfast, but recent TripAdvisor reviews indicate there is a breakfast buffet. There is also apparently a shuttle that runs to the airport and MOA.

Traveling to Minnesota for my annual Vikings game. Needed to book a room, usually try to get a room near MOA that has free shuttle so I can catch the light rail downtown. Downtown itself works even better if you aren't driving a car (parking can be outrageous at downtown hotels), and usually you don't get a free breakfast downtown. Even so, almost entered my bid as a lark. There are a couple of 3.5 star rated hotels downtown I didn't want to get stuck with, so I just threw $52 for a 4 star hotel in Downtown Minneapolis and let 'er rip. Priceline said there was virtually no chance my bid would be accepted, as the usual winning bid for a 4 star downtown was $177. But to my surprise, the Westin accepted my $52 bid! This looks like a really nice hotel, extremely luxurious. Westin website lists cheapest available room that weekend for $189. Now the only thing I have to worry about is whether they will give me a two bed room at check-in, as I will be traveling with a male buddy. Called the hotel but they said room would be assigned at check-in based on what they have available at the time. Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $52.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Guests Per Room: 2 Number of Nights: 2 Room Subtotal: $104.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $21.90 (USD) Total Room Cost: $125.90 (USD)

Coming into town for the Vikings home opener, really wanted to stay downtown if possible for the experience, plus we are leaving (via a bus) from downtown at 7 AM Monday morning, didn't really want to spend the extra half hour that early in the morning traveling from a hotel in the MOA/Airport area. Needed two total rooms for 3 adults and one three year old child. Started bidding for a 4* at $41 (hey, you gotta try something, right?). Rejected. Added 3* and upped bid to $42. Rejected. Added 2.5* and upped bid to $43. Rejected. Added 2* and upped bid to $45. Accepted!!! Was a bit leery when I saw what hotel I got (not recognizing the name), even though it is a Doubletree property. But the reviews of this property on TripAdvisor are great. TripAdvisor rates it a 4 star hotel, and users rate it 4.5 stars with 43 reviews, the #2 most popular hotel, with 35 reviewers rating it "Excellent" and 3 rating it "Very Good". $180 for two rooms, two nights, $33.16 in taxes and fees, total $213.66. Happy to save some money and stay downtown to boot...was looking at Hotwire and was certain of getting the Park Plaza (which used to be the Wyndham, which I have stayed at before and found to be very nice) for $49/night, with taxes and fees would have been $228.53. The savings will just about pay for our rental car for one day, which we will use Saturday to go out to the Minnesota Renaissance Fair.

Virtually certain that this is either Hyatt Place or Embassy Suites, probably Hyatt Place.

Keep in mind that when a property shows a pool, it may not be an indoor pool. To the best of my knowledge, Hyatt Place (formerly AmeriSuites) have outdoor pools. That said, with the amenity lists and wins posted on this forum, you can sometimes identify exactly which property you are looking at. If you can identify the property with certainty, you can check the hotel's website to see if they have an indoor pool or not.

For what it's worth, my wife used to work for AmeriSuites (left the company in 2006). Hyatt purchased the chain, and turned all of them into Hyatt Places. This required renovation of every property to meet Hyatt standards and specifications. So if you do book into the Hyatt Place, you know you will be staying at a recently renovated, updated property. And we stayed at this particular property in 2005 when it was still an AmeriSuites and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. It was a short hike (maybe three or four city blocks as a guess) to the nearest light rail station, or you could ride the hotel shuttle to the Mall of America or Airport and catch the light rail or Metro bus there.

Booked this for a stay over the Easter '09 weekend for $44 a night (plus taxes and fees) via Priceline. This was listed as a 3 star property. I can't remember if I've ever stayed at a Hilton property, but I read some rather poor reviews of this property on TripAdvisor and some other sites. I figured for $44 a night, it couldn't be THAT bad, although I guess some people expect a lot if they pay $150-$200 a night for a Hilton (or any other) hotel. Expedia had this property available for $119. I'm not a huge "neat freak", though I recognize disgusting, shabby, or broken down if I see it. That said, for $44 a night there is absolutely nothing wrong with this property. Was the wallpaper "dated"? Perhaps, but it wasn't peeling off the wall so I really didn't care. The wooden drawers on the bathroom vanity showed some wear where it looked like maybe people whacked them against the bathroom door a few times. Some of the caulking around the bathtub appeared to be peeling a bit, yet it looked like reasonably new caulking to me. There was a touch of corrosion on the underside of the handrail on the shower/tub wall. One of the two beds sat uncomfortably close (within a foot) to a side wall These were the only "blemishes" I found regarding my room, and none of them bothered me a bit. The bedding, especially the pillows, was all very nice and definitely felt "upscale". So did the bathroom towels, very thick and soft, and they provided plenty of them. The clothes closet had a folding door with a full length mirror on it, plenty of hangers inside as well as a iron and ironing board. The shower had a very nice shower head on it, great water flow. Upscale toiletries were provided as well. I thought the room was very clean, no issues there. Everything in the room worked. There was a lovely indoor heated pool, and a heated spa as well, with towels provided at poolside. The in-hotel restaurant is a Max and Erma's. While it isn't Chez' Gourmet, the food was good and you know what you are getting...large portions at reasonable prices, plus they also had a breakfast menu. The room service menu was the Max and Erma's menu (looked to be the same prices), with only a 19% gratuity and $2 delivery charge added on. All the staff I met were very helpful and friendly. When we had trouble finding the pool, a staffer actually walked us all the way there. There's nothing at all wrong with the neighborhood or anything of the sort. It's less than a mile from the Interstate, couldn't have been easier to get to. There was plenty of free parking, supposedly they also have valet parking available though I don't think I ever saw a valet. Overall, I couldn't have been more pleased with my stay. Again, if you paid rack rates for the hotel I guess you might find a little room to nitpick, but at Priceline rates this property is a real bargain. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any friends or family.

Listed amenities are: Suite Fitness Center Business Center Laundry High Speed Internet Golf Nearby Tennis Nearby Kitchenette Hotwire lists this as a 2* for $42 for the dates of 9/26/09 - 9/28/09. I'd normally think that the Residence Inn would merit a 2.5*, but this Residence Inn actually has a tennis court on site. This has me thinking that this 2* property is the Residence Inn. Other possibilities might be: LivInn Suites in Fridley (rooms have refrigerator, microwave, and kitchen sink, but otherwise no stove or cooktop) Super 8 in Arden Hills (rooms have refrigerator or mini-fridge and microwave, but not all rooms at this hotel are suites) Any thoughts or other possibilities as to what this $42 2* property might be? Want to have a good idea before I book...Residence Inn at that price would be sweet!

Be careful what you wish for... Visiting the Virginia Peninsula over the Easter weekend, actually wanted a hotel on the Hampton/Newport News side of Hampton Roads but had my earlier bids rejected and was going to have to wait 24 hours to rebid. Frustrated because after bids were rejected, Priceline told me about a 2.5 star for $44 in the Newport News/Yorktown area that I knew was going to be a newer, nicer hotel, had it narrowed down to about four properties. Got impatient and bid $44 for a 3 star hotel in the Norfolk Airport area, figuring...what the hell? First bid of $44 was accepted for the Hilton Norfolk Airport. Hilton Norfolk Airport 1500 N Military Highway Norfolk, VA 23502 Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $44.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $132.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $29.04 (USD) Total Room Cost: $161.04 (USD) Expedia offered this same hotel at $119 per night with a total cost of $418.05, so I saved $257.01 by using Priceline! I've read some good things and not so good things written about this hotel, I'll post a review after I get back. Also booked a rental car for my trip with Priceline, an Economy car from Enterprise that I'll pick up here in Cincinnati at 4 PM on the 9th and return at 9 AM on the 13th (really more than 3.5 days), yet only getting charged 3 days for the car. $13.49 a day, with taxes and fees the total is only $58.58.