knagl

Huzzah! It was the GrandStay, which is what I wanted! Thanks for your help -- that hotel with the details in my initial post can be added to the Hotwire list for St. Cloud, MN. (...and I used the HOTWIRE link to help support the forum when I made my purchase.)

Greetings. This site is fantastic, but I didn't see this hotel in the Hotwire list and I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to help nail down the identity of the hotel before I bite the bullet. Check-in 2/10/13 for one night. 3-stars Hotwire: $71 per night ("$96 other sites*") St. Cloud area hotel Recommended in 95% of Hotwire customer reviews Amenities: Free Parking, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Suite, Indoor pool(s), Fitness Center, Pool(s), Laundry Facilities (self-service), High-Speed Internet Access, Golf Nearby, Tennis Nearby, Kitchenette, Children's Activity Program, Accessible for the deaf, Accessible path of travel, In-room accessibility, Accessible bathroom, Handicapped parking, Roll-in shower Customer rating on TripAdvisor: 4.5 out of 5 Based on the TripAdvisor rating and the Hotwire map of "St. Cloud area", I think I've narrowed it down to either the GrandStay Residential Suites Hotel or the Country Inn & Suites Saint Cloud East. Perhaps that "Children's Activity Program" could help to isolate it? I'm not sure how to further nail down which hotel it is, and one of them is appealing to me (due to its location), while the other is not. Any help would be appreciated!

M Resort dropped their resort fee in the late summer of 2009 -- no resort fee there anymore. MGM Grand has added a resort fee (again?) -- not positive as to how much it is, though.

Just wanted to post some information on some rejected bids for Saint Charles, IL (Chicago suburb). Saint Charles is the only Chicago suburb to list a "resort" hotel (in addition to some one star, two star, and two and a half star hotels). The only resort in Saint Charles (and the area, for that matter) is the Pheasent Run Resort and Spa. That simply must be the resort in PRICELINE's database. Since it is the only "resort" in any of the 15 Chicago suburbs, you can safely keep re-bidding up to 14 times by just adding one suburb at a time on each re-bid, so long as you don't change the hotel class that you're bidding on (ie. keep it as "resort" only). I was bidding for 4/4/2008 through 4/6/2008 (Friday and Saturday nights). The hotel's website had rooms starting at $179/night. I bid all the way up to $106/night on Priceline and kept getting rejected ($247 Priceline total for the two nights after taxes and fees). I stopped at that point as I have a reservation at a nearby hotel tht was less. Also, that hotel does charge a "resort fee" which likely wouldn't be included in the Priceline total -- expect an extra $8 a night for that, which you would have to pay to the hotel even though you pre-paid PRICELINE.

Okay, was trying to get one of the 3* hotels in Des Moines, started with a $40 bid, rejected. Raised to $47 and added Airport DSM (with no 3* hotels). Rejected. Raised to $51 and added Merle Hay, rejected. Added 2.5* to try and capture one of the two Merle Hay 2.5*'s, bid 39, rejected. At this point, needing a room more than a specific hotel, aimed for the Hampton Inn by adding 2* and bidding $36. Was accepted at the Comfort Inn (Airport, unlisted currently). A decent deal -- the Internet rate on the Comfort Inn website is $71.

If you were looking for just north of Bloomington, this hotel at 169 and 394 isn't far at all. If you had actually gotten a hotel in Coon Rapids, THEN you would have been off the beaten path. The Holiday Inn you got is a pretty nice hotel, and only a couple of miles away from where I live. :) Per their website, rooms on a Saturday start in the mid-$60's, so $42 isn't bad.

I'm going for the first time in January, and the hot tub thing has been on my mind, too. A friend of mine suggested the Palace Station, and one site I looked through mentioned that their hot tubs are open 24/7/365. They're slightly off the strip (just across I-15), but their rates are really reasonable, and I have heard good things about the place. I've booked two of my four nights there, but am still keeping my eyes open for other options. I have read some negative things about the "Courtyard" rooms there, but a lot of positive things about their tower rooms. Having never stayed there, I have nothing to offer insofar as personal opinion. Good luck -- let us know where you end up staying and what the hot tub situation is! :)

I experienced this when I booked a hotel through Travelocity. The in-room TV had a "view your bill/checkout" feature, and the bill showed what Travelocity paid for the room, which was roughly $15 less than what I paid Travelocity. It was still a good deal, though, so I didn't mind knowing that Travelocity made a few bucks on the deal, too.