disarticulate

DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL! There is a train crossing 30 yards from the hotel and it blows its horn every fifteen minutes 24 hours a day. This nuisance is well documented on trip advisor. I checked in at 11pm first night and slept maybe 1 hour total. The second night I tried their complimentary ear plugs and white noise machine, and no joy. The train horn is incredibly loud. I was on the 8th floor, west side and someone I was on the phone with could hear it loud and clear through my phone. I used your PRICELINE link and won on Priceline for $75/night for 4 nights. I called Priceline last night, they have in touch with the hotel manager. And I was refunded the remaining 3 nights and I checked out immediately at 11pm. I immediately booked The Westin Westminster 4* for $84/nt for 3 nights and slept like a baby. I think I may have forgotten to use the BB HOTWIRE link, but I was so tired I was barely able to drive to the Westin.

I am blown away at the condition of this hotel and the room. The fact that I paid only $40 for this is an absolute steal. The lobby looks brand spanking new with a sizable bar and restaurant. The service was prompt and friendly. The furniture in the room looks brand new and is pretty fancy, even. A good sized refrigerator and microwave are set inside a dedicated cabinet as well as a coffee maker with free coffee, of course. A decent sized flat screen TV and comfortable wingback chair are also notable. The bathroom is just as nice, with updated fixtures and an overall clean look. There is a good sized tub, curved shower rod, and most importantly, the goose-neck showerhead is elevated to about 6'5", which is nice for a 6'3" guy like me. The only downside I would say is the loud air conditioner. There is also free WiFi Very pleased with this outcome, thanks BB.

I happily used your PRICELINE link after researching prices on this forum. HOTWIRE's best deal was $50 for 1 night, so I went to PRICELINE and snatched up the Holiday Inn. Started out in "Airport (BHM)" offering $38 for 1 night. The offer was rejected, and PRICELINE said if I raised my bid to $45 it would be accepted. I declined, added the sector "Central Birmingham" and bumped my offer up to $40. Accepted at $40! Grand total after tax and fees is $54.07. Thanks again! Will follow up with a review of the accommodations.

All of the superficial aspects of a hotel make this place a 2.5*, but I can see how Hotwire wants it to barely sneak into the 3* category. The hotel itself resembles the structure of a Holiday Inn Express. It is a short, stubby, solitary building with one hallway. There is a small, simple entrance with four lounge chairs and a stagnant piano. The "business center" is laughable at best. Fortunately I brought my own computer, because the business center's computer is akin to the one from my keyboarding class in 7th grade, circa 1995. There is a miniature convenience store style area adjacent to the front desk, but it basically has all of the things you can get from a vending machine plus some toiletries. The rooms are spacious and adequate, with a "living room" area furnished with a sofa, chair, coffee table, and dining table. The furniture is in the 2.5* category. There is a decent size fridge, microwave, and wet bar with cabinets. There is no central air conditioning, just the large, loud units under the window that you're used to seeing at a motel 6. There is no room service, but they do offer complimentary hot breakfast in the morning. Scrambled eggs, grits, sausage, biscuits w/ gravy, and Texas shaped Belgian waffles among all the other goodies that would come with a continental breakfast. The service is friendly. I called the morning of my check-in, and they were accommodating in allowing me to request king bed on 3rd floor. When I arrived, the room was facing the freeway. I asked to be moved to the other side of the hotel, and again they were very accommodating. This is definitely a 2.5* hotel, but I can see an opaque hotel dealer making the argument for 3*... can we give it 2.75*?

There were no other amenities listed other than those four that I listed.

Hello again, Used your Hotwire link to find a decent room in the Houston area. I wanted to have a little more assurance that I was getting a hotel with good reviews, so I opted for Hotwire. When searching for rooms, I sorted by price (low to high) and then scrolled down until I found a hotel with good user reviews (90% recommended) for $53 / night. Comfort Suites Humble Amenities: Pet friendly, Pool, Fitness, Laundry (nothing else). 90% Recommended Total with taxes and fees $258 for 4 nights ($65/nt). Pretty darn good for a hotel with such good reviews. I looked at the TripAdvisor user reviews on this hotel and they're pretty darn good. Looks like it got the 2013 Certificate of Excellence and Choice Award 2011 & 2012. Will let you know how the stay goes.

Just checked in to Westin Galleria about an hour ago and I'm pleasantly surprised. I didn't have high expectations because of some of the reviews I've read, but now I think most of them just got off on the wrong foot because of difficult parking. Fortunately, I'm familiar with the Galleria area, I knew exactly where to park and it was less than a 2 minute walk to the check in counter. Parking: Here's what I did to park in the Orange Garage Level 1: go down Alabama St and pass the Hotel valet. At the very next traffic light (McCue St) take a left into the parking garage and stay left at the fork.) After you park, just walk back down Alabama about 50 yards and you're there. This will save you a lot of walking or the $25 valet fee. Checkin: I arrived early around 2:30 and they were pretty fast despite there being quite a few people in the lobby. Checkin was speedy fast, so I was on the elevator within 10 minutes of arriving. Room: The room is definitely 4 stars. I've read some reviews saying that the rooms are dated and I have to disagree. Very nice furniture. The bed is up to par with every other Westin I've stayed in, and it's suiting me well as I type this, especially after I played 3 hours of tennis earlier today. The bathroom is gorgeous, albeit moderately sized, and the fixtures are nice and look up to date (nothing too über modern or swanky, but nice.) There's a large rainfall shower head that is high up (I'm 6'3" and it's about 6 inches above my head) as well as a detachable body sprayer for those hard to reach areas haha. The tub is big enough and the back is reclined. They have the curved shower rod to make it roomy in case you want to bring a friend. Cons: I'm using my iPhone's HotSpot feature to tether for internet access because I think Westin's WiFi is around $20 a day. The food is also uber expensive. I was looking to being lazy this weekend and getting some room service, but it's $18 + gratuity for pancakes and then add $10 for coffee and you're looking at $60-70 for breakfast for 2 after tax and gratuity. No thanks. Summary: Westin Galleria is definitely still a 4* hotel, and at $163 total for 2 nights after tax in this location, so far I am very pleased. Thanks BB.

Just pulled the trigger on a little staycation. Used your Priceline link to start taking stabs at 4* Hotels in the Houston Galleria area. Attempts 1st - $55 - 4*, Galleria Area - REJECTED 2nd - $58 - 4*, Galleria, League City - REJECTED 3rd - $60 - 4*, Galleria, League City, Kemah - REJECTED 4th - $62 - 4*, Galleria, League City, Kemah, Katy - REJECTED 5th - $64 - 4*, Galleria, League City, Kemah, Katy, Pearland - REJECTED 6th - $66 - 4*, Galleria, League City, Kemah, Katy, Pearland, Willbrook - ACCEPTED, 4* Westin Houston Galleria Total for 2 nights - $163.12 (not bad) Snagged the Westin Houston Galleria, not bad. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I'll take it. It should work out well for back to school shopping because this weekend is tax-free in Texas. Will try and follow up with the experience, Jeff

Late update. Renassaince hotel was very nice, definitely 4 star caliber. It was about a 150 yard walk to the train station, making the entire stip easily accessible. A 3-day pass for the monorail was $30. Best of luck

Needed a last minute room on a 3/6 (saturday) in Las Vegas. I wasn't really content with the offers on Hotwire so I jumped over to priceline after reading LittleCity's post about the Renaissance. Booked it 3/5/10 @ 3a.m. Selected 4* and Convention Center for $50 Accepted first try to Renaissance Hotel Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $50.00 Subtotal: $50.00 Taxes & Fees: $13.72 Total Charges*: $63.72 Thanks to LittleCity for the previous thread as this is what I was aiming for. Thanks betterbidding.com, this website is golden. I used your PRICELINE link. I'll let you guys know how the stay was.

---Pros--- ***This hotel got the job done, with room to spare. The room was larger than an average hotel room, with a couch, coffee table, and a large desk. The king size bed was very comfortable and linens were especially welcoming after a long night of binge drinking. The bathroom vanity was classy and looked recently up-to-date (w/in 5 years or so). I had the "Junior Burger" or something like that off of the room service and it was pretty darn tasty. ---Cons--- ***WiFi was like $10 or so per day and wasn't very fast (~2Mb/sec.) This isn't terribly slow like dial-up, but can be some-what of a nuisance for power users. I had to stream some videos for work, and it took quite a while to buffer them because of the moderately slow internet. ***No Hi-Def TV, so watching football games was a bit retro. But for the price, HD shouldn't be expected. All in all, I would definitely stay here again at the price stated above. -disarticulate

Just booked via betterbidding HOTWIRE link. 3.5* Austin (North) Doubletree Hotels Austin North for 2 nights. $59/night from 11/13/09-11/15/09. $140.27 after taxes and fees. Description showed: Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Hi-Speed Internet Not an amazing deal, but beats paying full price. And I'd rather pony up another 20 bucks a night to know that I'm not going to get stabbed at some cracked out motel. I'll comment on my stay after the weekend of debauchery....