ufjoe21

Most of the message boards have moderators or MODS, how come we don't have some? thereuare can't be here all the time.... not sure if anybody ever asked this b4

yes they are completely inaccurate, they rate ECONOLODGEs in ORLANDO, FL as 2* properties their ratings are all over the spectrum, there is no savings of money, they want over $100 a night for what they call 3* properties, which aren't even close to being 3* you know I've been around here awhile thereuare, I wouldn't just make up stuff plus FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, they're unreliable "hi I'd like to cancel my reservation" "ummm are you sure it's still a request sir" "yes, well sir maybe you should give it a little time" "I need to know today whether or not I have a reservation" "we don't know that info. sir" "well then I have to cancel" "okay sir" they sound like they're literally located in a small office at a strip mall FOR EXAMPLE July20-21,2005 3.5* Quality Suites East in WDW for $127.88 for a 1 bedroom suite priceline rates this as a 2* property if you book the hotel directly it's $125 for a 1 bedroom suite!!! talk about a bargain!!!

EasyClickTravel is no better than Hotels.com, no savings of $$$$, just some of their hotels choices are opaque, their star ratings are COMPLETELY INACCURATE DON'T USE THEM

NOTE: this property used to be the La Quinta Inn Lakeside Solid 2* clean, family friendly, pizzahut express/general store, breakfast buffet, bar with food, 3 heated pools, 2 kiddie pools, 2 playgrounds, mini golf, on busy HWY 192 you get what you pay for but it's a solid 2*, nice drape separating sink outside of bathroom from bedroom, small fridge, coffeemaker, much better in my opinion since Best Western has taken over

dahammer suggested this......... why not try a 2.5* hotel in Tampa or St. Pete or CLearwater 2.5* TEND To be Residence Inns and Courtyard Inns by Marriott these hotels tend to be roomier (better for more people in a room) business travelers use these hotels a lot the Residence Inss are usually some kind of suites which are definitely better for more people in a room somebody just snagged a Courtyard Inn for $47 in Miami now being a 2.5* you'd almost surely save money compared to booking your hotel directly on the beach just a suggestion.....................

nice job..........seems like the Courtyard and the Residences Inn are the 2.5* hotels wherever you go! :)

according to www.randmcnally.com (usually a lot better than mapquest or yahoo maps or google maps!) 27 miles from Tampa Airport to St. Petersburg Beach 15 miles from St. Petersburg Beach to Largo 27 miles from Tampa Airport to Treasure Island (makes sense because like I said St. Pete beach and Treasure Island are pretty close) if you're in any hotel in the Tampa Airport zone you won't be but a few miles from another hotel in that same zone so it won't make a difference distance wise personally I've driven to St. Petersburg (the city area) and about 10 miles after your on the major interstates going into tampa you start seeing signs for St. Petersburg, it's about a half-an-hour if I had to guess off the top of my head and that just about makes sense given what the miles distance is here's a recent review from www.tripadvisor.com about the Best Western Sea Castles..... There are only a few good things I can say about staying at the Best Western Sea Castle Suites. One is that you are right on the beach - great view for watching the sun set. Another is that there are restaurants, a grocery store, and some shopping all within walking distance. Free local calls. And finally, the front staff was very friendly. As far as the bad, they outweighed the good. There are more rooms than parking spaces. So you either didn't have a spot or someone would park behind your car and block you in. House-keeping never made our bed or changed our sheets. As far as we could tell, they only provided us with clean bath towels. You are expected to wash your own dishes, but they don't provide any dishwashing soap. Two of the burners on the stove were out, 3 out of 4 lamps were not working, and the toilet dripped water all night. The walls are very thin. You can hear everything. We could here conversations people were having in the room next us - word for word. Loud yelling, laughing, and screaming outside our door until 1 or 2 AM. We assumed the pool never closed because people were screaming and jumping in and out of it all night. And finally, the roaches. These were not your Florida Palmetto bugs - these were cockroaches. One of which I awoke at 4AM to find running right up my arm!!! Although the front desk was friendly, they didn't seem too worried about it when we informed them. We would never stay here again. doesn't seem like a nice hotel from a cursory inspection......... ok here's a question.....you're with kids....are you just looking for a place to stay (1* or 2*) OR are you looking for something on the nicer side (3* or 4*) the hotels on the beaches seem to be a dilemma they're either VERY expensive for having a somewhat quality hotel right near the beach or are absoultely trash but they have clientle because people just want to be on the beach and don't care about where they stay in my previous post when I mentioned A or B..........it's back to this fundamental thing you might just want to be right on the beach with no problems, but then might be disappointed with paying a hefty price for something that's not even a good quality but then again you're not wild about the idea of staying in Tampa, but like the idea of getting a nicer hotel for the quality level being better I'm trying not to influence you too much towards Tampa because maybe you'll be disappointed having to drive or not being on the beach ...... :) did you say 4 little kids?..............mmmmm okay hope you realize pricline is for double occupancy, (which can mean 2 beds or 1 king......designed for 2 people, so you might end up needing a rollaway or something which can cost more.....or maybe that's why you were looking at a suite lol!) well that's one issue that's been discussed here at BetterBidding before don't let me influence you so much about Tampa there's nothing to stop you from bidding on the Beach zones like St. Pete beach or treasure island and set a limit for how much you're willing to spend.........make sure you know how to bid before you do....check back here if you have questions lol u might guess I know alot about the Tampa airport zone, but don't know how helpful I am about the beaches also one thing is to consider the cost of parking at the beach, ok now I'm just nitpicking I'll tell you what I would do personally if I was in your situation, I would take the Airport zone for 3* or 4* and hope for the lowest price I can get, I'd rent a car and drive to the beach of my choice because they're all relatively close, and maybe enjoy some of the things to do in Tampa with the kids or the immediate area of the hotel for a day or 2 but that's me, maybe that wouldn't be your style like I said you can totally go ahead with your Best Western reservation directly with them, but I have a feeling from those reviews it won't be a pleasant experiene for 1 person let alone parents with 4 children it all comes down to this....if your goal is saving money....YOU SET YOUR OWN PRICE WITH PRICELINE.....you can get your hotel and car rental from them....if you're willing to lay out $90 a night for a 3* in Tampa Airport and it gets accepted you have to live with it, but if you get accepted for $50 at a 3* in the Tampa Airport you can do a dance because you saved money like I said try the beach areas with priceline, I'm just telling you nobody's had any relevant luck with them recently wow I'm really going off on a tangent here.....ok now i'll be really succint!!! I promise Make a decision, Big city and priceline reservation, or direct hotel reservation on the beach, or cross your fingers and try priceline for the beaches area once you're comfortable with your choice you won't be so apprhensive about driving or being close or far from the beach you have quite a bit of time if you really want October so you can bid your heart away on priceline until then and the journey continues!!!

too rich for my blood friend

no it's not to early that's the point you can rebid for the rest of 2005 into 2006! :)

GOOD LUCK and 200th POST!!!

it's not until 2006 so you have PLENTY of time to rebid, so you might as well low-ball your bid as much as possible because you have nothing to lose at this point if you get locked out!

In my own opinion I'd start at $40 or $50 and work my way up using free rebids

900 per night or for a week? :)

Priceline recently changed their website look, it looks cooler now! What do you all think?

ok so you're definitely set on Tampa............... (Treasure Island is separate, but close to, St. Pete beach is (where the Don Cesar is)) I suggested above the Tampa Airport zone, might be a good suggestion, if you're unfamilar with the area and have to go far in a rental car, to stay in a hotel right near the airport!........but that's if your comfortable with staying in Tampa! about the hurricanes issue.......completely unpredictable.........there's no reason why October will be a better bet than August, later in the hurricane season is supposed to be a more active tropical time, but there's no guarantee, if something happens with a hurricane there's nothing you can do!!! you can't predict these things, I think hotels can refund when stuff like that happens, however with priceline I don't think that would happen but don't think negatively, just plan your trip priceline has a Treasure Island zone to bid on, they also have a clearwater, clearwater beach, st. pete, st. pete beach, belleair,etc. zones as well to bid on I haven't seen any posts on winning bids in the beaches area recently or looking back a while ago.... here's your 2 choices in my OWN OPINION... A) you could stay in Tampa near the airport and drive to the beach of your choice, you'll be close to all the beaches and you're renting a car regardless, why bother renting a car if you're going to be right on the beach? I'd suggest the airport zone to be close to the airport, you can get a great deal most of the time on a 3* if you're looking to save money for what looks like 4 nights of your stay (like I said make it when you want don't worry about the hurricanes) B ) go directly for a beach..........here priceline might not be your best bet, hotwire and other sites might be better but frankly I don't think you'd save much money over using quickbook you could try for Clearwater beach, st. pete beach, or treasure island directly so you'd be really close to the beach (no guarantee you'll be on the beach), however this area priceline doesn't have much access to so you'd likely have to pay well over $150 to get access to anything unless you accepted a 1* or 2*, but I don't think that's the way you want to go priceline is EXTREMELY valuable for staying in LARGE CITIES like Tampa you can stay in different parts of the city and it doesn't matter if you're not exactly where you want to be because everything is close by now smaller cities it's not as useful because maybe you want to isolate yourself to a particular area like actually on the beach and priceline has no way of guaranteeing that you'd probably want to pick your hotel by hand and understand where the heck you're going to be, but you'll end up spending more money then you want to I'd suggest going route A........the problem is very few people bid on these beach areas, let alone get anything, however people have tons of luck saving money in the big city of tampa, and hey if you have to drive there it's worth it because you save more money on the hotel then on gas but like I said if it's more important to know exactly where you are, B might be the better bet but if you want to go with A you'll be right near the airport for your hotel you can get your rental car, ask around figure out what beach you want to go to drive there and spend the day, and usualyl there's plenty of entertainment near the beaches

thereuare the zone is wrong it should be TPA

there are NO guarantees try 1 hotel for 1 stay, if you need to break it up to make it work then so be it there's no advantage to it, if you end up splitting it up, and it saves you more money vs. one long stay then that's great but don't think it's a fail-proof way to save money, plus you could end up with a different hotel which could be a hassle to change hotels in mid-trip,etc.

well you have plenty of time to rebid

I've used PL and always been satisfied and saved LOTS of money, I've used HW once was NOT satisfied and saved LITTLE money just look at the prices people are getting for PL stays vs. HW stays plus HW star ratings ARE NOT ACCURATE AT ALL

mmmmmmmmmmm looks liek the stay is over................so what did you end up doing finally?

what "motel"....priceline is MOSTLY HOTELS which aren't the same as MOTELS actually if you use priceline you DON'T know what hotel you're staying in so you DON'T know if the hotel allows pets however I'd suggest you use priceline and if you can save yourself a LOT of MONEY, maybe it's worth it to be at a place that won't allow pets what's more important....saving money or bringing your dog?

now you should be good to bid again regardless

mmmmmm well those places are VERY expensive and Clearwater has a pretty popular beach and a lot of cheap hotels in the city of clearwater, but the hotels on clearwater beach are pretty expensive like I warned above Tampa isn't on the beach so you will have to travel, but like I said you can save money by staying in tampa and just drive to the beaches but after reading your post, maybe you should finalize what part of FL you'll be flying into before we all can be much help to you hotel-wise

no it's not to early to bid, you have plenty of time to bid and get the best deal

mmmm well if you want to be right on the beach I'd suggest Clearwater Beach....Tampa will put you CLOSE to the western beaches but not really on the water it depends on what you want Tampa....or being on one of the western beaches?