Peter Piper

Got this place on a $40 bid for 6/28/2010. It is a recently renovated Courtyard. The lobby is a whole new look, meant to foster interaction, but also allow for private areas to work/relax, etc. At the center of the lobby is a sort of a snack counter, dubbed the 'Bistro'. Bistro in french means, 'a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting', however I would call the Bistro more of a snack bar. The positives: Good sized room, pool & jacuzzi -- unfortunately only open in the evening when they have lifeguard service, interior courtyard for lounging, nice new lobby, internet computers (though we didn't need them), free WiFi, small convenience shop in the hotel, free airport shuttle. Reston Town Center, a sort of town and outdoor mall area is about a mile away. Could even be walking distance if you like to walk. Negatives: Can't really think of any. Oh yes, the guy working at the bistro in the morning had a bit of an attitude and was obviously annoyed that we took too long to make up our minds (even though there wasn't anyone else waiting). If you're lucky hopefully he won't be there next time.

I gave it the worst possible rating on Priceline, if that' s what you mean. Or is there some other way to voice my displeasure on Priceline? With this particular hotel being a 3-star I was expecting good service, not to be tricked into paying a parking fee and having it show up on my bill with no notice from them whatsoever. Also, many people have reported that staff has a pretty bad attitude overall. Being in a good location downtown these guys probably get a lot of non-repeat business so they just don't care. If you stay have you may have an okay time if you don't have any run-ins with the staff or management, but I really expect more from a 3-star place then just to hope I get out of there without having to deal with the staff.

Here's the link to the review I wrote: Link to Review

My opinion of this hotel is somewhat mixed. So I'll list the positives & negatives. Positive: This hotel does get a number of things right: Most of the hotel looks recently renovated. Good sized room (especially compared to the Microtel we'd stayed in a few days earlier!). Quiet. Beds seems okay. Breakfast fans will find a decent, if not spectacular complimentary continental breakfast consisting of hot and cold cereal, fruit, juice, coffee, tea, danish (cut in half), toast & jam. Pleasant breakfast room. They do offer a fridge and microwave in the room, which could come in handy. Many hotels do not offer this and some even charge a fee for it. They selli various snack items so if you arrive late and are hungry there are soups and things like that you could microwave. There is a shopping mall about a mile away. You can walk to Costco for a very inexpensive snack of pizza or a hot dog & smoothie. If anyone asks for your membership card, tell them you're only going to the snack bar. Negative This hotel is listed as a two star but to me it feels more like a one-star. There is no pool. no exercise room and the location seems odd, right behind a Costco. Naturally you get nothing in the way of a view. (Either the back of the Costco or the parking lot in back.) I gather this place may have been more run down at one time and you can see this when you step into the elevator -- The elevator it gives a bad impression with stained carpet, scratched walls, old wood-colored metallic paneling. When I entered into the elevator I was quite concerned with the state of the hotel. Fortunately the elevator didn't reflect the state of rest of the place. It looks like they accidentally left the elevator out of their renovation plan! Considering the quality, the regular price seems a bit on the high side. A two double bed room goes for $75 and a queen bed room is $85 (incl tax) -- the 'best rate' on the Travelodge web site for a mid-week stay as of today. I would feel a bit ripped off if I paid that price. Style of hotel is straight out of the 60s. It is in a somewhat odd location. You cannot easily walk to any shops or restaurants except for Costco. The people at the front desk seemed fairly unpolished , though the gentleman who checked us out was friendly at least. If you check reviews on TripAdvisor, you should be aware that this place is actively skewing the reviews in its favor by pushing satisfied customers to leave a positive review. Maybe that isn't against the rules but it will tend to give them a higher rating than they ordinarily would have had. They are listed as #6 out of 22 places in Frederick. I can't imagine that this hotel is really the #6 hotel in the area. Overall it was an okay place to stop for a night.

While on the road, was trying for 3 star level at 9pm for same-day. Tried bids of $50 on 3-stars first in Hagerstown, then in Frederick area. Not accepted. Tried $45 for 2.5 stars. Not accepted. I suspect the late hour of the day may be the reason that bids were not being accepted. The 3 and 2.5 star places were probably sold out by that time since it was a Friday night in July. Finally went to 2-star and kept $45 to be sure of getting something. Bid was accepted for Travelodge in Frederick at $45 ($57 with taxes and fees). We were thinking 'Travelodge'?? Is that a 2-star? We were a bit apprehensive but by the time we got there we just hoping for a bed in a relatively clean place. It turned out to be okay. It is an older place that has been recently renovated. It is in a bit of an odd area right behind a Costco. There is complimentary breakfast (hot & cold cereal, toast, fruit, danish, coffee, tea). Btw. the regular price on this according to their website was $85 plus tax for two Queens, $75 plus tax for two double beds. Seems kind of high if you ask me. I am not quite sure if I'd rate it a two-star but it was okay for a night's sleep. I'll try to write up a full review.

I know that New York City is part of NY State :) but since about 3/4 of the people are bidding for NY City, that makes it hard to scan through the lists to see what prices are like in the rest of NY State. (Unlike in, say, Virginia, where you can scan through the list and get a good idea of current prices all over the state.) I know that I can use the search feature and just bring up Buffalo or whatever city I'm interested in, but it would be nice to just see Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, etc, And if I'm interested in NYC, I could just see the NYC places. Anyone else have thoughts on that?

In the United States you will not find any hotels with shared bathroom. You only find shared bathroom at hostels or a few B & B type places, but never at any of the chain hotels or motels.

Hotels shouldn't be allowed to jack up rates for regular people just because the UN is in town. It's not as if we suddenly have more money to spend just because the US is in session. It is basically price-gouging and is actually illegal in some places when there is a sudden storm or catastrophic weather situation. Anyway, I would recommend looking at hotels outside of Manhattan. You can get a MUCH better deal across the river in NJ Jersey, or north of NYC in Connecticut. Some places have access to the NJ Transit or Metro North (NYC - Connecticut) trains which are very reasonable and whisk you over to NYC quite quickly.

We stayed at this hotel about a week ago on a $40 bid. (meaning I actually paid $53.40). A very good rate for this place. (I tried for $35 and didn' t get it, btw.) I agree with most of what the previous reviewers have said. It is a pretty good 3-star hotel. Some people have said it is hard to find. Just get directions off of google or mapquest and you'll find it without much difficulty. I like the fact that it is in a semi-secluded area surrounded by trees. Since the last reviews the hotel seems to have finally introduced free wireless internet (about time, since it' s the year 2010). We enjoyed the outdoor pool since it's July and perfect weather for it. But an outdoor pool in Pittsburgh is utterly useless about 6 months out of the year. (What were they thinking when they built it?) The rooms were good-sized and beds were comfy. Can' t say much about how many channels the TV had since I never watch TV. (The ads drive me bonkers and there is hardly ever anything good on anymore.) This place seems to do a big business in conferences so the hotel lobby is a bit of an afterthought and is not that cozy or comfortable. There are some chairs there but but it feels like they only put in some seating because a hotel is supposed to have a lobby. Compare to Mariott Courtyard's newly re-designed lobbies and you'll see the difference. This may not matter to some people but I like a nice lobby if you are not just spending overnight there. And if you're only staying overnight you may not need a 3-star hotel anyway. As with practically all 3-star places, there is no complimentary breakfast. They do have a restaurant and they serve what appears to be a pretty good breakfast buffet for $8.49. Free coffee only in the morning in the lobby until 9am. There is an excercise room but I didn't have the opportunity to try it out. It looked fairly complete. Btw. I believe rooms no longer have rooms or fridges. It is an option costing, an additional $5 if I'm not mistaken. I don't fault them for doing that. 300 fridges in the rooms, switched on day and night with nothing in them eats up a lot of extra electricity. The Robinson Town Center Mall is nearby (print out your directions! -- don' t get lost on the way like we did) with a Starbucks just outside the mall and several good chain restaurants. We found the Golden Corral and had an excellent buffet lunch. I'd say the Sheraton Four Points is a decent 3-star with good rooms, which I'd recommend particularly in the summer months when the pool is open. You can definitely do worse. (See my review of The Atherton in State College, PA if you want to hear about the worst 3-star place I've stayed in.)

I'd prefer them not to mention that I booked through Priceline. But there really isn' t any shame in using priceline. (Although I really wish Priceline were more of a secret, word-of-mouth kind of thing.) Once or twice a front desk clerk exclaimed, "wow, you got a really good rate!" in an admiring way. I don' t see anything wrong with that either. There are a few people who are into openly bragging about the rate they have on priceline and I think that' s not so good either. Hotels need to get business from full-rate customers so if you tell those customers to use Priceline you are doing a disservice to the hotel. Also -- Although I enjoy using priceline and most of the time get a great deal, but you do pay a price as well: You completely lose the freedom of choice and you always run the risk getting a hotel you don' t like. Are we also going to brag about the times we got stuck in a hotel we hated? The times we got stuck with only one bed for two people who are not a couple? The times we got stuck with a smoking room when that was all that was available?

The 'savings' assumes that you would have booked the same hotel for the regular rate. I definitely would not be booking 3 star hotels for the regular price since my budget is only about $50 per night. So I'm not really saving anything by doing priceline, simply getting a better hotel than I would otherwise get for the same money. (Which I'm happy about, of course, even if it isn' t actually saving me any money.)

This is the same trick that Amazon has used for years when selling books. You get a lower price on the book but most people do not factor in the $3.99 shipping and handling fee. So, you buy a book for $8 and are happy to get it for $2 less than your local bookstore. But you forget all about the $4 postage charge (which is usually a lot more than it actually costs to ship a book) and think that you got a great deal on the book. You often end up paying more for the book than you would at your local store. Meanwhile your local independent bookstore goes out of business, and believe me this is happening all over the country. Independent bookstores are going out of business right and left, unable to compete with Amazon' s supposedly low prices. So, basically the same dishonest tactic that the hotels are using with mandatory resort fees.

I'm one of the people who had a bad experience at this hotel. You can read my review here--> State College Hotel Review Out of 46 reviewers on Trip Advisor, 20 people said their stay was 'poor' or 'terrible', while 26 rated it very good or excellent. So you could say that more people liked and than disliked it. But that doesn' t tell the whole story. Several people in the reviews complain that they were charged parking fees that the hotel never informed them about (in fact, they trick you into signing a document agreeing to a parking fee in the fine print, but never tell you about it.) Also, a couple of people have been charged a $250 smoking fee even though they are non-smokers. The hotel never apologizes for anything and whenever a guest had a problem it was always blamed on the guest. You can read all the posted reviews here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g5...ia.html#REVIEWS

This was the only bad experience I've had out of about 20 Priceline hotels. So far, that' s not a bad average. Btw. Is there any way to suggest to PRICELINE not to include a particular hotel in their line-up?

Here is the link to my review: Hotel Review Summary: Rooms are way too small and have only one bed, but breakfast is complimentary and pretty good.

If you like a spacious room, be warned: The room was TINY! About half the size of a normal hotel room! There was literally just about enough room for the bed. They light the place with flourescent lighting so it feels like being in an office. The room feels quite claustrophobic. This place was very clean, and they had a pretty nice breakfast. They even had a coffee maker that brews each cup individually. (which some people complain about because it takes too long (30 seconds) to brew a cup.) Check-in was fine and front desk staff (Rebecca) was friendly. If it weren't for the small rooms this could be a nice 2-star place.

Not a bad deal for this property considering they charge $89 (incl tax) for a double-bed room and $99 (incl tax) for a Queen bed room. Considering what's offered I would not want to pay more than $50 for it. I'll post a link to my review shortly.

By the way, the Price I paid on Priceline was $45, NOT $50. My mistake. I can't find any way to re-edit the original subject line.

Here is a link to the review I wrote: Atherton Hotel Review

Here is the review I wrote for Trip Advisor, Subject: The Atherton, State College, PA I had an experience at the Atherton unlike any I've ever had at any hotel. I parked in the underground garage that is listed among the amenities for this hotel on their website. The staff person gave me a 'Guest parking pass' to put on the car. The next day, to my surprise, I found out that they were charging me for parking in their supposedly free parking garage. I told them that no one had mentioned anything about a charge at check-in (as you would expect at any hotel) and that there are no signs or anything else that would tell you that there is a charge. I was thinking it was just a misunderstanding and that they would promptly remove the charge from my bill, but the front desk person would not do it and referred me to the manager. I expected that, after a short discussion, we would be able to clear things up. I explained that I had not been informed about parking fees. The manager, a middle-aged lady, insisted that I should have read the booking email I supposedly got, and went on arguing about this for ten whole minutes, eventually becoming belligerent and -- here is the most unbelievable thing of all -- She was actually threatening to call the police -- in a three star hotel. I was very calm the entire time, never raised my voice at all, so her reaction shows that she was defensive and must have known they were trying to put one over on the guests. (mind you, I'm not the first one this has happened to.) Right ahead of me, another woman who had stayed on a government rate had also been charged for parking without being informed about it in advance and was also attempting to get the charges removed. The sort of treatment I received is practically unheard of in a three-star hotel. Usually we've received nothing but the most polite at gracious treatment when staying at the Courtyard, Doubletree and similar places. The is the first time I've ever had such horrible treatment. You might read this review and think it's just me, and maybe I didn't hear them when they mentioned a parking fee. Please don't just rely on what I say, please check ALL the reviews for this hotel, especially the ones under 'Terrible' and 'Poor'. At least twenty people have had similar experiences or worse. Several people have had an almost identical experience with a mysterious parking fee being added to their bill even though no one ever mentioned a parking fee to them any time during their stay. Special warning: DO NOT sign anything they give you without reading it. It turns out that the document they hand you that you fill in with your car's license number actually has 'fine print' saying that you are aware of parking charges and a mysterious booking fee. So, yes I am guilty of not reading the fine print on a document. You should always read everything before you sign it, especially the fine print, but what other hotel does something like this? This all gives you the feeling that the hotel is going out of their way to pull the wool over your eyes and nickel-and-dime you with extra charges. Sorry to say, my experience with the hotel management and staff completely wrecked my stay there. Hopefully you'll have better luck yourself if you are staying there. I hope this hotel can clean up its act, get new management and trains staff in how to treat guests with dignity and courtesy (to say nothing of genuine warmth and friendliness which are entirely lacking in this place. ) By the way, when we arrived there were dirty dishes from the previous guest outside of our hotel room! Unbelievable. The hotel and rooms are very outdated. There was actual gunk and grime between the tiles in the bathroom. Clearly the place never undergoes a deep cleaning. The beds are the worst I've slept in in a 3-star hotel. They were very bouncy mattresses, much more reminiscent of a side-of-the-road independent place. If you get this hotel on Priceline, try to keep an open mind. If you don't have any run-ins with the staff you might even enjoy your stay. The pros: The hotel is very centrally located in downtown State College, an ideal location if you are there visiting for some campus event, walking distance to numerous restaurants, pubs and cafes. Not everyone has a bad time here: Out of 46 reviewers on Trip Advisor, 20 people said their stay was 'poor' or 'terrible', 7 said their stay was 'average' while 26 rated it very good or excellent. Link to reviews--> Tripadvisor Atherton

I had the first bad experience I've ever had at a three-star hotel at the Atherton. Basically, just awful customer service. I just posted a review on Trip Advisor. When it gets posted I'll put a link here.

Was surprised to get this one on a first bid as no one has reported winning it before on Priceline. Good location, in downtown State College, - walking distance - to the main St. College Ave. with restaurants, pubs, and cafes. Will try to write a review of it when I check out. Please add the The Atherton to the list of Priceline hotels for State College. I believe I got it under State College - South, even though it is right smack in the middle of town.

I wanted to add that, some people who really like this place. So if this sounds like your kind of place, don't be put off by my review. If you go for ultra-modern and trendy style, or if you are just curious about it you will probably enjoy it. If you are looking for traditional hotel comforts you may feel a bit put off. If that's the case, try to accept it as a chance to try out a new concept. One plus in this hotel is that the exercise room is one of the best I've seen anywhere. It's like a small health club. Unfortunately the pool is quite poor, almost too small to swim in and was very murky on the day I was there. The other big plus at this hotel is the whole foods right across the street. There is a mall about a mile away, the Short Pump Mall. I didn't get a chance to check it out.

I wish there were a way on Priceline or Hotwire to specify that you do not want this type of hotel, but the only thing you can do is to research on sites like this and not bid on a three star hotel in this area if you'd rather not stay at the Aloft. For the record, I do not believe this place deserves three stars.

Bravo for making this point! Strange that most people writing here seem to be okay with trying to hand the front desk clerk a bribe. Bribing the front desk clerk is immoral and dishonest. As you pointed out, you are endangering someone's job by doing so. Is it really worth putting the front desk person's job at risk and introducing corruption into the system so that you can get a better room? By the way, it's things like this that will give Priceline customers a bad name. Folks, please try to do things without handing the clerk a bribe or a 'tip' as some people call it.