Priceline Hotel: 2* State College (North) Toftrees Resort and Conference Center

[PapaCat]

One of many in our recent run of State College rooms.

As always, BB + PRICELINE is an unbeatable combo.

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Room Subtotal: $84.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $15.56 (USD)

Total Room Cost: $99.56 (USD)

[AaronJB]

Congratulations on your success. :)

Looks like another superb deal! Hope you are looking forward to another stay at this property.

Thank you for sharing your result with the board and using the site's PRICELINE link.

Enjoy your stay.

[RenHoek]

Looks like PRICELINE is very risky for State College, PA. Too many 2* hotels, and sorry to say that Toftrees gets pretty horrible reviews. I'd love to know what you think.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g5...nnsylvania.html

Perhaps a warning in the Priceline hotel list might be warranted.

[taliategan]

My strategy is to bid 3* only in State College. I believe there are currently only 3*s in the South zone, which will most likely be the Residence Inn or Courtyard. Since State College was divided by PRICELINE into 3 zones and the other two State College zones, as well as the Clearfield zone, do not have 3*s, you have 3 re-bids for bidding a 3* in the State College South zone. I have not stayed at Toftrees in over 10 years - I remember it as being fairly nice back then. I am surprised they would let it go since it was a nice golf resort.

[PapaCat]

My strategy is to bid 3* only in State College. I believe there are only 3*s in the South zone, which will most likely be the Residence Inn or Courtyard. Since State College was divided into 3 zones and the other two State College zones, as well as the Clearfield zone, do not have 3*s, you have 3 re-bids for bidding a 3* in the State College South zone. I have not stayed at Toftrees in over 10 years - I remember it as being fairly nice back then. I am suprised they would let it go since it was a nice golf resort.

There is no doubt that the Toftrees "golf resort" is badly in need of updating and renovation, but it certainly works for me as a basic and tolerable 2* hotel. I have stayed there three times myself and my wife an additional time solo. While I would call the rooms drab and fading and the service middling to poor (they accidentally charged my cc once for the room pline had paid for but fixed it quickly), it's not bad and I certainly have never found it unsafe, unclean, or unsleepable.

Now, that said, I obviously never stayed during peak times and did not have noisy neighbors. It is a bit of dump, and I don't eat at their buffet, but I'll settle for this rather than pay $150+ a night. I certainly would never pay rack for this place, but at the $40-42 a night range, it's tolerable. With the Motel 6 on North Atherton having switched over to a higher-price brand, the number of marginally acceptable hotels to be had under $80/night dropped to pretty much the Super 8 on South Atherton, which can be a bit hit or miss.

Now, almost any of the other 2* priceline hotels in State College are far and away better than Toftrees (or Super 8) and if you can get one of the very few 3* rooms in the South zone, you are in very good shape. So my strategy is to bid 3* South for 40 then go up with the free rebids to 47, 55, and 62. If that fails then I quit out and start over with 2* South at 40 and then if that fails add 2* North at 42. Toftrees "resort" is a very common hit in the 2* North range, so just be aware you more likely than not will end up here if you bid that zone at that level. If avoiding this place is important, do not bid 2* North in State College; stick to 3* South or just pull the trigger on the Super 8 or look to Hotwire.

That said, I and others have scored some very good deals on other 2* North hotels (in the cluster of newer hotels on Waddle), but it is definitely a gamble.

Still, I have never had an experience at Toftrees as bad as the Tripadvisor reviews report. (I do have to wonder if some of those reviews are so harsh because people were fleeced at $200+/night rates in event weekends.)

[dahammer]

Still, I have never had an experience at Toftrees as bad as the Tripadvisor reviews report. (I do have to wonder if some of those reviews are so harsh because people were fleeced at $200+/night rates in event weekends.)

and a two night minimum for football games :)