Priceline Hotel: 2 1/2* Gulf Shores AL

[beckman4463]

Bid $75 for Gulf Shores, Alabama hotel 2 1/2*-rejected. No rebid zones so I will wait 72 hours and rebid.

I have a reservation 10 miles away in case PL doesn't accept my offer. Would love to be closer to the beach.

I plan to rebid $80 because I want to stay below my reservation of $89. Any advice???

[thereuare]

Where is your back-up reservation?

[beckman4463]

Best Western Riviera in Foley (about 10 miles away). We heard the road from Foley to Gulf Shores is very busy and takes awhile to get to the beach.

[thereuare]

Although Priceline has many more hotels than Hotwire, the fact that hotwire shows no availability may be indicative of this being a very tough area to get a great deal.

I don't know the area but it appears that there are not many hotels (many sites don't even recognize 'gulf shores' as a location), the opaque services generally work best in the larger cities or areas where there is a LOT of hotel competition.

[lowballer]

My folks live in this area so I have some knowledge here. The few chain hotels I'm aware of down there aren't too big and aren't on the coast. Most of the things on the coast are private residences, condos and vacation houses. Which you can certainly rent out, but not cheaply and not on PL, and usually not for less than a week.

Highway 59, the road down to the beach, isn't too bad in midweek. It's got traffic lights but it's four lanes and moves along better than a lot of other "roads to the beach" I'm familiar with. The back roads in that area are more interesting and easy to follow (they mostly run at 90-degree angles), so my parents almost never use 59.

If you're looking for bigger resort-type places on the beach, normally I'd say try further east in Florida. There's even a hotel-type facility within FL a state park (I forget its name). Trouble is, that part of the coast is still rebuilding from Hurricane Ivan, and the damage is worse the further east you go.

[lrh]

I am curious if you ever found anything in Gulf Shores on priceline. I would be very surprised. I don't like the fact that you don't know if you are on the beach or accross the street. I know availibility is severly limited due to hurricane damage. I don't think you would be happy staying if Foley if you are interested in a beach trip. It would be very inconvenient. The Gulf Shores real estate/rental market seems to keep things local.