Hotwire Hotel: Hotel for 3 in Tampa, Florida.

[hotelfor3]

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong area of anything, I am a little lost!

I need a hotel room for myself, hubby and our six year old son, in Tampa Florida for March 27th to 30th. I'd like a nice hotel, budget no more than

[Romelle]

More help is on the way, I'm sure. I'm just a member, but though I'd get things started.

Your 100 British Pounds is about $154 right now. The bid amount will be somewhat less, as one bids pre-taxes and fees (but you do see the total before you place your bid).

Florida hotels often charge a "Resort Fee" that is not included in the total bid price, but rather charged right at the hotel, so you need to keep that in mind for your budget.

www.gohart.org is the web site for looking at Tampa public transportation. A good web of coverage, although US public transport generally isn't quite as effective as European public transport.

If you use the Calendar of Wins up above (under Tools) and key in your dates and "tampa" you can see both Priceline and Hotwire reported successes. It might give you a better idea what your budget will buy. I was surprised by the one Priceline 3* $45 win for one of your days.

You need to decide on the star level at which you will bid. "Nice hotel" means very different things to different people.

If your son is anything like my sons as they were growing up, and now my grandkids, the hotel pool will play a huge part in his day's activities.

You have a choice between pursuing Hotwire or Priceline. With Priceline, you won't know your hotel until your bid is successful. With Hotwire, that also is true BUT the experts here can help you make a pretty well educated guess as to what you are likely to get if you post the details of a particular Hotwire offering - dates, amenities, # of people, rate. Hotwire can be a little more expensive, but some people prefer having a better idea as to what they might be getting. And they can select for certain amenities such as kitchenette, free breakfast, airport shuttle and/or pool.

Romelle

[hotelfor3]

Thanks Romelle, yes I'm sure our son will love a hotel pool. And Tampa hotels in general are quite large to what I'm used to here in London i think and we're not too concerned with public transport as hubby will be able to manage that I'm sure. "Nice hotel" to me means, not a huge amount of noise, we'll be in NYC before Florida so this will be just a "relaxing" few days hopefully.

Question re Priceline... if I do a search it tells me the price is for two adults... so I stopped there as there's two adults and a child I wasn't sure if I could continue and didn't see anywhere to alter the amount of people.

I will look through HOTWIRE and see if anyone can "guess" which hotel it is.

[hotelfor3]

There's this one in clearwater £340 3 stars :

This hotel features the following amenities:

Near Beach

Property is located within easy walking distance of a beach.

Oceanfront Property

Property is located along the ocean, but not directly on a beach. For example, the hotel may be situated on a bluff along the coastline.

Smoke Free Rooms

Guest rooms at this hotel are always smoke-free.

Pool(s)

Property offers at least one pool area; hours and dates of operation may be seasonal.

Restaurant(s)

Property offers at least one restaurant on the premises; hours and days of operation may vary.

Laundry Facilities (self-service)

<amenity names only please... not descriptions>

High-Speed Internet Access

Guestrooms are equipped with high-speed Internet access; an extra charge may apply.

[AaronJB]

PRICELINE is only guaranteed for double occupancy/1 bed. You could use it for three people, but there is a chance that the hotel could only be willing and/or able to provide a room with one bed. With HOTWIRE, you can select the amount of people in the party and you should expect bedding for the amount of people in the party (if you select 3/4, then 2 beds or 1+sofa, etc.) Just to confirm, are you seeing the above property in Clearwater or the Clearwater Beach zone?

Also, please click the currency tab in the upper corner of the HOTWIRE screen and post the prices in USD$. Thanks.

The list of HOTWIRE properties that have been reported to the board - as well as the amenities associated with each - can be found in the Hotwire Hotel List Florida.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[hotelfor3]

Hi thanks for the help.

I dont want to book a room on the offchance the hotel will provide an extra bed, rather than knowing I've covered that so I'll leave PRICELINE and stick to HOTWIRE and have another search around.

[hotelfor3]

My search is for "Tampa FL" and the hotel is coming up "Clearwater beach" its 3 stars and $339 USD for two nights 28th to 30th march.

This hotel features the following amenities:

Near Beach

Oceanfront Property

Smoke Free Rooms

Pool(s)

Restaurant(s)

Laundry Facilities (self-service)

High-Speed Internet Access

Can anyone tell me what it is?

[Romelle]

hotelfor3

I'm assuming the 3* you found on Hotwire is the one with the base per day price of $152? It matched all the amenities you listed, and I got the same price whether I put in for 2 adults or 2 adults plus 1 child.

I couldn't quite match your $339, but it was very close at the two day total with taxes and fees added in.

You did notice that hotel is 23 miles from Tampa?

I'll leave the "educated guess" part to the experts here.

Romelle

[hotelfor3]

Romelle, thank you yes, Clearwater Beach is west from Tampa airport straight over the Sunshine Skyway bridge. We have some knowledge of the area as we've been to Indian Rocks (slightly further south) before.

Should I look with a single day price would that make it easier to identify the hotel?

[Romelle]

I'm glad to hear you know a bit about the area. I saw that 23 miles and just wanted to make sure you didn't get an ugly surprise if you ended up taking that hotel.

You don't need to look for the single day price. The per day price that shows up on the first page for a Hotwire inquiry is the one to post, even if it is for multiple days (it is an average then). And while I'm at it, for the amenities, you just need to list their names. Not the full descriptions. The moderators doing the hotel "educated guess" process are able to read and process them more quickly if they are generally in the same format.

[AaronJB]

Are you still seeing this property appear when searching for these dates this evening? When searching for 1/28-30 for 2a/1c, I'm seeing a 3* in the Clearwater Beach zone w/: Beachfront, Restaurant, Pool, Smoke Free, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Laundry, Golf, Tennis, which would be a possible match for the Best Western Sea Wake. Are you seeing a different 3* in the Clearwater Beach area for the 28th-30th when searching this evening for 2a/1c?

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.