Hotwire Hotel: Best areas to stay in FL, good hotels, etc.

[rodriquez2589]

Hey all! I am new to the whole Priceline/Hotwire thing and have a few questions. I'm skeptical about staying in a hotel that i know very little about, but my husband insists that we use this method to save some money on our upcoming vacation. We were looking to stay in Clearwater, but that isn't a must. I just prefer a location that has a beautiful beach, isn't overly crowded,is near a few attractions or activities, and is reasonable on our vacation budget. We are looking to travel within the first 2 weeks of July.

I would love to get a 4* hotel close to the beach since this is our late honeymoon/ anniversary vacation. (Normally I'm not so picky, just on special occasions)

I really liked the Hilton hotel in Port Richey, but felt it was to far of a drive from the things we are wanting to do. Does anyone have any advice on better areas of Florida to vacation? I love the idea of a sugar white beach & clear waters. & if so, what is a fair price to pay for a 4* hotel in that area? How should I bid on Priceline?

Thanks.

Honeymooner

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding and congrats on your honeymoon/anniversary. :)

This thread is recommended reading if you are new to both discount services: I've Never Used Priceline or Hotwire. Rates vary significantly from day-to-day and location-to-location - what would be your desired budget per night, and do you have specific dates/length in mind? Additionally, there is no way to guarantee a specific property or increase the odds of a particular property on PRICELINE. One can make an educated guess as to which properties are showing on HOTWIRE, although there is only one property at each star rating in each zone for each set of dates, and it may not be the hotel you were hoping/looking for.

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

[Romelle]

You mention being open to a number of different locations. Maybe you could even bid all the candidates, and accept the first 4* hotel/location for which your bid was successful?

You probably will want to look at the zone maps of your various candidate cities. Most of them have zones that are beach/near beach.

Clearwater area is lovely, but my personal favorite for sugar white beaches is the greater Pensacola area. In July, it might even be a little cooler than further south. For shelling, you can't beat the Sanibel Island area.

Have you found the hotel review area on this site? Way at the bottom. You might get some ideas from that. Also, browsing through some guide books might help you sort things out. Local libraries usually have good selections. I like Lonely Planet for planning trips, but also Rick Steves for a quick read to get a general idea about places. Lots of other good ones too.

How long are you hoping to stay in Florida? The whole two weeks, or a shorter period within the first 1/2 of July?

It might be fun to bid two or three shorter blocks of days, and get to experience more areas and hotels.

I'm a member, not a moderator, but thought I'd give your thinking another little nudge. Other members are likely too also.

Romelle

[rodriquez2589]

Thank you all for your responses! Romelle- Yes I am open to different locations around Florida. Pensacola looks beautiful, but I was worried about having enough to do in the area. We are looking to travel in the first two weeks of July but dont have exact dates yet. We plan to stay 3-4 nights. After looking at a few hotels, I think a 3-3 1/2 * would be just as good as a 4* for us. It looks like July is a more expensive month to travel (especially around July 4th), but our anniversary is July 9th so I wanted to be able to celebrate the exact day we got married in FL. Also trying to utilize weekends since my husband only has 3 1/2 days of vacation with his employer. We definitely aren't looking to break the bank and want to keep it reasonable. It's just more of time away from work, stress, kids, and having time together which is rare these days. I was looking into some of the less expensive attractions and some of the moderately priced ones as well.

Thank you all for your input! I will be doing a little more research on Pensacola Romelle.

[thereuare]

Let us know once your dates are confirmed and we'll take it from there.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Thanks (and happy anniversary )