Priceline Hotel: 1* Cartersville Americas Best Value Inn Cartersville

[TarHawk]

Woo-hoo! Recession vacationing at its finest! :lol:

So, I was piecing together a long weekend on the cheap in Charleston, where I booked two hotel rooms on Priceline already for Saturday and Sunday nights. This room is for on the way out, via North Georgia.

After exhausting all the bidding levels with free rebids in the Cartersville area, I thought, hey, why not try the PRICELINE Instant Deals?"

I knew using this option for the first time would require me to adjust my expectations. After all, experience and the best minds on travel bidding sites tell me that the best deals are to be had on three-star rooms. But since I just need a place to spend one night after a day of driving and visiting the Etowah Indian Mounds, I thought I would take a chance.

With that in mind, I glanced through Priceline's named hotels price list and picked out the worst in the batch. Looked like Priceline users were least satisfied with Americas Best Inns Cartersville. It is not an understatement to say that user reviews on this property are mixed, at best. Perhaps the more critical ones are just fussy travelers, or maybe they have an unusually high rack rate due to a big event in the area. But nobody mentioned bedbugs, prostitution, porn production or drug dealing in connection with this property, so I determined that if I drew that one, I wouldn't feel ripped off by paying $28 plus $10.76 in fees/taxes; I gather most of that amount is Priceline's fee rather than taxes, since Cartersville only lists a 6 percent hotel/motel occupancy tax.

So I went ahead and took the unnamed one-star "at up to 40 percent off." Just going by difference in price between $28 and the listed price of $44.99, I did indeed get 36 percent off -- nearly the maximum I could expect. Bake in Priceline's fee, which could be anywhere from $5 to $8 on this room, and the basis for figuring the discount would be from $33 to $36, a discount of $6 to $9, or 13% to 20%. That beats Motel 6, and that's OK with me.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

While not your first choice of star rating or hotel, glad to see this fits your 'just passing thru' needs and you're pleased with the deal you received for this offer.

Can you please add the amenities shown before your purchase. As this is a new product for PRICELINE, i don't know for certain, but i would think you can still view these by going to the MY PROFILE >> MY TRIPS link near the top right of their home page.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[TarHawk]

It'll do just fine for a low-budget road trip.

>>Can you please add the amenities shown before your purchase.

Certainly. Here are the amenities listed on the confirmation page: 24-hour front desk

Accessible facilities

Cable television

Complimentary breakfast

Complimentary continental breakfast

Continental breakfast

Free high speed internet connection

Free parking

High speed internet access

High speed wireless

Non-smoking rooms (generic)

On-Site parking

Outdoor parking

Outdoor pool

Parking

Pets allowed

Pool

Telephone

Wheel chair access

Wireless internet connection in public areas

And here are the amenities listed on the opaque "Express Deals" page for this hotel:

This Hotel has: Free Breakfast | Free Internet | Indoor or Outdoor Pool | Free Parking | Pets Allowed