Life, lived on Priceline

[mbstone]

For 3 months now (since I started my present job) I have been living in the LAX zone, staying in PL hotels and driving PL rent-a-cars.

The prices I have been paying ($16-18 for cars, $40-45 for hotels, on the average) compare favorably to leasing a car or renting an apartment.

Advantages: I get to drive a variety of newish cars. I don't have to worry about car maintenance or standing in line at the DMV to register the sucker. I get maid service. Since I can play with the dates, I have lots of rebid opportunities. I don't have to worry about extended car payment or rent commitments or down payments or security deposits.

Disadvantages: Although PL has a theoretical 28 day maximum, this is not really available and I have great difficulty renting cars for more than 10 days, or hotels for more than about 5-8 days. Sometimes there is a convention causing hotel availability issues, and I have to stay in a less desirable PL property or even a local motel. I have to move a lot. In this zone you can get dinged ("upgraded") for a pay-parking hotel without warning (although some properties are near free on-street parking, a couple are not). If I get too tired to leave the room I am tempted to eat room service which can be very expensive at some properties. Sometimes I get PL Treatment like "we only give PL guests smoking rooms."

[AaronJB]

Thanks for sharing - very interesting story, and I hope you continue to share your PL experience.

Have you had any good "upgrade" stories?

[mbstone]

So it's upgrade stories you want. The following observations are about as true of other cities as they are of LAX.

Hotel "upgrades" of the undesirable type often occur. Typically you bid 2.5* and get "upgraded" to a 3*. The typical 2.5* properties have free parking and/or breakfast and/or internet, sometimes all of the above. The typical 3* has pay parking and pay internet. The basic idea is, the fancier the hotel, the less you get.

Examples:

LAX Airport Area - Los Angeles

1*

Tradewinds

Free parking, free muffins/coffee, free internet.

2.5*

Courtyard - LAX

Pay parking (valet only), but nearby free street parking. Free internet.

Courtyard - El Segundo

Free parking, free internet. Printme.

Holiday Inn - LAX

Awful pay parking, no street parking. Free internet.

Residence Inn - Manhattan Beach

Free parking, free full breakfast, free internet. Kitchen (cook your own food and save).

3*

Hilton - LAX

Awful pay parking, no street parking. Pay internet.

Marriott - LAX

Pay parking, no street parking. Pay internet.

Radisson - LAX

Pay parking, free street parking. Pay internet.

4*

Sheraton Gateway - LAX

Pay parking, free street parking. Pay internet.

Notes: Pay parking typically $12-15/day. Street parking typically on 98th St, 200-500 yards from hotel, hunt/fight airport employees for a parking space. Pay Internet typically $10-$11/day. Also, the fancier the hotel, the fewer TV channels there are (Mbstone's Law Of Hotels).

Car upgrades:

These are a good thing. The counter person will start off offering you a one car class upgrade for $10 but has the authority to give you a two or three-class or SUV upgrade for as little as $3. You are always safe in renting the lowest possible car class from PL and dickering at the counter for an upgrade, this will always save you money. Always refuse to pay extra for stuff like satellite radios or GPS.

[zbenye]

Welcome to the club, mbstone! I have been living in Priceline hotels for 4 years now, in San Francisco and St. Louis, except for a few months last year when I had a different arrangement, and presently since I stumbled upon an excellent sublet opportunity for 5 months (now I regret taking it, I miss the maid service...)

It used to be very easy in the beginning, until hotel business started picking up again last year and it has become increasingly difficult to win multi-week stays. Back in 2002-2003, 21-night wins at the Embarcadero Hyatt Regency were commonplace, for an astonishing $37/night...

KTVU (FOX) interviewed me for their evening news when I was living at the Hyatt. If thereuare has some space, I could upload the 5MB clip here.

If you find that you're getting too many undesired "upgrades" at LAX, go to nearby Manhattan Beach. Free parking there.

Since you're renting a car I assume you don't own one and don't have insurance? Just be aware that if you are counting on your credit card to cover loss/damage, these coverages are limited to 14-15 days of intended/actual rental. So if this is the case - be sure to change cars every two weeks, alternating credit cards. I did that in St. Louis last summer. As for liability coverage - I had a friend add me as a named driver on his auto insurance, which covers me when I rent cars, and this only added $6 to the 6-month premium.

[dahammer]

OK mbstone and zebne, now lets hear the scoop about the Hotels that had the worst "Priceline Bias" that is, the clerks at which properties gave you major attitude about your Priceline win and wanted to stick you in a the smallest smoking room next to the elevator and ice machine? :)

[lwitchel]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but what do you do with your possessions - or do you keep them down to what you can stick in a suitcase?

[mbstone]

Insurance: I am away from home back East, where my wife and mother-in-law live and where I have possessions, a mortgage, and conventional auto insurance. I have checked with my auto insurance carrier and they claim I am covered for rentals up to 30 days.

PL bias: I know of one absolutely foolproof method of avoiding getting an inferior room which I use very rarely and which I cannot share. I don't mind elevators or ice machines. I do mind smoking rooms, and I wish PL would stop endangering my health by not allowing me to request a nonsmoking room when bidding. Seems to me the smoking rooms tend to be occupied by people from places like Asia or Chicago where everyone chain-smokes. The LAX area hotels that claim they have no nonsmoking rooms (or no king beds) the most often are the Holiday Inn and Sheraton. A little schmoozing with the front desk clerk can go a long way, as can being a regular or elite at that property. You can shut down PL snobbery in an instant by asking the desk clerk, "If you were spending your own money, you'd use PL, wouldn't you?" 100% of the time the clerk will smile and nod in agreement. The clerks have great respect for us PLers, they just aren't allowed to show it. Another variation: "I earned this Gold card by spending the bosses' money, now I'm spending my own money!" This will often result in your receiving Gold (or whatever) privileges for that stay.

Possessions: Living this way helps me learn to travel light and avoid attachments to objects. I have about 4 bags and maybe 4 cardboard boxes that contain things like files and an HP inkjet printer. Sometimes I have to leave town for a couple of days. If I am coming back to the same hotel, and they have bellhop service, the bell desk will nearly always store my bags for a couple of days for a decent tip. I have recently rented a tiny 5x5' storage locker near LAX (check those move-in specials!) for those other times. After a stay in a kitchenette property, going to a non-kitchenette property, I find myself having to toss foodstuffs and condiments I would rather have kept. Oh well, I consider it a tip for the housekeeper.