Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Burlington-Stowe (Burlington-Williston) Holiday Inn

[grram1]

Judging by the other winning bids I take it that this must be a prime travel season for Vermont.

First the good news: After days of inching up my bids I know I got the best price I could have for the dates I'm staying and the time I'm bidding :) . Bid history on winning bid day:

3* - $69, $74, $79, $84... all rejected, out of free re-bids for the area I wanted to stay.

+2.5* - $85 - got message "One time offer, add $22 you can re-bid now"... declined & added areas.

- $89... rejected, $90... rejected, $91... price accepted.

Also "good news" was the price turned out to be pretty decent (not earth-moving, but acceptable). The lowest fare I could find elsewhere was also from priceline.com for $125 (holiday-inn.com had a net-direct fare of $125.95, AAA was $126), so we managed to knock off 27%.

Now for the not-so-good news: Tripadvisor rating was a miserable 9 of 10 :) . Although the reviews weren't quite as bad as the ranking would make it seem (maybe the other area hotels are just that much better?).

Since there were no identified 2.5* properties on the pinned priceline hotel list I took a peak at what Priceline was offering direct. They had three 2.5* properties listed:

Courtyard by Marriott - $119

Holiday Inn -$125

Residence Inn - $161.

Given the options above, once I added the 2.5* option, I knew there was a chance I'd end up with the Holiday-Inn... I was hoping for the Courtyard by Marriott and figured I had a decent chance at it since it was the lowest priced direct purchase option (didn't really think I had a shot at the much higher priced Residence Inn). Anyhow, I'm sure this will suite us fine, and at least I can take comfort in knowing I couldn't have gotten it any cheaper.

Note: In the area we wanted to stay Hotwire's only option (for the last week or so) was a 2* for $78. We wanted to stay in town and try for a 2.5* minimum.

Hotel:

Holiday Inn Burlington

1068 Williston Road

South Burlington, Vermont 05403

United States

802-863-6361

Check-In Date: Sunday, August 13, 2006

Check-Out Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Price: $91 x 3 nights = $273

Taxes/fees: $40.50

Total: $313.50