Priceline Hotel: 3* Newark (Secaucus- North Bergen) Holiday Inn

[dahammer]

don't tug on Superman's cape, don't spit into the wind, don't eat yellow snow, and by all means, don't go for a 2* with ZERO amenity icons in Hotwire's Jersey City zone....you might end up with the Park Avenue Hotel in Weehawken. Feeling a little lucky as this is fairly dead week for business travellers, and armed with a soon to expire Entertainment Book coupon, I saw a 2* in the JC zone for $69, no icons. I thought this would be either the Howard Johnson's or Comfort Inn, both on Tonnelle Ave in North Bergen; it turned out to be the Park Avenue Hotel in Weehawken. I checked out tripadvisor ratings, a little more than half were awful, just a handful were good. I checked in and was given a room on the second floor that was as wide as the length of a double bed plus a foot and a half, it was about 16' long, had one double bed, a TV, dressser, nightstand, no phone, a clock radio, stains on the carpet, it reeked of smoke and to top it off......a shared bath :) I'm not even sure if this place has an elevator. No high speed internet, just one lonely PC tucked under the stairs available for $6 per hour. If you are lucky, you might get a parking spot on the street and you will need to get a temporary parking permit from the desk clerk for a $20 deposit, refunded if you bring it back.

Kudos to Hotwire, I called and described the room and the condition of the hotel, and was given a complete refund as it was past 6:00 pm. I really cannot imagine that any representative from Hotwire has ever been to this hotel....absolutely the worst hotel that I've set foot in, I can only compare it to something out of the movie "Taxi Driver" only with a female desk clerk with a thick Russian accent behind bullet proof glass. On a positive note, this hotel is about a block and a half from one of best, unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline, absolutely amazing on a cold, cloudless night like tonight.

I immediately started a Priceline bid in the Secaucus-North Bergen zone and opened my bid at $61 at the 3* and was successful

Your Offer Price: $61.00

Taxes & Service Fees: $17.42

Total Charges: $78.42

the Holiday Inn is located in the Harmon Meadows complex, has free parking, free wireless, and if I'm lucky, possibly a free breakfast for Priority Club members.

[thereuare]

Glad it ultimately worked out well for you and thanks for identifying the mysterious 2* on HOTWIRE.

Enjoy your stay at the Holiday Inn.