Priceline Hotel: 2* Carpinteria Holiday Inn Express

[soccermacmom]

Just booked a room in Carpinteria for August 28 at the Holiday Inn Express for $76. Hotel website shows $105 for the same room. We will actually be in Santa Barbara, but I didn't want to pay $200 for just a place to sleep, and Carpinteria's a nice small town nearby.

I started bidding from the PRICELINE link on this site, and tried

$65 first for 2*. Not accepted. Waited 24 hours, and bid

$75 for 2-1/2*. Not accepted. Added 2* and bid

$76. Accepted!

Reviews on tripadvisor aren't too bad for this hotel, and I was expecting this would be the property we'd get (if anything). I'll try to post a review when we get back.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

Glad to see you were flexible and found a suitable alternative to an expensive nite in Santa Barbara. Seems like you got the hotel you expected and are happy with the deal.

Thank you for using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding and for posting your win to the board, helping us add this property to the Priceline Hotel List.

Have a great trip.

[Colfax]

This is good news as Santa Barbara is a notoriously difficult and expensive zone to bid, especially in summer.

Since $76 was your first bid for 2* it's possible a lower bid might get accepted. If anyone else tries for this hotel please post your bid histories.

Thanks for the post, soccermacmom.

[soccermacmom]

Actually, I unsuccessfully bid $65 the day before. I decided to try $75 for a 2-1/2* since the Best Western seemed a possibility. I added the 2* and upped $1. I may have gotten the 2* though for $70 -75.

I'm pretty pleased. I had read about the difficulty of PRICELINE wins in Santa Barbara, and almost didn't try. I probably would have booked the same hotel at the web rate.

Since Santa Barbara is mostly a drive-to destination, they may be feeling the crunch of gas costs.