Priceline Hotel: 3* Eugene Hilton

[Colfax]

Last week I won the Eugene River Valley Inn with a bid of $45. This week my first bid of $45 for 3* brought a counteroffer to raise by $13.

Eugene doesn't have free rebid zones, so I tried $50 for 2.5* and got upgraded to 3* Hilton.

I wasn't too thrilled as Hilton is the only hotel in Eugene that charges for parking ($9/night) and internet ($9.95/day).

Hilton's regular rate was $149, so still a good deal. But not as good a deal as winning the River Valley Inn or Red Lion for $50.

Eugene has a number of potential 2.5* hotels---Holiday Inn Express, Residence Inn, La Quinta, Best Western---but 2.5* bids always get upgraded to 3* here. There's never been a 2.5* win reported from Eugene.

Bids were placed through BetterBidding's PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

While maybe a little more expensive than the other properties in the area, still a very nice deal.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

Other than the parking/internet charge, hope you enjoyed your stay.

[Colfax]

The city of Eugene provides free wifi at several city owned buildings, one of which is the Hult Center, next door to the Hilton. I could pick up the Hult Center's free signal in my room and didn't need pay for Hilton's. My room was on the Hult Center side of the Hilton. I don't know if you can pick up Hult's wifi signal throughout the hotel.

Hilton's parking arrangement is aggravating. It's a gated garage under the hotel. You get a ticket when you enter. You pay at an automatic station on the way out.

After checking out I put my ticket in the slot and the machine said $9.00. It takes credit cards only, no cash. The machine couldn't read either of my credit cards. The gate wouldn't go up. The machine wouldn't give me back my ticket. There's only one exit gate and it's unmanned. I pushed the button for help and nobody responded. Several cars were backed up behind me. I had to get out of my car and ask people to back up so that I could move and they could get out, hopefully.

I reparked, took the elevator back to the lobby, stood in line again, and they gave me a pass card that would let me exit the garage for free. When I got back downstairs another visitor was stuck at the exit gate with an unreadable credit card. This time there were a dozen or more cars backed up waiting to get out. We all just sat there stuck. Finally someone from Hilton showed up and raised the gate. They let us all out for free.

It took me 20 minutes to exit the Hilton's garage after I'd checked out. It's deplorable that Hilton charges this $9 parking fee (a fee that no other hotel in town charges), but not hire a human being to collect the money, monitor the garage, and deal with mechanical gate failures.

My room was nice though and I enjoyed the Hilton until I tried to get out.