Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (NMA-River North) The Drake

[Charles R.]

Bid 1: River North, $85 Rejected

Bid 2: added O'Hare South, $90 Accepted

And so I got the Drake for waaay cheaper than retail thanks to this forum.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $90.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 3

Room Subtotal: $270.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $51.50 (USD)

Total Room Cost: $321.50 (USD)

Thanks! and of course I used your PRICELINE link.

[AaronJB]

Congratulations on your success and welcome to the site. :)

Nicely done! Amazing deal for one of Chicago's most famed and historic hotel properties.

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

Enjoy your stay

[Charles R.]

I would really love it if I could get upgraded to a family room, how should I go about it when I check in???

I was thinking about mentioning that I just came back from a 15 month deployment to Iraq RIGHT BEFORE casually asking for an upgrade (shame on me). But I'd rather listen to the experienced people on this board. Or should I slip the front desk guy/girl a 20 dollar bill??

Thanks!

[AaronJB]

First, thank you for your bravery in protecting the country and hope you're okay.

Second, not sure if you'll be able to swing that kind of upgrade, but what I would suggest is, if you're going with someone, have them call and tell your story and ask if they can do anything special, given the situation.

The $20 trick seems more like a Vegas thing to me (there's even a website dedicated to it), but you could try it. They may try to get you to pay an "upgrade fee" - the difference between the room you want and a regular room.

Let us know how it goes.