Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (Millenium Park-Loop-Grant Park) Palmer House Hilton

[krisk]

$67 for Palmer House, three nights, Sept. 5-7, booked about two weeks in advance

$75 for Hyatt, one night, Sept. 8, booked one day in advance

I really recommend the 4-star Millenium/Loop location on Priceline because you can be pretty sure you're going to get one of these two hotels, and we enjoyed both.

BOOKING

When preparing to book the first three nights, the best rate I found on Travelocity etc. was $119 for the Palmer House and $127 for the Hyatt. But I needed a room for three, and the Hyatt carried a third-person charge of $35. PRICELINE only guarantees lodging for two, and I called both hotels before bidding on Priceline to see how agreeable they would be to requesting two beds once a room was booked. The Palmer House sounded pretty likely, and the Hyatt said they could not work with me on a third-party booking. So I decided to bid on two rooms, which would roughly equal the price of one room through Travelocity etc. (My wife and I were traveling with our 20-year-old son, so an extra room was appealing.) My $67 bid was accepted by the Palmer House.

During our stay, our plans changed and we needed to book another night downtown only one day in advance. The Palmer House desk offered a rate of $199, and Travelocity was offering $149. So I again went to PRICELINE, this time starting at $75 because I did not have time for a rejection. It was accepted by the Hyatt. On the last night I booked only one room, and upon arrival at 3:30 p.m. the clerk was happy to give me a room with two beds. He did not ask how many were in my party.

Both check-in time and the fullness of the hotel on the day you are there are key to requesting multiple beds for parties of more than two.

PALMER HOUSE DETAILS

Rough start -- On our initial arrival at the Palmer House, at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, we were told the hotel was sold out and there were only nine rooms not yet occupied, and all were being cleaned. We would not have a choice the type of rooms and were given a King Bed Smoking and Two Doubles Non-Smoking. We were told the wait would be 20-30 minutes and that they would call our cell phone when the room was ready. In return for our wait, the clerk gave us $125 in vouchers to the Lockwood restaurant, which is the primary dining offering. We waited about an hour and finally went to the desk, where staffing had changed. We were told one room was ready, that we could check in, and that they would deliver the key to the second room when it was ready. At 11 p.m., more than two hours after our arrival, I went to the front desk and had to wait in line for 10 minutes before getting the key to the second room. It is also worth noting that the bellman service for bags was not really optional. We were not allowed to grab our own cart and handle our own bags. They took the bags to a secure holding area and then brought them to our room after check-in. We ended up tipping twice there.

The rooms -- The smoking room really smelled bad upon entering, but we adjusted quickly and stayed there all three nights, even though we probably could have moved on the second day. It was spacious enough for two. The room with two doubles was a little tight, but still would have been acceptable for three given the low price. The beds and pillows were as good or better than any hotel we have ever stayed in. Really fantastic.

Both rooms were well equipped with shampoo, iron, blow dryer, etc. The TVs were outdated 25-inch tube models. The

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win(s) and thank you for sharing them with the board... as well as for the detailed reviews.

Please stick with the board format of only one win per thread... we've used this win to reflect your first purchase of the Palmer House, please start a NEW TOPIC for your Hyatt win.

Hope that overall you enjoyed your stay and you thought the restaurant voucher was acceptable compensation for the late check-in.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.