Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Inland Empire (Ontario) Country Inn and Suites

[Colfax]

I saw that another bidder won the same hotel for $38 and I tried a little lower. My first bid of $35 was accepted.

Country Inn and Suites Ontario

213 N. Vineyard Avenue

Ontario CA 91764

The hotel had an online rate of $57.60.

There are two different Country Inns in Ontario. The other is called "Country Inn and Suites-Ontario Mills". The CIS near Ont Mills is newer, more expensive, has interior corridors, and gets better reviews. The CIS on Vineyard is a motel style property with exterior doors. This was the first motel-style Country Inn I've seen. The other Country Inn posts I've seen here don't mention which CI they won, but from the review comments it sounds like everyone's winning the CI on Vineyard.

Bid placed through the BetterBidding PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you got a great deal on this property and thanks for the clarification of the two different properties under this brand in this zone... we've edited the Priceline Hotel List to indicate the Vineyard Blvd location.

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

Hope you enjoyed the stay.

[wsj3200]

The win I reported was this very hotel on Vineyard, across the street from the Doubletree. I didin't mention it in my review, but out room included television cable wiring draped alone the wall and across the ceiling. This was a first. On the plus side, the restaurant and the free breakfast were fine. There are so many nicer choices in Ontario that are really inexpensive, I wish this wasn't on the PRICELINE list.

As a side note, this was the second time I had won this hotel. Both visits required a room change due to a major defect. The first time the AC didn't work, the second time the door had been kicked in. Both times I was moved without complaint. I have become gun shy about bidding 2.5* in this area, even though there are several nice 2.5* in the area.

Colfax, thanks for challenging the price. Good to get an idea where the bottom is.

[Colfax]

My room had issues too. The kitchen sink had a huge leak that sprayed the wall behind when I turned it on. The wall heat/ac unit was missing the plastic panel with the control settings. There were buttons to push but no way of knowing what temp you were setting the thermostat on, or if you had it set on "Fan" or "Auto".

My biggest issue though was with the clientele. The place was very busy with furtive comings and goings, peole hanging out on the balconies, loud conversations outside my door til the early am. I don't know if I was there on an off night but the "Shadiness Factor" was high, and I've never run into that at a Country Inn before.

The lobby and breakfast areas were clean and nice, but the rooms, which are detatched from the lobby seemed like a different hotel.

Mostly I've been satisfied with the Country Inn brand, but I agree with you that I'll go for 3* or 3.5* next time I'm in the zone. They only cost a few dollars more.

Another little wrinkle to my stay: when I arrived the hotel had no record of my reservation. I'd made it 90 minutes before. I asked the clerk to check their fax and he said that they don't use fax with Priceline, that Priceline reservations automatically transmit from Priceline's computers to the hotel's. I had a printout in my hand with the Country Inn reservation number but they couldn't check me in off that.

I said I'd go out to eat and come back, to give the reservation time to transmit. I came back 45 minutes later and still no reservation. I called Priceline from the lobby. Priceline had my reservation and said they'd fax it to the hotel. The fax ws coming through the machine before I hung up the phone. Bottom line: the hotel still didn't have my reservation 2+ hours after I made it.