Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
Gay couple featured in article in AARP magazine
louisev:
I got an excellent priceline deal when I needed a motel room for a friend in Alexandria - $40 on a $100 room. I just kept bidding $40 on every toom in town till one said "accepted"! It was great.
That being said, since I am getting spammed 6 times a day by AARP I have a constitutional aversion to signing on with them. I have had AAA for many a long year, and I got $1000 from them in travel emergency reimbursement when I was hit in Minneapolis, and then I signed up for their "preferred traveler" accident policy which covers additional out of pocket expenses if I end up in an emergency room. Because it's happened to me, and I sure don't want it happening again!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on June 24, 2010, 10:09:39 am ---Is priceline the one you "bid" on? I should check those out. I need a hotel in San Francisco in August, and in Denver then again, too.
--- End quote ---
I have stayed in some unbelievably nice rooms for around $50, thanks to Priceline and Hotwire. Priceline lets you choose the level of luxury (1 to 4 or 5 stars) and what part of a city you want to stay in, then name your price. My advice: pick the highest number of stars and bid low, like maybe $50. If your bid isn't accepted the first time, you have to alter your request somewhat, so then you can go down a star if you want or broaden your geographic location and maybe raise your bid by $5. Hotwire has a slightly different setup -- I think it tells you what level of hotel and a price, but you don't know which exact hotel it is. Check them both out to see which you like better.
Before discovering Priceline, I had just been training myself to haggle with hotel managers for a better room. That sometimes works, too; once in Nebraska, for example, I managed to get a suite, priced at $130, for $75, the price of a regular room. But you can do even better with Priceline, etc., so now I don't bother with ordinary haggling.
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on June 24, 2010, 08:55:34 am ---I've always wondered why KFC wasn't Kentucky Fried Chicken anymore. ???
--- End quote ---
I keep wondering how the authors of these changes to acronyms want people to pronounce their names. Maybe:
AARP: "Arp."
KFC: "Kefuck"
BP: "burp."
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on June 24, 2010, 11:09:07 am ---I have stayed in some unbelievably nice rooms for around $50, thanks to Priceline and Hotwire. Priceline lets you choose the level of luxury (1 to 4 or 5 stars) and what part of a city you want to stay in, then name your price. My advice: pick the highest number of stars and bid low, like maybe $50. If your bid isn't accepted the first time, you have to alter your request somewhat, so then you can go down a star if you want or broaden your geographic location and maybe raise your bid by $5. Hotwire has a slightly different setup -- I think it tells you what level of hotel and a price, but you don't know which exact hotel it is. Check them both out to see which you like better.
Before discovering Priceline, I had just been training myself to haggle with hotel managers for a better room. That sometimes works, too; once in Nebraska, for example, I managed to get a suite, priced at $130, for $75, the price of a regular room. But you can do even better with Priceline, etc., so now I don't bother with ordinary haggling.
--- End quote ---
"Just for fun" this morning, I "played around" a bit on both priceline and hotwire. I had never used either site before. Priceline I had heard of, thanks to the William Shatner commercials ::) , but hotwire was totally new to me; oddly enough, now that I've heard of it through Katherine's post, I've also seen a TV commercial for it.
Anyway, I'm not so sure I like either of them. In both cases it seemed sort of like "buying a pig in a poke"; they will book your room and then you find out what the hotel is and where exactly it's located. With hotwire I wasn't aiming too low because I realized I was looking for a "nice" place in the heart of San Francisco; actually, I am aiming to stay close to the Ferry Building/Embarcadero because that's where the Amtrak "station" is that I will be using. I put in three stars and $100 a night (the site said the median for that area of the city is $169). Still, I don't know how I feel about "buying" a hotel room without first knowing what I'm getting.
Maybe I should start a thread on another area asking for opinions and experiences with these services? ??? I used hotels.com to find places for my Rail Odyssey last year--and found a really great (though not cheap) hotel in Seattle--but I found the site a bit cumbersome to use.
brianr:
I have the same worries about those sites, especially being a foreigner, travelling by train and carting quite a large bag. I want to know the location of the hotel. I have found hotel.com very good. The only problem is they often take the money straight away from my account. The computer recognises I am in NZ and charges me in NZ dollars but my credit card is at an Aussie bank where most of my money is. I find it is best to research those sites and find prices then go to the hotels own site and book directly. It is often the same price and sometimes better. Yesterday I was booking a hotle in New Haven and put in senior. The price came up and then I found I had to have a US senior card (eg AARP) so I went back and put in adult and the price was the same :)
Does Amtrak have a station in SF itself now? When I travelled to SF by train back in 97 and 99 I had to board in Emeryville.
I am coming home through San Fran in October but flying in from Toronto and out to Auckland. Being the last 2 nights of a 3 months trip I have splurged a bit there and am staying at White Swan Hotel Au$206 per night, booked and already paid through Hotel.com
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version