Hotels in the ~$50 range?

[vickalamode]

Hi everyone...I'm looking for Orlando area hotels in the $50 range...I've looked on all of the big hotel sites, but there are just SO MANY hotels to choose from in that range and I can't decide.

Does anyone have any experience with hotels that cost around $50 a night? I absolutely cannot go any higher than $70. I'm driving down from Massachusetts to do the College Program at Disney and my parents aren't helping me pay for it, so I am on a pretty tight budget with the hotel. I know there are the hotels that are $20 a night but I want to avoid those like the plague...

Any suggestions from people with personal experience staying at hotels in this price range?

 

[Purseval]

Go to Priceline and bid on a 3-star or higher in the WDW area. Start at $30 and work your way up in 1-dollar increments. You shouldn't have to go higher than $40 before you win something that fits your requirements.

If you're driving from MA you should also plan on stopping somewhere along the way, it's not something you can safely do on your own in a day.

 

[4Seasons]

What dates are you looking at? That will be a determining factor on what you find.

Congrats on being accepted into the Disney college program, my daughter is looking into doing that next year.

 

[luvgus]

Priceline has the Sheraton safari for 50$. Booked it yesterday for date Jan 13-2oth.

 

[Detailor]

I agree with PPs who suggest Priceline.

A couple of things, though, with Priceline...
- Do know that with Priceline you are bidding for a quality level of hotels in an area and then only those hotels that contract with Priceline. So you won't know which hotel you'll be staying at until a bid is accepted. That sounds sketchier than it really is as Priceline contracts with major chains and the hotels won't fall into the category of those $20 - $40 a night places that no one should ever have to stay at. Instead you should end up in a hotel room that typically rents for around twice what you'll pay through Priceline.
- The closer you are bidding to your check-in date, the greater likelihood that your bid will be accepted. In other words, don't expect to have a bid placed now accepted for, say, April or May (maybe even March).
- The closer to your check-in date that you bid the greater the likelihood that a hotel will accept a lower bid (they're trying to fill the rooms so a $40/night reservation for a room that goes for $110 is better than no income at all).
- Be choosy about the location that you're bidding in and the star rating of the hotels that you're willing to accept. I'd suggest sticking to the Lake Buena Vista-Downtown Disney, Disney Maingate-Celebration and West Disney Area regions and bidding on nothing lower than a 3 star quality hotel.
- If you know nothing about Priceline it would likely be worth going to the Bidding For Travel forum (http://biddingfortravel.*********) to get some information about how to bid, how to use "free bids," and what other people are paying for hotels in the area before you start bidding.

Good luck with the hotel and good luck with the Disney program!

Dick Taylor

 

[vickalamode]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions on Priceline...it seems like you can get great deals on there, but unfortunately I'm only 20 so I can't use it (it says you have to be 21 or older)

My dates are Friday Jan 22nd-Monday Jan 25th so 3 nights (unfortunately on a weekend so probably higher prices too)

I'm sure I'll find something, since there are TONS of hotels in the Orlando area. I'm going to look into that Sheraton that someone suggested

 

[Purseval]

I've never seen them ask for age verification, as long as the credit card is valid. You could also have someone else do it and make the reservation in your name. Let me give you a quick primer on how to bid:

Go to Priceline, choose the Name Your Own Price option with MCO as the location, 22 Jan checkin, 26 Jan checkout. You will see a map, 13 bid zones and a list
of star ratings followed by the place to add in the price and reservation name.

An easy way to see what hotel levels Priceline offers in any 1 area is to check 1 box, see what hotel levels are highlighted, uncheck that box, check the next box down, look again, uncheck it, check the next box down, etc., 1 box at a time for every area. Why is this important? It will let you get extra bids on the area you really want. (if you don't see the star levels changing try using Internet Explorer. I use Opera and that feature doesn't work so I have to switch to IE in order to see it)

Priceline will upgrade you but they will never downgrade you. That means if you bid on a 3 star hotel you can win a 4 star but not a 2 star. Using the information you got by checking/unchecking the boxes you will see that 3 of those 13 areas (Kissimmee, Sand Lake and Winter Park) don't have any 3 star hotels. This is where you get your free bids.

In your case I would recommend either Disney Maingate or Lake Buena Vista. So let's say you want to start in LBV at $35 and go up in $2 increments. You bid $35, it gets rejected but Priceline says you can try again if you add a zone, change the date or increase the price. So you add Winter Park and up your bid to $37. Remember, Winter Park has no 3 star hotels and Priceline won't downgrade you so you are really still bidding on LBV. Bid gets rejected. Add Sand Lake, up bid to $39. You get the idea.

If you run out of bid zones without getting accepted log out completely, log back in and repeat the process, this time starting with Maingate and $35.

If you get rejected again wait 24 hours and start over, this time at $36. Be patient and disciplined, you will get your hotel before you have to leave for Orlando.

 

[Detailor]

I've never seen them ask for age verification, as long as the credit card is valid.

That's interesting. I've had dozens of Priceline stays and staff at the reservations desks have always asked for my driver's license (for personal verification) and a credit card (for incidentals) when I've checked in. I suspect that they also verify age with the license.

Dick Taylor

 

[pmiranda]

That's interesting. I've had dozens of Priceline stays and staff at the reservations desks have always asked for my driver's license (for personal verification) and a credit card (for incidentals) when I've checked in. I suspect that they also verify age with the license.

Dick Taylor

Of course, the hotel asks for ID and a CC for incidentals. They're not checking your age requirement for Priceline, lol. They are checking to make sure you are who you say you are. As long as you have a valid CC, you're fine.

 

[Detailor]

Of course, the hotel asks for ID and a CC for incidentals. They're not checking your age requirement for Priceline, lol. They are checking to make sure you are who you say you are. As long as you have a valid CC, you're fine.

Do you really think that Priceline has imposed an arbitrary age requirement?
It's not Priceline, it's the hotels that make that requirement and it's written into their agreements with Priceline. It's only a matter of whether hotel personnel follow through on their policies at check in whether a guest's age is checked or not.

Dick Taylor

 

[Purseval]

Do you really think that Priceline has imposed an arbitrary age requirement?

Do you really think that the hotel is going to turn away a customer who has already paid for the room in advance? It's not like they are dealing with a 13-year old possible runaway or someone who is driving one of their vehicles.

It's not Priceline, it's the hotels that make that requirement and it's written into their agreements with Priceline. It's only a matter of whether hotel personnel follow through on their policies at check in whether a guest's age is checked or not.

If I was a 20-year old college student I'd take that chance.

 

[crazelion]

I would check travelzoo.com for Orlando hotels. I know the Comfort Inn is usually post for under 50.00 dollars as special sometimes

 

[craigt]

try the quality inn plaza on international drive,

have stayed there a number of times, most recently for a night last month, has everything you need really from a budget hotel, most of their rooms have been recently refurbished, best to request this on checkin.

They were advertising $51 pn rooms earlier this week, maybe you can find cheaper online too.

Official Website (post count too low to post proper links)

qualityinn.com/hotel-orlando-florida-FL190?sid=XeAwg.4OKehgOIa.5&sarea=INTNL1&sname=International+Dr.+%26+Sand+Lak&sstate=FL&scountry=US&sradius=40.23&slat=28.4501&slon=-81.4710&schain=Q&exp=&scity=&sort=&type=&map=n&nroom=1&nadult1=1&nchild1=0&nadult2=1&nchild2=0&nadult3=1&nchild3=0&nadult4=1&nchild4=0&nadult5=1&nchild5=0

(add the 3w's before the url)

 

[lakoda]

Seralago Hotel and Suites - I have stayed there on 3 occasions as our "arrival hotel." It is actually a motel, but the price for your dates is $48.10 per night. It is pretty basic, nothing fancy, but is does have a fridge and microwave in each room which can both be very handy. There is actually a fairly nice pool and hot tub. You can check it on trip advisor for reviews and pics. They also have a restaurant on site but we never tried it so I can't speak for that. There are tons of restaurants in the local vicinity regardless. Good luck!

 

[spiceycat]

I would check travelzoo.com for Orlando hotels. I know the Comfort Inn is usually post for under 50.00 dollars as special sometimes

here you go
http://hotels.travelzoo.com/orlando-hotels/
www.travelzoo.com

also go look at

www.choicehotels.com
or
www.motel6.com
or
www.mastersinnhotels.com

 

[TIGGERGUY]

I prefer Kayak dot com over Priceline. It searches dozens of websites to find the best rates on hotels. Time and again it has found me rates lower than anyone elses. One that keeps popping up is easyclicktravel. They book rooms for timeshares but also sell them directly at huge discounts. Using Kayak gives you comparable rates to Priceline but you know exactly what you are getting before booking.

 

[Purseval]

Using Kayak gives you comparable rates to Priceline but you know exactly what you are getting before booking.

You can use Priceline and know exactly what you are booking, change or cancel reservations, etc. You just do better with the Name Your Own Price option. If you are trying to say Kayak does better than name your own, I seriously doubt that. If it did there would be websites set up just for bidding on Kayak like the ones you see for Priceline.