So I thought I got a good deal...

[SandrA9810]

My aunt wants to go to Indiana to visit family. Well normally we always stay with family, but this year seems to be a bit difficult to find some one available. She asked me to go on Priceline, she wanted to pay $35 a night (where the cheapest hotel is showing $60). So, you can only put in one bid per 24hrs, unless you change your search criteria, meaning dates, area, hotel stars. So I go for the next area over. Well that area was connected to my original search, but sent me to the next town over from there.

So I got a two star hotel for $40 a night, in a city about 20 miles from the center of where most the family lives.

And if any one has used Priceline before, you know that once you book, you pay in full for the entire stay at the price you bid if it's accepted.

So now I get to be in the dog house till this trip is over.

 

[Disneyhay]

Where in Indiana are you staying?

 

[ArthurIhde]

hmm yeah the deals are nice

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, I'm sorry Sandra. Maybe it will be such a nice hotel, and it will be so nice to get away from the family members in the evening, that she won't end up minding so much.

 

[SandrA9810]

Family is in Cloverdale/Greencastle. When I tried searching Brazil, it sent me to Terre Haute. It's the Best Western hotel (highest star rating of 2.5 of all the Priceline hotels in the area), and the reviews are horrible.

When I used Priceline before, I booked a great room in Orlando by Universal/Sea World for 40$ a night and they got a suite room with mini kitchen/dining/seating area separate from the bedroom. Which was listed as only a 2 or 3 star out of five.

My head is going to be on a silver platter come Tuesday...

 

[JB2K]

When I used Priceline before, I booked a great room in Orlando by Universal/Sea World for 40$ a night and they got a suite room with mini kitchen/dining/seating area separate from the bedroom. Which was listed as only a 2 or 3 star out of five.

Brazil is in the Terre Haute area (one of my closest friends is from there).

As for comparing this booking experience to booking a room in Orlando, that's like apples and oranges, since Orlando has thousands and thousands of hotel rooms all competing for the tourist/convention dollars.

Not so much the case in Indiana...

 

[dyna]

We had a hard time finding decent hotel at decent price when we went to Terre Haute too an last time I was thru Brazil there was absolutely nothing there. Seems everything in in Terre Haute is on that 1 hwy an the hwy is always conjested with traffic.

 

[SandrA9810]

Ohh I know there's a million more hotels in Orlando than Indiana. But I would've expected the rating systems to be pretty much across the board. A Best Western is like a 1 star in Orlando. I wouldn't have expected that one to get such a high rating that it did, and be so lousy at the same time. There's hotels in Greencastle that are listed as a 2 star, but want 60-90$ a night (holiday inn, days inn, super 8) that look much better than this one.

On one hand pictures and reviews from websites can be so deceiving into thinking it's a nice hotel. But customer reviews kind of speak for themselves. And there's a lot of negatives in the past few months.

 

[lastminutemom]

Sandra

Google and find the Priceline phone number. For a charge and presuming you will rebid get another hotel, they may let you change it. You will most likely have to spend more, but it may be worth it. Expect to spend a while fixing this.

I put the wrong dates in a few months ago and went through this process. It still ended up being a better deal (fee and all) than had I booked directly with hotel.

Your milage may vary of course.

 

[SandrA9810]

Thanks, I really hope that'll work. It kept saving my prior searches and dates, and well I booked a day earlier than what my aunt wanted. Since we're paying for a hotel now, she wants to shave a day off.

Is this in the hands of the Best Western or still Priceline?? I was thinking of speaking to the hotel directly.

 

[SandrA9810]

Ok, so my head might not be on a platter just yet.

After speaking to the hotel and not receiving the accommodations needed for us this morning. I got on the phone with Priceline tonight. They wanted to know who I spoke to and their position about their cancellation policy. I didn't have that information, so I called the hotel back to verify.
Well, I got to speak to the night manager that does the room bookings each night for the following day. So guess what I got?? Exactly what I wanted.

Seriously, a hotel in the middle of a tiny city in Indiana, nothing but college town. How can 150 rooms be sold out?? Or at least only having king rooms available. And the girl I spoke to this morning wasn't very nice or helpful.

Now I just hope the room is up to standard for my aunt. I would hope so if regular booking price is 85$ a night.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I hope all works out ok. Personally I feel that your Aunt asked you to do something for her and you tried to the best of your ability. $35 per night is awfully cheap. You Aunt may have been a little unrealistic. If the money is such an issue maybe she should have waited to visit until family could accommodate her. Don't mean to be nasty towards your Aunt, but once she asks for you to do it she loses the ability to complain in my book. Hope the trip goes well.

 

[jessica52877]

I hope it all works out. It is frustrating to try and do something nice for someone and then it not work out well, not exactly because of what you did, but them be not so happy with you.

 

[phorsenuf]

I would suggest using this site first next time.

http://www.betterbidding.com/

Sandra-are you still in Texas? Are you not going back to CA?

 

[SandrA9810]

Yeah, I'm still here in Texas. After three flight changes, I'm now leaving Nov 6. I extended this last time to accommodate for this trip to Indiana.

My aunt goes this time of year because she can only take her vacation time off after her anniversary date. So she only has a few week window period before they block out vacation time for the holiday season.
She also didn't want to have to change my flight back AGAIN. As well, my family owns farms. So this is the better time of the year for visiting, and Ma can't do actual winters with snow on the ground.
Part of the reason I'm needed in going, besides doing a 1,000 miles of driving straight through, is Ma can get disoriented easily. She loves seeing the family, and during the day time she's in Indiana. Come night time, she's wondering where her bed is.

This trip was actually harder to decide upon. We played devil's advocate back and forth for many nights. But my aunt feels it's important for Ma to visit the family and the family to see her while she's still around. Ma's aunt is only a few years older, but her letters are showing she's slowing down. So there's also a time issue.

She's still annoyed about adding in an extra 1/2hr to an hour of driving time each day to visit different family members. But we'll be there, we'll see the family, and that's what it's all about. I honestly don't think the increase in driving and gas is more than the cost of staying closer.


My new rule for using this website. Book only one day first. If you're happy with the accommodations, then you can extend your stay for the total nights. If not, you just have to suck it up for one night.

 

[Green Tea]

OP, you don't understand how PL works. Don't tell people to only book one day and they can extend. Availability is based on the night you bid for. They may or may not have rooms available for adjacent nights. And they may or may not have given PL the ability to allocate rooms for those nights. By ending up in a city you didn't intend to stay in, it is clear you don't quite have a handle on how PL works.

PL is a great way to travel if you know it's limitations. It gets a bad name when someone doesn't understand and bids and gets something they didn't anticipate.

 

[MomRN]

I don't have much to add, but hello from Terre Haute. Hope you enjoy your stay. And if you are a facebooker, for a few laughs look at ***, Terre Haute.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well I've used these sites before. And yes, it can be great when I know where the hotels are. However, I didn't realize how far away Terra Haute was from where we were gonna be. I remember going there to the Cracker Barrel with the whole family. But we rode with our cousins, and I didn't really pay attention to the distance it took.

And booking one night, is MY new rule. Doesn't mean any one has to listen to it. I can understand a hotel being sold out and limited accommodations available to those using these sites, if it was a major traveling season. However, it's not a traveling season.

So I'm spoiled by Disney's standards. It's hard dealing with the "real world"...

 

[SandrA9810]

Ok, so never stay at the Best Western in Terre Haute, IN.

It has turned into a nightmare. Including the fact that the toilet is backed up, and no one fixed it the entire day while we were gone. So my aunt is on the phone with the 800 customer service, and she's not happy at all.

 

[eli3886]

I'm so sorry you're having this trouble. I've been burned by both Priceline and more recently Hotwire. My issue had to do with the fact that I would put in a 3* bid, and would receive a hotel that was listed on every other website as 2 1/2*. This happened several years ago at Priceline and a couple of months ago at Hotwire. I only use them now as a last resort.