Hotel Review: Mariott West in Chesterfield Missouri

This is a really nice hotel. It turns out that the Doubletree is encountering a little competition. I won this bid for $38, and I was trying to stay at the Doubletree. The good news is that this hotel was not far. The Doubletree is closer to some of Chesterfields bigger attractions, but this hotel puts you next to Maryville University and highway 141.

If you take 141 south your nest to a lot of hot spots and golf. If you take it north and hang a right on Olive Blvd you are not far from the Olive 16 theatres. I would still recommend taking the 40 over to the mall and catching a flick there. The mall is much easier to find.

The Mariott West is still centrally located sitting just north of US 40, which runs into downtown St. Louis. This hotel sits in a business district. I didn't think much of the exercise room, although it did have all of the standard equipment. It just needs to be upgraded. The big bonus is that they have a dry sauna. Half of me hates those things. The toiletries have an orange ginger theme for now and were very nice.

The hotel also has some excellent room service but I still didn't eat there. There were not many vegan choices. I'm not a vegan but I don't eat meat or cheese. I still like my leather shoes.

Finding the hotel is a bit difficult. If you simply keep in mind to stay on Maryville Center drive and only go up about four drives north of 40 you'll find it just fine. Be careful not to wind up at the Mariott Courtyard. If you do they will be happy to five you accurate directions. Oh and the scenery from my window was magnificent. I was on the forth floor and it was kind of lucky I was sitting just above the tree line. If I were up much higher I would have seen too many buildings.

Well as alway please use my links and enjoy staying in St. Louis.

Hotel Review: Doubletree in Westport Missouri

For those of you who don' know Westport is a business center in the St. Louis area and the better news is that the Westport center is home to a bunch of clubs and restraunts. The Doubletree is locate either a short cab ride or s good walk from the Westport center makig it the ideal nights stay for pleasure or business.

As for the hotel it has one of the nicest lobbies of all the hotels. It is not overwhelming, it is simply uniques and relaxed. The rooms are among my favorites as well. They are spacious, they've got a cool headboard, nice bathrooms. I just can't complain at all. The excercise rooms are equiped with great machines, water and fruit. The pool area and whirlpool looked nice but I didn't jump in. Oh, I just remembered one thing they are repairing the elevators. There is a wait on them and as they've just started the older ones you'll be taking are a bit scary.

I have to say there are a lot of great places that allow Priceline bids. St. Louis is a great area and the Doubletree definitely ranks as one of my favorite stays. I have stayed at this Doubletree twice. I got the room for a winning bid of just thirty-eight dollars.

Hotel Review: Doubletree in Chesterfield Missouri

This is by far the best bargain on Priceline in the St. Louis area. I won a bid for Saturday night just this weekend for $38 dollars. The hotel also has great facilities including both a wet and dry sauna. There isn't a better stay.

The lobby is clean and the staff is super friendly. They even give you a really good cookie upon check in, not that I can eat the cookie, but that is service. It always scores me a few points with the girlfriend though as does the Neutrogenia toiletries.

By the way this is a bidding well. I have been able to go back to this trough numerous time. This is my most closely guarded Priceline bidding secret. If you stay at this hotel please be courteous. I would say this hotel beats out all of the other hotels on every criteria except for location. Boone's Crossing is nearby, which has a lot of restaurants and the Chesterfield Mall but they are not within walking distance.

If you have business in Chesterfield you can bid knowing this is where you will stay. Enjoy!!!!

Hotel Review: Renaissance St. Louis Airport

This is my second review of the Renaisance hotel. This time I booked one night and I check in on a Friday. My stay cost me only forty five dollars not including taxes and fees. This time they had the parking working and everything. The downside of this stay is that I was actually trying to win a bid in Clayton. Another patron says that you do get free WiFi in the lobby but I couldn't get it to work.

All I could get is a screen for the charges. This is also a non-smoking hotel. Last time I thought I recieved a smoking room but I was wrong. It must have been the jerk before me leaving that awful stench. By the way smokers beware as for me I don't care. Sorry, just bustin' a rhyme.

I really enjoyed my stay again. I think that the comments last time still apply. It was nice to stay in a decent hotel again. No more reviews of the Comfort Inn for me. Why should I when it costs the same for a stay at the nicer hotels. As alway good luck bidding.

Hotel Review: Comfort Inn & Suites Chesterfield Valley

Well I did it and I think I am going to hate the readers I did this for for at least a week, but I will get over this booking. I booked this room for $30 per night. Fortunately, I only booked it for one night. The rooms are kind of dingy, the sheets are a little itchy and the furniture is made from composite board. I may have been able to book this stay for less, but then again I am not that concerned. I think for a two star I may bid around $25 on average and work up from there. I did try to do this in Eureka, but that wasn't working. There's relatively little competition so rooms are hard to come by. I have certainly found that rooms are easier to get for a low price in more populated areas.

The good new is that mean rooms in places like Orlando and Las Vegas should be really cheap. I have looked at the regular prices for those rooms and they are a great deal already; especially, when you are looking at a trip package.

Now, back to the Comfort Inn & Suites. There are good and bad aspects to this hotel. I can see some people perferring the lack of comfort to some of the features the room had. This kills me but this cheap room had free WiFi, and that is big. There are times where I would forgo comfort to get access to the Internet. It also had a microwave. If you are on the go and trying to minimize your spending you
can't do better than running down to Wal-Mart and picking up a cheap dinner. I wouldn't however swim in the pool the top of the water looked like it had some sort of gel on the surface. The exercise room wasn't very good either.

As far as location goes this hotel is also located near a lot of manufacturing businesses, a small local airport and the strip of Chesterfield where all the restaurants and shop are located. The main thing to draw me in is still the wireless. I am big on that feature and businesses better start making this shift aggressively. It will become a serious competitive advantage for some hotels. I simply can't bring myself to spend ten bucks a night for WiFi. Ouch.

Unless, someone writes me with a specific request this will be my last stay at a two star hotel. The only way I will commit to a room like this again is if it is all that is available in an area. In the meantime have fun bidding. In September I am going to Vegas for the weekend and I hope to bring you some news of low low rates.

Hotel Review: Renaissance St. Louis Airport

I understand that most of the people looking for a hotels are business travelers. Giving this consideration I decided to book a room near the airport. I have tried to do this before but it always seemed a bit steeper than the areas. Well I committed myself and I won the room with a bid of $46 dollars. I think this is a really good rate but I am not entirely sure this will be a winning bid during the week. I would still give it a shot though.

I've driven by this hotel many times and from the outside you can tell it is pretty nice but I wasn't ever really impressed. The hotel lobby wasn't overwhelming either. This is one of the reasons I liked it over so many others. It had a small bar to the left and a nice open restaurant off to the right. A Starbucks bordered the edge of the restaurant as well.

They also have very nice conference room on the ground floor as well the the twelfth floor. The ballroom is up at the top as well. Other amenities include a pool and spa. I thought they had a sauna but they had just remodeled the exercise room and gotten rid of the sauna. Too bad. The exercise room was really nice. It was truly a full gym. You won't have to wait to exercise here or feel rushed there is plenty of equipment. The sit up machine was a back breaker watch out.

The rooms were also especially nice. I really like the decor I may implement some of these ideas in my own home. The room was very nice. It had a grayish theme so the ladies may not like it as much. The bathroom even had a shower head that is actually above your head. I am pretty tall and I hate the fact that most hotels have the shower head at chest level.

The one big complaint I have is that they want to charge for the Internet in the rooms and even in the hotel lobby. This is one thing that really bothers me about these hotels. A hotel charging thirty bucks a night gives free Wifi and these nicer hotel just try to get you every chance they get. It is ridiculous to charge for the Internet. Overall, this is convenient if you are a sales guy and are working near the airport. If not, try to explore the other hotels I have mentioned. Good luck bidding.

Priceline Hotel Etiquette

Well I bring this post to you after hearing some moron discuss how he rips off hotels while I was in a restaurant. He seemed pretty proud of the fact that he stole towels and complained at the front desk so long that he got a free night. According to him,"That clerk had no clue she was in the presence of greatness." I would replace greatness with "an a-hole", but the clerk probably knew that.

When you get a winning bid on Priceline keep in mind that it is not for a handful of free towels. You will be charged for those if the maids notice, the towels cost around fifty dollars a piece according to the idiot I overheard. You can pitch a fit like this guy, but I would encourage hotels to stand firm and charge for every missing towel. Remember when you are at a hotel you are a guest. Do not trash the hotel rooms or be a nuisance.

All the above is obvious but what about some of the other considerations. The first thing that you should do is write a review. Tell others about your experience at the hotel, this is free advertising for the hotel. Even if you had a negative experience leave a review. In this case your review gives the hotel the chance to improve. I actually write the hotel and e-mail or a letter. I have always found that a bad experience is normally just a coincidence and not common practice. It is best to keep bad news private if it is not typical.

A few other things:

• Try to tip the maids, I give five dollars. More and more frequently I find myself without cash, so if you don't have any leave your room in excellent condition.
• Always leave the room in good condition.
• Use the hotels facilities with respect
• Use the hotel services such as room service or restaurant (It really adds to the night and doesn't cost much more than going out, if any more).
• Put the shower curtain in the tub when taking a shower.
• Put all trash in the trash can.
• Check out on time and give the front desk a call.
• Do all of the other hundreds of things I haven't mentioned.
• Definitely don't bring guns, hand gernades or drugs into your room.

Really, hotel etiquette doesn't involve much. It is important. Hotels will not continue to offer these great rates through Priceline if the clients they send are undesirable. Be a desirable customer; especially when booking through Priceline. Remember before Priceline it was just about impossible to get such competitive rates. Don't blow it by taking advantage. Fortunately, I don't think the jerk I mentioned in the beginning was a Priceline customer and he still didn't come out as far ahead as we do.