![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
The Sno-Isle Libraries have switched to a new system! Yay! This is exciting because the new system allows for freezes on holds, which will enable me to maintain a list of items I want in the order I want them. Hallelujah! I haven't played with the new system in depth, but hopefully it will be a really good experience.
========
I found an awesome deal on Hotwire yesterday for a Chicago hotel. :D I was surprised because Priceline has not been able to match Hotwire (usually you can get a better deal on Priceline). Anyway, it's only for the first couple nights of our stay. It's a 4★, the Affinia Chicago. I've heard from many sources that it's in a fantastic location. The published rates are over $300/night, I booked it on Hotwire for $84/night. :D :D :D Of course, the way Hotwire works, I didn't know it was going to be the Affinia until it was purchased, but it was a 4★ hotel in the area we wanted and it was recommended by 95% of Hotwire users, so I figured whatever it ended up being would be acceptable.
Since we got such a good rate we decided to upgrade our room to double beds (the regular rate just comes with 1 King-size). The first time I called the hotel's number to ask about rates, I waited and got transferred to the hotel's front desk. They said it would cost $25/night to upgrade. I contactedropo and we discussed it... we realized it was like a 30% increase from the room itself, but it would still be an overall great deal and we'd be more comfortable. So I called back to book it, except this time I pressed 1 for room reservations. I told them what I wanted and they quoted $75/night to upgrade! O.o Outrageous. I was like, yeah, I'm not paying practically the same cost to upgrade as I got for the room, thanks. So then I called back and waited like I did the first time, got the front desk again, then got the $25 rate from them. Sheesh.
Anyway, so yeah, super excited about that. Of course, we still need to find a place to stay for the remainder of our trip, but I'm optimistic that once we get to a point where those days are less than a month away, they'll go down and we may be able to get another great deal. We'll see.
Update!!! The toughest part of hotel hunting for this trip has been that weekend of May 6-8, because it's butting up against Cinco de Mayo, it's Mother's Day weekend, and apparently there's some 22,000-person convention happening. O.o However, Priceline finally accepted one of my bids for that weekend!!! $120/night at the 4★ Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Wheeeeeee! I have bid up to $135 before with no luck, so I am pretty stoked. The hotel's published rates are over $328/night.
The only downside is that we need to get a third hotel for the final part of our stay, and having to move around so much probably isn't ideal. But I figure it also gives us the freedom to stay in different parts of the city (both our current hotels are in the NMA area ... maybe we can stay in the Magnificent Mile area instead, for instance), and it's helped us get better rates.
Alternatively, we could extend our stay at the same price, but only for as long as our original booking, so we'd still have to get a third hotel regardless, in which case I feel like we might as well get a better price and move to a new area for the last leg.
========
The Woot-Off is finally over, which is good for my credit card. I bought one more thing before the green-caped monkey came out and it was all over... some HDMI cables that I'm thrilled about because I have that new TV coming. :D Plus now I can hook up all of my peripherals that way too (I currently only have 1 HDMI cable). It cost me less than $20 for 4 cables. Woot! <-- so appropriate
========
I found an awesome deal on Hotwire yesterday for a Chicago hotel. :D I was surprised because Priceline has not been able to match Hotwire (usually you can get a better deal on Priceline). Anyway, it's only for the first couple nights of our stay. It's a 4★, the Affinia Chicago. I've heard from many sources that it's in a fantastic location. The published rates are over $300/night, I booked it on Hotwire for $84/night. :D :D :D Of course, the way Hotwire works, I didn't know it was going to be the Affinia until it was purchased, but it was a 4★ hotel in the area we wanted and it was recommended by 95% of Hotwire users, so I figured whatever it ended up being would be acceptable.
Since we got such a good rate we decided to upgrade our room to double beds (the regular rate just comes with 1 King-size). The first time I called the hotel's number to ask about rates, I waited and got transferred to the hotel's front desk. They said it would cost $25/night to upgrade. I contacted
ropo and we discussed it... we realized it was like a 30% increase from the room itself, but it would still be an overall great deal and we'd be more comfortable. So I called back to book it, except this time I pressed 1 for room reservations. I told them what I wanted and they quoted $75/night to upgrade! O.o Outrageous. I was like, yeah, I'm not paying practically the same cost to upgrade as I got for the room, thanks. So then I called back and waited like I did the first time, got the front desk again, then got the $25 rate from them. Sheesh.Anyway, so yeah, super excited about that. Of course, we still need to find a place to stay for the remainder of our trip, but I'm optimistic that once we get to a point where those days are less than a month away, they'll go down and we may be able to get another great deal. We'll see.
Update!!! The toughest part of hotel hunting for this trip has been that weekend of May 6-8, because it's butting up against Cinco de Mayo, it's Mother's Day weekend, and apparently there's some 22,000-person convention happening. O.o However, Priceline finally accepted one of my bids for that weekend!!! $120/night at the 4★ Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Wheeeeeee! I have bid up to $135 before with no luck, so I am pretty stoked. The hotel's published rates are over $328/night.
The only downside is that we need to get a third hotel for the final part of our stay, and having to move around so much probably isn't ideal. But I figure it also gives us the freedom to stay in different parts of the city (both our current hotels are in the NMA area ... maybe we can stay in the Magnificent Mile area instead, for instance), and it's helped us get better rates.
Alternatively, we could extend our stay at the same price, but only for as long as our original booking, so we'd still have to get a third hotel regardless, in which case I feel like we might as well get a better price and move to a new area for the last leg.
========
The Woot-Off is finally over, which is good for my credit card. I bought one more thing before the green-caped monkey came out and it was all over... some HDMI cables that I'm thrilled about because I have that new TV coming. :D Plus now I can hook up all of my peripherals that way too (I currently only have 1 HDMI cable). It cost me less than $20 for 4 cables. Woot! <-- so appropriate
