Destination Race

The time has come to book our hotel for the 7 Bridges Marathon 4 Bridges Half Marathon. Typically, I book way earlier. Like for the Disney Half, I booked around 6 months in advance, the Country Music Marathon around 4 months in advance but since this was a small race I wasn't worried about the hotel, parking, or getting to the start.  (Knowing I could basically drive up to the start really takes a lot of stress away and gives you lots more options.)

Michael and I wanted something nice. We originally were going to go up for the entire weekend but somethings have changed and we are going to only go up a day early to play tourist which is fine by me. Like with most races I look for a nice hotel, and a deal. I don't see these types of getaways as a vacation but strictly a destination race. We don't go all out when looking for hotels for these events since we won't be in the room much BUT we want, no need a nice and comfortable room conveniently located near things to do- we hate having to drive everywhere.

This time, I decided to go a different route then usual. I went to priceline. I went to all these sites that gave you hints and tips for bidding prices and they sure were deals! One in particular, site I liked was BiddingforTravel. They had a message board where people posted their recently accepted bids. I saw some deals, 70 bucks for a 4 star! Um, hello I'll take it! But when  I looked on the message boards I noticed no body posted anything recently for Chattanooga. So I went on off what I saw and started bidding there on priceline.

When you bid they give you different districts, ratings of hotels and tell you where the best deal is. For our date and the area we wanted the best deal was a 3.5 star (out of 4). I went with a number that I saw on the message boards 70. DENIED. Now you are only suppose to be able to bid once every 24 hours but I busted out another credit card. I wont lie I was pretty excited to try this out. I bid 80. DENIED.

I waited 24 hours. I bid, 90, 100, 120, 130 DENIED. At that point I said screw it. I knew it would be a nice hotel (OMNI etc.) but it didn't seem worth it to me. I had searched the average price for those types of hotels in Chattanooga and they were about $180 so if I went up to $140 (and if the bid was accepted) I guess it would have been a good deal. But honestly, I was over it, especially when I saw the deals that were made last month which were super cheap.

So I decided to go to Hotwire. Hotwire has a normal hotel search and then they have "secret hot hotle rates." Going the super secret way, they give you the hotel rating via tripadviser, stars and a price. But you don't know the actual hotel. Since they provided the tripadvisor rating I hopped over there to try and find a match to see what I would be getting myself into. After some investigating I was pretty sure I knew the hotel. I actually went to the hotel's site and looked up how much it would cost to stay there if we went through hotwire versus the hotel we would save about 50 bucks. Unlike, priceline there is no bidding. They give you the price and you go for it. So I went for it.

I was right on about the hotel and I was really happy with the price and the hotel. It is a 4 diamond hotel, it has a bar, restaurant, spa, pool and all  that jazz. (Mike and I love a nice bar at a hotel-think Clyde from Modern Family- ;)).

Am I excited? Yep. Do I think we got a deal. Yes. The hotel defiantly seems like something perfect for a conference since it has bar, restaurant etc. it does have amenities that we don't really need but since Mike isn't running and I am not asking him to be on the course it will be perfect. There will be plenty of things for him to do while I'm sleeping (I go to bed super early race nights) and while I'm on the course. 

I will let you know what I think of the hotel after our trip. But for right now Im pretty pumped about everything.

Have you ever used priceline or hotwire? What was your experience?