Notes in the key of C

     I’ve alway found those William Shatner “Priceline” commercials to be mildly funny and somewhat entertaining but never had the opportunity to use Priceline until recently.  Everyone knows that Priceline allows you to bid for lower rates on travel, car rental, hotels, etc.  Well, I must say that my overall experience has been  a nice surprise.  Great places to stay at what most would consider very reasonably priced.   For a 50-dollar bid,  we spent nights at very fine hotels like Courtyard by Mariott and Garden Inns by Hilton. Very nice. Clean, well maintained, down comforters, flat screen Tv’s, wireless Internet service (complimentary) and all the trimmings.  Of course, the BEST, or should I say the WORST of what Priceline bidding produced came on the last night in town.  The initial bid was rejected so I had to bump it up another few bucks.  You know that when you bid for a room, you can choose the quality level by the number of “stars” a hotel is rated at but once you submit your bid, you do not get to choose which one you stay at.  It’s a crap shoot.  And for the second bid, plus tax and the other stuff they tack on to the rental rate to milk as many dollars as they can out of you,  we got the “Red Lion”.  Now I would be quick to say that surely not every hotel that bears the “Red Lion” name is in the same condition as this one.  But it’s location, at the end of the road in a eerily dark corner along business I-80 should have been a clue.  Beat up and rundown, with a major portion of the rooms blocked off with yellow caution tape should kinda give you an idea of this place.  Kinda scary.   Our room was all the way around the back in semi-darkness where several other weary travelers had been sentenced to spend the night.  Complimentary bottled “Water for the Soul” provided in the room tasted like it might have been drawn from the toilet bowl, the rooms had adjoining doors, (can you say “Bates Motel” or “Psycho”?) and the water pressure in the shower head was adequate only if you had a lot of time to kill in the shower.  Not much more than a trickle!  Two-and-a-half-stars-plus?  That’s a laugh. On a scale of one to five stars,  I give the Red Lion, Arden Way, Sacramento…….one star…….BUT…..and in fairness to the establishment I must add that they seemed to be in the middle of some major (and sorely needed) renovation.  When all of that is completed, it should look alot better.  See….I’m fair.

Priceline…….Bill?……..I’m a believer and I will be using your website again soon!

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