Not much beats MVP Gold and hanging out in the Boardroom when it comes to air travel.

I will never fly Southwest unless there is no other option and my life would fall apart if I didn't get on their plane. People are such beasts in an airport and on a plane having self selecting seating is a nightmare I am not interested in, especially making connections from smaller airports, as I often do. The whole seating issue is what really gets to me, and though Alaska Airlines charges for bags, not if you're MVP or first class (which is easy to do once you're an MVP). Alaska has also been quite forgiving with my bag weight since I fly to and from Alaska and they get it about luggage and are probably happy I have real luggage and not coolers or cardboard boxes ;) Luckily everywhere I have lived has been served by Alaska/Horizon and Southwest is either not an option or an expensive one. Had a few shady experiences with delays on American and United flying back east and to the midwest, but even Alaska serves major cities in those areas and I can avoid feeling like a herded animal.

Love, love, love tripadvisor.com! That's where hotels.com connects to for comparisons.

If anyone is going for over a weekend or more than 4 days, try extendedstayhotels.com. They're not connected to any of the aforementioned sites, but the prices goes down by how many days you plan to stay. The last time I stayed there was for 7 days, and with the discounts, it was as if two days were free. The husband of a friend of mine spends 1-2 weeks in Chicago at a time, and they turned me on to them. They're suites, too.

Well, we made the reservations and I'll let you know if the hotel was a dive. Though nothing can compare to a place where we stayed in Beaumont, TX many years ago--it didn't look like a dive from the outside but...

Has anyone ever used that Expedia feature where you choose a hotel sight unseen for a huge discount?

NO! I had a friend who was really ticked when she decided to try that "just once". On the other hand, a couple I know do that a lot. I'd just be too nervous to try it.

Flights are fine obviously. You might have to specify no connections though.

I don't know whether it's expedia, priceline, orbitz, etc. which of those is the one that DOESN'T tell you the name of the hotel but that is what I'd be wary of. I would never book a hotel without knowing which one it is.

Also for these websites with good deals/packages, I'd use it only if you're absolutely sure you don't want a refund.

Yep, I can fly pretty much anywhere now on Alaska or one of their codeshare partners. And Alaska has the best airline partners. Southwest is usually more expensive flying out of Seattle, and I'm with you - I hate the unassigned seating; the chaotic check-in, boarding and seating process; RUDE flight attendants; and messy planes. I like that SWA has an all-Boeing fleet, but so does Alaska, and Alaska takes way better care of their planes. I don't trust SWA maintenance, especially knowing how much those planes fly.

So here's what happened. We drive up to the motel and notice that there are tons of motorcycles out front and lots of loud music playing from a club attached to the motel. We go into our room, which smells like cigarettes, and notice that no one has cleaned the bathroom. We go scope out the pool, which is emerald green. A movie scene flashes into my head--when the 2 kids from "National Lampoon's Vacation" run up to the motel pool and it's green and ducks are quacking in it and I fall apart laughing. At this point, however, we have to make the best of it and leave for meetings.

First night: bikers are zooming around in the courtyard. They finally get kicked out.

Second night: we return to a courtyard concert that's so loud that when we close the door, the sound is as loud as ever. This concert ends in about 10 minutes but another one starts an hour later. Soon afterwards, the cops show up and motel guests can finally sleep.

We may be visiting this town again but we know where we won't stay--:eek:

Did you know the name of the hotel when you booked it or just the amount of stars?

What was the description or name of the area where the hotel was supposedly located?

Motel?

I have never had a problem with booking flights through expedia/travelocity, and for the most part have not had trouble booking hotels. However, one time I did reserve a non-smoking room, at a specific hotel, that was part of a chain that I was familiar with. Due to some huge event in town that night, hotel rooms were booked up everywhere.

I arrived with my 12 month old son, who had already been hospitalized two different times for asthma in his short life. We were placed in the skankiest, smelliest, smokiest room I have ever experienced. I took my printed reservation that stated that I had reserved a non-smoking room and was told by the manager that third party sites can't guarantee smoking vs non-smoking rooms. Because the entire hotel was booked, as was every other hotel in town (CMA weekend in Nashville) we were stuck.**

So, I still am not sure whether expedia or the hotel was at fault, but I am now wary of purchasing hotel rooms through third-party sites. I just stick to the chains' websites so that I can ensure non-smoking rooms.

**They moved us to a less smelly smoking room, did change all the bed linens, and washed down all the walls, which helped.