Another question for Trent S.

[mared1]

Sorry to have so many questions all the time ...but we are staying at the Comfort Inn on Sterling - I know it is just a budget no frills place - just wondered how safe of an area it is in - we will have a rental car. I understand it has exterior corriders which I am not crazy about. Thanks for your help again!

[lojill]

Also another question for Trent the man. You said earlier that the Holiday Inn Express was a good clean 1 night stay for a pre-cruise. The internet price now is 128 dollars.Is that a good price or am I going to find something cheaper. I have been searching all day. I could not find it on priceline. Is it in the north side of town or ft lauderdale airport.I know it is on 17th. I'm thinking of just paying the internet price of 128 dollars. When I did go into price line they gave me several parts of florida and when I scrolled down I could not find it. They did have catagories of certain parts of florida but none with Holiday Inn express 17th.

[seagulls]

I know you didn't ask me about safety but I have stayed at the Comfort Inn so I thought I would give you my take. The hotel is plain but clean and the free breakfast is wonderful. It is OK to walk around during the day but if you go out at night TAKE A CAB. We didn't know anything about the place when we were there and so we took a short walk during which time we encountered some pretty shady characters.

[Italian Nancy]

lojill, I bid 3* $100.00 for Sept 9th and got the Renaissance which is a 4 star for $100.00.. I think the Renaissance is a better quality hotel than Holiday Inn.

[lojill]

Nancy what site did you bid on and was it on 17th. Ihave never bidded on anything before so any advice would be helpful. Do you tell them which hotel or you just tell them the price and location and they find it for you. And when you do bid do you say Ft lauderdale downtown oo ft lauderdale airport. Please help me I'm up to my eyeballs trying to find a nice cheap place to stay close to everything including the port.

[Italian Nancy]

I bid on Priceline.. fll downtown. follow the leads here I tried a 2.5* at $50.00 they (priceline) said it was very favourable.. so I upped it to 3* and $100.00 and they said it had been accepted and I was upgraded from a 3* to a 4*.. you can't pick the hotel nor can you cancel.. but it's just one night pre cruise can it be that bad.. if you particular, then go through one of the other hotel sites that lets you choose your hotel

 

my bid was for Sept 9th, a week from this Friday night

 

good luck

[TrentS]

mared1 - That Comfort Suites is in an okay area. It's not the worst area, but there are far better places to stay.

The area I advise people to stay away from is State Road 84 (aka SR84). At night though (as the other poster said) I wouldn't recommend walking around anywhere except near the hotels along the beach area, along SE17th Street, or Las Olas (Riverside Hotel is the only choice there).

 

lojill - I'm not sure what your date is, but for this winter/spring that's a good price for a direct booking. You won't find that Holiday Inn Express on Priceline though. AmeriSuites comes up on Priceline (2.5-star "downtown"), but personally I think Holiday Inn Express is a bit nicer than AmeriSuites. The Renaissance Nancy got is a 4-star hotel a block east and across the street from Holiday Inn Express and is IMO the nicest of the SE 17th Street hotels.

 

For those who haven't bid Priceline please take the time to read Biddingfortravel.com and Betterbidding.com. You want to bid "downtown" Fort Lauderdale as that's what Priceline calls the SE 17th Street area. I would stay away from the "airport" area as those hotels are on the far side of the airport and there's nothing to walk to from them. If you bid "beach" I wouldn't personally go below 4-star as some lately have been getting a "3-star" that's not all that nice and is a longer, more expensive cab ride from the airport and port.