Anybody tried booking through Hotwire? I just did it, and am pleased at the moment. It's a bit scary booking on just the price and amenities/rating without seeing the name to know if it is a place you would like. However, I got a Clarion for $37 pre-tax on a Saturday night. I went to their website and the cheapest I could get a room was $98 pre-tax. I'll let you all know how it turns out!

I've used Orbitz a few times....I prefer knowing where I'll be staying,
but that's just me...I guess I'm not as adventurous as I once was.
Back in the early 90's, I was flown to England for a conference, and
despite knowing that I'd be there for 9 days, I hadn't made any
hotel accomodations...I just 'hired' a rental car and drove around
out in the countryside until I found a place....

Man! that sounds like fun!

I didn't like Hotwire because it didn't name the hotel, and it was only useful when staying in big cities or tourisity areas.

I've never used an internet service to book a hotel room, prefering to go directly to the hotel's web site. (Although it looks like you can save a bundle!). I do use TRAVELOCITY (www.travelocity.com) to book airline reservations. Never had a problem and generally find them cheaper than most of the other services. And "e-tickets" (electronic tickets where you don't actually get a paper ticket) are the greatest. Is hotwire like priceline.com where you basically don't know what you're getting until after you pay for it?

Good luck on your voyage momsapilot! Clarions are generally nice clean establishments.

If you're into NASCAR (like I am...can you tell ???), there's
a website that makes deals with local hotels catering to
that week's racing fans. It's call 'Vroomz', and I used it
for the first time to reserve my room for the upcoming
fall race at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC:

http://www.vroomz.com/

Our room was nice and the facilities were good. Unfortunately, between the Ohio State Fair and some Mid-Ohio Raceway event, the place was packed. The housekeeping staff was running behind, so we got into our room about 30 min after check-in time. Of course, the fire alarm went off around 11pm, and we had to leave the building. Luckily, we had just returned from the Columbus Clippers game, so we weren't in bed yet. However, none of this was Hotwire's fault, so I give the service 2 thumbs up. Now let's see what they can do for me this weekend in Cincinnati!!

Used Hotwire for the fourth time to book our room in FL. I was happy to be getting a suite-type room for $80 a night pre-tax. After I found out that it was an Ameri-suites, checked the website to find out more about the location. I always check the prices to see what kind of deal I got. To my surprise, the rooms were going for $70 a night. I contacted Hotwire, and they have a "double the difference" policy. I was happy to get $80 back! Four nights for $299.15 in a suite, including tax, after all was said and done.

Havent tried them yet... I am an Expedia junkie.

We just took a roadtrip to Nashville 3 weeks ago... 3 guys in a Toyota Echo... (via Enterprise rent-a-car - booked via expedia) That car had some pep i tell ya! The darn thang got 36 MPG while pushing 80+ mph the whole way. I was proud of it. H'town to Nashville in 9.5 hours.

Oh, taking: 70-->68-->Morgantown-->Charleston-->Lexington-->Nashville is a fabulous way to go. Its very peaceful, and scenic.

My wife and I swore we would never drive through Kentucky again after taking that route last year.

It wasnt too bad for us. I see way to much of I-81 and dealing with rude truckers from time to time. Lexington was nice. There were sooo many huge horse farms. Man of War Farm was amazing.

ohh try taking that route (with the excpetion of heading on through to Louisville from Lexington) while being 7 months pregnant & riding in the front seat of a Ryder moving truck along with 2 other people! Not fun!! lol