Pretentious luxury on the cheap at the Drake

What gives with these fancy hotels? [Warning: Rant thinly disguised as objective information] My wife and I live in St. Louis Missouri. Yesterday, we decided that I should take my two daughters to Chicago in early August, so today I made some arrangements. Now time is money--I don't want to be driving into downtown Chicago from a cheaper suburban hotel every day, wasting time sitting in traffic, when we should be spending every waking moment at Chicago's world-class museums and aquarium. Therefore, I set out to get accommodations right in the heart of Chicago. Knowing that this could be quite expensive, however, I did a bit of shopping through some frugal travel websites. I ended up at Priceline.com, the site where William Shatner's puffy image beckons me to come on in and save money (here I am being judgmental because Captain Kirk let himself go to pot). At Priceline, I saw that one could pick a hotel in downtown Chicago and pay anywhere from $150 to $500 per night. None of that for me! I decided to bid on a hotel room. For those of you who have never bid on a hotel room, the Priceline system offers substantial savings to you if you're willing to bid on a hotel room in a specific region of a city without knowing the name of the hotel that you will be assigned (assuming that your bid is high enough to purchase any hotel room at all). I indicated that I was willing to pay $100 per night for a 3 1/2 star hotel room in "zone five" of downtown Chicago. I figured that my modest bid would probably be rejected, but I was wrong. I had successfully purchased several nights at the Drake Hotel, which is just north of the Water Tower on The Magnificent Mile. Before placing the winning bid, I didn't know anything at all about the Drake Hotel, so I visited the Drake's site. You'll see lots of images of the kinds of carefree and well-to-do people who burn their money at the Drake. Many of the pictures at Drake website made me think of politicians hanging around with their mistresses. I saw that rooms typically range in price from $250-$350 per night. Sounds like I got quite a deal, right? Actually, the Drake is doing us all a service by charging a such outrageous prices (well, charging every body else such outrageous prices). They are making sure that when we stay there, that we are safely secluded from the riffraff, because the riffraff cannot afford to stay there. Extremely clever.

Continue ReadingPretentious luxury on the cheap at the Drake

Vacationing at home

I just finished with an intense period of work, including trying part of a jury case that ended in a mistrial when the opposing attorney was rushed to the hospital with internal bleeding.  

Trying lawsuits can be exhausing work.  Really exhausting.  My wife (Anne) saw that look in my eyes, and insisted that I could really use a day or two to recover.  She suggested that I spend a night at a cabin at nearby Pere Marquette State Park (in Grafton Illinois).  This was really tempting, but I thought twice about doing that when I called the park and I was reminded of the cost of $125 for one night.   Did I really earn that sort of retreat? Did I want to travel that far to “get away?”

I considered plan B:  stay at home.  This would offer me the advantage of being with my wife and children, and I’ve really been craving time with them during the many evenings I’ve recently spent at work.  But Anne insisted, “You really need to get away and do nothing for a day.”

Then I considered plan C.   I visited Priceline for the first time last night.  This site gives you a chance to bid what you think a hotel is worth.   I got the idea of doing something I’d never done before:  taking a vacation in my hometown, in downtown St. Louis.  But I didn’t want to spend much.   Therefore, I placed a bid of only $40 for one night at a …

Share

Continue ReadingVacationing at home