Oh No....Minneapolis Minnesota!

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

Some of you know I have been banging my head about coming up with a couple summer vacations. Well dear parents just called and said they are going to Minnie the week of July 4th to visit my brother. My 5YO daughter overhead the conversation and is bouncing off the walls cuz she gets to see her uncle again.

I don't mind going there - but my husband has the last 2 weeks of June off. He loses his vacation time on June 30th if not used. So I was really hoping to take one of those weeks off.

So, they call me to get us a time share for the week. Seriously, the area has what 8 weeks that could be considered prime????? No way I'm going to hit July 4th.

So......anyone know the area? Know a decent place to stay?

[Jeanne Sz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jeanne Sz]

I live in Minneapolis

Are you talking about actually staying IN Minneapolis, or just NEAR it?
If you're staying in the Twin Cities and looking for something to do, I know the Twins are in town July 1-7, with fireworks after the July 1st game, and several afternoon games over the holiday weekend. There are several good hotels downtown, including the W, Westin, Marriott, Radisson, Wyndham Grand Graves Hotel, and several others.
Near the airport and Mall of America there are also several good hotels, including one with a waterpark.
There are some resorts within an hour or two, but the closest timeshares will be about 3-4 hours away, and the closest would be Breezy Point or Causeway on Gull. That area also has plenty of lakes and wonderful resorts. If you can't find anything available, try craigslist.org.
About the same distance northwest is Breezy Shores, Lake Carlos Villas and other resorts in the Alexandria area.
Anywhere from Duluth to Grand Marais along Lake Superior is great in summer, and there are some timeshare properties up there, but rarely available for exchange. Owners tend to rent them out if they don't use them.
Hope this helps. For more information, google Explore Minnesota.

[klynn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close klynn]

I live west of Mpls and about 2.5 hours from Breezy Point. I am going to send you a pm.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Yeah - a Fourth of July week exchange into a Minnesota timeshare is going to be really, really tough. As noted elsewhere, all of the timeshares in Minnesota are up in the lake regions and unless you lived in Minnesota you really can't grasp the visceral connection that Minnesotans have with their lakes and spending a summer week at "the lake", whichever one that might be. All of which means that if people who own a summer week at Minnesota lake own something that is pretty highly valued. If they don't use it themselves, they can easily rent it for a good price.

(I was born in Alexandria, my parents are buried there, and I have a sister, nieces, and nephews still living in the area. My family spent many happy summer vacations camping at Lake Carlos, on the Gunflint Trail, at Itasca, near Brainerd and Bemidji and Mille Lacs. We did family picnics at Taylors Falls, and at Red Wing and Winona. If they do an autopsy on my dead body, when they inspect the abdomen I fully expect that they will find a 4-lb northern Pike lolling around in there, living on mosquito larvae.)

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

I have visited my brother in the past. He lives in Minneapolils - very close to the new ballpark. I recall him telling me he could walk to the games. I believe that will be the location of the visit - even though I think I would love to check out the lake area. I did find a rental - but $1,400 for the week for a 2BR.

After alot of thought. I think my DD and I will just join them for 2-3 nights. This way I can still get that family trip in at the end of June with my husband (of course that means I need to still find the location for that!)

[SallyHoover Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SallyHoover]

For city visits 2-3 nights long its hard to beat priceline. Two summers ago DH and I visited Minne to see a Steelers/Vikings pre-season game and got a room for about $50+$14 fees at the Hyatt Minneapolis.

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

Thanks - I will keep that in mind. I assume waiting to the last minute to book is better with priceline???

We did this last summer in Newport, RI. Got the Hyatt there for 1/2 of what they were offering on their site.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Thanks - I will keep that in mind. I assume waiting to the last minute to book is better with priceline???

We did this last summer in Newport, RI. Got the Hyatt there for 1/2 of what they were offering on their site.

Priceline (and Hotwire) are good options.

And no, you should not automatically assume it is better to wait until the last minute when using PL or HW. I use PL and HW regularly, and I have had many cases where I would up getting deals by reserving early that were gone later.

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To use PL and HW you need to understand how the game works.

First, hotels give inventory to PL and HW when they believe they will have significant excess inventory that they can't fill themselves. If they think they will come close to filling the hotel on their own, they only given inventory to PL and HW at rates that are higher that what they would charge.

So that is your first step - compare their rates to the best rates you can get elsewhere - not rack rates but poke around sites like Kayak and hotels.com to see what you can get, check hotel websites, etc. If PL and HW rates are not significantly less you will know the hotels are not expecting excess inventory. You should then plan accordingly.

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The second factor is that demand projections are dynamic and changing, and as the projections change the strategies (and pricing) of the hotels will change. At one stage the hotel might be expecting a surplus and they release inventory to PL or HW. But then later on they release that demand is higher than they thought. So they pull back inventory they have offered to PL or HW, or they increase the price on it.

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So deciding whether or not to wait until the last minute involves making a guess as to what you think availability will look like at that last minute. If you think hotels will be scrambling at the end to reach their occupancy levels - then waiting to the last minute might work. But if you guess wrong you will pay dearly because the hotels themselves will also not be offering the deals they were offering.

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In your case, you're looking at the first couple of days in July, just before 4th of July. School's out. Twins are in town. It's one of the times of year when people actually do travel to Minnesota for vacation.

Sounds to me as if that is one of the least likely times of year when hotels might have surplus. If I were you I would take the first good deal I could find, at least as a cancellable reservation, while I continued to work other alternatives such as PL and HW.