I’d heard for years about the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Some say it is the finest and biggest market in the U.S. It truly is big with a large variety of food and other products for sale. It is hard for me to estimate how large it really is but I would say the various indoor and outdoor areas all together was the size of a shopping mall or three city blocks.

We went on a Sunday, prime day for the market, and the place was packed. There was seafood in abundance, mostly shellfish, and good produce to be had, though not much of it was organic. Particularly striking though were the flower vendors. Four very large flower stands were selling the most incredible bouquets. Thousands of flowers were on display that would rival an arboretum.

Across the street from the main market building is the original Starbucks, which seems like it was a nice place with no hint of the megalomaniacal attempts at world domination to come. The rest of downtown Seattle is a typical downtown, nothing bad but nothing special. The restaurants all seemed to be overpriced. The Pikes Place Market is the place to go though.

When we came back to Chicago briefly in July so I could teach my summer class we booked a Holiday Inn in Oakbrook Terrace (a forgettable little strip of land in the Chicago suburbs). Despite the supposed 3-star rating of this property, it was one of the worst hotel experiences of our trip. Very disappointing. Everything about this hotel was cramped and unfriendly. From the driveway to the lobby to the elevators to the cramped uncomfortable rooms, this hotel felt claustrophobic and uninviting. Though there was lots of brass and gilded flash in the lobby, everything beneath the surface was cheap, especially in the rooms. There was only one luggage cart in the whole 100 + room hotel. The restaurant was closed more often than open – it was even closed at 7 pm on Friday night. The poorly-trained staff do not help matters. The staff seemed completely incapable of handling even the simplest requests. It seemed that this Holiday Inn only cares about profit margins. We have stayed at Motel 6′s that were better.

So when Priceline landed us at another Holiday Inn, this time in Skokie, we were apprehensive. Fortunately our experience was the exact opposite of Oakbrook Terrace. Here the staff could not have been more helpful and friendly. The hotel was roomy and comfortable and the rooms themselves were so much higher in quality. The restaurant was open during posted hours and there were nine luggage carts.

It is interesting that two properties of the same hotel chain could be so different. It shows that you can’t necessarily trust a brand name to deliver the same quality at all of their branches.

That would be between August 15 and Labor Day. We noticed a large spike in hotel rates immediately on August 15. Here is the comparison of hotel rates for our trip:

• Before Aug 15 – $44.28
• Aug 15 and after – $62.00

That is a 40% increase in price.

Those last two weeks in August is when many people go on vacation, so the hotels jack up their prices. We did notice that hotels (and the roads) were more crowded after August 15.

We recommend you take your vacations before August 15; preferably in June when the rates are the lowest.