I haven’t used Priceline, but I have used hotels.com, and even though you prepay, they still want a credit card in case you use the bar, the phone, the movies, or trash the room, I suppose. But it might be cheaper.
That’s quite up to you, I would say.
I’m a newly-minted Ph.D. in the humanities who hasn’t managed to find a job. That might not be a bad idea, actually 
God, that’s the truth!
It’s not been mentioned, only implied, but who cares? Maybe I’m just getting older but as I do, I find I care less and less about being embarrassed. Self-confidence is way stronger now.
Just wanted to say, it might be cheaper to be home but it isn’t really more restful.
At home you have all the chores that still need to be done all around you, piles of laundry, vacuuming, dusting, bills stacked up, etc. At a motel it’s clean, neat and there isn’t anything to distract you from just having fun.
Here in Panama what are known as “push-buttons” are something of an institution. For economic reasons a lot of young adults live with their parents, and a lot of people share housing with little privacy. A push-button (usually just referred to as a “poosh” as pronounced in Spanish) is a motel surrounded by walls so you can’t see who is parked there from outside. They usually have names like Campo de Amor (Field of Love) or Sueños Lindos (Beautiful Dreams).
You gain entrance by pushing a signal bell (hence the name), and make your payment through a drawer. I don’t think you ever see an attendant. (I can’t speak from experience.) The rooms rent by the hour, and the places are open 24 hours.
Bangkok is chock-full of “short-time hotels.” Rooms for three hours for about $10. Many of the rooms have large parking bays, and when you pull your car in, an attendant immediately pulls a curtain all the way around, to keep prying eyes from seeing whose car is there. But many couples still get dropped off.
I know I’ve seen “love motels” in the U.S. before, but I don’t think they’re very common.
You have described the situation precisely.
Porpentine , I sent you a private message…
Well, I’m sure it’s not as embarassing as checking out 8 minutes later.
Hah! I can just see the couple leaving - the husband looking vaguely satisfied and sheepish, the wife kinda steaming.
Whose going to watch the kids while you are at the hotel?
Couldn’t that person just take them to the park for a few hours or to a movie?
see post 13.
The youngest is 1. Movies are a bad idea. Just last weekend I spent the entire length of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles chasing him up and down the halls of the movie theatre. Not that this wasn’t perhaps preferable to watching the movie (my husband was watching the movie with the older two)
It is seriously a major production to take all three of them anywhere. I’m their mom and probably the most experienced at doing it and I avoid it if at all possible.
Taking the older two someplace, piece of cake. Taking the one yr. old somewhere, no problem. But all three…better just to stay home where the doors lock and the stairs are gated.
I’m really hoping for a 6 hour chunk of time (I’m really hoping for a weekend but our parents aren’t willing and I don’t know anyone I could ask or pay to stay overnight with them) which just doesn’t feel comfortable for them being out of the house.
Off to start a new thread about how people use and find babysitters
Regarding being embarrassed, don’t sweat it. Think back to any other situation where you were on the other side. Do you still think/obsess about the situation? Would you recognize that person if you saw them in the grocery store? Did you start a blog about them? Do you cackle with glee at the very memory of whatever you witnessed that was so embarrassing to them?
Trust me, you’ll be out of the staffs’ minds just as quickly as any stranger you ever witnessed in an embarrassing position. Not that you have anything to be embarrassed about. The freedom to rent a room for nookie is one of the privileges of being a grown up with an income!!
That, and eating macaroni and cheese in the nude. Hey! You could do both!
So you’re saying the babysitter is fine to handle all three of them…as long as they don’t leave the house. Got it.