I'm thinking of booking w/Orbitz for a hotel in Daytona Beach (read hard to find because it's a race weekend/4th of July!)
So...is Orbitz a reliable site?
And...if we don't check in until say midnight will we still get a decent room? After all the room will already be paid for as Orbitz charges your credit card the full amount at booking.

IMO, you will get whatever room is left, esp if hotel is fully booked. I don't know if the Orbitz thing is an issue or not.... If you want a slightly better chance of a nice room, why not book directly w/the hotel, ie call the individual hotel, *not* their centralized reservation 800 #, if they have one, and request the kind of room you want. The price is usually quite comparable, and they will often match any discount price that you quote to them.

When I know for sure that I am going to be checking into a hotel after 5pm, local hotel time, I call the hotel at 12Noon, local hotel time.I ask for the Front Desk.I ask them to look at my reservation for arrival that day.Yes, they see it.Then I ask if there is any way they can "block" a room for me, non smoking,whatever bedding I require for that stay.I am never pushy or demanding.I always explain that I will be checking in "late" due to business.I really dont keep statistics, but it works about 98% of the time.The times it doesnt work is usally due to large groups checking in, or I have even been told they will be in an oversold position and I should do everything possible to check in early.Never a problem.

The only problem I can see is that they could rent that room a hundred times over being the race time. I agree that it may be best to book direct for a situation like this.

BeachBoi: good idea!
socialworker: This hotel is a timeshare and I haven't been able to find a direct phone number just the 800 number for the timeshare.
So...I'm at the point of just booking thru Orbitz because I may not find anything else---they are about 30$ cheaper/nt than booking thru the timeshare(Bluegreen) site.

I would definitely try to find a way to contact the hotel just to let them know you are arriving late. I would do this in advance, and again a day or so before the trip.

Being leery I just went ahead and booked thru Bluegreen cost me a bit more but they gave me the hotel phone #.
I'm just happy to get a place to stay so close to the speedway for only 209$/nt.