Hotwire Hotel: San Diego Help

[kcchica]

Dates 6-12 to 6-14

Old Town 2* with pool, comp breakfast, and laundry facilities

Down Town (harbor island) 3* with suites, fitness area, comp. breakfast, kitchenette, high speed internet, business center, laundry facilities

Also does anyone know if all downtown hotels charge parking fees? or in your experience, I realize nobody will know absolutely.

Thanks

kc

[WillTravel]

The Old Town 2* might be the Holiday Inn Express.

I think most or all downtown hotels would charge parking fees.

[bbbb]

This has been asked before and we think the suites hotel is Staybridge suites and not Embassy Suites.If you pick it please report back on it.Thank You

[TravelGuy]

I'm just about sure the Old Town 2* is the Holiday Inn Express because of the comp breakfast. If you're interested in this one, it's also a Priceline hotel, the only 2* that's come up in that zone - so you may want to go that route. The ichotels.com rate for your dates is just $108, so I think a bid of $36-38 should do it. There's a risk that you'd be upgraded to the Marriott Courtyard, which is right on the highway and very noisy - and no free breakfast - but I don't think that's likely given the marriot.com rate of $169.

[kcchica]

Thanks for the help. I agree its most likely the holiday inn. Those 2 looked most promising from hotwire, but I think I really need to wait it out and try and get somethign cheap in la jolla (coastal), everything hotwire is offering up there is 100+ though and I don't see many people posting winning bids for that area.

[bbbb]

I have seen bids for July being accepted at the hilton torrey pines for $54.

[kcchica]

That is the one coastal one I noticed as well. On hotwire for coastal I get

a 2.5 * with pool, fitness, comp. breakfast, golf, tennis and laundry for $108 as the cheapest and then

a 2* with pool, comp. breakfast and laundry for $115

both of which seem extremely high. I wouldn't mind something less than the 4* hilton, like one of those,

but then I would want to save some money, does anybody think that people are just not bidding lower for hte area or is there just nothing available in the cheaper price range right now.

my priceline 72 hour period is up sometime today. so I think I should focus on la jolla... just not sure if I should try cheaper for the lower level room or not...I do like the idea of comp. breakfast, though and saving money on a lower quality room, we are going in for a short period of time (ucsd graduation), so I don't want to spend too much money since we have to fly in anyway.

[WillTravel]

both of which seem extremely high. I wouldn't mind something less than the 4* hilton, like one of those,

but then I would want to save some money, does anybody think that people are just not bidding lower for hte area or is there just nothing available in the cheaper price range right now.

I think there's a somewhat greater risk for going for less than a 4* in the Coastal region, due to the fact it's such a large zone. There are only a small number of 4* possibilities in the Coastal zone, but who knows what with a 3* or less. But if you will have a car, there's no harm in trying a lower bid at a lower star level. You would probably get a standard chain hotel - Holiday Inn, Doubletree, or whatever. You could also strategize so that you can use your bids to maximum advantage.

If you're okay with a lower-star level in the Coastal zone, I would go like this:

4* in Coastal zone (whatever price you think ok)

3* in Coastal zone (whatever price you decide, but low enough to make it worthwhile)

If that fails,

2.5* in Coastal zone (whatever price you decide)

At that point, I would close the browser, go to SavingsBarn again, and start a new bid:

Coastal 4* + rebid zone (another zone with no 4 star hotels)

Repeat with other rebid zones until you get to your limit.

I think there are also free rebid zones that have no hotels greater than 2.5*. So you could also do free rebids at the 3* level.

For our stay in San Diego a few months ago, we were pretty happy with the HoJo on Rosecrans - not the most romantic or gorgeous area, but extremely convenient, especially without a car. Otherwise I would choose La Jolla as my preferred area.

[kcchica]

Now I am a little nervous about biddin 3* if you think its possible to get a hotel further out from la jolla...

I am trying to minimize costs because we are only flying out for a graduation ceremony, we really won't have much time to enjoy the SD area, we fly in sat nite and back out super early monday AM. So we will only have sunday, of which we have a graduation ceremony to attend and then a celebration dinner. So we won't have much time to do much else.

So in an effort to minimize costs I was thinking abotu staying in la jolla, where we will be able to get a ride to and from teh airport....

If we stay outside the la jolla area, then I feel compelled to rent a car to get to the ceremony/dinner, which should be 40-50 with fees for the short period of time we are there.. so we could go that route with a cheaper hotel..

but If I have a car I have to worry about parking fees, so that seems to eliminate downtown hotels... and I read somewher ethat some hotel on hotel circle is charing for parking too... which seems odd.

But if you think its possible to get a 3* hotel a little further out from the la jolla area, then that doesnt' work too well either, because i don't want to be inconvenience for anyone there if we chose to not rent a car.

so trying to minimize costs is causing a lot of headaches...

[WillTravel]

The best way to decide is to take a good look at the Coastal zone map and see if you're okay with it. But if you could get a 4* bid in the low $50s I think that would be excellent and take care of a lot of hassles for you. But, would it be a problem if you got the Hyatt Islandia in Mission Bay, which is a possibility with a 4* Coastal zone bid?

The HoJo I mentioned has a shuttle to/from the airport, as do some other hotels in that area.

[kcchica]

I was concerned with airport shuttles for a time, but someone has offered to help us with the airport stuff if we stay in la jolla... so while some hotels have shuttles (either in downtown or old town) I would then be stuck with a way to the ceremony and dinner festivities in la jolla... and I checked, and the trolley doesn't go up that way. I think multiple taxi rides would get expensive.

The islandia is at the edge of that region and wouldn't be ideal, but I guess I would have to take that risk.. worst case we receive a hotel in that area as far away from UCSD as possible, but still even if we can't walk or catch a ride to the ceremony/dinner stuff, a taxi would have to be cheaper from within the coastal area than from downtown or another area... at least I hope so...

[kcchica]

What about mira mesa, are you familar with that zone.. cause when I look at hte priceline map its a very small zone that is near the top part of the coastal zone, closer to ucsd than some areas of the coastal zone that are further south.... that might be a better choice.. of course if we go with that area, then we can count on not getting a hotel within walking distance of ucsd, not that coastal zone is a guaruntee either, but at least its a possiblity.

[WillTravel]

I'm not familiar with Mira Mesa, but I think if you bid for a 2.5* in that zone it would be fine.

Otherwise the Coastal zone sounds like a good bet, and you do have a good chance of ending up in La Jolla. The 2.5* Residence Inn La Jolla has come up - who knows if there are any other 2.5* out there, but I suspect that would be pretty good too if you got it also.

[kcchica]

I think mira mesa might be an option for a cheaper hotel and then I could bid on a car too... that way we are less bothersome to anyone. I hadn't really considered that area before, only downtown and old town.. and I really didn't want to be hit with a parking fee for 2 days... not of the reviews mention a parking fee adn since they seem to cater to business travelers and are not in a high premium area, I think its safe to assume parking will be free.