eviljelly

I stayed at the Omni Severin for only one night, so I didn't really have a chance to explore the area. (I was just stopping by on my way to Chicago.) From what I saw on the map and around the immediate area, though, it seems to be in a pretty safe area with lots to do. The room itself was great. Everything was clean, there were plenty of towels, and I was pleasantly surprised to find how large my room was. There was free wireless internet when I went (8/29/04 - 8/30/04), which always wins points in my books. There weren't as many channels on the TV as I had expected (no Comedy Central!), and the reception was fuzzy - that's about the extent of my complaints, though. Although the staff was very nice to me, my room keys came in a little sleeve that said "PRICELINE" on the inside to indicate how I had booked the room. Not that I cared, really. I would recommend the Omni Severin in downtown Indianapolis. At under $50 (I stayed for $43 + tax, but the priceline price range seems to be around $40 - $50), it's definitely a great deal.

I stayed at the JW Marriott (at 1331 Pennsylvania) from 8/25 - 8/27. It may have to do with the fact that I paid only $70 per night, but I really enjoyed the JW Marriott. Everything in the room was clean, and the staff was always respectful and nice to us. The hotel restaurant we ate at (1331) was great, and there's a Starbucks in the lobby, which may be a plus or minus, depending on who you ask. My only complaint would be that the gym/pool area was a bit grimy and didn't seem as roomy or as clean as it could have been. Oh, the decore was a bit cheesy, too, but I've come to expect that from the Marriotts in general. It was a classy kind of cheesy, though; I thought it worked pretty well, as long as you didn't scrutinize too much. The location was superb. We had very little time in DC, and one of the friends I stayed with is a huge sightseer type, so it was awesome that we were so close to everything. Overall, a great experience. I would definitely recommend the JW Marriott at 1331 Penn.

So, let me tell you about the Clarion Fifth Avenue. The hotel is adequate at best. The walls are thin, and the bed is mediocre (to be generous). I tried to get two doubles instead of one "king" size (which is more like a double), but that was considered an upgrade. I didn't expect to be pampered in a 3* hotel, but this is a little bit lower than what I've come to expect from 3* hotels. The room and the bathroom were clean. The staff is very friendly, but will not go out of their way to accommodate you if you're a priceline or hotwire customer (I think we've all come to expect that by now). Another thing: They're changing their name to Hotel 5A. I'm not sure if this says anything about the quality of the hotel, etc., but I suspect they might be being dropped from the Clarion chain because this is not a hotel that's up to the Clarion standard?

Bid for a 4 star in MTW for $100. Unsuccessful. Added 3 star and bid $105. Unsuccessful. Added a free-rebid zone and bid $110. Unsuccessful. Waited 3 days and bid $120 for the same (3 or 4 star in MTW). Success! They put me in a 4 star - the Hilton New York. The listed price on the hotel website is $239. I was afraid I might not get a room in time, and I thought I might have to go to another area, but everything turned out great. P.S. My friend Hotwired for the Hilton Beverly Hills (8/22 - 8/24), and got it for $120, which she was happy with. The listed price for that room was only $195, though. It seems to me that Priceline, if done right, gets deeper discounts than Hotwire.

For 4*s, every other area in Indianapolis was a free re-bid, so I started low at $30, no go. $35, no go. $38, no go. Finally, $43 was accepted at the Omni Severin. I saw some other people get accepted for about $40 at the same hotel on other bidding advice sites which will remain nameless, but those were for different days and different sucker - I mean, standard - rates, so I feel pretty good about the $43. $54.51 after taxes & fees, by the way.

I'm generally pretty laid back in terms of hotels - as long as it's clean and the service is halfway decent, I'll probably like it. A lot of the reviews I was reading said things like "the furniture was tacky," which I really couldn't care about at all. I'll post a brief review after I get back from the trip.

Ernie, to answer your question about what my bidding strategy was, I gotta say I didn't have much of one. I started too high based mostly on prices I'd seen for 4 star hotels, not 3 stars. You should do the research yourself, though, because the rates will vary by the dates.

I bid $70 for a 4 star in Whitehouse - Downtown area and was accepted on the first offer. I probably started the bid too high (this is only the second time I've used Priceline) - I have one more leg of the trip to book, so I'll be more careful next time. Looking at the other posts, though, it doesn't seem like too bad a deal. The location is exactly where I wanted, and that was really the most important thing for me, since I'm only staying two nights. The reviews don't look too good on tripadvisor.com, but the bad reviews are mostly from people who paid $300+ for the rooms! :)

Thanks for the welcome, thereuare. I will only be in NYC for a few days, so I hope to make the most of my time. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should go see, or what bars are good, etc., or maybe there's a website that you could point me to? Right now, my plans are to see the WTC site, the NYSE trading floors (I heard they might be doing away with floor trading alltogether within the next little while, so I want to see it in action), Time Square - all the touristy things, basically. Any help would be much appreciated!

$110 was my first bid for the trip and it was accepted - maybe I should have bid a bit lower? It's a Clarion, so it should be fairly good, I hope.