meganr

Just won this hotel for tomorrow night. First time PRICELINE bidder and this was my first bid. Probably could have gotten it a bit cheaper, but I am happy!

I have been searching (using your links) hotels in the Seattle airport area for 4/16/13 to 4/17/13. When looking at the hotel list view and narrowing the areas to SeaTac Airport (SEA), it shows hotels only as high as 3 stars. When I click on the "best deal" tab for name your own price and select Seattle Airport (SEA) as my area, it gives me the option to choose a 3.5 star hotel. Looking at the Priceline lists on this site, I can find no 3.5 star hotels in the SeaTac area. Any ideas what hotel it could be? Thanks for your help! Megan

I went ahead and booked the Hotwire room. It was the Holiday Inn Eisenhower Avenue, which is great for us. Saved $600 from the lowest price I could find for this stay at this hotel (on their website) and it is close to the Metro and airport. Thanks again for your help and please let me know if I need to post something separate for the HOTWIRE deal.

Okay, that's what I was thinking too. If things are not going well with the Priceline bidding I may just go with this option. Thanks! Dupont Circle would be fine. So I have attempted to determine my bidding strategy (I like to see if I can figure it out myself first) and I am hoping you can confirm if I have it right or not. My first choice area is White House, second is Dupont Circle, and third is Convention Center. I looked through and it looks like Alexandria West, Bethesda, Cleveland Park, Crystal City, DC Northeast, Georgetown North, Mount Vernon, and Silver Spring are rebid zones with no 4 star or higher hotels. Where should I start the bidding? Also, at what point(s) do I need to close the browser, click the link, and start over again? I will definitely use your link for bidding! Thanks for the help!Bid 1 White House Bid 2 White House + Dupont Circle Bid 3 White House + Convention Ctr Bid 4 White House + Dupont Circle + Convention Ctr Bid 5 White House + Alexandria West Bid 6 White House + Bethesda Bid 7 White House + Cleveland Park Bid 8 White House + Crystal City Bid 9 White House + DC Northeast Bid 10 White House + Georgetown North Bid 11 White House + Mount Vernon Bid 12 White House + Silver Spring Bids 13 - 20 Dupont Circle + (same as White House scenario) Bids 21 - 28 Convention Ctr + (same as White House scenario)

I know it seems like I am all over the place here! When I first started researching hotels for our trip I thought I would just book a Holiday Inn Express since we have stayed in those in the past and they have always been fine for us. The best price I could find was about $130 including taxes and fees. Then I thought maybe I should try the Priceline thing and see if we could get a nicer hotel closer to the Mall in DC for less or the same amount. Yes, a 4 star in one of the original zones is ideal. I am just not sure that with taxes and fees and possible additional mandatory fees upon check in at the hotel that it would still be in a reasonable price range for me. It sounds like you think a $125 bid price is reasonable for those areas. Am I correct? Yes, I would like to try bidding those areas, but I would like to know what hotel you think that 2.5 star hotel is (I was missing the handicapped parking amenity). If it is a Holiday Inn, we may be swayed to go lower star to save several hundred dollars. Plus since it is Hotwire, we will know we can have sleeping space for the 3 of us and it has an indoor pool, which we would like. If we save money on the hotel, we can spend more on nice meals and another vacation later this year. :-)I've been using your links every time I search. Thanks again!

Wondering if anyone can help ID the following hotels I am interested in on Hotwire. I tried comparing them to the lists and have some guesses, but would like confirmation. Thanks! (I am using the links for Hotwire and Priceline from this website for every search) Alexandria & Old Town 2.5 stars (Holiday Inn maybe?) $82/night compared at $159/night on other sites 90% recommended by Hotwire users and 3.5 of 5 on Trip Advisor Amenities Free Parking Indoor pool(s) Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom <amenity names only please... not descriptions> Roll-in shower (Handicapped Parking) Alexandria & Old Town 3.5 stars (Crowne Plaza maybe?) $117/night compared to $208/night on other sites 90% recommended by Hotwire users and 3.5 of 5 on Trip Advisor Amenities Airport Shuttle Fitness Center Restaurant(s) High-Speed Internet Access Tennis Nearby Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower Alexandria & Old Town 3 stars $112/night no price comparison for other sites 90% recommended by Hotwire users no info on Trip Advisor ratings Amenities Fitness Center Pool(s) Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower Thanks for the help!

I have been looking at Hotwire options as well. I will post on a new Hotwire thread with an ID request. Also, I have been using your links every time I do a search on Priceline and Hotwire. Thanks!

Yes, we are willing to accept this risk. Okay. I think when I was initially looking last week, there were more reasonably priced 4 star options (like around $200 to $225 I think) and with "up to 60% off" as Priceline suggests, I thought $125 might be reasonable. What would be a reasonable budget in your opinion? More like $125 before taxes and fees? Or should I go down to 3.5 or 3 star options? We don't have to stay in a 4 star hotel. It just seemed that in my research of the hotels offered on Priceline, that hotels with lower stars were more hit or miss in the reviews. I am just worried about bidding for 10 nights and being stuck in some dump. We have stayed in some pretty gross hotels before, but usually only for one night. We camp in tents and have stayed in cabins with no bathroom, but we want to stay somewhere clean and comfortable for this trip. The other options we are considering are Alexandria or Arlington. Another thought is to break the trip into two or three segments and do separate bids. Of course that means moving from one hotel to another (most likely), but maybe I would have better results or a better chance of actually getting a bid accepted. Also, hotels in Washington DC get pretty cheap on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Maybe I should break out the weekdays and bid those separate or something. Again, I appreciate your help and am sorry for so many questions!

Hi. This is my first post on this forum and the first time I am considering using Priceline. We are going to Washington DC April 17-27, 2013 arriving at Reagan at 6:00 pm from Seattle. There are two adults and 1 child who will turn 5 during the trip. I do not want to spend more than $125 with all taxes and fees (below or around $100 would be super!). Hopefully this is a reasonable budget. Our first choice is to stay in the White House/Downtown area in a 4 star hotel. Second choice is Convention Center/Capitol Hill again in a 4 star hotel. Third choice is Dupont Circle/Woodley Park 4 star hotel. I do have a couple of questions and concerns in addition to seeking bidding advice. 1. I am unsure if it is better to just book a hotel in Alexandria or Arlington because they are less expensive and ride the metro in to DC. In this scenario I would know what hotel I am getting, what amenities are included (free airport shuttle, breakfast, indoor pool, or whatever), and that I will not be subjected to any kind of "Priceline discrimination". However, it will cost as much or more than I suspect I may pay through Priceline to be right in the city. 2. Are there any 4 star hotels in my preferred zones that do NOT allow children? I have researched all of the ones I have seen listed and I don't think any of them exclude children, but that would be a major problem if that is a possibility. 3. Am I correct to assume that my preferred areas generally have easy access to the Metro? I have a Metro map that I have been referring to in my research, but again, I am worried we would end up in the one hotel that is nowhere near the Metro somehow. I really appreciate any help you can provide. I apologize for all the questions, but I will be grateful for any piece of mind you can provide. Thanks! Megan