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I will be staying in the DC area checking in on July 17th through July 22, 2006. In checking the site I believe that we would like to stay in either of these 3 zones- Whitehouse-Downtown, Dupont Circle-Woodley Park, or Convention Center-Capitol Hill. Is any of these areas better for safety, convienance to the sights, or to public transportation? I would like to keep the room under $100 (before fees and taxes) if at all possible. I will start bidding on a 4*, but will settle with a 3* and hopefully nothing less. If I read it right there are 4 zones with 4* hotels in them and the possibility of 4 rebids with zones that do not have 4* hotels available. I would also be open to the Arlington zone if a 4* is not attainable for under $100. In my research the DC area has a very good subway system. What would your strategy be on the 3 zones that were previously listed? Thank you in advance.

Sorry I am still learning all of this.....I bid $47 and it was rejected. I bid the second time for $50 and it was accepted. As for using savingsbarn... to be completely honest I do not know if I used it or not. When I was informed that there was no longer a link on this site I added it to my favorites list. Also in my favorites was priceline, hotwire, tripadvisor, and Hotels.com. I have since deleted hotwire and priceline so if I did click the wrong favorite it will never happen again. Thanks again, and I hope I no longer will make any virgin mistakes.

Well if I was a hockey anouncer I would say, "He shoots, he scores"!!! Patience may be a virtue, but knowing with certainty is much better. I won my first bid. 3* inner harbor zone check in: July 15 check out: July 17 Wyndham Hotel $50 a night Might have done better over time. Might have got a nicer hotel. Who knows. I will live with a slow elevator. It is in the area I want, walking distance to where we will be going, and can take public transportation to Annapolis or where ever else we want to go. Thanks for everyone's help. Now on to Washington DC. Hope to use your expertise there. THANKS AGAIN!

Took a 4* inner harbor bid starting at $80 and rebid up to $90 with $1 raises on the rebid. Didn't get it, and I don't want to spend anymore so I will try a 3* in the inner harbor with the strategy laid out for me. If this doesn't work on the bid for a 3* in the inner harbor I found the Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and Ramada Inn that I found on tripadvisor a couple of weeks ago. All under $100 and I can pick the room I want and need. Wish me luck....

Going to try a 4* one more time Monday without raising my bid above $80. If I get it I will call it a win. If not I will drop to a 3* inner harbor and assume I will be getting the Wyndham. They want $118 non refundable from their website, and it is $152 non refundable through Expedia, Travel Now, and Hotels.com Saw a 3* in the BWI zone for $58 with more amenities. (restaurant, pool, fitness center, business center, shuttle, and laundry). Reviews were good, and free shuttle service from the airport. It would be a savings of $18 a night if I buy it through hotwire, but if I give it back in transportation it is not worth it. For the sport of it though I am going to see which hotel it might be, and if public transportation to the inner harbor would make it worth it.

Good point....Thanks

Nice catch on Mt. Vernon.....thanks. Could someone answer another question for me? I checked last years winning bids during July (when I will be in Baltimore) and found 2 winning bids for under the $80 bid that I was rejected from a couple of nights ago. I believe the hotels were the Pier 5 and the Marriott. Is it because I am looking 6 months in advance? Should I not be planning all of this until the end of March or early May? Yes...I'm having fun, and learning alot thanks to you folks and some of my own leg work. You are right I will feel much better with a win under my belt. I don't like suprises, and thought the sooner I get this done the less chance of failure or suprises. Thanks again. Mike

I will double check, but I came up with....North-Whitemarsh, Southwest, West, Glen Burnie, Hanover-Fort Meade, and Mt. Vernon for the rebids. I appreciate the help.

Thanks everyone.....valuable information and thanks for the time and expertise in gathering it. I have spent alot of time at trip advisor and have read hundreds of reviews. As per the earlier posts everything is leading toward the Wyndham as the 3* that is offered on Hotwire for $77. Read the reviews, and you are right they are mixed. I can live with the slow elevator, and it is only 6 blocks from where we will be spending most of our 2 days. So let's say there is 5-3* hotels in a zone. You bid a price on priceline and it is acceptable to 2 of the hotels. Does priceline automaticly put you in the cheapest price for them if it is available? If so then can I conclude that if the Wyndham is pricelines lowest rated 3* hotel in the inner harbor, then if I bid low and rebid upward that when I do get a bid that is accepted it would be the Wyndham? In your opinion then what would be the best strategy in dropping to a 3* and placing bids? If I can get it now for $77 on hotwire I guess I stop at $77, but where do I start from? Thanks for the heads up about the Naval Academy. It is on my list of things to possibly do in our week in the area. I had looked at China Bus on a different website when I was debating on renting a car or not. Muchcheaper than the train. I still may rent a car in each town I go to and drop it off in that town. Alot of the expenses are from picking it up at BWI and dropping it off at Logan. Something I have to take in account is parking and tolls. To park at Qwest and Safeco fields in Seattle is $25. I am sure it is at least that on the east coast. You can park in downtown Seattle all day for $10. Have no idea what bridge and turnpike tolls cost, and I have to weigh all of that out. Thanks alot for the info about SWA extending their reservation dates. I go to their website every night, and am getting pretty tired of seeing that June 9th date. Pretty great one-way internet special and would love to latch on to it. Bidding for airlines couldn't be cheaper could it? Thanks again....I will go to priceline via the link here, and see how many rebids I can do because the zone doesn't have a 3* hotel. I will think about bidding higher than $80 on a 4*, but I figure that this trip will cost me 15% of my gross yearly wages. Even though it is cheaper to live in Spokane, Wa. than alot of places it is still quite a chunk. Hate to see what is in store for me in NYC in the summer time. Have a great weekend and thanks for considering me a member now and not a newbie. I am somebody. Mike

Thanks for making me think.......prices in the pacific northwest and British Columbia are much cheaper than I am finding back east, but if I pay a little more for a hotel and save car rental I guess it is a wash. Thank you everyone for your patience during my learning experience. I have never planned anything this long and in depth before. Always just called the hotel and paid the price.

Decided to go ahead and try it. I started at $50 and rebid up to $80 adding a new zone each time. That was easy seeing that the only 4* hotels are in the inner harbor zone.. I was turned down each time. I guess I cannot blame the hotels for not wanting to give a $200 plus room for $80 in the middle of summer (July 15-17). I guess the next move is mine. I either will have to bid in 3 days for more money (I wanted to keep each night of my trip around $80) or drop down to a 3* hotel. Is there any other options? Because the vacation is in the summer should I assume that hotels are not willing to give up rooms that much cheaper than what is listed as their retail price? I still have the option of getting the 3* hotel with restarant, pool, fitness center, business center (your research shows the Wyndham) on Hotwire for $77.

Thanks for the help. Before I start bidding should I split the bid because Saturday night is more expensive than Sunday, or just take the deal regardless of the 2 rates?

Dates are firm....I have bought baseball tickets for 3 of the cities, and am just waiting for the others to go on sale. SWA is only taking reservations up til June 9th and as soon as I can plane tickets will be bought. Lets do it. I would like to start bidding on priceline. Here are the details.....The maximum bid I would like to spend is $80 per night in Baltimore checking in on July 15th and checking out on July 17th. The inner harbor is the only zone I would like to stay in. I will move on to DC after the bid is acceped by priceline. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for the help. The reason we are going to Baltimore, DC, Philly, NYC, and Boston is strictly vacation. We will be doing the typical tourist things plus baseball games in each town. The schedule is wide open. As far as my stay in Baltimore goes (I will deal with the rest... city by city) it seems like the majority of the "touristy" things are in the inner harbor area. We have no problem getting a car if need be, but alot of expense of renting the car is the fact that I am picking the car up at 1 airport and dropping it off at another 2 states away. I have no problem with the Wyndham. In my mind I am getting for the same price an inner harbor hotel for the price I was going to spend for a place 10 miles away. Never doing this before, and learning from all of your expertise, what would you suggest? Could I get a nicer place for the same $77 by going on priceline? Could I get the Wyndham for less money? Getting a 4* hotel on priceline for the same price could only be better...right? What do you all think? I was willing to pay $90 on a Days Inn or Super 8 out of the area I wanted to stay in. As for the bed situation.....I would prefer 2 beds. I could get by with 1, but I would be sharing it with my 17 year old son. If I was to win a bid on priceline and it comes with 1 bed couldn't I just pay extra for a roll out? Thanks everyone for all the help. If a strategy is in order I am all ears. When it is all over and done I will have learned alot, saved some money, and will have had a much nicer vacation with my son. Mike

Thank you for your website and the service you provide. I appreciate any help you can provide. We will be needing a hotel in Baltimore on the nights of July 15 and 16 before we move on to Washington DC. It may even make sense to stay in Baltimore and commute to DC the 5 days we will be there. After checking hotels out on trip advisor I realized that it would be cheaper to stay out of the inner harbor area. Hotels were listed in the inner harbor area for $169 and up...give or take. That is why I thought I would have to stay outside the area I wanted to visit. I would like to stay for under $90 (after taxes) each night for the 20 days worth of hotel rooms I would need on this trip. I think after looking at hotels a 2.5 or 3* hotel is fine. I would settle for less if I knew it was clean and safe. We will be only there to sleep. After looking at hotwire the $77 room they offered on the days we needed had listed as amenities... Resturant, pool, business center, and fitness center. I then went back to trip advisor and went through all the hotels that offered at least those amenities. They were Holiday Inn, Wyndam, Raddison, and Brookshire Suites. Then in checking your threads for 3* I came up with a couple of others I did not write down. I would like to use public transportation during this trip if at all possible. It would cost me $950 to rent a car for 18 days picking it up at BWI and dropping it off at Logan. Let me know what other information you might need me to offer. Again I appreciate any help you folks can give and thanks again. Mike

First of all I want to thank you for the site. I do not travel alot, and have always been afraid to try Hotwire or Priceline. With the help of the threads I have read, and the great information I have learned, I am going to give it a try. My son and I will be going to Baltimore, DC, Philly, NYC, Boston, and Niagara Falls in July for 20 days. I need to save all the cash I can. Questions in general....Went to hotwire and picked the inner harbor zone in Baltimore. On tripadvisor I found that the rooms are about $169 a night on average. Found one on hotwire for $77. I took the amenities that this hotel had to offer and compared it against tripadvisor and the threads on this site and came up with 6 possibilities. Even though it is not a guarentee I would be happy with any of them. So here are the questions. I need 2 beds... so do I tell them that there are 3 people so I can get the 2 beds? I do not want to be put in a king bed with my son. Do you bid for a room on hotwire or only priceline? If I go to priceline do I use the $77 as a midpoint in my bid? Is there a unwritten rule on what % off of the posted price that a hotel will accept on priceline or hotwire? I want to do this in the 6 cities that we will be traveling to so any hints, help, advice, threads, etc. would be very helpful. Thank you in advance for your help.