swag

Intercontinental or the Sheraton.

I don't know what is going on in NOLA that weekend, but things are as tight as I've ever seen it in years. (I had been considering a trip myself). Not just hotels, most flights are completely sold out as well. So, go ahead and try, but $80 may be overly optimistic if you need the 4* level. Quikbook had some decent availability, so maybe look there if you can't hit on PRICELINE.

Sorry to be late to post this. Fitness, Pool, Internet, Laundry, Restaurant => Holiday Inn French Quarter on Royal St. $39 is an excellent rate for this hotel anytime, but this stay spans Jazzfest. Anything under $50 in the FQ or Downtown during Jazzfest is almost unheard of. I booked this on Sunday, and some friends were able to get this yesterday too. One of them told me they also got the same rate even for Mardi Gras! As of this morning, it seems to be no longer available for either time period. I'm thinking this rate may have been posted in error...

For the last few years, Downtown 4* Customer Favorite has always been either the Intercontinental or the Sheraton on Canal. As I recall, the amenities show the same for both, so no way to tell for sure. Both are nice properties, ICH maybe a bit nicer, but the Sheraton a bit more centrally located.

I'm not 100% certain, but I don't believe that the W FQ has guest-operated laundry.

The JW is on the Downtown side of Canal St. Hotels w/ Canal St Addresses: FQ side: Marriott Astor Crown Plaza Alexa Downtown Side: Doubletree Sheraton JW Marriott Days Inn

I have several cards that earn points & miles. - Starwood Amex - Citi AA Visa - Citi AA Mastercard - Citi Business AA Mastercard - Chase Marriott Visa I've had the AA Visa for a long time. I only got the other 2 AA cards for the signup bonus miles. I got the Marriott card for the 15 nights towards elite status. But I don't use these much. For everyday spending, I put as much as possible on the Amex. The cool thing about Starwood is that their award program has no capacity controls. If there's a standard room available for sale for cash, then you can get it for points at the standard level. So if you ever travel to popular events, the free stays can be worth a lot. And if you're looking for miles, Starwood points can be transferred to many airlines at 1:1, and if you transfer 20K, there's a 5K bonus, which means you are earning 1.25 miles per dollar spent. That said, if you regularly travel with one airline or hotel, check out their card. Many offer bonus points for using their card at their brand. As far as cards to use while travelling, Amex, Diners, and many Visa & MC include car rental insurance. Typically, it's secondary to your own personal insurance, and covers CDW (collision damage) only, not liability. There are also exclusions for certain vehicles (luxury cars, full size pickups & SUV's, large vans), duration (typically rentals of 4 weeks or less), and certain countries. Still, as expensive as CDW can be, you definitely want a card with that benefit if you rent much.

$20 for parking is not bad. The Renn. Arts, just a few blocks away, charges over $30.

What * level and zone is it showing as? The 2 most commonly seen Cust Fav's are the Sheraton and the Intercontinental, both Downtown. The Sheraton is across the street from the Quarter, a couple of blocks from Bourbon. The Intercontinental is probably a bit nicer, maybe 4 or 5 blocks further but still walkable. As far as parking goes, it's fairly expensive at most New Orleans downtown and French Quarter hotels, often in the neighborhood of $30/night. While some area hotels may occasionally offer packages that include extended parking, I would not expect them to extend those offers to Priceline or Hotwire customers. By the way, Bourbon St. may be fun, but it is not romantic. :)

I wouldn't expect any results, but if you want to try... Hotwire is a wholly owned business of Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) http://investors.expediainc.com/phoenix.zh...ol-govManageBus http://press.hotwire.com/index.php?s=compa...s&printable http://www.hoovers.com/hotwire/--ID__10587...factsheet.xhtml 333 Market St., Ste. 100 San Francisco, CA 94105 Phone: 415-343-8400 Fax: 415-343-8401

I've stayed there a couplel of times. It's fine, but you are right, not especially romantic. But that said, if you can't have a romantic time while on vacation in the French Quarter, you're doing something wrong. Have a great trip.

The small print:

I've stayed at both. Both are nice, but I think the IC is a bit nicer.

I agree, the JW's tend to be a bit nicer. The Marriott's tend towards more cookie-cutter business hotels. In New Orleans, the JW used to be the Le Meridien. It's a few blocks up Canal from the Marriott, so it's closer to Bourbon Street, but farther from the Convention Center.

Well, the Hyatt by the Dome is still closed from Katrina damage, so the farthest away you are likely to be is one of the Canal St hotels like the Sheraton or JW. Those are still pretty good walks to the CC, especailly if your meeting is in one of the halls on the South end of the building. Maybe 10-15 minutes. Of course, cabs are plentiful and cheap. If you have to spend $6-7 each way from hotel to meeting and back, that brings your nightly cost to $86, which is still likely a lot lower than a direct booking at a nearby 4* would be.

In the past, the IC showed without Golf, and as a "customer favorite", so I dont think that's it. I checked packages for your dates, and no obvious match there. So not sure. But all the downtown 4*'s are pretty nice and located within about 6 blocks of each other.

Those of you who use My Yahoo for a web home page can add RSS feeds to that page as well: Just click Add Content, then click the Add RSS by URL link.

Sounds to me like SideStep. It used to be that you had to download and install, but now there's a web-only version available. I like the way you can filter search results by multiple factors (price, location, star level, etc).

I've heard second-hand that a recent 3* bid of $94 including the FQ failed. In past years (and given Katrina, this year may be very different), there was lots more Priceline success in the adjacent CC and CBD zones. So you may want to consider including those. Note that the CBD Hyatt (which many folks wanted to avoid due to its more remote location), is closed and won't reopen until late Dec 2006. In general, I think many folks are waiting for final confirmation from the Fest folks on dates and location before committing to something as non-refundable as a Priceline room. That announcement had been expected in December but never came. Latest rumors I've heard are that a decision will be made today and an announcement presumably in the next week. Expect a flurry of activity once that occurs, both Priceline and direct bookings. I'd suggest making sure you have a cancellable backup ASAP. There's still a shortage of rooms in the city, and if the Fest goes on as before, and if some of the rumored big name performers are confirmed, it could be the tightest Fest hotel market since 2001.

Me too.

If you do use EasyClickTravel, the best bets for your dates look to me like either the Royal St Charles or the Queen & Crescent, each at an avg of $96/night.

I'm looking for that same weekend (Fri - Mon for me for the SwampFest). Maybe it's the Saints/Bears game, not sure, but prices are pretty high. EasyClickTravel did recently post some decent deals on their site. You may want to book one of those, which are usually refundable, while you wait and hope for a better deal to show up on PL/HW. But 4* downtown for $75 may not happen. Good luck.

I'd suggest that with their generous cancellation policies (including opaques), the star ratings don't matter much. Just look the hotel up on tripadvisor.com, and if it looks bad, cancel and look elsewhere.

It's Halloween, and it's also the Voodoo Music Festival. Sidestep.com shows lots of 3* from $66-100, but 4* from $200. I'd look at the 3* list, find one there that you can deal with, and use that as your max bid price.

Very very nice. If I may suggest one more, hopefully easy to do but killer feature, how about color-coding the markers by PL star level, e.g. 4* blue, 3* green, 2* orange, etc. Or maybe just use a number in place of the black diamond in the center of the markers. But some way to tell star levels at a glance. Or maybe use numbers for star levels, and then color-code by proceline zone? TOBB doesn't stand a chance.