WillTravel

Which 4* hotels do you see as falling short? I think in London, with a PRICELINE bid, you are virtually certain of getting a chain hotel set up for business travelers that meets generally accepted standards. It's not likely to be a luxury hotel, of course. It's quite likely HOTWIRE is better for you, though, as it provides more control.

I'd consider it, but the problem is that I see an unknown 3* hotel as a little too uncertain to make non-child travel companions agree to ahead of time. But I'll definitely keep that option open.

In my experience, the Doubletree has been accommodating with requests for two beds.

First try with your entire stay. But look at the web rates for likely candidate hotels. If you notice that some days are more expensive than others, it's quite possible these days will require a higher Priceline rate. So by breaking up the stay, you may have to pay more for the more expensive days, but you will pay less for the less expensive days, at least in theory. For 4* hotels, usually the weekend is the cheapest time. Late September/early October is a really expensive time, due to trade fairs and what not. I would book a backup now, and I would not expect $140 to be enough for a bid. If you get it, then you will be lucky, but it's more reasonable to plan that you won't. Also look at HOTWIRE rates.

What I have done for now is book Holiday Inn Convention Center, through the BB link, for the Entertainment Card rate of $106 per night. This is cancellable, it's non-smoking, a fridge and microwave are in the room, and there can be up to 5 people staying in the room (albeit for an extra fee per extra person). So for now, until I have absolute certainty about what I want to do, I think I will stay with this option.

I'm not worried about smoke-free rooms (I almost always get one anyway, and I can live with the occasional exception). But the Hotwire zone looks smaller than the corresponding Priceline zone (or am I wrong about that - it's possible given the maps), and if I narrow down the possible hotels, then I have a much better control of the location. I would also like to have a fridge (a nice to have, but not a necessity) and if it is a Res. Inn than I think that would be included. Anyway, good food for thought. Thanks again.

Maybe it is La Quinta after all. I did a Vacation Package search (which I should have done at first), and see that La Quinta Vancouver comes up, which is obviously not in this zone. However, the La Quinta Vancouver (Washington state) has Smoke-free Rooms as an amenity and it is 2.5*, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that La Quinta Convention Center would have the same. And as mentioned, Residence Inn is usually 3* on Hotwire. Thanks for the location info about Holiday Inn Express. I get very frustrated with those small Hotwire maps. I am still making the decision about when to go and where to book, and may choose direct booking (through a BB link if possible, of course), but I will let you know the final outcome.

I don't know what this is (maybe an Extended Stay?), but I wouldn't consider it. 2* hotels by SeaTac are pretty dumpy, as a general rule. You can get a nice 3* hotel on Priceline so easily and for not much more.

Maybe the Holiday Inn Express Suites Portland Airport‎? The Airport thing threw me off, but it's actually a couple blocks from the Convention Center, and Holiday Inn Express in Seattle is 2.5* on Hotwire with similar amenities.

Maybe it could be the La Quinta Inn Portland Convention Center? That only has a TripAdvisor rating of 3 (and Hotwire says 4 for this property), but we have seen this match is not perfect. The reason I'm inclined to think Residence Inn is that "smoke-free" signals Marriott, and TA matches.

Amenities: Smoke Free Rooms Complimentary Breakfast Pool(s) Laundry Facilities I don't see one like this on the list. Could this be the Residence Inn? Any other ideas?

On HOTWIRE, and it's still there as of this moment.

I disagree, although the HOTWIRE maps are not great. I think Tour d'Auvergne Op

Note that if my hotel guess is correct, you can get this hotel for the equivalent of 108 Euros on Hotels.com - so not any savings, really. Also note that this hotel does specifically market children-friendly features.

No, not the Hilton Cavalieri, which is probabaly a 5* hotel and not in this zone anyway. "Children's program" could mean something formal, or maybe just that the hotel can help provide a babysitter. It could be the Best Western Globus Hotel, which is mentioned on TripAdvisor as being a Hotwire hotel, and which has a 4.0 rating. This does have babysitting, for a nominal fee, as well as a restaurant and wi-fi access. I think this will be an adequate hotel, but it's not very central, if this is what it is.

Have you looked at Accorhotels (accessible through BB linkin the suport.page)? There's nothing really cheap, and the prices on the front page do not necessarily match the real price. But I think you could get a Novotel or Mercure that was not too badly located in the range of 120-140 Euros per night all-in. Based on my limited experience, and on the postings of others, I think Novotel and Mercure hotels can vary but tend to be in about the 3.5* range, but of course it's best to check the reviews. Also, give Hotelscombined.com a try.

This is merely a possibility, as there is just not enough to go on. But La Grande R

Late September can actually be an especially expensive time due to trade fairs. I am not sure if your goal is realistic, but the only hope is to try. I would definitely start by booking a backup you can live with. > European 3* is not the same as a North American 3* Some common characteristics of European 3* hotels: Small rooms, even very small rooms Quirky bathrooms No washcloths Quite likely no air conditioning (probably not an issue in late September) Probably no ice machine or room service Ironically, a modern 2* hotel like the Ibis hotels tend to be will likely have more modern plumbing than the older 3* hotels. You can also find 3* hotels that charge 200 Euros or more per night and probably do not have these deficiencies. If you want something equivalent to your business hotels, you would probably find even some of the 4* Priceline options to fall short. It does seem that the Marriott Rive Gauche has pretty good reviews, though.

The Mermaid Hotel is now Hotel 27, and it has been extensively refurbished. In my opinion, this is one of the best locations possible, certainly better than the Marriott, and I would happily stay there again (although I haven't tried the renovated version). It's not cheap, though, if you book it directly. Try the Best Western site. We did not end up going to Copenhagen again last summer, but I had booked a three nights for the price of two deal at Best Western Hebron that worked out to about 650 DKK per night, including breakfast - an excellent deal. If you want this deal, try looking up three nights by themselves, because the program does not seem capable of applying this discount to a longer stay. You'd then have to book the other two nights separately. Try these sites too: http://www.copenhagen-hotels.se/ http://www.woco.dk

Thanks for this. I was looking at what is likely the same hotel, but so far as I can see, Golden Tulip Apollo does not have a coin-operated laundry. The Laundry icon is supposed to require a coin-operated guest laundry. My suspicion, though, was that the icon was incorrect, and this is indeed the case.

If you are happy with the Bloomsbury zone boundaries (and it does extend to Kings Cross if you look at the map), that's the zone I would bid on Priceline. I agree the Bloomsbury zone is very convenient, and has good hotels (in my opinion). I can't see an advantage to taking a 3* or 3.5* hotel in Bloomsbury on Hotwire as opposed to bidding 3* or 4* (depending what you want) on Priceline. I think there's a good chance the savings on Priceline would be better than HOTWIRE.

A small part of the Rome West zone includes Trastevere, but you are much more likely to get a hotel inconveniently situated. If you compare the zone map to a Trastevere map, you will see what I mean. With a hotel with facilities like the one quoted, Trastevere is extremely unlikely.

If the purpose of your trip is to visit Rome, I would be very cautious about choosing this zone. The transport is rarely easy or efficient.

My experience has been that you only get counteroffers when you are starting a fresh bid, regardless of how many zones are included. So - bid for Zone A - get a counteroffer. Just add Zone B - no counteroffer. But if you instead close the browser and start a new bid for Zone A + B, you will probably get another counteroffer.

I have a possible candidate, although not everything fits. The Hotel de Looier comes up on the Hotwire Vacation Package for dates that include this stay. Its amenities are not quite the same as the mystery hotel: Restaurant(s), Laundry Facilities, High-speed Internet Access It is only a 2.5* in the vacation packages, but when I looked up the hotel web site, I see it is listed as a Dutch 3* hotel. However, I think that hotels are almost always consistent in star rating between these two parts of the Hotwire site. Neither the hotel's web site, nor any other web site, gives any indication that the hotel has any laundry facilities whatsoever, but as noted above, Laundry is a Hotwire amenity for this hotel. www.hoteldelooier.com/ The reviews are not good enough to get this hotel even if I knew for sure. I have seen rates drop as low as $96 while I've been watching this.