TravelGuy

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Would this be the Hilton San Diego Resort or the Torrey Pines Hilton?

From their terms and conditions: "The guarantee does not apply to the following rate types: ... - Package rates that include the room and other components such as travel, car rental, entertainment, and/or non-breakfast meals. " It seems to me that you've got a package rate - room + food component, and that the guarantee should clearly apply as the food component is a breakfast meal. I suppose there's no guarantee they'll honor their guarantee however :) A couple of other issues I see: - You say that the Expedia rate includes all taxes/fees. Marriott will look at the rate exclusive of all taxes and fees. - The Expedia rate must have the same cancellation and advance purchase policies to qualify.

Poem for the Banned :) They're digging their own grave. Each petty banning and nasty remark is but another spade of soil unearthed that diminishes their reputation and authority. Just wait.

Comfort Inn Gaslamp (great review) 660 G St, San Diego, CA 92101 The Omni looks to now be in the Gaslamp. 675 L Street San Diego, California 92101

Hi there, and welcome to BetterBidding! If coming to experience the uniqueness of the city, I say might as well stay in town. The suburbs near the airport are much like any other suburban area. If staying by the airport, you'd have to commute in for the tour anyway, which would probably be harder than leaving for DC directly from the airport if using public transportation. Here are your ground transportation options from Dulles. The fastest method into town, a cab ride, will take about 50 minutes.

I would suggest considering 2.5* for downtown, as there are several relatively good places reported at that level that are comparable to 3*.

It's $6 per room to use the pool at the Grand Hyatt, $11 for those who also want to use the fitness center. Another nice thing about the Omni pool in summer, in addition to it being free, is that it's outdoors and quite large. Although there's no pool at the Westin Embassy Row, guests there have pool privileges a short ways away at the Westin Grand.

If you bid for a 3* on Priceline, yes you are overwhelmingly likely to get a hotel on the beach. There has never been a Priceline 3* hotel in Cocoa Beach reported that is not directly on the ocean.

Downtown is a fun, convenient place to stay, and you might be able to find a 4* there, although it may take up to $125. You might also try Hotwire - I see two suite hotels that appear to be the 3.5* Sheraton Suites and 3* Staybridge Suites for $131/$83 respectively. Add the $10/night off Hotwire new customer promotion +$30/stay Entertainment Book Hotwire discount and you've got an excellent deal. Sheraton Suites would be ideal. I wouldn't worry about being right at the beach, because there are many choice beaches all within a very reasonable drive. Del Mar, the next zone up from the Coastal zone, is a pleasant, upscale seaside community and offers very good value on Priceline. There are no 4*'s, but two good 3*'s - a Hilton and Doubletree - although they are a ways from the beach. My guess would be a winning bid would be in the range of $50-70. Old Town makes for a pleasant, convenient base. There are no 4*'s and no 3*'s ever reported, but there is a 2.5* Courtyard by Marriott, and a nice little 2* Holiday Inn Express which is more like a 3*, but availability seems to have dried up quite a bid in this zone. $40-$50 if availability I would guess.

If you were to find someone willing to take the room, you could try calling the hotel to see if they would add a name to the reservation. They're not supposed to do that for Priceline/Hotwire reservations, but they often do anyway. If they would in your case, the other person would be able to check in.

If you decide to take a chance on Priceline given how expensive Hotwire is for your dates, I would put in that bid of $34 for Alexandria/Pentagon and just see what happens. The total amount will be shown on the screen before you click to bid. If rejected, add the Springfield zone and bid $38. It's a longshot, but why not? I probably wouldn't go up that much in bidding for this zone because there's a Sheraton that could come up (although not at $36/38), which I don't know anything about. I'd also consider Priceline's Alexandria/Mt. Vernon zone because there is usually free on-street parking somewhere around all the 3*'s that have come up in that zone. Free parking is easest to come by in this zone relative to the other Virginia zones. You may very well be able to find something somewhere in the range of $45-55 there.

Having had time to do a little more research, I see that travelweb.com and Hotels.com both appear to be still selling rooms for the Hilton Mark Center, so it looks like there are still rooms available out there, just not in Hilton's system. Although it's probably a longshot, you might want to put in a bid of around $34 on Priceline for 3 rooms for 3 days, and worry about the one room for the last day after that. The parking situation there was addressed in this post. Another thing I could suggest would be the Holiday Inn Express in Springfield, VA. They're offering a rate of $83 for your dates, which includes a good breakfast. Springfield is a rather bland area, but it's just about 12 miles from DC. It looks to me like a good option for a large group looking for a good deal - and you could book whatever number of rooms you wanted for whatever dates. Tripadvisor reviews look favorable, and they have free parking, an outdoor pool and a Metro shuttle! Lastly, I didn't mean to suggest earlier that Hotwire's ratings are always inflated, just that they tend to be. :)

I just tried Hotwire and it's coming up $127 now. It's also showing sold out on hilton.com for those nights, so I think it's probably back to the drawing board on this one. I've seen winning bids for sold out hotels before, and a winning bid of $34 at ths hotel when the rate at hilton.com was apparently as high as $299, but I think 3 rooms would be really pushing it.

I think it's probably the Hilton Mark Center. I would suggest a 3* Priceline bid in the Alexandria/Pentagon zone starting at $34 before using Hotwire, as that hotel has come up on Priceline for that low. It's really a 3*, but 3.5* on HOTWIRE due to their inflated ratings. Unlike the 2.5* hotels, 3*'s often don't have free Internet.

Any news on this?

Oh, and the amenities were: Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Golf Nearby :)

Holiday Inn Chesapeake, VA 725 Woodlake Dr. Chesapeake, Virginia 23320 Got this for someone else going down there for business. $55 2.5* bid failed on Priceline and red bar would not go off until $80. 1 room(s) @ $64.00 per night x 1 nights $64.00 Taxes and Fees: $16.95 Hotel Subtotal: $80.95 Additional Savings: $10.00 Total Cost: $70.95 On ichotelsgroup.com for $98 + 13% tax, so total savings is about $40.

I'm seeing a 2* on HOTWIRE for $60 ($50 with giftcard06 promotion) with airport shuttle and free breakfast, although it could be any one of several possibilities of varying quality. I think the 3.5* is highly likely to be the Millenium as that hotel is disclosed under the vacation packages and the icons match exactly. Mixed reviews for it on Tripadvisor, although the Frommers people think very highly of it.

I'm not sure whether you need June or July 10th, but I would estimate a 3* to run somewhere in the range of $95-105 during the Summer (double the off-season). Summertime 2* winning bids appear to be an extreme rarity in Anchorage, as are 2.5*'s at any time of year, so there's really not enough data to gauge a bid. You might make a guestimate and try anyway, although it appears to be 3* or nothing in Anchorage during the summer high season. I believe the 2 most likely 3*'s to come up are about 10 or so miles from the airport.

This deal appears to be gone now. But the jacked up taxes on South Beach Group hotels, and perhaps some others remain, not only on Hotwire but elswhere too - e.g. Whitelaw Hotel on Hotwire for $60, taxes and fees $24.96; Hotel Shelley on Ex.pedia for $65, with taxes and service fees $20.14. Seems to me some rather sleazy baiting going on: make people think they've spotted a good deal then whack them after they click to book.

You might consider making a 2* bid on Priceline. I saw elsewhere that the 2* Ramada Downtown was won by someone for just $35 for 5/15. They have a free airport shuttle, although I don't know how long it runs. You could call before bidding. There are 2 other 2* hotels that have come up on Priceline, a Holiday Inn and the Coast International Inn. The Coast has a 24 hour airport shuttle. The Holiday Inn appears to be no longer in business. So if you you're getting in late and just need a halfway decent place to get a quick night's sleep at a great rate, I would recommend putting in a $35 Priceline bid at 2* as the way to go.

Well my friend, things are looking very good for a cheap, high quality stay in the DC area for the Memorial Day weekend. At this point I'm confident that the 3.5 in Alexandria/Old Town is the Hilton Mark Center. The rate for your dates on hilton.com is just $111. Definately do not use Hotwire first for this though. Try a bid of just $34 on Priceline for 3* in the Alexandria/Pentagon zone. If that fails, add Springfield try $36. This hotel is not within walking distance of a Metro and you'll have to use your car to get around to see the sights more than other locations closer in, but it's a terrific value. As to the parking situation there, here is a board member's recent assessment.

I also think the 3.5 in Arlington could very well be the Sheraton National, although I'm surprised that could be a customer favorite. And come to think of it, I'm less sure now about the 3.5 in Alexandria/Old Town being the Holiday Inn, as I'm sure they have a shuttle, which is not among the amenities listed. I would be careful with that zone on Hotwire because it infers that the hotel you might get in Alexandria is going to be convenient to Old Town, which isn't necessarily going to be the case. All the hotels that come up on Priceline in the Alexandria/Mt. Vernon zone are truly close to Old Town if not right in it.