TravelGuy

HOTWIRE has what almost certainly appears to be the downtown Sheraton Biscayne Bay for $59. However, if you're a new Hotwire customer, you can get an additional $10 off. Amenities are Restaurant, Pool, Golf & Tennis + Customer Favorite.

Yes, I think the taxes are off, perhaps based on the actual retail price shown on the hotel websites, but that $20/night is definitely the intended Hotwire price for those dates.

I've decided this isn't a pricing error. Hotwire now has not only the Chelsea, but the Chesterfield and Shelley - 2 more South Beach Group hotels - at $20 for every Tuesday, not only in April but May as well. Taxes and fees are still bloated. I've seen something like this before, Tuesday only in shoulder/off season for real cheap, but offered only directly through the South Beach Hotel Group website. I tried a 2* bid on Priceline for the minimum bid of $17 (where Hotel Shelley is a 2*) for Tuesday 5/24 and was rejected. Upped to $20 and rejected as well, so this must be a Hotwire exclusive.

It looks like $110 might be within striking distance of the Omni Shoreham in the Dupont Circle/Woodley Park zone based upon the prevailing rates for that hotel. If that zone would be acceptable to you, I would start a new 4* bid for Dupont/Woodley, together with the Convention Center/Capital Hill and Downtown/White House zones - bidding up to $110 with the free rebids. You can do this immediately if you didn't use Dupont/Woodley Park in your failed bid.

Wow, what a shocker. Hotel Chelsea 944 Washington Avenue - Miami Beach Amenities: Boutique Hotel, Near Beach, Airport Shuttle, Restaurant(s), Complimentary Breakfast 1 room(s) @ $20.00 per night x 1 night(s) $20.00 Hotel Taxes and fees: $20.95 Hotel Subtotal $40.95 Additional Savings $10.00 (giftcard06) Total Price $30.95 Same rate looks to be good every Tuesday in April only. But $20.95 in taxes and fees on a $20 purchase? What a scam! Shame on you Hotwire! $135 on thehotelchelsea.com

You might want to consider bidding for nights 5 & 6 up to $110, and, if that fails, just the 5th, if you haven't done so already. Hotel Harrington has a 24 hour cancellation policy. Or perhaps even better, I would consider bidding the Downtown/White House zone @4* up to $110 for all of the remaining nights. You might want to throw in the Dupont Circle/Woodley Park zone as well. If you were to get the Omni (which looks to be clearly within striking rage given their rates for 3/29-4/1) that would be such a better experience than Hotel Harrington. The Omni is away from the National Mall in Woodley Park, a fairly residential area (which might be a nice change from being downtown for 4 nights), but there's a Metro stop right across the street and it's less than a 10 minute Metro ride from the Grand Hyatt.

Mazza and Tysons certainly have their advantages, but I generally find Fashion Centre, the newest of the three, to offer the best experience overall.

If this is in fact the Residence Inn, I think it may very well be available on Priceline for no more than $60, where it is also 2.5*. If you wouldn't mind the possibility of getting another place that would require taking a shuttle to the Metro, I would definately try Priceline first. What you might want to do is put in a bid of $60 @2.5* for the Arlington, Crystal City, Dupont and Alexandria/Mt. Vernon zones all at once. You can do this immediately without having to wait 72 hours from your last filed 3* bid.

If you'll be trying for a 4*, I think any zone within DC proper would probably work, as none of the 4*'s are really in the thick of the nighlife. The ones in Dupont Circle/Woodley Park and Georgetown/Foggy Bottom are closest, but they're still a bit set apart from it (with the 4*'s in Dupont Circle/Woodley Park being in a fairly residential setting). If you're interested in 3*, I'd avoid Dupont Circle/Woodley Park and Georgetown/Foggy Bottom. With two young children, Crystal City might interest you, as it's very near the best mall in the entire metro area, Fashion Centre, which has a great food court, movie theaters, etc. It's also generally less expensive than staying in town and all the hotels have pools, except that a couple may be outdoor only.

You'll be in town during college graduations. Spring is also generally quite busy with, among other things, scores of school groups in town for their Spring tour of Washington. And on top of that you're asking for a 6 night stay! :) I wouldn't hesitate to bid 2.5 in all the zones you've mentioned. One of three Courtyard by Marriotts could come up (one in each zone), or a Hilton Garden Inn (Arlington). I'd also consider Alexandria/Mt. Vernon. There are 3 3*'s and 2 2.5*'s that have come up there, the best of the lot being a Residence Inn that's within a 5 minute walk of the Metro station. The others are not within walking distance, but they all have shuttles, which may very well be a reasonable compromise if nothing better pans out. Good luck.

The Metro runs until 2 a.m. on the weekends, so I think any DC zone would probably be workable. You'll be asking for a Saturday check-in during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, so you may very well run into some difficulty.

If it were me, I would most likely go ahead and try "Add a Night", as only the previous $80 bid was rejected, and perhaps there may be availability at a higher rate, in which case that latter is what will be offered. In any event it's probably really six or a half dozen of the other with regard to "Add a Night" or regular bidding in this zone, with the Grand Hyatt being the only 4* that's come up in years. You can always do a regular bid if "Add a Night" fails, with the odds being overwhelming that if anything turns up it will be the Hyatt.

Ok, you're already over the hump! As for the remaining nights, Priceline has a feature where you can add nights to your existing reservation. Click on "help" at the top of the Priceline.com homepage, then go to the hotel FAQ, where you will see the instructions on how to do this. The Grand Hyatt's regular rates are very high for the remaining dates, but it's worth a shot. One of 3 things will happen: you'll either be able to get the additional nights at the same rate you paid for the others; be told that they're going to cost more (in which case you don't have to accept), or they'll say there's no availability for the additional nights. Good luck!

Yes, Alexandria-Mt. Vernon.

I learned from thefiretourguide a while back that he ended up getting the 2.5*Residence Inn Alexandria Old Town for a bid of $60 (I'm not sure of the history). Apparently he got too excited and/or busy to post the win :), but I appreciate him at least letting me know. $249 on Marriott.com, so this is a great deal for what I think is the best hotel in the Old Town area that is available through Priceline.

What I would do is at least try puting in a bid on Priceline of $80 at 4* in the Capital Hill/Convention Center zone. The only 4* that has come up in that zone in years is the Grand Hyatt, which has an indoor pool, sits on top of a Metro stop and provides an excellent location for seeing the sights. In the worst case, very, very unlikely scenario, you'll get another 4* hotel, any of which will be a world of difference from the Hotel Harrington. You'll be asking for 7 nights, which could be a tall order, so if that doesn't work and you wouldn't mind splitting your bid, I would suggest trying the weekend nights first.

Using MapQuest, I got 1.42 miles from the Omni to Dupont Circle (the actual circle as opposed the general area), and 0.86 to the Washington Hilton, about where the neighborhood begins coming from uptown. 0.67 miles to Madam's Organ in Adams Morgan :) Hotwire is showing a 3* in Dupont Circle/Embassy Row for $90. If you're a new Hotwire customer, you could use the discount code for another $10 per night off.

The Marriott Wardman Park, within walking distance of Adams Morgan and about a mile from Dupont Circle, and just one stop away on the Metro, is showing $179. At that rate I think your $80 bid at 3* should have worked had there been availability. You could keep trying. The Omni, a short walk from the Marriott, is $299 - will probably take at least $110 if there

Yikes, I wouldn

They seem to me to be ligit. Although I've not booked with them, I've seen them around a lot, and I recently used one of their rate quotes to get a free night with the Days Inn Best Rate or It's Free Guarantee. They were accepted by Days Inn (owned by Cendant) as a legitimate online booking source.

Ok, after knowing your exact dates and doing some rate checking, I can see that you

If you could kick in just $10 more, I'd consider trying 4* @80 for the DC proper zones. $80 is around the minimum for a 4* in DC these days, and sometimes that will work even when their prevailing rates are high (particularly for the Grand Hyatt). I'd also consider 3* and 2.5* in Alexandria/Old Town and Arlington starting at $45 if rates aren't too high in those zones Good Luck!

Hotwire.com sued over hotel ratings? Proposed lawsuit contends online travel company overrated hotels to charge consumers premium rates. Full text.

It's still quite a ways out, so there's probably just no Priceline availbility at this time. I'd try again in 72 hours, and then every two weeks thereafter if not successful.

It's hard for me to say which zone would be best, as that's really a subjective decision which may involve age and personality. I like the Dupont/Woodley Park zone at 4*, because of the predictability. There are only two hotels that come up in that zone, they're both quite good and well located, with the Omni coming up the overwhelming majority of the time. They are close to the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan nightlife. Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Georgetown are the most lively areas at night. (I should note however that, like New York's Grenwich Village, Dupont is somewhat "alternative". Also, the Adams Morgan crowd at night is relatively young - generally 20's-early 30's.) The problem with the Georgetown/Foggy Bottom zone is that it's rare that a hotel comes up that's actually in Geogetown. All 4*'s are in Foggy Bottom. Foggy Bottom, to me anyway, gets a little too quiet in the evenings, and it's not as pleasant to walk around the immediate vicinity of the hotel - although it's close to downtown restaurants and Georgetown. The two most frequently bid zones on Priceline are Downtown/White House and Convention Center/Capital Hill (with Dupont/Woodley Park being third), and should also make for a satisfying stay. Although there's some activity in those zones in the evening, they're substantially less lively than Dupont or Georgetown at night. However, there are some very good 4*'s in those two zones, so, depending on the person, it might be worth the trade off. I wouldn't be surprised if you get a 4* for no more than $80 using Priceline. Lately, the 4*'s in Dupont/Woodley Park have been going for somewhat higher, but we know that, in the worst case, you can get something in that zone for no more than $94 using Hotwire. All zones mentioned have easy access to Metro, except that with regard to Georgetown/Foggy Bottom, only Foggy Bottom has a Metro stop.