flyingyoung

Hi, when my boyfriend and I were at San Fran earlier this year, we stayed at Hotel Monaco near Union Square. It was a wonderful experience. At Union Square, you can purchase a traveler's package for about $59 per person. With the tickets in that package, you can ride on transit trolly's for free (which pretty much takes you to most of the attractions, except the Alcatraz!). The package includes museums such as the de Young art museum, a fleet cruise to and around the Golden Bridge, a science museum whose name I couldn't recall and a good other few! We also had a wonderful time at the Alcatraz. You can book for the alcatraz ticket online at their official website (something like http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/) two days beforehand as the spots do fill up really quickly!

Additional information as requested by thereuare- no, this was not a Priceline bid, unfortunately. We had a hard time finding good deals on hotels in Vancouver Island on these travel websites. Perhaps there weren't much of a sponsorship going on at that time, since it wasn't not a popular area, I'm not sure. Hope things are better now.

Thanks for the reassurance! I've been told that it's not easy to find a cheap hotel at the heart of the city at this time of the year, although I was hoping to get a 3 or a 3.5* for the same price. =( The date booked was 8/1/2009 - 8/6/2009. I decided to leave on the last day of the conference. I've used the link in your signature a few times to access Priceline, yes. But I'm not sure if I had used it the time when I won the bid. I will be sure to do so next time, given the amount of help I have received from this forum. (Just in case you ask, I have booked my flight using United Air's own website (8/1/2009 morning - 8/6/2009 evening). I was able to get a round-trip, non-stop for $230 including taxes and fees. I would use priceline though, if I hadn't had restrictions about my timeline.

Hi, after many tries in a couple of days, I finally got something. A little disappointed though. :) Just in case you might ask, my bidding history was as follows, 4* $50 duopont, rejected 4* $50 white house/downtown, rejected 4* $50 convention center, rejected 3* $50 duopont, rejected . . . . and so on, until I hit 2* for all three zones for $67/night, and still nothing. So I got fed up and chose $70. And oh mine, instantly I won Red Roof Inn at Downtown @ $70 per night. =( Not too impressed, though, but given the convenient location, I would gladly accept it. Next time I should know that a good bidding only comes with lots of patience. I'm going back to the convention bulletin and will hopefully find roommates to share the cost. Thanks a lot for your help.

Hi all, I couldn't find any topics covering the Coast Bastion Inn at Nanaimo BC, so I thought I should share my experiences with you. We stayed at this hotel in June, 2008 when we were planning our trip to the beautiful Victoria of BC. We chose to stay at Nanaimo because hotels in Victoria were a bit unaffordable, and since we had a car, we drove to Victoria and visited some natural parks and lakes along the way. Coast Bastion Inn was a nice hotel, not fancy, but nice. We had a bathtub, complimentary internet access and a $20 per person complimentary breakfast coupon at the restaurant at the hotel (I'm not sure if that's offered anymore, you should ask). I must say we loved the breakfast offered at that restaurant. Everyday there was a new menu, the food was very well-prepared and the service was spectacular. We ended up giving a $7 tip although the breakfast was free!

Hi all, I couldn't find a review for the Edgewater Hotel at Seattle, WA, so I decided to write a short review based on our stay in March, 2009. We bid for this hotel via Priceline for about $75/night. I have to say it was a nice stay. The rooms were quite nicely-designed, with very nice looking fireplace, a bear-shaped stool, a very comfortable couch and bed. We immediately fell in love with the rusty, antique-like decor. Unfortunately parking costs us about $20 per night, and there is no complimentary Internet access. And on top of that, we weren't given a water-facing room, but instead, a room facing the parking lot. Oh, and one funny thing is that the bathroom is designed in a way that it's got no lock, and the toilet is facing directly at the bathroom door! So if you are planning to share the room with someone you are not very familiar with, make sure you let them know before you use the bathroom! :)

Stay: June 15 - 17, 2009. I have gotten great help at this forum, so I really like to give something back. Hence I will write a review of our recent stay at the Hyatt Regency at downtown Chicago. My boyfriend and I have gotten this hotel off Priceline for about $60 per night. Like many have said, our room wasn't the typical 4-star hotel room that we've expected. It was a comfy room, though, just a bit plain. There is no tub. No complimentary phone nor internet. Instead of night stand lamps, there were two desk lamps (those with adjustable arms) attached to the wall right above our bed (of which we thought we might bump our heads if we weren't careful enough). In addition, when we were checking out, we were billed for a $7 drink we've never ordered. However, the hotel is located in a very convenient part of town. You are a within walking distance from the Magnificent Mile, the Chicago theatre, the Navy Pier and the Millennium Park. So you really can't complain! What I would recommend to those who would like to stay in this hotel: 1) There is no complimentary Internet service. You would have to pay about $17 per hour for wi-fi, if I remembered correctly. What you can do is bring your laptop to a nearby mall. I remembered there was a sandwich shop very close by with signs that says, 'free wifi'. 2) Parking charges were outrageous - we had to pay $42 per night for valet parking in the hotel. Make sure you could find street-parking or not bring a vehicle at all! 3) Our room didn't come with a microwave. If you need to use one, there is a microwave on the Main floor by the coffee shop! This is all for now! We had a great time at Chicago so it was a relatively good experience.

Dear thereuare, I must say I really appreciate your wonderful comments and suggestions. I am indeed planning to miss some of the conference. I was told by the planner that there is not much going on at the first day and the last day. And hopefully this way I will be able to save a day of hotel expenses... With this in mind, I would have to book a morning flight on the first day, and an evening flight on the last day. My budget for the flight including taxes and fees is around $250. I do see a few options in that price range when checking on Priceline; however, most of their flight results have inconvenient times and land in the BWI (Baltimore airport) instead of the IAD. Is it very much more inconvenient to commute from the BWI to downtown? And, given these specifications, would you recommend that I book the air ticket using individual websites instead where I have more control with what time I can get the flights (i.e., Southwest, Northwest)? As for the hotel, I agree with you after a few bidding tries that the chance of winning a $40/night bidding might be a little slim. I will try $60/night and see if I could get a roommate by posting at the bulletin of the conference (now I'm actually willing to go for a 2* and up). I could also try the areas you have suggested, but I

Hi all, I'm new to this board and I must say what a resourceful place this is. I am planning to spend 5 days (8/1/2009 - 8/6/2009) at DC for a conference. I would like to book for both the flight and hotel on Priceline. Perhaps someone could offer me a some tips on how to go about booking this. Location: The conference will be located at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. I'm not big on sight-seeing or fancy hotels. I just want a comfortable place to sleep for the night. I'm willing to stick with 3 stars and above. I will be flying from the Indianapolis airport (IND). My budget is around $250 for the flight, and $200 for the hotel @ $40 per night. If reasonable, in total hopefully under $500 for both the flight and hotel combined. From reading some posts on this forum, I think my preferred location would be: 1) Convention Center/Capital Hill 2) Downtown/White House 3) Dupont/Woodley Park Any suggestion is welcomed! Thanks so much in advance! (edit: I'm sorry, I wrote the title wrong, It's not 5*, it's more like 3*).