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crito

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Everything posted by crito

  1. Aaron, I think you mis-labeled this thread. The Westin Waterfront would be a good deal for this price, but the Westin Copley Place is a great deal! Copley Place is very T-friendly, excellent for general Boston tourism, and for shopping and upscale nightlife it's about the best in the city.
  2. I would certainly add the Beacon Hill area, since that's where the State House is! And I'd add Cambridge because I suspect you have a better chance of getting something in your price range. This is a very expensive week, it looks like -- the Hyatt Regency is going for almost $500/night! And obviously, Cambridge is extremely convenient for the Harvard/MIT visits. Also, the Red Line to Park St. is very quick from Cambridge, and then you're just a couple of blocks from the State House (or reverse that to get to the universities if you stay downtown). I would also add Copley/Back Bay, because it's a nice area with easy T access to Beacon Hill, but I think it's going to be too expensive, and slightly less convenient for you.
  3. Just looking at the HOTWIRE prices, it looks to me like you might have a shot at a 4* for $200. The Hotwire prices are a little higher than that for the favorite zones, but PRICELINE could get you in for around that price. The best zones for tourist purposes are Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Harborfront, Copley Sq/Back Bay, and Quincy Market/Financial. Any of those would be excellent for touring, and any would have very good T access. The next best areas are Cambridge and Waterfront, both an easy T ride to the middle of town. (Cambridge is a bit further by T but has the advantage that most of the hotels are in interesting areas, whereas the Waterfront hotels are not an easy walk to anything except the Convention Center.) In these areas, you are very safe with 3.5* hotels, by the way (in fact, in my opinion the Copley Square 3.5*s are as good as most 4* hotels). If you aren't hitting in those areas, you could add Brookline/Newton and maybe Cambridge North/Arlington. These are somewhat less accessible to downtown, but still manageable -- at worst you could get a taxi for maybe $15. To save a bunch you might try Dedham -- I think I remember someone winning a nice hotel there recently with very good access to the commuter rail (but now I don't see the posting so maybe I'm misremembering). But I wouldn't do it to save $25/night, since it will be definitely more fun to stay in one of the downtown zones or in Cambridge.
  4. Good call -- definitely take the train to the Pats game. Although the stadium is excellent, the traffic after and before the game is a nightmare. The Onyx, which I think someone won very recently, is right near the Garden, but I believe it is rarely won. There is a Holiday Inn adjacent, maybe even connected? but I don't think it ever appears on PRICELINE. The Garden is not a great area for hotels, and it's probably not worth worrying about, but I suppose Beacon Hill is the zone with the closest hotels. In any case, the Garden is a stop on the Green Line and although it will be crowded when the games let out, it's quite do-able, so any downtown zone will be fine. You could try putting your dates and 'Boston' into the HOTWIRE field at the upper left of this page and get some idea of prices. It's apt to be cheaper than summer or early fall, but Boston prices don't really come down until winter -- at least that's been true in the past.
  5. The Fenway area itself is not very good for hotels. The closest 'downtown' area is Copley/Back Bay, and you could walk -- it would be a mile to a mile and a half depending on the hotel. The Hyatt in Cambridge would be about the same distance to Fenway (and that's also a nice walk over the bridge). Back Bay is a quick Green Line trip from Fenway, and in general anywhere downtown or even some places in Brookline and Brighton will be very accessible on the T (from Fenway). Thereuare is right that you should add Quincy Market; the Next Step zones you're looking at (Harbor, Brookline/Brighton, Cambridge) seem right to me, too.
  6. That Days is not in Cambridge, and I don't think PRICELINE would put it in that zone. It's across the river. I guess they get to call it 'Harvard' because of the Harvard Stadium and the Business School. The 2* in Cambridge West/Harvard could be the Harvard Square Hotel (which is a very upscale 2*).
  7. Just noticed that you mentioned wanting to visit the zoo. The zoo is in Franklin Park, which is not close to downtown and not accessible by T. (You can take the T plus a bus, but it's not exactly convenient.) So that would be a good expedition from Needham, since parking is fine and both are south of the city. Hm, if you are bringing kids, you might want to use Hotwire rather than Priceline, to insure that you get enough beds...
  8. Thursday is the 9th :D . You can check prices by trying HOTWIRE for the various dates. It looks like you would save money by staying downtown first and taking your free Needham nights second, but plug in a few dates to see what you think. (Use the HOTWIRE form on the top left of this page!) All the regions you mention plus Copley/Back Bay are good, convenient, safe, and all are going to have very good public transport access. For historical tourism, the Commons area is slightly better; for shopping Back Bay; but my recommendation is to include all the downtown zones and go for the best rate (or if you use HOTWIRE, best hotel buy since you might be able to id the hotel). The commonly-won 3.5* hotels in the Back Bay/Copley area are excellent, by the way (Sheraton and Hilton) -- they both seem to me to be 4* hotels, not sure why they aren't. Needham is not great for public transport, but Thereuare's suggestion is a good one: you could park-and-ride at Needham Heights on the MBTA commuter light rail, which would be about a half hour to Back Bay.
  9. Sorry, this is too late, I know, but for future reference: Andrew Square is not a great neighborhood.
  10. You mean, safe to walk around in? Oh, because you will be walking back to the hotel with your cameras? I would say the only distinctly worrisome zone would be South (this is South Boston in HOTWIRE, not sure what the region South is in PRICELINE.) But are you really going to rent a car and park it for 11 days while you take public transportation into the city? That's an odd approach. Staying in the outer suburbs is a little risky if you need to be able to walk to public transport. Cambridge is excellent and Brookline/Newton not bad, but in that case you would certainly not get free parking (but you wouldn't need the car either).
  11. Unfortunately, your weekend is the weekend of the Newport Folk Festival. (Newport has three different music fests in the summer now.) I guess the 26th might be cheaper than the other nights.
  12. Well, I'm not an ID-ing expert, but the Holiday Inn often shows the Tennis icon. I see a 3.5 TripAdvisor rating, so my guess is this is the Crowne Plaza in Newton, which is not on the T. (You could take a bus to the Hynes easily -- but have a look at the TripAdvisor page for this Crowne Plaza...) The South Boston 2.5* seems to be the Ramada. This is in Dorchester. It's not a good neighborhood and the hotel is far from the T, but they will shuttle you to the T station. The 3* Cambridge looks like the HI Express (free breakfast). This is walking distance from the Lechmere stop, so you could take the Green Line easily (the Hynes is on the Green Line). Other Cambridge hotels, if any show up on Hotwire, are near the Red Line, which means changing trains (but those are in more interesting neighborhoods). One other thing: even though the T is an excellent form of transportation in Boston, you should consider just taking a taxi. From Cambridge, e.g., it would be cheap, < $10. A little more from Newton or Dorchester, but not prohibitive. That might expand your options.
  13. On the Brookline area: There is only one BB listing for Brookline itself, and that's the Holiday Inn. This is very well located. For one thing, it's right on the Green Line (so you can get to Back Bay in about 15 minutes). For another, the neighborhood is fairly interesting, with Coolidge Corner just a couple of blocks away. The other hotels reported to BB are in Newton. I don't know that area as well, and it's quite a bit further (and pretty boring).
  14. You might take a look at Last Minute Travel. The Blackstone Renaissance is listed there at $173, the Wyndham at $188, the Hard Rock at $169. Also: good move taking the train between NY and DC! One tip: the Acela is worth the extra money, in my opinion. It's much faster and it's all Business Class (so comparable to a 1st class carriage in the UK). The Acela between NY and DC is the fastest train in America (not nearly as fast as the fast European or Japanese trains, but at least reasonable).
  15. You probably realize this already (maybe this is why you're going), but you're hitting the Newport Reggae Festival dates.
  16. The best region that you haven't tried would be Cambridge, which (i) is a very close and cheap taxi ride, (ii) has mostly hotels that are close enough to T stops to make it a very easy trip (often about 6 minutes on the Red Line to Park St.), and (iii) has mostly hotels that are in fairly interesting areas of their own. Second best, in my opinion, would be Brookline/Newton. Newton is boring but you can take the T downtown, easy and cheap; Brookline has some interesting areas of its own and you could actually walk from some parts to some tourist sights (Fenway Park, even the Museum of Fine Art or Back Bay). Medford/Somerville Hotwire has what appears to be the Hyatt Place; that hotel is not close to the T, unfortunately, so public transportation would be possible (bus) but not very convenient; still, it has free parking. You can go further out, and some of the outer suburbs have okay light rail connections -- look for what the MBTA calls the Purple Line, but this is a quite different system from the rest of the T. (A bit like Metra in Chicago.) Quincy has Red Line access, it's just a longish ride (30 minutes or so). I have to say that I do *not* recommend driving into Boston in the summer. Besides the cost of parking downtown, it's a drag, the traffic is bad, and driving downtown is very confusing, much more so than New York or Chicago. If you stay south or west, you can drive to a park-and-ride station and take the T in, and I would really recommend doing that instead.
  17. Aaron's the expert, but I would give huge odds that your 4* is The Wit. (One of the reviews mentions the quirky "nature sounds" in the halls.) For your dates I see what appears to be the Sofitel, and also the Inter-Continental. So I'd say you have three very good options -- just take a look at TripAdvisor and the hotel web sites to see which one suits you, as they are very different sorts of hotels, and you cover the three main zones.
  18. I booked (what turned out to be) the Doubletree in Philadelphia on Hotwire, and it showed the Free Internet icon. The Doubletree charges for in-room internet. I had an e-mail exchange and then a phone conversation with Hotwire Express. To my surprise, the customer service reps seemed confused by and unfamiliar with the Free Internet amenity, which of course is quite new. They confused it with the Highspeed Internet icon, and then when they realized their mistake they incorrectly told me that Free Internet could be satisfied by free wireless in the lobby (which the Doubletree does have). Eventually they have it, and offered to cancel and let me rebook, or else give me 50 hot Dollars. Easy choice! (I'm only staying two days, and the in-room internet is just $9.95/day.) They weren’t trying to avoid admitting a mistake – it was honest confusion (and I'm not unhappy with them at all -- once they understood they apologized and compensated me very well). The upshot is that even Hotwire customer service is a bit unclear about this new Free Internet amenity, and it looks like the hotels are, too. Maybe Hotwire will change the definition of ‘Free Internet’. But as things stand, you can get compensation if the icon appears and the hotel doesn’t actually offer free in-room internet.
  19. Short answer: I got 50 hot Dollars. So, excellent outcome, (since I will definitely use them). Maybe I'll post something a little longer and more helpful in "Questions and Suggestions" or "Run of the House" or "Hotwire Tricks and Tips" (which seems most appropriate?).
  20. No, actually, the Free Internet icon does say that the hotel "offers free internet access in all rooms". Still, I bet you are right about the explanation. I got a confused response from Hotwire Express by email, so I will try again and if that doesn't work I'll phone them.
  21. Thanks, thereuare. I booked that one, and it is indeed the Doubletree. I'm pretty happy -- the location is a lot better than the 4* Hilton Inn, and that 4* price jumped overnight so I'm saving a lot of money, and this Doubletree has a nice-looking pool (I'm traveling with one of my kids so that's important). And, of course, the cookies :D I don't think I would have had the confidence to book it without your advice, so once again Better Bidding gets credit for my success. One possible issue: the Doubletree seems to charge $9.95 for in-room internet, but HOTWIRE had the Free Internet icon up. Has anyone had this problem before? I've emailed a query to Hotwire Express; I'll report back on what happens. Oh, and I did use your HOTWIRE link to book, of course.
  22. Yeah, the Hilton Inn at Penn, I bet that's it. (One of the reviews resembles a TripAdvisor review of the Inn.) No, that 3.5* in East isn't showing anymore. Now I see one for $82 with no TripAd rating and these amenities: {Edit: I do see a TripAd rating, it's 4.0 -- I think I just missed it looking the first time. What could this be? I don't see any Hotwire wins for this area 3.5* with a pool.} Indoor pool(s) Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Free Internet Accessible path of travel Roll-in shower Hm, the Hilton sounds good but I would rather be east of the river. I'll probably go for the 4*, same price as that 3*... although the Windsor also gets good reviews. Anyway I'll use your link, for sure (I've used it for my searches).
  23. Hi, Can anyone help identify these hotels in Philadelphia? I searched for 6/29 – 7/1, for two adults + one child (I want two beds). I got TripAdvisor ratings for each one, so that should help with the ID. Center City West 4* $104 TripAdvisor 4.5 Smoke Free Business Free Internet Fitness Internet In-room Accessibility Restaurant Accessible Bath Accessible for Deaf 3* $102 TripAdvisor 4.0 Smoke Free Fitness Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Kitchenette Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Free Internet Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom Center City East 3.5* $91 TripAdvisor 4.0 Smoke Free Fitness Restaurant(s) Business Internet Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Free Internet Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower
  24. Sorry, that is disappointing. For future reference, your particular wants and needs were probably better suited to Hotwire than to Priceline. Hotwire works very differently. With Hotwire, you pick a date and a city (and narrow it down to zones if you want) and Hotwire shows you a list of hotels, without their names of course but with lists of amenities. You'll see in each zone one hotel at each star level (as long as there are any at that level available -- with your zones you'd be likely to see 4*, 3.5*, and 3* hotels). Then using the tools on this site you can often get a pretty good idea of which hotel each one is likely to be, and *then* decide if you want to book it. So next time you're looking to save a bundle but have some desire for certain hotels rather than others, come back here and let Better Bidding help you find the right choice at Hotwire! And for this time, at least you really did save $150 on this stay...
  25. If the point of the Fenway region was that you're going to go to a Sox game, I'd stay in the Back Bay/Copley area anyway. You can walk about a mile to the stadium, or take a very short T ride. And although Kenmore Square is fine, most people would like the Back Bay area better.
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