CrazyOne

I don't know when this change happened, but I was surprised to see it yesterday when I started looking at bidding. When you put in Washington DC for bidding, you'll now get these zones with top star level: Alexandria East 4* Alexandria West 3.5* Arlington 4* Bethesda MD 3.5* Convention Ctr/Capitol Hill 4* Crystal City 4* DC Suburbs - Northeast 3* Dupont Circle - Woodley Park 4* Georgetown - Foggy Bottom 4* Mount Vernon 2* National Harbor 4* Silver Spring MD 3.5* White House - Downtown 4* The Alexandria split has been previously noted, but the two former Maryland-DC Suburbs zones getting moved in is apparently fairly new. Springfield has been removed to the Northern Virginia area to live with Fairfax, Dulles, Tysons, Falls Church, etc. Why they didn't just put Mt Vernon in there too I don't know, as they are close, but it's very helpful to continue to have the 2* max zone for rebids. Also new to me is 4* in Crystal City. Something must have been upgraded. The Maryland zones have been reorganized a bit as well. College Park gets its own; it does not come over to DC with Silver Spring. Rockville becomes its own with Gathersburg-Germantown representing the farther out space along that corridor. Others seem to stay the same at least in name, and there's a new Camp Hill zone. I've never used the Maryland zones and probably would be less likely to do so now, but it seemed worth bringing up for the changes to DC bidding. Thanks for all the work in keeping up the hotel lists, always a most helpful feature in working out where to bid.

Another work trip to DC, another stay at the Shoreham. I played around with GTown/Foggy, bidding up to $125 for 4*, but as is generally the case no luck down there. Only ever got the one win there, whereas I now have several 4* wins at good prices in the DuPont zone including this being the 3rd or 4th stay at the Omni Shoreham. At $105 it can't be beat. I just wonder whether they ever sell many rooms at regular price. ;-) Perhaps they're just trying to fill a few extras at last minute. Whatever, it works for me. I should note that my winning bid page says I can extend my stay now at same rate, so this means that $105 should be a good rate for more than just Monday if anyone else is doing last minute bids there. $105 is close to the baseline. I bid $95 at first and was rejected, so the acceptable bid was somewhere between $96 and $105. I haven't been as active recently, but thanks as always for keeping up the site. Still comes in handy. I used the special PRICELINE link of course. I'll make a separate post about this in the tips forum, but I want to note the zones available for Washington DC have changed. In addition to the Alexandria split they've moved Springfield zone into a Northern Virginia bidding area (but kept Mt Vernon for Washington, weird) and have brought in Silver Spring and Bethesda from the Maryland Suburbs area. This makes for a bit fewer rebids now for anything below 4*. Plus Crystal City now has 4*! I know it never used to.

Another same day bid, a good win, must not be too busy in DC this week. There was a 4* at $108 on Hotwire in its Dupont area that may be the same place, based on the amenities. (Should be either Palomar or Omni Shoreham.) I started at $95 with Dupont 4* on Priceline, got a "you can bid $22 more right now and win". Well, of course I don't take that, because I had at least 3 rebids. Sometimes the ultimate win price is closer to that (which would have been $117), sometimes not. So I made my next bid $103, added Springfield, and got the win. And yes I used the PRICELINE link. Note: it offered to extend my stay at the same rate, so probably would give a win for at least tomorrow if not over the holiday weekend. Thanks again. At least in return for a last minute dash to DC (work) I'll get a nice room. A lot less hectic than trying to go down and back in the same day, which would have been another option. I hate doing that! This will be a new DC hotel for me too, looking forward to it, as much as I ever look forward to work. ;-)

Same day bid just now. Selected Downtown and 3*, got the CP 3.5* on first try at $45. Guess it's dead in Columbus. Used the handy PRICELINE box at the top of the page to start.

Actually what I was trying to figure out was the other way around. If I was purposely bidding for Resort, could I be put in another zone that had only 3*? I couldn't find the answer to that one. From your description it seems like no, that in fact the only upgrade from Resort would be 5*, but when you are bidding for Resort (or maybe anytime there are potential Resort hits) Priceline tells you specifically which zones actually have a Resort possibility. If I couldn't be put in something else instead, then they are essentially making it super easy to bid 6 or 7 times for Resort in Albuquerque, for example, by showing you there's only one possible zone. Of course, maybe this is only obvious to us informed bidders. :-)

Same-day bidding on this on 4/30/09. Bid up to $70 in downtown zones with no luck. Seemed to be busy there. I believe the Hyatt Regency showed no availability. I considered bidding for the Tamaya, but I wasn't clear on the resort thing. Since it told me exactly which zones had Resort available, I was afraid it would put me somewhere else if I bid high and selected additional zones, even though they only had 3*. (I couldn't find a clear answer on this anywhere.) It showed Resort listed below 1*! Anyway, the other factor was cost after touring so after spending twice as much for places like Holiday Inn Express in some cases over the rest of our trip, getting $55 for two nights at the Albuquerque Grand Airport Hotel was not bad at all and cut our overall costs a bit. This hotel is in between brands, with renovation in progress and signs and notes all over apologizing for mess and proudly proclaiming the August re-opening as the airport Sheraton. The unrenovated room was fine, though. I'll post a longer review maybe tomorrow night when I get more time. I used the PRICELINE box on the homepage to start my bids. Note: All Albuquerque zones maxed out at 3* now, so either the downtown Hyatt and Midtown Sheraton are out or have been knocked down to 3*.

Stayed here for two nights, 3/23/09 and 3/24/09 then ended up extending my stay an extra night across the street at the Omni Shoreham. I find the area these hotels are in to be ideal for my work in DC. Our office there is just out of the Farragut North Metro station, which is just two stops down the red line from these hotels at Woodley Park. It's just far enough and green enough that it doesn't feel like the concrete jungle quite as much. I had stayed at the Shoreham before, but the Wardman was new to me. All in all it was a good experience and to me the most desirable 3.5* in this zone. (Okay, I haven't stayed at the others, I'm going by location.) I will say, though, this place is a MAZE of different buildings interconnected. The lobby is done nice and works well, but your room may be in a far-flung tower as mine was. Check in (and out) was friendly and efficient. I had a really interesting interaction with the clerk at the desk when checking in, though. She actually asked me right out if I had booked the room on Priceline. I said yeah, and then she said "Did you get a good deal?" I responded that it wasn't as good a deal as I had hoped, but it was okay. She said "Well, we're selling for $299 a night" and I replied simply that yeah it was certainly better than that without mentioning the actual bid. My bid was $160. I don't think this was anything to do with policy; in looking at it a bit while finding my way back to the room I concluded she was just personally curious about the process and how good a deal I had gotten and/or just using that for something to talk about. I was assigned a room on the 3rd floor of the Park Tower, which is a good and somewhat confusing hike from the lobby through the main convention check in area and to a funny single elevator that also doubles as elevator for one of the garages. (I discovered later there were two more elevators in that building, but this one was right next to my room.) The room key folder has a map of the lobby floor on it; pay attention when they show you where to go! I encountered a number of lost people in the hotel, not surprisingly. It's really confusing. In the Park Tower elevator, the lobby is on the 8th floor, for example. (The lobby is on top of the hill, whereas this building goes lower and ends up fronting on Calvert Street.) I realize now that my room faced the neighboring apartment building, but while I was there I had assumed it was part of the hotel. Usually I am not that disoriented! Anyway, enough of that. The room was good, seemed updated and nicely laid out. Might be considered a little tight with the two double beds, but then compared to the room I had later at the Omni everything would be pretty small. The TV is flat screen, I think 32", though none of the channels on it were actually showing in HD, all analog. Kind of a waste but maybe they'll fix that eventually. Linens are of the modern variety, no nasty bedspreads here. The closet was large with double swing-out doors. One door had the full length mirror on the inside, actually kind of appealing vs being in the open. The door actually opened into a tiled area, which led to the bathroom. Outside the bathroom, though, was a separate counter, open to the rest of the room, where the coffee maker sat. Below that, a cabinet with a little fridge, nice to have. Bathroom was average size, good lighting, curved shower rod, good water pressure. Several small touches in this room really stood out. I hope they are becoming standardized in Marriotts. Some of these items seem to be trickling *upward* from their Courtyard brand or competing brands like Hyatt Place. For example, between the two beds above the nightstand were two free electrical outlets up high, perfect if you need to plug in your computer or cell phone while using it in bed. The headboards had flexible LED reading lights mounted to the outer ends (only one on each headboard, but still useful) in addition to the regular bedside lights in the center. On the nightstand was a black iHome clock radio with easy dock for iPod and iPhone (plus available cord for plugging in a different MP3 player). At the desk, 4 outlets were available, some turned in different directions to help with the pesky brick plugs. And finally an input panel at the desk gives you multiple ways to tap into that flat screen TV: VGA, HDMI, S-video, composite video and analog audio for your non-HDMI source. Really cool. No more wondering if you can plug your game console into the hotel TV; this actually seems to encourage it. Or how about outputting a DVD playing in your laptop to the TV? That would work too. I don't know if all the rooms even at this location have been updated this way, but it's a good trend regardless. The bad trend is that in your room if you want high-speed internet you still have to pay $12.95 for Marriott's wired for business package. It does include domestic long distance and local calls, but who cares? This is a huge place with plenty of amenities that I didn't try. There's a fitness center open 24 hours. The only pool here is outdoor. There are a couple of restaurants and a bar, plus the Woodley Market takeout which I did try one time. It's still overpriced, but some of the stuff I tried was not bad. I like to hole up in my room after a long day of working in DC, but there are about a dozen or so restaurants just down on Connecticut Ave, an easy walk. There's also a small grocery that I always end up going to. As I mentioned, I like this location. The Metro is right down the hill from the hotel. When arriving by Metro, walk directly up the bus/service entrance that you'll see after coming up the escalator. If you look at the maps of the lobby level or the signage, it will indicate bus/Metro at that exit so hopefully that will help you find the right door going out. ;-) Once you know what you're doing, self-parking here is the most convenient hotel parking I've experienced in DC. I don't care for handing the car off to a valet, because in this case I wanted to leave some stuff in the car that I might need but might not. You enter the self park off Woodley Rd. Exit is first on the left, then entrance just a few feet later. You go up towards a regular hotel driveway, past the valet garage, the valets will wave you through past some cabs and you just go roughly straight ahead to a standard parking gate where you grab a ticket that will ultimately be useless. If you haven't been there before it may not be obvious, but just go up to the gate, punch the button like you're going into any typical garage, and take the ticket. The first part of the lot is extra valet parking. I recommend following the sign that says "Additional parking in Park Tower Garage". I never saw very many cars in there, I think the other garage is where most of the convention people tend to park. If you go into the Park Tower Garage, and then go down at least one level, you should be able to park right next to the elevator, unless parking is extremely full. Then to check in you can go up to 8th floor and work your way through the maze to the lobby. If you're assigned a room in levels 5 or below of the Park Tower, your car can be especially convenient to your room. When you check in, they will give you a parking pass that allows you to go in and out if necessary. When checking out, I asked if there was a specific time I could leave my car in the self park up to, and she said well, about 6pm they start pushing them to the next day. Well, I didn't get back from the office until around 6:30 or 7 that night. I was staying at the Omni across the street, and I decided to just wing it rather than move my car over for the one night. Darned if the following morning at about 10am the pass didn't still let me out of the place with no fuss at all. Might have been a fluke, and of course it's not often that leaving the car an extra day will be useful, but hey, it was great for me. I'm guessing there could be some crappy rooms in here somewhere, depending upon when each building was renovated, but all in all it should be good. It's a great location, good service, good features.

Stayed here for one night last week 3/25/09 after 2 nights across the street at the Marriott Wardman Park. I find the area these hotels are in to be ideal for my work in DC. Our office there is just out of the Farragut North Metro station, which is just two stops down the red line from these hotels at Woodley Park. It's just far enough and green enough that it doesn't feel like the concrete jungle quite as much. I've stayed at the Shoreham before, but it's been about 3 years ago. The room I got then I remember feeling was a bit worn in some ways, though large, and overlooked the parking lot. The room this time was fantastic. I was given a room in the opposite wing (west, I think it is, though I've lost track), then straight to the back of the hotel directly at the end of this particular corridor. This room came complete with balcony and view of the Washington Monument with part of Rock Creek in the foreground and the hotel's nicely landscaped back area just below. No leaves yet, and it was cloudy both the evening I arrived and morning I left, but still, a pretty setting and great deal for a last minute bid. (I bid just 2 nights before.) Rooms have been updated with flat-screen TVs (I think 32"). LED reading lights are mounted on the headboards, in this case at all 4 sleeping positions of this room with 2 queen beds. They're using updated linens now, the type with duvet covers and such, and there are plenty of different pillows to prop up with for the TV, etc. Each bed had a bench at the end, nice touch. There was a desk with chair and an easy chair with ottoman. Lighting was good with most/all of the fixtures being 3-way so you could vary the level to your taste. The TV actually had some channels in HD. I mention this because my experience across the street was that they had the same exact TVs but every channel was analog. Heh. Clearly flat screen in a hotel doesn't necessarily mean it'll be HD, but in this case there were some HD choices. The internet is wi-fi throughout the hotel, but this 5th floor room at the end of its corridor had iffy reception. It did work most of the time but the reported signal was weak. I was able to confirm my Omni Select Guest membership to get this service for free; otherwise it still costs 10 bucks. The clock radio had an input cable to plug in an MP3 player. And, in a cabinet in the dresser unit, an empty fridge! Minibars are becoming extinct, I guess. I think normally we would have seen a minibar in this type of hotel, but they must be concluding that the upkeep is too much of a headache for the declining sales. The bathroom was large although the layout and vanity style leaves little room for spreading out your junk at the sink. Good shower pressure, curved shower rod. The bathroom has a window too, as well as the wide window and door across the balcony area of the room. These were old and not updated. The door was plain wood. So that end of the room was really drafty during the chilly night, especially an issue in the bathroom where the toilet is right next to the window. The heat kept up fine for sleeping. I didn't consider this to be a major issue but some might. I had a housekeeping supply room nearby as well, but I didn't find it to be an issue. Check in was extra friendly and efficient even though the person checking me in looked to be a trainee (or perhaps the one over her shoulder was the trainee, not sure), but I checked out kinda late around 10am and things were bogging down. May have just been a fluke, but I wonder if there would have been more help a little earlier in the morning. For the sub-$100 prices that have been coming up especially during recent off-season weekends, this place is a steal. I paid, well, my company paid for me $160 for my recent night, and for that day at that point it was still a good deal. Retail had been $299, with an AAA rate available at $255. Unless you're dying for an indoor pool (they only have outdoor) I think it's hard to go wrong here.

Last night I'm sitting in the Marriott Wardman Park (unable to reach Better Bidding, BTW, both last night and this morning, do they have it blocked?) and needed one more night in DC. Hotels looked as bleak as they did before, with the Marriott Wardman being sold out as well as the Hiltons, etc. I went to Priceline and it said that 3.5* in Dupont-Woodley was the best deal. Huh? Oh, well. I'll bid it anyway. I didn't have much time to deal with this. Plugged in $160, the same bid I won for the 3.5* Marriott Wardman for the last two nights (bid last week), put in 3.5* level and Dupont-Woodley. Immediate win for Omni Shoreham. I knew there was space available there, and I had that same fallback of the $255 AAA rate at the Shoreham that I had last week. The regular going rate is $299, as was the only regular rate I could get at the Marriott for the other days. So it's still pretty good, but anytime I get an immediate win I wonder if I should have bid less. So tonight I'll move across Calvert Street to the Omni Shoreham. Works for me.

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $160.00 Subtotal: $320.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $55.69 Total Charges*: $375.69 Booked just now, 3/19/09 11pm eastern. This was a wild ride. I picked the wrong dates myself this time (as opposed to last time I was bidding DC, when someone else was traveling and others picked the extremely difficult hotel dates). I thought earlier in the week these dates were looking okay, but I must have been thinking of some different days that I had also been looking at. Not much useful below $250 or so in the areas that are more convenient so when I nabbed a $255 AAA rate at the Omni Shoreham, given the going prices for everything for these 2 nights, that sounded pretty good as my fallback booking. That gave me until Sunday, when I would have to make a final decision on canceling or not. Did some 4* bidding yesterday in Dupont, Foggy, etc. Nada. Late last night I was falling asleep and looking at EasyClickTravel which had a rate at the Marriott Wardman Park for $170-ish. At that point it said Available, but I was sleepy and didn't want to commit yet to potentially losing a night's rate as a cancel fee. Looked at that again this morning, switched to Request. Argh! Went back to my 4* after 24 hours, nothing, of course. I bid up to about $205 with Dupont at one point. Kept on poking around the usual other sites. Monday night was definitely cheaper, with weird things, like a $219 at the Hilton Embassy Row, but nothing there on the Tuesday night, and I really wasn't excited about switching mid-stay, though it probably would have saved a little in this case. I had been eyeing up bidding 3.5* in Dupont but didn't really want the Hilton Washington. I had discovered the Churchill was showing full. I knew the Hilton Embassy Row wouldn't come up, full on Tues. But yesterday the Hilton Washington still had rooms. Revelation a little while ago, Hilton Washington had gone full, leaving only the Wardman Park among actual past hits still having some capacity. Ah, it was worth a chance now even if I did somehow get the Churchill or Hilton Washington or a new hotel that we haven't heard of. (Upgrade to 4* is always fine in this zone.) I figured on getting zilch again right up to about 200 bucks. $150, nothing. $160 and we have a winner, so it's within $10 of the ideal bid at that moment, close enough for biz trip. Price-wise it certainly would be better to travel on the weekends, given the rates you guys are getting, but for these particular dates at this late moment I am happy (and I saved my small company some $$). I've wanted to stay at the Wardman anyway, having stayed essentially across the street at the Shoreham and enjoyed the spot. Should be fun, or at least as fun as this trip can be. ;-)

Gave up on this. I bid up to $210 for 4* with Foggy and Dupont and rebids, and up to $195 for 3.5* with Downtown after doing a bit of research on the retail site. Nothing. In fact, it gave me, on the 3.5* and 4* bids today, what I would call "retail counter offers". It says "Sorry we can't accept your bid, but take a look at these hotels with Priceline special rates." Something like that. I suppose there's always one more last minute try tomorrow, but I've spent enough time on it. Given the parameters, the Quikbook res is good. Good thing I put that in, too, because now it's gone, or at least it was gone this morning. I do much appreciate your help though.

Eh, it's a thought, the cabbing vs Metro. We were hoping for walking really, not for cost so much as for convenience. Much less hassle. And yes, thanks Aaron for that thought on the Melrose, I know it's pretty much just across the circle there. Been a while, but I used to stay down at 2500 Pennsylvania a fair bit (when it was DoubleTree Guest Suites). The extra 60 bucks from the Wednesday night is something I suppose. It's interesting to know that the $289 on Mon and Tues is about it. Everything else I looked at was also higher. But in the end we'd probably pay the $60 more not to have to switch. I don't really want to make it too hard on the guy. They're kind of pushing him into this trip that I sense he doesn't want to take. But that's almost the point, needs to be pushed a bit or maybe other stuff will need to happen instead.... I do wonder if it's even feasible that I'll get a Priceline hit at all, as you mentioned. It's pretty darn full (of neuroscientists?? Society for Neuroscience says 23,000 attendance on the convention web site) that Mon and Tues. I just get cynical about the decisions others make sometimes without thinking about costs. Bothers me that they don't care more. Not that I would inconvenience anyone too much over a few bucks, but when you know you're bringing someone into DC for a week you do it with longer notice and pay attention to things like conventions in town/what the hotel might cost. Ah, well. Could be a lot worse than the $200/night I suppose, given that it's $200/night in a good spot just 6 blocks away or thereabouts. And at some point I am wasting more money than I would save, probably, by spending too much time on it. ;-) I'll look at it again later (about to head out of office) and see if I want to try for 3 or 3.5*. Hey, do the star ratings on the "normal booking" Priceline site equal the opaque star ratings? Because that could help decipher a few things. I went digging for a thread on this but had to let it go in favor of other work before I found one, if there is one. Also, is there any indication that hotels with "Priceline Special Rates" on that part of the site are more likely to hit for bids? I'm guessing someone might have looked at that before, but maybe not....

So I'm trying for this impossible 11/17-11/21 week. This is for work. Stupid people make plans for a guy from out of town to go down to DC that week before thinking about what hotels might cost. Heh. We are a small company, have to shave a buck everywhere. The goal is to have this guy walking distance (or short Metro, like the Shoreham) to roughly Connecticut and L street. What I've got so far is One Washington Circle from Quikbook, not bad at a $206/night average. If Quikbook's rate for this place is indicative of the situation, it's the Monday and Tuesday that are the problem. For those nights the Circle is $289. Then falls to $149 on Wed and just $99 on Thurs night. But. I'm only going to inconvenience the guy so much to save a buck, so no splitting the bid. Last night I bid with just Dupont and rebids up to $167. Today I added Foggy and bid up to $185. Nada. All for 4* that is. If it were me going, I might be a little more flexible in my areas. I think Foggy and Dupont are about it. I'd love to bid 3.5* but in Dupont (thank you whoever found this info) the dreaded Hilton Washington falls there. I dread it only for the location, which is too far from the Dupont Metro (and up quite a hill, ugh!) So that's why I kept it to 4*. The 2-stop ride to the Shoreham is acceptable. 3.5* on Foggy has its own problems. I'm worried that one or more of the far 3* places (Latham, etc.) might have been bumped to 3.5. Soooo.... Once again I find myself wishing I could bid 2.5* without upgrading (doesn't everyone?) I mean, even if it cost the same money as some others I'd do it. But it's just too much risk as it stands. Too many nasty 3* out there. Some of the WH zone stuff is okay, most of the 4* are good but I'd hate to get the JW or the Willard (heh, for once) because they'd be rather inconvenient. Convention is too far. Other MD and VA areas are not really desirable. Found nothing good on HOTWIRE so far, though I keep checking. Nothing else good has turned up. I can only gather Quikbook bought up the inventory because on the One Washington Circle site they show sold out for Mon and Tues. But I booked a res (cancel until 24 hours before). So at least we'll have that. Any further thoughts on this most welcomed. Will update if I get a bid (or more rejections), am using the PRICELINE, HOTWIRE, and Quickbook links.

Ran across because I'm looking for Washington DC stuff on tough next week (Nov 17-21, looks like esp tough Mon/Tues nites). You guys seen the new zones yet? I didn't find any references. Changes: Airport (DCA) is gone, I would suspect re-merged into Crystal City. National Harbor is new zone with 1-4* available. Doesn't look to overlap the old zones at all, just new at least for bidding as Washington DC. Could have been offered on its own before. A lot of new development happening here as I understand it. Mt Vernon is new zone with 1-2* available. Again, doesn't really overlap old zones. It's really small too, so if you need to be out there you can probably be assured of a pretty specific area, but most importantly it makes a perfect rebid zone for 2.5* on up. Hope this helps.

Well, it made me bid $230. But I'm happy at this point and it's done. Apparently Sunday is easier; it wants me to extend my stay at the same rate. Check-In Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008 Check-Out Date: Sunday, October 5, 2008 Hotel Name: Hilton Times Square Your Offer Price: $230.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $230.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $46.28 Total Charges*: $276.28 Lemmee see if I can edit the original title for a bid win.... I guess I can't edit that one anymore. You want to edit or you want me to post a new thread? Seems like usually these get edited. BTW yes I even remembered to use your PRICELINE link. :-) Have to say the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins was very helpful in realizing I might be just $15-20 shy of a win. Thanks!

Well, a bit more checking and I discovered that every 4* in TS zone seems well-located and fairly well-liked most of the time, so it seems ideal. I bid up to $207 again with no luck. Just to push it a bit, I tacked another $5 on to $212 and got a counter. A-ha! But $25 more, yeah, right. Get this, because I started again after that, I got another counter at $217, still wanting me to add $25! Gotta love it. I'm closing in on this. If anyone balks at the price I'll eat the difference because it looks like it might be worth a few bucks more to get one of these. $220 and $225 were winning on this date before according to the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins, but $220 and $223 (had to test it, still have some rebids ;-)) have been no good so far. Trying $225 and we'll see.

Just been ages since I tried to bid NY. 5 years ago you could get a 4* for 100 bucks. Doesn't seem to happen much now! The new 3.5*, while good in the long run, is kind of a hinderance here because we don't yet know which will go what way. I'm more concerned with the locations of the hotels than what's in them, really, although I do hope it comes out reasonably decent. Nothing worse than getting plunking down the 200 bucks here, even though it's NYC, I know, and thinking "Oh, I had a better night at the Hampton Inn." My mother is passing through NYC that day, arriving into Grand Central on the Metro North, then departing late morning from Penn Station on the Amtrak. So funny, I remember her telling me the other day when she stayed at another place that she'd never paid so much for a room before (150 bucks, haha). But the stated limit was 250, and so while we normally quote that pre-tax I want to keep it to about 200 so that it's no more than 250 after tax and fee. So far yesterday and today I've bid up to $207 with MTE and ESB 4* and all the rebids. The rebids make 4* pretty easy to start at $150 and work up. I haven't ventured beyond those zones. The MTE 4* seem to be closer to the middle in general, and the 4* listed in ESB were in good locations so felt safe. Haven't looked up the TS and MTW 4* to see where they are, but I suppose those could work reasonably well. Want to keep them in walking distance of the stations, basically. I did find what appears to be the Millennium UN Plaza on Hotwire under $200, but that seems a little far east and figure I can do better. Only a couple of the TS hotels have been noted that are 3.5*. MTE and TS say the "best deal" is 3.5*, but MTW says 4* is the "best deal". Hm. ESB says it's 2*, LOL, so maybe that's just pointless. ;-) Any thoughts? Looks like there would still be 4 rebid zones even with 3.5*, so that's not as bad as I was thinking. Am I more likely to get 4* hits cheaper in MTW/TS vs MTE/ESB? Back in the day one of the zones used to hit more often at lower $, but I don't know if that is still true. How much of a "risk" am I taking going down to 3.5*, if any? I'm going to keep poking around but suggestions are most welcomed.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/sl/1/en/hotel/PITSP/ I didn't make a lot of use of this hotel in just one last-minute night here in my own town (late night at work), but it does seem solid enough. Location is good if you need to be near Pitt or CMU. It's basically on Fifth Ave across from the Cathedral of Learning, but there's a building in the way of it fronting onto that main street. Instead it's sandwiched between the two side streets and can be entered from either side. If you are driving, and it is evening or a weekend when you arrive, try to find a meter. I had no trouble late on a weeknight getting a meter spot. Enforcement is only from 8am-6pm and I think Mon-Sat. And it's 4-hour limit and only 50 cents per hour, wow! Even around here that's cheap. Not too convenient for a long stay, but that's not too bad as meters go. There is a garage with in and out privileges that costs something like 17 bucks. You could walk a few blocks to Craig Street where there are some restaurant, coffee and bar choices. But there's nothing immediately surrounding this place but parking lots and university buildings. There would be plenty of bus transport right out on Fifth Ave. It's safe to walk around the area even at night. Hotel lobby gave me the impression of at least a facelift sometime in the past few years. Front desk staff were friendly. Elevators slow for a shortish building and late at night (almost midnight). Note entire hotel is non-smoking. Room on 2nd floor was fine. Had two double beds, table with two chairs, long low dresser. No desk, just the table. 25" tube TV was on the dresser. Lighting was pretty good in the room, sometimes too bright (be careful what you wish for, yeah?) with fluorescents. A/C unit was especially noisy I thought even compared to others of its type. Overall, not a particularly updated room compared to some modern designs I've seen. Furniture is still old, etc. But, the beds had nice updated linens with duvets, so they did get the message on that part at least. Internet is free here. I thought on the hotel site it said wireless would work in the rooms, but I didn't find anything. I hooked up my AirPort Express to the wired connection and was on my way with little trouble. :-) I did see a guy in the morning using the wireless in the lobby. Bath was laid out funny, maybe because this room was at the end of the hall. It gave slightly less floor space, perhaps, than usual. But it worked fine and was clean. Granite top, curved shower curtain rod and massaging shower head were featured. The lighting in here was not nearly as good; the layout created dark corners especially in the shower. Again, it seemed like minor updates probably were done here sometime, but not a major renovation. I didn't make use of any other services there (restaurant, fitness, etc). I happened to walk by the self-serve business center room on the mezzanine level. Couple of computers in there and a printer I think. The hotel was clean, in a good location, friendly, free internet in a 3* ;-) basic but more than adequate. All in all, a good value I thought for a $54 last-minute bid. It would be nice if it had more modern furniture in the room, but I can think of a lot worse things I've seen in a 3* "upgrade" before. This one is pretty decent.

Well, this was a new one, bidding for a hotel right here in town. My girlfriend works in the university area, and I work downtown. We commute in together. Last night she had to work until 11:30, so while I was driving home around 6 or 7pm I hatched a plan to treat us to a night of not having to drive home (30+ min) and arrive past midnight, only to turn around and get up at 6 to drive back in (45+ min). :-) I had a backup on Hotwire that I think was the Wyndham, at $64. Prices on the hotels' own web sites were shockingly of no help with $200 rates everywhere. I guess they just completely outsource this last-minute stuff to PRICELINE and HOTWIRE. I needed a quick win with the last-minute bidding and with 3* most everywhere not a lot of rebid. So I bid 3* at $45, no go. Then I added 2.5* and put $54 and got the Holiday Inn. Turned out to be perfect, walking distance to my girlfriend's office really (she decided to walk over this morning instead of me driving her the short way), and plenty of empty parking meters (right in front of the hotel!) that aren't enforced until 8am. You know, I had driven by on 5th Ave many, many times and never really knew this was the location of the Holiday Inn. It's not particularly visible from that main street, with a university building I think of some kind that blocks it. It's a fairly ideal location if you have biz in this area, although the Wyndham is notably closer to other restaurants. (I'll post a more detailed review in the proper place.) Holiday Inn Select Pittsburgh At University Center 100 Lytton Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 412-682-6200 Your Offer Price: $54.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $54.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $15.06 Total Charges*: $69.06

Well, based on my searching today I thought I might have better luck this afternoon, but I didn't. I bid way up (to $250 once for the downtown zones) and got nothing. Just no inventory there for me I guess. Based on a few new appearances (I knew the listings fairly well after the last couple days) I thought something might loosen up. It still might, but I was getting hounded to finalize it so I did, with a $279/night booking at the Hilton Embassy Row. This rate appeared sometime last evening, looked to be gone from Hilton's own site at some point this morning, then appeared there again. It was on Orbitz throughout that time. Thanks for that tip about the "On Request" at LastMinute/EasyClickTravel. Because of that I didn't bother going further. If I had time I would, but today I just needed it done. Too bad. I'll bet if I tried some bidding on Friday morning it would get better. But I won't have a chance to try that out. (We're not going to change the guy's plans at the last minute.) I still wonder what is going on in DC those days; I haven't been able to quite pin that down. Anyway, thanks for all the tips.

Well, I ran out of time at work today to finalize this in between other stuff so I may end up bidding some more tomorrow morning. As you can see by the other winning bid posting, clearly 3/13 is not a problem, just the earlier days. There may be a possibility on EasyClickTravel assuming the amazing reverse search here is correct. :-) It's showing $236 downtown for what the reverse search says is Capital Hilton. I always hit Quikbook and I had little luck with that or with GTA Hotels which was very flaky for me actually. Last Minute Travel is a new one to me and I'll take a look, thanks. Now that I can settle down instead of trying to fit it in between other stuff I might have a clearer head for zeroing in on some ideas if one last round of bids tomorrow is nil. I'm assuming the Priceline inventory still gets refreshed at least daily, though I don't know if we know that for sure anymore.... EDIT: oh, I see, Last Minute Travel looks same as Easy Click Travel. Ah well. At least it's obvious; sometimes it's not 100% clear when you're getting info from the same source at different sites....

Heh, well, I bid up to $215 for all 4* including Arlington/Alexandria. Someone had a hit the other day on one of those for pretty low, for just 3/10. But it won't give me anything for all 4 nights. Ugh. Interesting new behavior on Priceline. First this morning it was new maps from Microsoft. Now it's every unsuccessful bid you get prompted to use the regular booking engine instead. I dunno, maybe that's not new, but it didn't do that yesterday for me. And I bid up to $180 for 3* in Dupont (decided against GT/Foggy). Used Springfield to rebid. Nada. going to have to bite the bullet on something here.

It's a good thought. Maybe if it were me staying I would do the split, but I don't want to inconvenience the guy that much just to save a few bucks. It's clear that Monday and Tuesday nights are the hardest, with Wednesday to a lesser degree and Thursday somewhat more available. I still so far seem to have decent fallback at $250. (I can't book it because it's a prepay, so I could lose it. Prepay for this is actually *better* although I suppose I should make a refundable booking if I find an acceptable one.) By now I'm spending so much time on it that arguably it's costing more than just booking something, but then I like the challenge. I did try Convention/Capitol, not right up to $210 for 4* but up to $180 with nothing. I've been contemplating 3* in Dupont and Foggy; some of the 3* in White House just hold bad memories (Washington Plaza, shudder) and couldn't bear to see someone stay even though they are probably renovated since then. Most outlying areas would be fine with the right place but it seems most of them have possible hotels that wouldn't be near the Metro. While they may have shuttles this isn't as convenient when going back there in the evening. I'm kinda avoiding Crystal City because I hear it's just kinda desolate at night, like staying near the airport (which it is, kinda, for DCA). Looking again though it does appear that perhaps the 4* Westins in Alexandria and Arlington could work. It's the 3* that's a problem. Hmmm.... Maybe I'll try that (although now I see Alexandria is probably sold out.) And look at the Hotwire again, seems to change all the time. I will note anything else I try (and of course use your links).

Wow. Never seen it like this. I often bid for a hotel in downtown DC when I do a one or two night trip for work. Small company, can't be laying out for $300 hotel rooms all the time. I usually bid 4* to avoid the various 3* issues. I pick from Foggy Bottom, Dupont/Woodley and/or White House areas. Usually I'm in around 100 bucks or so, sometimes less. Now this time it's not me but another employee needing an all-week 4 nights beginning 3/10. I started on it last week. We were prepared to take $210 at the Holiday Inn Key Bridge across the river, but that rate was a lovely disappearing Travelocity deal (still showed when searching, even after I tested and found it not bookable). Now it might be $250 at the same place. I have bid progressively higher over the past few days, and now this morning I topped it out at $210 for 4* in White House, Dupont and Foggy (and Springfield and Crystal rebids of course). Convention/Capitol is usually something I avoid, but I may try it in a minute. Is there any sure bet for walkable Metro access outside of downtown? It could be 3* even I suppose. Just wondering, might be willing to try it, might just go for a sure thing somewhere despite the price.

I would just add something to keep in mind when determining what zones is that the downtown zones, while generally desirable from a sightseeing perspective, will add significantly to your cost with parking charges. In DC these are about $20-30 per night. With 4 nights, this would likely add $100 or more to your stay (and that would be per car, not sure if 2 families implies 2 cars or not). This may still be worth it for other conveniences, but keep it in mind. You can mitigate this a bit by parking in a different garage, but in DC these tend to close entirely down at night (no access to your car at all), plus, by doing this, you would not have any in and out privileges. If neither of those matter, you could probably cut the parking cost in half or more that way, down to 40-50 bucks. Also in my experience bidding 3* in the outlying areas is not as risky as 3* in downtown areas. In those areas walking distance to Metro could be iffy, though. Some places will be and some won't. Driving distance should generally be fine if you don't mind driving to the Metro, but some parking lots fill up so you'd have that to contend with. Hotel parking in most (but not all) outlying areas should be free. Good luck!