hawksmoor

By "that weekend" I meant THIS, namely June 1, 2, and 3. Or is this another "pipe dream"?

I've just managed to get a ticket for the sold-out "Iceman Cometh" at the Goodman, but find the Hotwire/Priceline hotels that weekend out of my reach. I'd love to stay downtown, but is it possible to stay at the airport (or elsewhere)and take public transport? Which hotels would be best for this? How late do the trains run? Can I do this without being freaked out by bleak and underpopulated platforms? (I speak as a New Yorker who normally isn't freaked out by subways, but found myself precisely in that state (in the middle of the day!) on a previous Chicago trip) Any advice will be appreciated that keeps me from paying 300 dollars for a hotel room.

I believe I mentioned South of the Mall, 2-star already (I'm in a bad enough mood, stop chiding me, mea culpa, etc.)--the price I paid was $79, and since I've deleted all my info on this hotel, the only other thing I can remember is it had a pool.

I had a miserable experience in DC this weekend, thanks to my getting careless with details--I had so often stayed at the Capitol Hill Suites (2 star, south of the mall) through Hotwire, and been pleased, that when I saw what looked like this hotel (the only 2-star betterbidding has "pinned" for this area), I assumed it was the same--but Hotwire has since added the deplorable Best Western Capitol Skyline hotel, MUCH further south in a bleak, construction-plagued area frequented only by the homeless, absolutely nothing around to recommend it, frightening to walk in during the day, impossibly so at night--so whatever savings I incurred were eaten up by the obligatory taxi ride back at night, the ONLY time in 20 years of traveling to DC and staying in a multitude of areas, that I felt I add to forego the metro. Of course complaining to Hotwire results in nothing but their sending you reams of boilerplate as to how it was my own damn fault. (Hard to deny.) When I complained enough to get a human being and not just a cut-and-paste computer to address my concerns, they said they don't take the neighborhood into account when entering into a partnership with their hotels--to which I could only reply, WHY THE HELL NOT? Don't your want your clients to be reasonably satisfied? Apparently not. I know, I know, buyer beware and all that, so that's why I'm writing this. BEWARE. Don't get lulled into a false sense of knowing what you're doing based on the past, because Hotwire is out to pull the rug out from under you in the future.

I know that the Hilton and Towers in Dupont Circle is listed as a "Customer Favorite"? But do these customers have cars, or like me, will be coming by metro? On the map it looks like a bit of a hike from the Dupont metro station.

I would just like to warn everyone away from the website I was directed to--"EasyClickTravel Travel.com", unless you want to repeat the nightmare experience of getting a confirmation from them, only to show up at the hotel to find you've got no reservation after all. Oh, they'll be glad to relocate you, if you call them up and spend endless amounts of valuable vacation time on hold, or stress yourself out by screaming at them so they'll pay attention to your plight. I would say more, but I want to bury the memories, not dredge them up. But to hell with these people.

Thanks for everyone's help--I didn't reply sooner because I decided to go with the suggestion of the Mart Plaza for $109, but when I made my request on Friday, the site said they'd let me now in 48 hours! Which they DIDN'T, so I had to call their help line which after being on hold a half-hour, confirmed my reservation--I think. They won't be able to send me the confirmation number until tomorrow morning! This has all been nerve-racking, and if I hadn't had nonrefundable theater/opera tickets I would I cancelled the whole deal. (I hope the snakes go back to Ireland.) But again, thanks for those who took the time to consider my plight. As I get more familiar with navigating this site, I'll try to return the favor.

I decided to go to Chicago on the weekend of March 18-20, because it was the only weekend I could see the opera AND Shakespeare AND the symphony--so I bought expensive tickets to all three. It didn't occur to me (half-Irish though I be) that there might be a little matter of St. Patrick's Day bringing hordes to the city at the same time, thus driving up hotel prices painfully. I made a priceline bid starting at $75 dollars and I thought I heard snickering at the other end. No wonder--the Red Roof Inn, for God's sake, is asking $199 a night for that period. HOTWIRE offered things too rich for my blood. So I'm beginning to panic. Should I settle for what I can get now before everything is gone, or hang on more toward the last minute? What should I start my bidding at in a tight situation like this so I am not a laughingstock, or more importantly, end up with something decent that does not strain my already herniated budget? Any advice would be appreciated. Don't hate me because I'm (the poor man's) Frasier.