Priceline Hotel: 4* New Orleans (Downtown) InterContinental

[BigCheese]

Hi better bidding pals.

We are Brits from the UK but spend up to 6 months in the US and just love to explore your lovely country. We have had bargain stays using betterbidding advice and then Priceline and Hotwire (all reported)!

We are trying to do a trip to New Orleans 1-5 November. 2 people - we would prefer to stop in the French Quarter for convenience and we would prefer a 4 star or failing that a good 3.5 star, hoping to pay $90 or less.

Starting at Betterbidding, we tried Priceline over 2 days gradually adding areas starting at $60 and ending at $90. No joy! Do you think it

[hohogap]

We've stayed in New Orleans numerous times and for Priceline, your best best is to stay just outside the French quarter. the hotels we've been successful on in the FQ are generally a bit more rundown and in areas where you might be subject to late night boisterous behaviour when you're trying to sleep (unless you're the ones staying up late). Try Downtown New orleans. It's just across Canal and an easy walk. For more funky and friendlier hotels (just a short few blocks of extra walk) try Convention Center Arts District. Great, quiet location and good Priceline hotels when we've bid. good luck!

[AaronJB]

The HOTWIRE listing would be a match for the amenity set previously reported with the Dauphiine. Free breakfast is certainly a nice bonus and the 4/5 tripadvisor rating is another plus.

In terms of bidding for the FQ, what would be your desired max budget per night? Just to confirm, did you bid up to $90 for a 4* in the FQ?

You could wait to bid further and pick a "ceiling" to bid up to and bid up to that ceiling a couple of times a week. If it gets to late August/early September and your bids are not being accepted, you can start to look into alternative ideas. I'd keep an eye on rates for these dates though, as I don't know if something may be going on on these dates. If you wait and these dates are busy for some reason, rates could suddenly ramp higher.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[thereuare]

HOTWIRE (thru hotles.com) also has the Westin at Canal Place, not in the Quarter but not too far outside of it, for $109 which you can use as a cancellable back-up (NOTE: there are two listings, one is cancellable one is not)

The Downtown zone can be a good value, but the zone does extend beyond "just across Canal", although it's a small zone geographically and should be fairly easily walkable to/from the Quarter, although depending upon the location of the hotel received you may want to not walk it at certain hours of nite. The Convention Center zone may extend a bit too far for comfort from the French Quarter.

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchases.

[BigCheese]

Thanks all for replies. Here are some comments that may clarify some points. Our dates are already fixed (1-5 Nov) as we have our flights booked from Orlando (we have a holiday home there

[thereuare]

PRICELINE's Downtown zone is very narrow... only about 5 blocks wide. One edge is on Canal (the start of the Quarter) and the other on Poydras St (localy pronounced Po-drah)... so the further you could really be from the start of the French Quarter is ~5 blocks. If you're comfortable walking 10 minutes it should be fine. If you're a light sleeper i'd recommend not staying in the French Quarter :)

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchases.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

[BigCheese]

Intercontinental New Orleans

444 St Charles Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70130

504-525-5566

Check-In: Monday, November 1, 2010-04:00 PM

Check-Out: Friday, November 5, 2010-12:00 PM

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $62.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 4

Room Subtotal: $248.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $48.76 (USD)

Total Room Cost: $296.76 (USD)

Started with a question on the Hotwire section of BB trying to ID a 3.5* in FQ. Helpful advice from 3 forum buddies led us to believe we might be better off in Downtown since we are not party animals and prefer 4* if possible. Also preferred to be quite close to FQ.

Started at $52 for Downtown and then added the

[BigCheese]

Thanks for that Thereuare.

That was great advice and I was able to work out my strategy myself (getting a bit used to this). I looked at a couple of maps so I could visualize what you were saying and decided to bid on Priceline for 4* Downtown.

Ended up at $62 which we are very happy with. Another success by using Betterbidding. Thanks so much for local knowledge which helped us get the most appropriate deal for us.

Yes I did start from BB website. This is all also noted in detail now on the Priceline part of this web site. Thanks again.

[yellowdog]

BigCheese

Congratulations on your success!

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding :)

We hope you're satisfied with the outcome and will like the Inter-Continental.

Enjoy your stay.

Yellowdog.

[BigCheese]

Just got back from our New Orleans trip.

Just to report that Intercontinental is perfectly placed for a trip to New Orleans. It was just a 5 minute walk from Canal Street, so we had the quiet we wanted but were very near to the French Quarter. Also there is a tram stop just at the edge of the block where the Intercontinental sits so we caught the tram for $1.25 each way up to the Garden district and did a self-guided tour of the Lafayette cemetery and the Garden District.

Regarding the Hotel and room. The Hotel is a nice 4* with helpful staff. Our room was on the 8th floor, nice big beds, coffee maker etc. I think the room was just a little shabby (with some repairs showing on upholstery etc) so maybe we weren't given the very best room in the house... All-in-all we were really happy with the deal we got and I am most grateful to the Betterbidding crew for steering me to the CBD to get a better (and quieter) deal for our money.

Thanks

[yellowdog]

BigCheese

Thanx for the report!

Good to see that you enjoyed the hotel :)

Welcome back!

Yellowdog.