Priceline Hotel: recommendation for bidding chicago

[annecb]

My son lives in River City condo in Chicago and they have had no power since Sat AM due to the complex basement flooding from river overflow. The utilities will not be back on for a couple weeks. We have used all our points from hotels for rooms for points plus cash and now I need to find someplace for him to stay. His insurance won't cover since it is due to flooding and the complex has flood insurance but it won't cover anything for any of the residents so he has to cover all his own expenses.

I need to get the best price possible so will use priceline. Is it best to bid for one day at a time or several days to get best price possible?

Thanks for your assistance

[AaronJB]

I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your son! :) :) I'm just reading the stories about this in the Tribune right now - I had no idea it happened, There's

, which is pretty shocking.

The problem with the next week or so is that there are some very busy dates coming up in the downtown area - there's a marathon on 8/1 and Lollapalooza the first weekend in August (6th-8th) and hotels for the next week or two (with some exceptions) are on the pricier side (especially 8/5-8 or so, which are quite expensive.)

One could stay in the suburbs for quite a bit (probably half of comparable downtown cost +/-) less (and there are some very nice hotels in the North burbs), but if your son needs to be downtown, it would be a trek into the city each day. Still, if this turns into a multi-week situation (which I hope it will be resolved before then!), cheaper alternatives may be worth looking into, as I'm seeing rates in the $175-240 neighborhood on HOTWIRE for 7/30-8/2 and the $250-300+ range for 8/5-8. The middle period of that chunk of time (8/2-5) looks substantially cheaper, but overall, prices are running above average for 7/30-8/8.

Please let us know your thoughts and we would be happy to offer further suggestions.

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