Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Maryland - DC Suburbs (Gaithersburg - Germantown) Marriott Gaithersburg Washingtonian Ctr

[chocdiggity]

$74 - July 28-30 (Saturday and Sunday nights)

Had a hard time with this one... Had to keep adding zones on bids starting from $60 before closing at $74 (at least there are lots of zones and few 3.5* here outside DC!).

This Marriott is guest rated 9.0 and is nice and new in a very nice shopping area a bit further off the highway than most (and second highest rated hotel in the entire area). Big downside : the internet is not free (apparently $13/night???). The Priceline named rate was $89 on these dates (but is really $102 if you need internet!).

I'd actually hoped to get the Hilton - Gaithersburg (which seems to usually come up first) since it has free internet and would have been fine. It is guest rated 8.1 but older and in not as nice surroundings right on the interstate. The Priceline named rate there was $79 on these dates, which includes free internet, so it is a much better relative value, unless one prefers the Marriott on other grounds.

Fortunately the guests involved probably won't need the internet this visit but the $5 savings for the mystery factor probably wasn't worth it here... Bid and learn. My takeaway for this zone at 3.5* being unless the blind "name your own price" rate is at least $13 lower than the named rate you're totally rolling the dice (and may not get the best value).

Not much savings here vs. rack rates on these dates and definitely higher prices than other experiences for other dates posted on this board (perhaps I booked too far out or maybe it's a busy vacation time), but still a good rate for this area.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Sorry to hear the discount and hotel result wasn't what was hoped, but glad the result will work out okay - may be a busy time period in the area and hotels were hot aggressively discounting.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.