Priceline Hotel: Houston-Reliant Park Med Zone questions

[Plebian]

Hi, I would like to bid on the Houston Reliant Park Medical Zone but I have some questions for locals or those who visit Houston regularly first. We are traveling to visit Rice University. The university posts that a car is likely not needed with most hotels in the area as there is a shuttle.

Question 1: Do I need a car for some of the hotels in this zone, simply to get to campus, or are the shuttles and mass transit plentiful? I am seeing some hotels that are over on US 59 in this zone and others that are down by I-610.

Question 2: To ensure I get closer to campus, am I better to do a hotwire unnamed property or a priceline express deal?

Question 3: We will be staying 2 nights by campus but the third night we could potentially stay up by George Bush International Airport as we leave at 7:30 AM. Our flight is on a weekend day so I expect less congestion than the weekday commute. Better to move near the airport?

Thanks so much!

[AaronJB]

I'm not familiar with the area, but:

If you bid on PRICELINE, you have to be willing to stay anywhere within the desired zone.

PRICELINE Express (and especially HOTWIRE) still cannot ensure a particular property but offer an opportunity to make an educated guess. Are you seeing any listings of interest on HOTWIRE? If so, provide the full and complete details (price, date/s, star rating, zone, amenities) of the listing in question. You can also see the hotels reported to the board here: Hotwire Hotel List.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[Plebian]

AaronJB:

I'm not familiar with the area, but:

If you bid on PRICELINE, you have to be willing to stay anywhere within the desired zone.

Exactly, I'm trying to figure out how painful my stay will be if I get unlucky in which hotel I get from Priceline. I'm hoping someone familiar with Houston will give me their viewpoint, whether it's "you'll be fine anywhere in the zone" or "there's some sketchy areas between the further hotels and campus" or "it will be a pain to be that far from campus."

I will check into Hotwire further in the meantime. Thx

[thereuare]

Hopefully somebody more local to the area will respond, but you can also try using our Priceline Maps which will show the hotels reported to the board in this zone (color coded for each zone recognition) and then zoom in/out on the map to see how close/far it is from your desired location.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[Plebian]

I did some checking on Hotwire, and the secret sales were being offered $103. I believed at the time they were for Holiday Inn given others' postings. Now I wonder if it was the Wyndham?

I was offered $109 rate for people visiting the university or the medical centers, at the Wyndham. I then found out a few things about the Wyndham of note to future travelers: It was formerly a Holiday Inn. It is going through a big renovation now through December. Parking is $8/day. Breakfast buffet is $13.99 a day.

I ultimately booked at Best Western Plaza Hotel and Suites at Medical Center for $101/night with AAA discount. No renovations underway right now. Parking free. Breakfast buffet is free. My feeling is that while normally I would rate the Wyndham higher, I wasn't sure with the renovations I would get a better stay on this occasion, and I would be paying more to do it.

I did search all my hotlwire and PRICELINE by using the Better Bidding portal. Thank you for keeping up this website. Sorry it did not work out to purchase this time.

[thereuare]

Glad to see you found something that works well for your needs.

PLEASE NOTE from our suppport.page that we are an affiliate of the Best Western as well as most other major hotel chains and online booking agencies... please check for and use the links there for your hotel direct purchases.

Thanks.