Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Philadelphia (Rittenhouse Square - Center City West) Embassy Suites Hotel Philadelphia-Center City

[coladad]

We will be heading to Philadelphia this summer, primarily for a Phillies game, but to see the sites as well.  Where are the best areas to look for hotels -- my kids are 13 and 15?  Is it too early to be looking, and are there are any great deals now in Express Deals or elsewhere.  We don't need anything super fancy, just clean and safe really.  Location is more important.  We typically search for 3.0 - 4 on Priceline.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[thereuare]

Please start by following-up your previous Priceline Baseball Trip with whatever you ended up doing for that trip (and report any wins you had accordingly).  Please remember to follow-up your threads with your wins/decisions as you make them (even if you don't ultimately use PRICELINE / HOTWIRE, cancel the trip, book direct, etc) as this help keep the board better organized and more useful for everyone... as well as being a courtesy to anyone who took the time to help with your travel plans.

 

... then reply here with your expected budget for this trip and we will have a look at your dates above.

 

Also, are you still (as per your previous thread) comfortable using PRICELINE, which only guarantees double occupancy, when you will actually need quad occupancy?  A safer option would be to use HOTWIRE (where you can search for up to quad occupancy) or using PRICELINE EXPRESS where a Bed Choice option is shown and one of the choices is a room that is designed to accommodate 2adults/2children (NOTE: technically your reservation is still only for double occupancy, but i don't know of anyone who has yet had an issue when showing up with more than double occupancy when a specific room type was booked and that room is designed to accommodate the number of guests in your group/family). 

 

If you're OK with priceline, are you fine with any PRICELINE accommodation or only one that shows a Bed Choice option?

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[coladad]

Sorry -- we were not successful on Priceline for that LA trip and stayed in a room booked as a backup in Universal City.

 

Our budget is typically $100 per night, before the fees but understand that might have to expand in different markets.  I would not want to pay more than $150 per night, in Philadelphia.  

 

So far, we have always been able to get either two beds or a king and add a rollaway at checkin on Priceline, but honestly we travel one week a year, so I don't know if trends are changing.

[thereuare]

1 hour ago, coladad said:

I don't know if trends are changing.

I think it's more location specific...

If you're in Orlando where rooms tend to be larger and hotels are designed with a high percentage of rooms to accommodate families (based upon the demographics of that market) the risk would be substantial less... in a location such as NYC (where a higher percentage of the rooms only have one bed) the risk would be substantially greater.

 

As for Philadelphia, the risk is probably somewhere inbetween, but certainly closer to the NYC side of the risk scale vs. Orlando.

 

Here are some ideas o you can weight your options vs. the cost (keeping in mind my previous comments from previous post above about all PRICELINE reservations being double occupancy):

 

4* Rittenhouse Square - Center City West (confirm your dates on the landing page) for $153/nite with:
Fitness Center
Business Center
Free Internet
Indoor or Outdoor Pool
==> best guess would be the Sonesta Downtown Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square which offers a 2 Queen room for $160, but our Priceline Coupon brings this down to $151/nite

 

3.5* Rittenhouse Square - Center City West (confirm your dates on the landing page) for $91/nite with:
Free Breakfast
Fitness Center
Business Center
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
==> the Embassy Suites Hotel Philadelphia-Center City would be my best guess for this one, and although no bed choice is included, Embassy Suites properties tend to be a bit more family oriented and more likely to have (at the very least) a pullout sofabed.  As well, rooms are suites so also more likely to be able to get a rollaway brought into the room (vs. some NYC where the rooms have no space for a rollaway and many hotels don't stock them as they don't want to take up valuable storage space)

 

On HOTWIRE searching for 2adults/2children:

3.5* Center City West - Rittenhouse Square for $96.00
Complimentary Breakfast
Smoke Free
Fitness
Restaurant
Business
Laundry
Hi-Speed Internet
Golf
Kitchenette
Blind Accessible
Deaf Accessible
Travel Accessible
Room Accessible
Bathroom Accessible
Roll-in Shower
==> best guess would be the Embassy Suites, so for a few extra dollars you are 'declaring' the full number of guests that you need

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

 

Do any of the offers above work for your needs?

 

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[coladad]

Thanks -- will let you what happens. Also glad to know of the other site as well.

 

 

[AaronJB]

Thank you for keeping us updated and please let us know if you have any questions.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[coladad]

Well, I tried name your price and got the Embassy Suites -- City Center for $90 for June 30 - July 3, 2018.  So, maybe should have gone for the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal with the Priceline Coupon, but not too much more. ''

 

Thanks

 

Now just have to figure out NYC for the rest of the week.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing your win with the board.

 

Hope you're pleased with the hotel and deal you received and this property will work well for your plans this trip.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[coladad]

Thanks -- do you have any suggestions for the rest of the week which will be in NYC.  Don't really have a preference for area, just need to sleep three, won't be in the rooms much longer than sleeping times.  7/3 - 7/8.  Will be going to Yankee and Mets games. Will not have or need a vehicle.

[AaronJB]

Please start a new thread for your NYC stay and we would be happy to research and offer our thoughts.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[thereuare]

For help with the NYC leg of your trip please post in the Hotwire New York section of the board and somebody will assist you there.

 

In addition to the information above, please also include your expected budget (per nite before fees/taxes), indicate that you have two kids traveling with you, and let us know how you want to handle the PRICELINE double occupancy issue (since this can be an issue in NYC).  Regarding occupancy you can:

-use PRICELINE EXPRESS / HOTWIRE for double occupancy and choose a hotel that shows a BED CHOICE option where one of those options will accommodate your family's needs

-use HOTWIRE and indicate 2adults/2children on your search

-use any service for double occupancy and hope that the hotel will be able to give you a room that can accommodate quad occupancy

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.