Hotwire Hotel: 2.5* Seattle (Bellevue North-Redmond) Paragon

[clbencemunns]

My first Hotwire purchase, and first post. I came accross this site and used it to figure out which hotel I was purchasing. Thanks for the info, and my apologies for not realizing I should have used the links listed here for the purchase.

Was looking for the cheapest decent hotel I could find near Seattle for the Seahwk game Thursday night 12/14/06. Price was the big issue for me, but I didn't want to end up with a horrible downtown shoddy hotel, either. Plus I have a car, so I didn't want to pay $25 to park at a high-rise downtown hotel. I searched Seattle-Pike Place, Seattle-Space Needle, and Bellevue North-Redmond. Cheapest hotel for all areas was 3* with Fitness, Pool, Restaurant. I knew by searching here that it was most likely the Paragon. So, I went to the Paragon website for further details. They had some winter specials for rooms with breakfast for $88 before tax, while I was offered $49 before tax through Hotwire. Looks like a nice hotel, and it is on a direct bus line to Downtown Seattle, so we can ride the bus directly to the game for $2.50 per person one way.

I was really fairly certain it was the Paragon, so I purchased, and sure enough:

Hotel details

Paragon Hotel Bellevue

818 112th Avenue Northeast

Bellevue, Washington 98004

1 room(s) @ $49.00 per night x 1 night(s)

Taxes, recovery charges, and fees $13.12

$62.12 Total

I'm very pleased. Nice hotel, $62.12 plus $10 for two people round-trip to get to the game. Can't ask for any more! Well, breakfast maybe....but for saving $40 I can get a pretty darn nice breakfast!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your results and getting the hotel you wanted which appears to work well for your needs. Thank you for sharing with the board.

Enjoy your stay and the game.

[clbencemunns]

Update, just got this email from Hotwire:

"We periodically review our representation of our hotel partners' star

rating. After doing so for this hotel, we have decided to adjust the

star rating to 2.5 stars. While we are confident in the quality of all

our hotel partners, the new rating more accurately reflects the service

level, accommodations, and facilities of this property.

As such, we would like to offer you the option of either canceling the

reservation for a full refund, or keeping the reservation and receiving

25.00 HotDollars. Your HotDollars can be used to book any flight, car

rental, hotel reservation or package on the Hotwire Web site. Each one

is equivalent to one U.S. dollar in value and is available for one year

from the date of issuance. Should you choose to cancel, we would be

happy to assist you in rebooking to be certain that you are accommodated

during your trip. Please respond with your decision by replying to this

email or by calling 1-866-HOTWIRE (468-9473)."

Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I wonder what my chances of getting $25 off this reservation are, or getting a decent hotel in downtown. We'll see.

[thereuare]

I suppose you could cancel and try to get this same hotel again... but there is also a 3* downtown hotel on HOTWIRE for $79, which in addition to your HotDollars, would put that hotel at nearly the same price as the above (i haven't inquired yet as to what ti might be... not knowing your thoughts if this is a realistic possibility or not)

[clbencemunns]

Well, I tried some things with Customer Service, but they weren't budging. I could either keep the reservation and get $25, or I could cancel and get nothing. I chose to keep the reservation and get the $25. I'm sure it's a nice hotel, so why pass up $25. I'll use it another time.

[canuckprof]

I've read really mixed reviews of this location, especially on the service end. How did you find it? Would it be ok for a longer stay?

[thereuare]

I can't comment on the above hotel, but i have stayed in Bellevue once as we had an event taking place at a hotel there. While our stay was good, this is not (imo) a good place to serve as a "home base" for a Seattle trip... it is too far away from the city, frequent taxi service would quickly add it, and even if you have a car you then have the issue about where to park once you get to Downtown Seattle.

In fact, for our trip i referenced above, we stayed at the event hotel for the first half of our stay, and then moved to a Downtown hotel for the remainder of our stay once the event was completed.

Here is also an old thread on this very topic: Bellevue vs. Downtown Seattle