Priceline Hotel: DC for family's spring break

[travelhog]

Wanting to go to DC w/ family of 2A and 3 elem. children for 3/13 to 3/23 and take it slow.

have used priceline many times w/ lots of success. New to this web site...awesome!!!!

Any advice where to bid (zones) in DC on priceline and if I should break up days?

Do not mind changing hotels twice and haven't decided if want car for whole trip yet. Can also stay in suburb. Prefer 4 to 3 stars only.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

How many rooms are you bidding for? What is your expected budget per nite per room?

[travelhog]

We have done well w/ 2 double beds in the past since the kids are in K, 1, and 3rd.

I was thinking about $100/per night for 1 room. It would be great if we could get an embassy suite type room.

[thereuare]

As i'm conservative, just a warning that priceline only guarantees double occupancy, and the hotel would be "within their right" if you only received a room with one bed. Not sure which other area(s) you have pricelined, but while you may have luck in the past, it may have no relevance as to your experience for this stay. In a family friendly area such as Orlando the risk would be much less than in a business area such as Washington DC (which would also be less riskier than an area such as NYC where i would stay "no way" to 5 people in a room)... so it is definately area specific. Personally i think 5 people is 'extra' risky (vs. 4) as it exceeds fire code for more city hotel rooms, and all you need is one clerk or manager who wants to make an issue out of it (or land a hotel that has had other recent code violations and following the 'letter of the law' in order to make sure they're compliant in all aspects going forward).

It would also be less risky to consider HOTWIRE which allows you to search for up to quad occupancy, as at least this way you would guarantee a room with two beds (but likely still be over legal limit for the room)

With the above noted, it's up to you the risk(s) that you're willing to take and we'll advise however you'd like moving forward. Without knowing your specific plans for this trip i would think that a downtown location would be more convenient for seeing the sites, but a suburb hotel may give you more space in the room and better chance of a room with two beds.

Let us know yoru thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

[travelhog]

You are most definitely right about considering the fire codes.

We have stayed in mostly Omni and Marriott which has been ok for 5 w/ a cot because the occupancy load is 5max...

If I book 2 rooms, that would be great except since the kids are young we would have to get connecting or split up.

Do you think most hotwire hotels have connecting?

What areas do you think would give us the most chance of family friendly with either hotwire or priceline?

Also, if we do priceline....what website do you prefer that we book through to help support this website?

thanks:)

[thereuare]

Do you think most hotwire hotels have connecting?

Most hotels have some connecting rooms, but the bigger question will be if you're able to get one or not... although it seems that there are fewer and fewer connecting rooms lately, perhaps as they cost slightly more to build and guests who don't need the connecting room dont' like them (somewhat less soundproofing).

Generally speaking i would think that a hotel on the outskirts fo the city would be a little more accomodating and have larger rooms than their city counterparts (simply based upon space and costs). I would at least search HOTWIRE (for both 1 rooms and 2) to see if you can identify the hotel(s) offered, then you can determine their occupancy levels and even go as far as calling them (before your purchase) to see if they offer connecting rooms and if so, ask if they're usually hard to get and/or the number or percentage of rooms which connect. You could also then determine how close the nearest metro stop is too.

Since this is an extended stay, and you're willing to split your purchase, i think you may come up with a lot of options/possibilities. Let us know if we can help try to ID some of the properties for you and/or any other questions.