Priceline Hotel: 4* DC (Convention Center-Capitol Hill) Liaison Capitol Hill

[pmom]

I need a hotel in Washington D.C. beginning on 11/17/09 and checking out on the morning of 11/21/09. I would like a 4 star hotel and I'm willing to pay up to $150. I am looking at the downtown/white house, convention center/ capitol hill and Dupont/Woodley Park zones.

1) Is this totally unrealistic? I looked on the hotel websites (for the hotels on the hotel list) and the prices for those dates seem very high. Sofitel was the cheapest at $265 and the Willard Intercontinental is the most at $559. I am concerned because both the Omni Shoreham and the Renaissance Washington seem to have no availability on those dates at all.

2) Are star ratings on Priceline consistent across cities? My husband often stays in San Francisco. He always stays in a priceline 4* hotel there. I want him to feel like we're staying at a nice place--similar to what he's used to for work. Will a Washington D.C. 4* seem similar to a San Francisco 4*? If I have to decrease my star rating to save money, how much difference is there between a 3* hotel or a 3.5* and a 4*?

3) Am I looking at the right zones? We will want to spend most of our time looking at the government sites: the capitol, the supreme court, library of congress, Smithsonian, Lincoln Memorial, etc. Ideally, I'd like to be nearby. We would prefer not to rent a car, but just to use the metro. If we had to look at zones further away to save on hotel costs, is there any zone we could pick with a reasonably good chance of being near a metro station? Or are we going to have to rent a car if we stay in another zone?

4) Am I correct in thinking that I need to split my bid into two parts: Tuesday- Thursday and Friday? Because Friday's so much cheaper? Or does Priceline take that into account?

5) I need to get my cancelable hotel reservation while I am working on this. Any suggestions?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

One step at a time...

Your budget should be fine (which should negate much of your other questions regarding back-up reservations, splitting the bid, alternate zones, etc)

Star ratings differ from hotel to hotel, where as a Hilton may be 4* at one location, 3.5* in another location, and 3* in yet another. This is reflective of the services offered at each hotel, last time it was refurbished, amenities, user reviews, etc, etc. Star ratings should be used as a general guide and not the 'end all be all', as one person may love a particular 4* property while another hates it... and some may find a 3.5* rated hotel that they enjoy more than a particular 4* in the same area.

If you search HOTWIRE there is a 4* hotel in the Dupont Circlel zone for $143/nite with:

Smoke Free, Fitness, Restaurant, Business, and Internet cions.

This matches previous reports for The Dupont Hotel and the Palomar, so either of these would be my best guess.

Also within your budget is a 4* in the White House-Capitol Hilll zone, also for $143/nite with:

Smoke Free, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Internet

This one matches the The Liaison Capitol Hill so that would be our best guess for this one.

No guarnatees on either, but the Dupont property does show a good Tripadvisor user review rating of 4.0/5.0, which is pretty good, so even if we're wrong on the hotel id, at the very least you know that the hotel is generally well reviewed by previous guests.

I'd look at the hotels above and see how they fit into your plans, then you can decide if you want to go for one of the above OR try PRICELINE in hopes of a better price (but no guess as to which hotel you may be receiving)

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Any questions feel free to ask.

[trentslori]

Have you tried just bidding? I'd be glad to help if you'd like. I think you can do a lot better!

[pmom]

Began by bidding for

11/17/09-11/20/09

This morning:

Bid 1: Whitehouse: $80

Bid 2: Convention Center $80

Bid 3: Dupon Circle $80

Dinner time:

Bid 4: Whitehouse & Bethesda $90

Bid 5: Convention Center & Bethesda $90

Bid 6: White House, Dupont, Convention Center, Bethesda, $95

7: Changed date to 11/17/09-11/21/09

White House, Dupont, Convention Center, Bethesda, $95

8: White House, Dupont, Convention Center, Crystal City $100

9: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, DC suburb, $105

10: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Mount Vernon, $110

11: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Silver Spring, $115

12: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Bethesda, Crystal City, $120

13: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Bethesda, DC Suburbs, $125

14: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Bethesda, Mount Vernon, $130

15: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Bethesda, Silver Springs, $135

1 hour later:

Checked to make sure possibility of $143 4* hotwire (pointed out earlier today by thereuare, and later seen by me) was still there. The price had gone up to $156! This frightened me a bit. I didn't like the trend of the prices. I was interested in how prices between HOTWIRE and PRICELINE compared though, so I decided to keep bidding at Priceline until I exceeded the Hotwire price.

16: White House, Convention Center, Dupont, Crystal City, DC Suburbs, $140

To my great surprise, this bid was accepted. I will be staying at the Liaison Capitol Hill An Affinia Hotel (interestingly, this is the hotel that thereyouare thought might be behind the $143 at Hotwire). Time to add Liaison to the DC Priceline Hotel List hotel list under the Convention Center/Capitol Hill category. One of the most recent trip advisor reviews for it mentions a cockroach infestation. I hope I won't be seeing that!

I looked up the rate for my dates on Liaison's website and was a little disappointed to find that their lowest rate was only $207. This makes them the cheapest of every 4* hotel in my three zones of interest (White House, Dupont Circle, Convention Center/Capitol Hill). So, I didn't get a huge bargain, but at least I got a room. And since my stay is 4 days, I am saving about $200 in all. Not terrible. And, I did stay within my budget. It is less than $150/night.

P.S. I always used the PRICELINE link from Better Bidding.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you were able to get a 4* hotel within your budget.

Thank you for using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding and sharing your results wtih the board, helping us add this property to the Priceline Hotel List.

Enjoy your stay.

[pmom]

Have you tried just bidding? I'd be glad to help if you'd like. I think you can do a lot better!

Trentslori, I ended up panicking a bit, feeling like I had to get something locked in, so I started bidding. I did finally get the Liaison (allegedly 4*) in the Capitol area for $140 (I started a separate thread listing my bids and results)--it wasn't the bargain I was hoping for, but it will work. If you have a chance to look at the other thread, I would love to hear your feedback on what, if anything, I could do to improve my bidding. I assume that splitting my stay into two parts might have helped, but my husband didn't want to chance having to move hotels.

I have seen that in the past others have gotten much better deals. But I take it the really low rates people get are usually weekend rates? It looks like I was a bit unlucky in planning my visit for some particularly expensive weekdays? So bad luck? Or could I have done something better?