Priceline Hotel: 4* DC (Dupont Circle-Woodley Park) Hotel Palomar

[Tattersall]

Hi -- I've been bidding without success and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts. I want to book four nights in downtown DC (Capitol Hill/Convention Ctr, Dupont, or White House/downtown) in mid-March. My potential dates are flexible: I could go pretty much anytime between March 13th and March 27th, though I definitely want my four nights to include two weekend nights.

I've bid up to $95 so far for March 18-22, but still no luck (I was hoping to get Hotel Palomar, since I had a great 4-night stay there in December).

I'd really prefer not to split my bids, since I'll be traveling with a baby and it would be a pain to pack up and switch hotels.

Any advice on which dates would be cheapest within that timeframe?

Thanks so much -- love this site -- and I will, of course, bid through the PRICELINE link and post my results.

Edited to add: I was bidding for a 4*, and am really hoping not to go above $100.

[AaronJB]

Rates do appear somewhat better for 3/11-15 on HOTWIRE, but rates for 3/13-17 appear more or less similar to rates on 3/18-22. Rates on other four-day periods throughout this period on HOTWIRE generally seem similar or higher than the rates on 3/18-22.

There's no way to guarantee a particular property via PRICELINE. If you could include 3/11-15, the Palomar is $139 on Orbitz (and coupon code WELCOME10 would take it down to about $125, plus you would get a $50 Restaurant.com gift certificate from Orbitz.

You could try bidding for 3/13-17 (the other option including two weekend nights), but given the rates I'm seeing, $95 may not be accepted for that set of dates, either.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE, PRICELINE or Orbitz.com links to start your purchases and searches.

[Tattersall]

An update: after checking around quite a lot (thanks for the heads-up about the Orbitz promo code!), I came to realize that the night of Monday 3/16 is REALLY expensive, and that the winter --> spring rates seem to change for most hotels around that time. At Hotel Palomar, for example, the rates change by over $100 a night for all dates after 3/15. So I decided to just shorten our trip by a night, and settled on bidding for Friday 3/12-Monday 3/15.

Then, bidding through your PRICELINE link, I was able to get Hotel Palomar for $90 a night. Their website's rates for that night ranged from $139-$159.

Thanks for your help.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Nicely researched... and nice deal as a result! Glad to see you're happy with the outcome and looking forward to your stay.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.