Hotwire Hotel: Jacksonville Jazz Fest

[lhoising]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to go to the Jacksonville jazz festival May 28-30. My friend Patty is coming the 29th and I will need two rooms for the 28-29. I am thinking I can get the best deal searching one room 28-29 and two rooms 29-30. Also assures I get the same hotel :).

I want to stay in the downtown Jacksonville area ONLY. This is where the jazz fest is (or should be if it is like last year). I would prefer to stay at the Hyatt, Omni or a hotel on the north side of the river. I see there is a Holiday in there but I do not see that on the hotel lists for the area. In fact I do not see any hotels other than the Omni, Hyatt, Crown Plaza, Wyndham, Hilton. From a google search there is one or two nice seeming hotels in addition and the rest are more along the lines of extended stays/I-am-not-certain-I-Want-to-shower budget hotels. Downtown jacksonville seems to change from nice area to not nice area quickly.

From my search so far for two rooms 29-30, hotwire shows one two star hotel for 39/nt with amenities of complimentary breakfast and highspeed internet. The lack of good 2 stars on google search makle me weary but it has a good trip advisor rating of 3.5. But for the 3.5 review on trip advisor shows a room that is normal less than 50 for regular rate. Do you think more will open up closer to the date?

Priceline shows hotels in 1, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 stars. I only want the 3.5 stars from priceline I think. Lots of easy rebidding because very few areas have 3.5 stars.

Last year I went to the same jazz fest and got the hyatt for about 30/35 dollars a night and I bought it 2-3 weeks before I left on the trip from priceline (I think).

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for bidding/buying. And when to buy. This is an event I am definitely going to go to.

[runNgun]

There is NO Holiday Inn in Downtown Jacksonville. The Crowne Plaza, Omni and Hyatt are all 3.5* on PL. The Radisson Riverwalk is a 3*. There is also a brand new Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn (most likely 3*'s each) that just opened in priceline's DT zone. Only the Hyatt and Omni are on the north side of the river. Everything else I mention is on the south side of the river. With priceline there is no way to guarantee which side of the river you will get. There is a very scarey Super 8 that is also DT and I would guess that's the 2* you see on HW. The Homewood and Hilton are also on the edge of a bad neighborhood (IMO) and I personally wouldn't bid for anything but a 3.5* in Downtown Jacksonville.

[lhoising]

When I search for one room with two adults more responses come up for 29-30. Before it was two rooms two adults and 4 children.

Now there is a three star with fitness center, pool, restaurant, business center, highspeed internet and tennis nearby. 59.

EDIT*

For 3 adults and 3 children there is a room with same amenities for 69 per night.

EDIT 2*

For 3 adults and 4 children it dissapears.

I am thinking my friend Kathy might also go which means that we would have on Sat 3 adults and 5 children.

I wonder if I can rent a house for cheaper.

[runNgun]

I'd guess you won't get a 3.5* DT on priceline for less than a $45 bid. Since you have lots of re-bids you can start lower and work your way up. Remember to support the board by using the link below.

PRICELINE link

[lhoising]

There is NO Holiday Inn in Downtown Jacksonville. The Crowne Plaza, Omni and Hyatt are all 3.5* on PL. The Radisson Riverwalk is a 3*. There is also a brand new Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn (most likely 3*'s each) that just opened in priceline's DT zone. Only the Hyatt and Omni are on the north side of the river. Everything else I mention is on the south side of the river. With priceline there is no way to guarantee which side of the river you will get. There is a very scarey Super 8 that is also DT and I would guess that's the 2* you see on HW. The Homewood and Hilton are also on the edge of a bad neighborhood (IMO) and I personally wouldn't bid for anything but a 3.5* in Downtown Jacksonville.

Thanks! I was wondering that myself. The hilton and whyndam are about 80-85 dollars b4 tax on orbits etc so if all else fails I can just get one of those. probably wyndham. Those are refundable. when it gets closer I can try priceline. but then again if I am going to pay up front I might as well try priceline first. If it is 79 on Expedia it should be ~40 on priceline. If not that one a similar one.

[lhoising]

For Friday night 28-29.

Hotwire has:

There is a 3.5 star hotel for 56 and a 4 star for 106. Wonder why its so much more expensive this year. Just the economy?

Ill try priceline for this I think.

[lhoising]

Oh, but I am not going to book Friday night until I know who is playing. Why haven't they announced the lineup yet? I know Chris Botti is playing Sat because his website says so. Any idea on Friday night? Sunday?

[runNgun]

Considering HOTWIRE usually marks-up around 30%, $56 on HOTWIRE = $45ish on PRICELINE. Are you really going to wait and try to save $10 more a night (based on last years price) and run the risk of paying $35 more a night on your back-up.

and yes. occupancy in Jacksonville is up over last year....

[lhoising]

Since they just announced the artists and they are NO WHERE NEAR as good as last year I am going to wait a little longer and see if the hotels open up their rooms more. Omni's price has gone down already and they are now on HOTWIRE as they were not before. If i dont get a good room I wont worry about it. Not a lot to make me want to stay longer any way.

[AaronJB]

Thank you for keeping us updated! :) Let us know if you have further questions and what you decide.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[MVU]

I book weekly in JAX, I stay in the Southside because the downtown places charge you for parking, since January prices have been going up, I guess they are having more occupation because I see the parking lots with more cars than before. I can't find anything good for less than $35 a night, I was paying between $26 and $29 last year for the same hotels.

Recently I've been more lucky with Priceline than hotwire.

[lhoising]

Thanks for the information!

I was wondering about the prices. I tried priceline up to 40 dollars downtown. No luck. So next week I will try again. I will definitely still stay Friday and Sat but maybe I will try another zone since there are not a lot of acts I am interested in. Also, for the 15 dollar difference we could take a cab or something which is more convenient than walking anyways!

What hotels in southside are good?

[MVU]

What hotels in southside are good?

The Radisson is good, but not complimentary breakfast, nice pool but gym sucks. Nice HD Flat panels. Upsacale rooms. Close to I95 but a couple of miles from restaurants and shopings.

The Best western is OK and have a good complimentary breakfast, pool is somehow ok, gym sucks even more. Have HBO but TVs are old and image ain;t so great. Close to I95 but a couple of miles from restaurants and shopings.

The StayBridge, this is exceptional, complimentary breakfast (Daily) and complimentary happy hour (Tue-Wed-Thu), pool OK, great gym and free laundy. Rooms are huge with kitchen and nice flat pannels with HD, is close to restaurnts and shopping areas.

To stay away from:

Jameson Inn, rooms are nice but smelly, complimenary breakfast is there but nothing special.

ExtendedStay (Baymeadows), smoke odor in the rooms, everything is work out, bed is uncomfortable. Close to I95 and close to shopping areas but not walking distance though.

[lhoising]

Thanks!

We will probably just get cheapest room we can find, I will try to get some of your better ranked rooms though! I found that Chris Botti is playing at Hard Rock on Sunday. Last time I saw him there I had a blast and stayed at Hard Rock Hotel and the bad was in the bar afterwords. Gotta save pennies if I want to stay there though. Garden view are sold out and cheapest rate I have found is 246 after tax. Cant find any good discounts. HW, priceline, Hotels.com, Orbitz are all more than the FL discount rate directly from Loews.

Close to I95 would be good for us for traveling back down to central FL area.

[yellowdog]

lhoising

If you decide to book directly so please check and use our links (if possible) in the support page for your hotel direct purchases.

Yellowdog.