<p>D is auditioning at American U., and the timing is such that we will have to spend two nights in DC. We need a place to stay that will satisfy the bargain hunter in me and be convenient to the school. (I know the Metro makes everything pretty convenient, but I’d like to be as close as possible.) Amenities aren’t important since we won’t be spending much time in the hotel. We’ve done the DC tourist experience several times and don’t need to be well located for that sort of thing. For what it’s worth, the school notes that it is “partners” with the Embassy Suites at the Chevy Chase Pavilion, the Holiday Inn Georgetown, and the Marriott Wardman Park. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>When we visited Georgetown last July I bid for our hotel on priceline.com. I actually did this with many of the hotels on our college road trip. We ended up staying at the Rosslyn Best Western for $80 (their list price is over $200)</p>
<p>First look at the hotels that Priceline has to offer at their regular prices - you can look by location:</p>
<p>1 Alexandria - Old Town Area
2 Arlington
3 Convention Ctr - Capitol Hill area
4 Crystal City
5 DC Suburbs - Northeast Area
6 Dupont Circle - Woodley Park
7 Georgetown - Foggy Bottom
8 Mount Vernon
9 National Harbor
10 Springfield
11 White House</p>
<p>First look for the cheapest hotel in a particular star category and area and be sure that you’d be ok staying there and make a note of the price.
Then click on the “name your own price” and select your location and star level and bid lower. Often you will end up at a nicer hotel than the cheapest on the list.
** You will be charged immediately for the hotel so there’s no canceling if the trip falls through and you must accept the hotel they give you so be sure you’d be ok with the cheapest on their list.</p>
<p>Thanks-yes, I am a user of Priceline, but it’s not helpful in this case when I have a location in mind more specific than their categories allow.</p>
<p>I stay at the Holiday Inn just across from the Chevy Chase pavillon, so equally convenient to the metro. I’ve had good luck dealing directly with the hotel. Usually better than on-line. Also it’s got free internet & free parking with the Embassy Suites does not.</p>
<p>I just made two bookings–one is for Westin Alexandria Old Town @ $129/night + tax & the other is at the Willard Intercontinental for $209/night, all on HotWire. If there are unique features about the hotel (like non-smoking) & # of stars & area, you can check which hotels are on HotWire that match it & figure out which hotel you’re getting at the fixed price rather than blindly bidding just based on * ratings. I was nearly positive the hotels I was getting at the fixed prices were the ones I ended up with based on *s and N/S.</p>
<p>Depending on where it is in Old Town, the Westin should have you within walking distance of any number of great places to eat. It’s a short drive to King Street where you can find The Fish Market, Bertucci’s Pizza, and on the other end Hard Times Cafe for killer chili.</p>
<p>Thanks–I’m excited about these two hotels & using Hotwire seemed much more palatable than paying full freight at the other “discount” sites. Still haven’t worked up the courage to bid, but these rates were still lower than anything else I could find anywhere. A friend has suggested the Willard, but it seemed far above my pricerange until I found it on Hotwire (there it was in the upper end of my range).</p>
<p>The Chevy Chase pavilion area is one Metro stop away from the stop for American , so ithe Holiday Inn looks ideally located. However, I’m not seeing that hotel on the chain’s website-could it have been re-branded?</p>
<p>We were in DC just this past summer for a week and stayed at Embassay Suites in Chevy Chase. It has a metro station right below the hotel which was really convenient.</p>