We stayed at the Capital hill hotel in Sept.2008 for $ 129 plus $ 13,56 parking charge for one day. It's perfectly located .Paul

As I live in Ottawa, I don't have recent first-hand experience of hotels and B&Bs here, but I can make some recommendations based on area, reputation, and friends' experiences.

Your aim of spending less than $100 per night for a downtown property may be a little unrealistic, but you should find something suitable in the $100-$120 range.

There aren't many "boutique" hotels in Ottawa--the only one I can think of is the Indigo, which is very centrally located at the corner of Metcalfe and Laurier, two very busy streets. My recommendation would be the Cartier Place Suites Hotel. It's quite central, but on a quieter street, Cartier just east of Elgin.

There are plenty of B&Bs downtown, but I don't have any experience of them. My recommendation would be to find one in the Sandy Hill area--that's the area roughly south of Rideau between the Canal and the Rideau river. It's an old residential area and still quite attractive. The University of Ottawa is in the western part of Sandy Hill. You'll find that many of the top rated B&Bs from Tripadvisor are located here.

I hope this helps.

Thank you to all for your help.
I ended up booking a hotel through Priceline and got the Radisson for $80.00 per night. It worked out well and was in the perfect location for where I needed to be.

laverendrye : I had lunch at the Cordon Bleu restaurant 'Signatures' the day I arrived and so was in the Sandy Hill area. It sure is a pretty area and lunch was good.

Speaking of food, had delightful experiences at 'Play', 'Social' and especially 'Side Door'. The latter's food is marvellous but the service uneven. Would eat at any of them again.