I am looking to spend 3 days and 2 nights in Moscow in March. I am looking for a cheap place to stay (preferably under 100 USD) but near a metro stop and in a safe area. I will also need this place to provide visa assistance. Any ideas? THANKS!

You should contact Mark Miller at Discovering Russia his email is [email protected] or www.DiscoveringRussia.com. They are based in NY and work with many people going over to Russia, from business groups to students. He posts here regularly and truly knows Russian travel. He can give you some suggestions along with provide the visa assistance. I've used them several times, both for my own trips to White Nights and for some trips with friends. Truly, he is an asset to the Russian travel industry!

Thanks for the recommendation! I will send of an email!

For review of Moscow Hotels see:
http://www.visitmoscow.com/

I usually stay at Izmailovo Hotel (Delta) which is about $50US. It is a little distance from the city, but near metro station.

we stayed at a new holiday inn outisde the city ( about 20/30 minutes in winter).
had a GREAT rate, FREE airport transfer and free shuttle to downtown moscow anytime we wanted it, plus free pickup also.

i would stay there again if their rate was as good in comparison to other similar hotels.

i enjoyed the ride in. did not seem an inconvenience.

but from spain i was not able to use the holiday inn fax with my hotel reservation to request our visas because h.i. wasn't "on their list" yet , i guess for being so new.
so we ended up having to use some russian agency in barcelona that "listed" us in one of their tour groups or something ( for a fee of course, because they actually requested our visas).