I just spent some time searching numerous discount hotel sites and found the best deal for a hotel in downtown Minneapolis at www.ichotelsgroup.com, for the Crowne Plaza Northstar for $62US. It is a 3* hotel. No pool, but otherwise good.

Compare the poorly rated 2* Best Western Downtown at $89!

I was totally amazed at the differences between sites. Rates ranged up to $40 in spite of the sites all promising the best rates on the Internet.

The only better rates are on hotwire, $52 for a 4*, but I am really suspicious since you do not know where you have booked until you have paid.

"The only better rates are on hotwire, $52 for a 4*, but I am really suspicious since you do not know where you have booked until you have paid."

Ah but you can get a very educated guess as to where you would be staying. Check out Biddingfortravel.com, the board currently shows the Hyatt 3* going for $48, the 4* Sofitel for $65 and the Marriot for $50. All nice properties.

You can also check out Betterbidding.com but they don't have any bidding history for Minn. on the Hotwire thread. They do say that the 3* hotels that Hotwire uses are: Holiday Inn, Hyatt and Marriot.

Looks like either Priceline or Hotwire would work well for you. Priceline is usually less expensive but in this case that might not be so.

Good Luck

The 4* on Hotwire has been the Hilton all 3 times we've used it. Great location in downtown.

Just got back, and the Northstar was nice, but I would not stay on that side of downtown again. It is pretty dead there. Even Burger King was closed. I would rather stay near St. Anthony Main or the University.

When our son was a student at the U, we occasionally stayed at the Golden Gopher Motel, near Dinkytown. It's clean, safe, and close to campus, but not much else.

Abram, I'm no expert about Minneapolis, but please tell me you made up the Golden Gopher Hotel in Dinkeytown.

When I attended the U of MN (30 years ago) there was a motel called Gopher Campus Motel and I can't imagine it is still there. Is this the same one? It was near Dinkytown and right on 35W. Can't imagine it would be anywhere anyone would want to stay now.

Patrick, I haven't laid eyes on it myself, but the U of M athletic teams = Golden Gophers, and Dinkytown is the name of the neighborhood the U is in, so I'm sure there is such a motel!

our son graduated in 1998, and we haven't been to Minneapolis since then, but it was an OK cheap motel before that.

When we were there on the long week end, Dinkytown was significantly more lively than the downtown! Thanks for the Golden Gopher idea!