My sister and I will be travelling to Seattle in late August. We want to stay in a 3-star or above in downtown Seattle, as we love the water, sites and will not be renting a car. I've searched the threads on this, and found hotel recs. for couples with kids and for singles looking for a wild nightlife--neither sit. fits us. We're in our early 30's, I'm married and she's not. We want to walk everywhere, shop and eat. I would specifically love help deciding on: the Crowne Plaza on 6th Avenue, the Executive Pacific Plaza Hotel, the Vance Hotel (all 3-stars under $110 online) and a couple of 3.5-stars, Hotel Andra at an online price of $155 and the Red Lion 5th Ave. at $180. Anything to steer away from in the class and price range? Thanks.

Of that list, I would pick the Andra. Asking $180 for the Red Lion? Yikes. The Vance is old, the Pacific Plaza old-fashioned, the Crowne okay but next to the freeway.

Do check out the Mayflower Park, the Kimpton hotels in town, and Priceline. For $100 on PL you can probably score some 4-star place that will be the equal or superior to those you listed. All the downtown 4-stars are well located. Visit www.biddingfortravel.com first if you're nervous about bidding on PL - pointers, results, listings.

Thanks--your insight to the 3-stars like the Vance and Pacific Plaza helped to eliminate them. I'll check out the priceline option, although I am a bit concerned about their 'no-refund' policy because what if my plane flight is canceed out of O'Hare--weather has been a bit weird here in the Windy City lately.

PL now offers optional insurance that covers the cost of any pre-paid hotels etc. that you might have booked. It's pretty similar to most travel policies. I can't remember the cost but it's quite reasonable. Provided by AIG I think.

Search "insurance" on the priceline.com site.

I recently stayed at The Vance and was pleased at the value for the money. Although the building itself is old, the hotel has been remodeled, so the rooms were perfectly fine. It was a quiet hotel, has a fine location, there is a doorman, and the newspaper lands at your door every morning. I wouldn't eliminate it right away -

Using biddingfortravel and then priceline (my first time) I got a $249 room at the Marriot Waterfront for only $70 !!!!!! We didn't leave the waterfront area - took the waterfront trolley back and forth to Elliot Oyster House at Pier 56, our favorite Seattle restaurant.