My family will visit Hearst Castle in the afternoon on Mar. 16. We plan to go to Standford University next day. I need advice as to where is the better place to stay , San Jose or Palo Alto? and which hotel is better. Our budget is under USD 100 and we prefer a quiet and safe place.
Thank you.

Joey,

I cannot over-emphasize how ideal your situation is for priceline.com. Go to www.biddingfortravel.com and read through as much as you can there. Then use priceline to bid on a room near/in Palo Alto. The Stanford experience probably comes best with a night in town. San Jose is still having growing pains and I think that Palo Alto would be best if you can secure a room at Priceline for perhaps HALF of your $100 U.S. per night. Good Luck!

Weekday rates are high near Stanford. Best Western Redwood City has good-sized rooms & free breakfast and meets the price criteria. 7 or 8 minute drive to Stanford.

NorthwestMale and clarkgriswold,
Thanks you for your inputs.

DO remember that Priceline rooms are for 1 or 2 people. You risk getting a room with a king bed, which isn't handy for a family of 3 or 4! Room and bed type are never guaranteed on Priceline!! If you have a need for accommodations for 3-4, you may be able to get 2 rooms on Priceline for the price of one cramped double/double.

Dan & Tkay,

Thanks.

I agree with NorthwestMale that you should try and use Priceline.

BUT first, go to biddingfortravel.com and see what the successful bids have been.

Then bid for a certain level, like 3 star, in a certain area, like Palo Alto.

A couple of the current successful bids have been:

3 star Hyatt Rickey Palo Alto $50
4 star Westin Palo Alto $65

I would suggest trying for Palo Alto first, as Stanford University is located in Palo Alto. There are a number of nice hotels around the University campus. You should be able to successfully bid for one of them.

There was an even better deal, a 3 star, Sunnyvale Sheraton for only $35. Sunnyvale is about half way between Palo Alto and San Jose. San Jose is about 20 miles from Palo Alto, so Sunnyvale is about 10 miles from Palo Alto.

I'd try bidding for the closer hotels first and, if you don't succeed, then try San Jose. Considering the price of gasoline, you'll have to factor in the cost of driving to and from your hotel to Stanford into the overall deal you will get.

Learn the bidding system from biddingfortravel, then go ahead and log into Priceline and start a bid.

Good luck!