Ahhhhhhhhhhh, your response does make some sense...


(although, to someone fully familiar with the downtown Seattle area, I m-m-m-m-m-moooooooooooostly don't think you should demand that you wait that long (for mere geographic reasons) before making a reservation).

Indeed "The EDGEWATER" Hotel is kinda far-off... by the water...(FYI the HILL makes it remote more than anything - west of "1st avenue" is doooooooooown) but it's a nice place and no real loss if you land it (even "The Beatles" famously stayed there). (I dunno how many rental car spots there are extremely near to it, but aside from that one hotel, the downtown spots for the major car companies are fairly central to the others, especially for somebody doing a 10K run) The rest of the "downtown" 4-star properties are fairly clustered, and all reasonably nice.

As cities go, Seattle is a great one for 4-star Pricelining...

Lots of free rebid zones, and no BAD hotels in that class that you wouldn't want.

Anyway, keep us posted.

No one has mentioned the horrendous traffic in and around Seattle. Be cautious...allow plenty of time from Mount Rainier, and Tacoma back to the airport. One accident can really muck things up.

Priceline--I frequently book the Westin or the Sheraton and The Vintage (a Kimpton hotel) for no more than $75.00; however, that was never in the summer. I would advise you to wait until the last 10 days to start bidding.

The weather should be great...August is our best month!

Enjoy!

I am having a hard time waiting to bid on a hotel, though I guess I can "practice" and just abandon the process if I don't get a good rate. Am VERY excited to come experience Seattle and Rainier as a tourist instead of biztraveler!

Question about your weather: I get it; it doesn't rain constantly. But, how about humidity? I live in the Midwest, so know all its incarnations. Just wondering if you are more like the Midwest with your wx or like Colorado (virtually no humidity!)

It affects the hair products I pack : )

Kit, no humidity that MATTERS.

Sure, we have humidity, but when it's 40 degrees, nobody cares.

(*** actually, I'm NOT qualified to contemplate that, for I have lived here, with our weather, all my life) (I've heard others mention that, upon coming here in the winter {which CAN imply from September 20 through July 1, as we've recently experienced}, they found our RAIN to be particularly COLD relative to wherever they used to be)

BUT, for your considerations... don't even anticipate any "humidity" (unless it is pouring down rain as you stand in your hotel doorway - which COULD certainly happen)(it will almost always be 'light rain' and almost NEVER a gully washer from other parts of the country)

(Just 45 minutes ago, I was ten blocks from home, without a coat, and it was sunny, warm, AND RAINING on me - now I'd have been OK in that light rain, but I had no idea whether it would intensify) (we natives so seldom 'take those chances')

Hope this helps...

And if you are "dedicated" to the task, I think you should by now have SOME standard car rental reservation in place (that you can cancel if need be), AND you should be steadily trying Priceline for 4-star properties for your downtown Seattle nights.

Perhaps if you got to, eh, maybe August 22 and still hadn't found a room, you MIGHT alter your Priceline efforts to include the first TWO nights, instead of all three nights (since FRIDAY "weekend" availability could be what is 'snagging' you from having scored a nice price on Priceline).

That way you'd hit the ground on Weds. as anticipated, have the first two nights of posh downtown living, and then, maaaaaaaaaaybe, book a room at a 'lesser' establishment nearer to Seattle Center for that Friday night, when you want to wake up and do your run on Saturday.

(I imagine most hotels/motels would retain your luggage for you, until you could get it later after such a run???)

Or even, alter your Priceline efforts down to those first TWO nights for 4-star downtown... and then broaden your efforts to include maybe 3-star downtown AND "Seattle Center" zones.

BUT, I don't think you should *panic* and do that until very late.

(***yet I can see why someone coming from KS to WA would prefer not to leave things up in the air until 8/22)

MY GUESS/target is that you will have your best chance at finding what you originally wanted on about Monday August 15. (I'd do one bidding process in early afternoon KS time on 8/15, and then another 'just over 24 hours later' on 8/16 before altering your outlook and expectations).

Hope you have fun! Thanks for the latest update.

OK, NWM, I booked a rental car tonight just for you! AVIS $107 all in; pick-up and drop off at SEA. Will keep at it to find a better rate.

Also, "practiced" my Priceline bid with a price I knew would get rejected ($65!) One thing I wondered about: as I'm adding in my free re-bids, one-by-one, in what increments should I be increasing my bid? Is there a strategy to that? I just increased each time by a dollar.

I intend to do it for real beginning on Monday. It's been about a year since I've done this; I am rusty!

Hi Kit,

Again, as you'll find, "SEATTLE" is a GREAT locale for FOUR-STAR bidding on Priceline.

(going over a critical part: First thing you do, at Priceline, is get to the part where they want you to pick your AREA/location. Then, one by one, put an x/check in each box BY ITSELF... translation, an "X" in "Bothell", JUST to see the immediately updated sense for the HIGHEST star level in each zone. WRITE DOWN the highest star level for each 'area' in the Seattle market. (double-check to be sure you are viewing EACH ZONE individually - an 'x' in ONE box at a time)

Then, when doing your free rebids, ADD only the areas which DO NOT HAVE 4-STAR OFFERINGS. Add them one by one, just to "alter" your effort, while boosting your offered price by FIVE DOLLARS each time. I would start at perhaps $80.

And the $107 rental car for two days isn't absolutely horrific, so I'm thankful for that on your behalf. And you've now GOT one... AND it is picking up and dropping at the airport (which is a million times more convenient since we got the light rail less than 2 years ago). Most importantly, you can go directly to the airport from your southern reaches.

PS - using $5 increments really DOES allow more of a chance to land your price WHILE ALSO suggesting good value when you do. You get to START wherever you like price-wise, and with 6 or 8 "free rebids", you can cover significant territory.

(sigh: I remember the good old days on Priceline when you could land a top notch locale for $40 or $45 SOMEtimes)

Keep us posted... for it won't be long until you're here.

No Priceline love tonight...my final bid of $121/night -- with all free zones used -- was rejected : (

Will try again tomorrow night...

Methinks something is going on in the city that weekend...even Expedia can barely bring up a hotel list that has Thursday and Friday available, too. (I had thought the weekend would be the clear dates downtown.)

Am mentally preparing for a new strategy, because I can't spend more than $150/night.

Maybe stay near the airport and ride the light rail into downtown each day? Bellevue has a bit of availability. Is that a do-able trek on a busline? Or a hassle?

I am not giving up on a downtown hotel. Just preparing myself for the fact that FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, a Priceline strategy may not work out in my favor. Dang.

If you can't get downtown Seattle, have you checked Queen Anne (Mediterranean Inn) and around the Seattle Center/Hwy 99 area (various chain motels)?

Between the other 2 areas you mention: I would definitely choose Bellevue (hopefully somewhere walking distance to the Metro Transit Center) over SeaTac. That area around the airport is pretty grim imo and not where I'd want to spend my vacation!

I'm going to be in Seattle on Friday night (8/19) for the big Geocaching Block Party Saturday. I have a rez at the hostel on 2nd St. I could have got a bed in a 4 bed dorm at the HI Hostel but they wanted me to pay for all 4 beds!
I'm paying about $35 for my dorm bed. I will give a report on Monday about my experience in Seattle.

HAve a good weekend, tomfuller! Tell us how it worked out!

So Bellevue looks like a nice place, but riding the bus in and out of town each day may be a drag. Maybe I will add a few Priceline neighborhoods and see how that goes: Seattle Center and Lake Union next? If I come up empty, maybe rent a car for my Seattle days and stay in Bellevue (or somewhere else?) anyway.

Nothing available at the MEditerranean Inn, though appreciate the tip, Suze. I found it in a search awhile ago and liked it. Should have booked it, then, I guess : ) Something is going on in town, I tell ya. Now Hotwire can't come up with a 4* in the whole metro area for my dates (Aug 24-27).

I'm not stressed. I'll deal just fine with what I end up with. Just would prefer the easier route!

<but riding the bus in and out of town each day may be a drag>

Yes it will. But it would be less of a drag taking Metro over from Bellevue into downtown (there are express busses) than staying at a SeaTac hotel and trying to use LightRail. At least in Bellevue you are in a nice neighborhood in its own right. SeaTac is just plain ugly (industrial commercial).

Obviously you'll have to do the math but I can't imagine renting a car, staying in the suburbs, and driving everywhere will end up saving much money, from just doing a downtown Seattle hotel.

btw it wouldn't have to be any one special event, Seattle's a popular place and August is a popular time to visit and this is kind of the last minute.

Hours later, I finally have a hotel: The Silver Cloud at South Lake Union at $219/night. I got my PL bid clear up to $225 and still got goose eggs. I think everything is just sold out; even going directly to all the individual hotel sites served up nothing (except in the $300 plus range.)

The Tripadvisor folk seem to love this hotel, and apparently, it has a dependable shuttle to DT...so that suits me.

The Broadway and Stadum Silver Clouds also have availability. Holler if those are a much better decision.

NEed to figure out the best way to get from/to the airport. Cab, probably...or shuttle...I'll put it on the list.

NOW...I can start finalizing the agenda : )

Kit, if you are (gosh, I need a word here... WHAT is it???)... (well, lets use) "Willing" (for right now) to consider a bare bones minimum place with a Grrrrrreat location...

(and fear-inducing reviews on the net)

Consider inquiring as to reservations and availability at the Kings Inn motel. I'm sure some will reply that they wouldn't send their worst enemies there... but Seattle just doesn't HAVE the terrible neighborhoods/areas known to some major cities.

Heck, Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to "Top Pot Doughnuts" on the same block a year or two ago (find it on YouTube)

It is a block or two from the Westin Hotel.

Somebody I know was contemplating the Kings Inn a couple of months back and it even prompted me to GO there and look around to become more confident about it.

The Kings Inn is a NO-frills spot, and is certainly a far cry below what would have been most ideal within a block or two, at Priceline rates.

I myself wouldn't hesitate to walk around the blocks adjacent to the Kings Inn at any time of the day or night, so I promise you that the area isn't a concern beyond normal-for-U.S.-cities awareness at night.

It is ONLY BECAUSE you are in this mini-pinch that I suggest it at all. Their website at www.kingsinnseattle.com seems outdated and not so user-friendly. It wouldn't hurt to call and see if they have rooms available. (Maybe Weds and Thurs night there, and Friday night squeezing in anywhere possible, perhaps near Seattle Center or on Lower Queen Anne)

I do promise you that you'll be very content with the location and proximity to central Seattle attractions.

(and let me allow in advance that I'm SURE some here will express with ghastly horror against trying The Kings Inn)

I had some friends (mom w/12yo daughter) stay there many years ago, and they never even mentioned anything amiss.

(Maybe I could show you photos of the Kings Inn and the immediate area if we were to connect away from here)

Ohhh, NWM, you are killing me! My God, those reviews on TA are some of the funniest I've ever read.

All of that said, I am sort of wanting a little bit more comfort than the Kings Inn looks to provide. Actually, I wanted some 4 star PL comfort for less than $100, but that didn't happen. I am a little disappointed in where I ended up, and mainly upset with myself that I didn't book a backup a month ago. I have never had PL fail me like this, and I have been using them for hotels forever. Lesson learned.

Please know how much I appreciate your help and interest in my trip! I just don't think I'm up for such spare accommodations, espeically since I'll be in a really rustic room on Mount Rainier for the second half of my trip.

Back to the Silver Clouds: do you think the Stadium or Broadway locations are better? To me, Lake Union looks best -- and I will also be stopping into Amazon for a brief bit while I'm there -- so I went with it. The TA reviewers recall it fondly, though most mention it isn't fancy. I'm not going to sweat it too much. I'm not so fancy myself.

Oh, here, better yet... I just put them on the web:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/6652924...7627328237841/

While I don't doubt most of the experiences mentioned in various online reviews for The Kings Inn, I am guessing that with so many decent tourists vying for rooms in late August, the balance between decent people and undesirables will heavily favor the good people at that time.

Oh yeah, and that 'rail' up above in the pictures would take you from central Seattle to the Space Needle for $2. One end of the line is 2 or 3 blocks from The Kings Inn. There's a lot of 'flat' neighborhood in the area too, for those morning runs you have mentioned.

At least consider it... (or price it, or at least see if it would be available as an option - even if only for the first two nights)

I'm still here... (but would be impressed if you were)


The Stadium locale is only ideal for game-goers... for then it is fun to have digs RIGHT across the street (and a bunch of watering holes within walking distance afterward - not to mention a strip club - laugh)

Broadway (contemplating... mapping...)


The lively hustle and bustle that makes Broadway one of the more interesting "neighborhoods" you can find away from a downtown core... begins a couple of blocks north of that Silver Cloud Inn. A walk up one side of Broadway for 6-ish blocks and back down the other side would make for very interesting people watching day or night. There would be no shortage of food options or local interest. The tourist attractions would all be downhill, and you could take a bus back up for $2.25 or $2.50.

The Lake Union Silver Cloud would let you ride the famed S.L.U.T. into central Seattle. (www.ridetheslut.com)

Heck, the S.L.U.T. would get you almost as near to the downtown attractions as you'd be upon awakening at The Kings Inn.

I don't "love" any of those 3 locations, but there truly isn't anything greatly amiss with any of them either. Each is worlds better than to bus it in from Bellevue every day.

By the way, I simply cannot FATHOM the moment when I would ever dare to go up to $225 on Priceline for anything (in the way of a hotel room, I mean). I went to $155 once, for a Westin on the weekend in San Diego during the heat of summer tourist season, but $225 is rather crazy, or so it seems to me.

I can't even envision the moment when I become comfortable with going to $150 for a downtown Seattle place.

Hope some of this helps at least.

I agree; $219 (plus tax0 is crazy for the Silver Cloud (to me); $225 is even crazier for PL. I stuck with it because I was hoping to get the MArriott or Renaissance -- the only two 4* hotels DT that had availability. I figure if I'm paying 219 for the SC, I could stand to pay a little more for a Marriott and get some points. Bla bla bla.

I am all about riding the slut. Thank you!

I made peace with the hotel last night, overnight. I rationalized this way: I used to jump on the bus or subway or Metro when I lived in cities-other-than-Kansas to get places my whole adult life. I will look at the Silver Cloud free shuttle the same way. Get on at hotel; get off at your destination. Good enough.

...no points with PL...I know that...I was recalling my earlier strategy of staying in a Bellevue Courtyard for the same amount, booked through Marriott...

I would pick the Silver Cloud Broadway, of the 3 Silver Cloud locations. That is on the south part of Capitol Hill , which is a nice neighborhood in its own right (its where I live). Second choice Lake Union. Last choice Stadiums. Simply because of their different locations and convenience to other ammenities.

On Broadway you'd use Metro bus. At Lake Union you'd use the Seattle Streetcar (they quickly renamed it when they realized the initials, no one calls it the slut).


And no way Jose would I stay at Kings Inn! I work a couple blocks from there and I know what it's like. I would be willing to stay at The Moore Hotel if I needed a cheap barebones place downtown.