I am going to St. Louis this week end and need to stay in the central west end neighborhood, or near there. Can someone please help me figure out which neighborhood corresponds the closest to that on biddingfortravel and priceline? I'm thinking Clayton or maybe Downtown. Actually, I have no idea! Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't think you'll get a hotel in Central West End by bidding on Priceline.

If you bid in Clayton/FP, you'll either get the Crowne Plaza or Sheraton, both of which are in DT Clayton.

If you bid in DT St Louis, you'll get something right in DT.

Will you have a car? If not, you can bid for DT and take the subway to Central West End.

Otherwise, I'd suggest you directly book a hotel IN Central West End (I think there's a Best Western in that neighborhood).

It would help if you told us exactly where you needed to be. The designation of "CWE" covers a lot of space. You may need to be closer to downtown than you think, or, closer to Clayton or U. City. I don't know much about priceline for St. Louis, as I live here and never use hotels here. But, I, or someone else, may be able to help you with neighborhoods if you can be a bit more specific..

The only hotel I can think of in the CWE area is the Chase Park Plaza. Totally swank, and they have an awesome bar downstairs, as well as a movie theatre.

www.chaseparkplaza.com

StLgrrl is correct. Really the only decent hotel to stay in the actual CWE is the Chase. I would not advise staying at the Best Western on Lindell in the CWE.
Just thought of this: There is a new-ish hotel on Forest Park Parkway in the CWE, right by Barnes Jewish Hospital (BJC) that I assume caters to out of town vistors to hospital patients. However, it may be worth checking out their rates. http://www.theparkwayhotel.com/

The are only two 3* hotels that show up on BFT or Betterbidding for Priceline in the Forest Park/Clayton zone, but they are both IN Clayton: Sheraton Clayton Plaza and The Crowne Plaza Clayton.

St. Louis does not have a subway, but we do have the Metrolink. The line to Clayton is construction delayed by over a year, but the line does run from the airport to downtown, with a stop by Barnes hospital (CWE)

Thanks for all your replies. I will have a car, I just didn't want to have to drive at night, but I can. Whats wrong with the Best Western? And if DT is just 5 or 10 min. drive, that would probably be okay. I'm in K.C. and our downtown is plain creepy, its so empty after business hours. Is St. Louis DT a little livelier?

In a word no. St Louis downtown has a couple of lukewarm, not hot, spots around Union Station and LaClede's landing, but really not much going on.

I've walked from the Arch to Union Station (over a mile) several times with a local friend. Have oft times not passed a single sole on the trip.

The Best Western? Never stayed there. It gets consistently awful reviews for cleanliness, helpfulness, charm, etc. So I've never tried it. I bid downtown or the airport on Priceline. Don't care where I stay for location. Both are on the light rail. It doesn't bother me to watch the tumbleweeds blow by as I walk along from the MetroLink light rail stop to my hotel.

The CWE would probably be livelier than staying downtown. At least at the Chase Park Plaza. There is a coffee shop right around the corner, and several bars and restaurants. Anytime I have been in the area, there were people milling around.

Are you planning on going out in the downtown area? If you were thinking about going to the Landing, the Drury Inn across from the Rams' Stadium is a good walking distance. I have stayed there many times and walked to the Landing.

My husband who is from U city said I should stay in Clayton. That as far as needing to go to an event in CWE, the distance between CWE and DT or CWE and Clayton are about the same. I bid on Priceline and got the Clayton Sheraton for $50.00. He says there is a great grocery store called Straubs near by and he wants me to bring stuff back from there. So, thanks again for your help. I figured that DT would either be creepy empty (like ours) or full of bar hoppers, and thats more for my kids, not me.