So I got an email from Priceline today and it said: Tomorrow we'll post an Exclusive $70 Hotel Coupon for our fans on Facebook.

We have a limited quantity available so check our Facebook page at 12 Noon ET so you don't miss out.

Deal Begins: Thursday May 17th at 12 Noon ET Deal Ends: Friday May 18th at 11:59PM ET Limited Quantity Available! 36 Hours Only! So I decided to post you info on Priceline in case it's a bidding coupon.  Here's the deal: you want to bid on a 4 star downtown.  Please notice 3 out of 4 (4 star) downtown hotels are host hotels and the other is walking distance.  Three-fourths of the 3.5 star hotels are overflow or host.

Why do you need to know where there are no 3.5 or 4 star hotels?  Because that's how you rebid.  Say you bid $60 for a 4 star in downtown and get rejected.  Well priceline would have you wait a whole 48 hours before rebidding.  That's not acceptable!  So then you increase your bid by 3 or 5 dollars, add in Stone mountain and lo and behold you are still only bidding on 4 star hotels in downtown because Stone Mountain has no 4 star hotels.

Usually when priceline sends out these coupons, it adds on to your bid.  This will allow you to bid higher than you can afford which is a great tool for getting our hard-to-get hotels.  I plan on picking one up as I'm thinking about taking the kids to the beach post-D*C.  I bet I could get a really nice place with this coupon, especially since it's an off-season for the beach.

If anyone ends up taking advantage of the coupon and bidding on con hotels I would love to hear how it turns out!

So no host hotels available at a reasonable rate and the Hyatt Regency at LMT for 240/night is the closest to reasonable we've got.  Now comes the desperation mode.  So how desperate are you?  Metro-desperate?  Airport shuttle desperate?  If so this post is for you.
NOTE- This post is still in progress.  This is simply the first edition.

Near a metro
The Doubletree Atlanta Buckhead is practically on a metro stop and is $77/night (LMT 3.5 star 18.16 miles to airport)
The Intercontinental Buckhead is also next to a metro stop and is $122/night (LMT 4.5 star 18.21 miles to airport)
Hyatt Place Atl Perimeter Center  near a metro $110/night (LMT 3 star 24 miles to airport)
Grand Hyatt Atlanta $134/night (LMT 4.5 star 18.19 miles to airport)
JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel $137/night (LMT 4 star 15 miles to airport)

Near the airport but with a shuttle, many also have free breakfast
Heck the econo lodge airport is only $40 at LMT and has a free airport/metro shuttle.
Quality Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport South  $60/night (LMT 3 star 1 mile to airport)
Comfort Inn & Suites Airport South $60/night (LMT 3 star 1 mile to airport)
SpringHill Suites Atlanta Airport Gateway $70/night (LMT 3 star 3.31 miles to airport)

So the monthly round-up isn't looking so amazing.  Hotwire has the Sheraton and The Westin for similar 110 prices on bookend nights, but not Friday/Saturday nights.  I do not expect those to start filling in.  So here are some ideas

The Loews Atlanta midtown is around $130-175 (depending on one bed or two) on Lastminutetravel (It's a 4 star and is 11.33 miles to the airport.  It has the following amenities"Room Facilities - Air Condition, Cable/Satellite TV, Hairdryer, High Speed Internet Access, Private Bath, Wake-Up Service").  For a price comparison, hotels.com has it for $200/night (with just one bed).  It's near many midtown overflow hotels (3 blocks closer than The W midtown for instance).  Not walkable, but near overflows with shuttles.

The Hilton Garden Inn Downtown is around 170/night at otel.com, dhr, and getaroom.com.  Theoretically calling getaroom's 800 number might net you a cheaper rate so feel free to call.  This hotel is walkable!  UPDATE it's $152/night on priceline right now with free internet access included.

The Melia (formerly Renaissance) is on a 20% off sale on hotels.com for 146/night.  It's an official overflow, so should probably have a shuttle.

The Hyatt (Con Hotel Hyatt) is still available on LMT but it's $220/night.  Bleah.  Isn't that just con rate?  EDIT - only available on LMTClub, and main nights are $240, Wednesday and Tuesday are $108.

Priceline is having a sale right now http://travelb.priceline.com/travelguides/tgHotelPromoDealsHP.do?pageType=HDC&cityId=291690&dealCats=ID&refclickid=ATLANTA|32827871&refid=PMSPRING_SALE_2012_GOLD_HOTEL_CTL&sendId=32827871&ea=E8CF511B821494405082CB7879BC1C4CD6C6D22BC53A0571&utm_medium=email&utm_source=promotional&utm_campaign=SPRING_SALE_2012_GOLD_HOTEL_CTL|32827871&rdr=2
I didn't find anything that interesting except for the sale on the Hilton Garden Inn, but if you find something cool, let me know

Sorry guys.  I'm keeping my eyes peeled for you but I haven't spotted anything spectacular yet.

The Holiday Inn Select Capitol Conference Center (HISCC) has been on Hotwire, and the only thing on Hotwire Atlanta Downtown area for ages.  It's an official overflow so theoretically has shuttle service.  DC rate is $124/night.  Well currently Hotwire has it for $77/night.  It had been around $100/night so it's a significant drop.  It's not much but I hope it lifts your spirits.

EDIT 4-11 - And now it's back up to 131/118 (depending on the dates you're looking to book).

I have lost hope of finding the Westin on Hotwire, seeing as how I can find dates before con on Hotwire and after con dates on Hotwire, just not during con dates.  It's an conspicuous absence.

So you can find the Quality Hotel Downtown on otel.com and dhr.com for $92/night. 
The Hilton Garden Inn downtown is available at getaroom.com for $169/night but it's in the debatably walkable category. 
The Melia's cheapish ($150) at skoosh and dhr but not impressively so.
The Hyatt's still available on lastminutetravel and Skoosh but no better than con rate.  Whiteladyeowyn posted there were nights at the Hyatt for 229/night that include breakfast, available to book from the Hyatt website but I wasn't able to find them.  Perhaps they are simply gone already.  Rooms come and go so quickly here.

Is it time for desperate folks to start trying Priceline?  I'll try to post about Priceline strategies next time, as it mgiht be your best chance to get a really cheap *and* really nearby hotel.

So no I have no hotel news which makes it officially the worst cheap hotel year yet.  Yet again I resort to giving you deals on food.  Do alcohol-infused cupcakes delivered to your door at Con sound good to you?

Over at Half-off Depot you can get one dozen alcohol-infused cupcakes delivered to your hotel room for $15 plus an additional 17% off (coupon code LUCKY17), making it $12.45 (usually $30).

What sounds good to me there? How about a "Ghiradelli Chocolate cupcake that comes complete with creamy Bailey’s Buttercream frosting."  Best of all they deliver them to you.  Order before Con for delivery during con and add some variety to your alcohol indulgences.

http://halfoffdepot.com/atlanta/referafriend/?bl=Y2Rlc2lsZXRzQG1hLnJyLmNvbQ==

I wish I had better news, but it's been a bad year for host hotel bargains.  Even today when I've finally got something to post about, it's just a cheap hotel within walking distance.  Over at lastminutetravel (or lmtclub) There's a 3 star downtown for $67/night (or $63/night for lmtlcub) and it's the Holiday Inn downtown (It is the only 3 star downtown and shhbabe paid $80/night including tax for 4 folks).  The Holiday Inn downtown is kinda of two blocks behind the Westin.  It is not an official overflow, but it is much closer than some hotels that are, the Holiday Inn Select Capitol Center or the Melia for example.  You can look up it's exact location on the map below (I bolded it to make it easy to find).  Find the Westin then look two blocks west.  It's a great price for a hotel that's usually 189/night, and I think it's a very good idea for folks who don't feel the need to stay in an official host hotel.

Handy Links and references for DC hotels-
A good downtown area map with all host and some overflow hotels -
www.centennialpark.com/docs/DowntownMap.pdf
Dragoncon Hotels FAQ
xiandesi.livejournal.com/6763.html
Dragoncon Hotel reviews -
xiandesi.livejournal.com/8801.html
Downtown Atlanta parking and prices map (interactive, so you can find all overflows on this one)-
www.atlantadowntown.com/parking/index.html
How to save money at Dragoncon-
xiandesi.livejournal.com/12223.html
List of hotels at Hotwire and how to spot them-
http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/19172.html
How to know which downtown hotel is which at lastminutetravel
http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/16213.html

I have happy bookend news.  You can get lower than con rate rooms for every con host hotel right now, but only if you're not booking a Friday or Saturday night.  On the good news/bad news side the Westin is on hotwire again, but only bookend nights.  I hope that will change, but there are no guarantees.

So where can you find your bookends?

The Marriott Marquis- available again at LMT for 112/night
The Westin - the 3.5 star downtown on hotwire for 100/night
The Sheraton - the 4 star downtown on hotwire at 111/night
The Hyatt Regency - available again for 172/night at LMT, $154/night at dhr (Fridays and Saturdays are still available at LMT but are 240!)
The Hilton - available some nights, on request for others $70/night at LMT

In the under 100/night and available all nights of con we have the Quality hotel downtown at dhr for 89/night, and that's pretty much all the walkable things I can find.

I'll keep an eye out, but it just isn't turning out to be a great year for deals.

This leads me to trying alternate methods to try and help you save money.  So I want to remind everyone about the Chick-Fil-A calendars.  They really make a great cheap eats choice for con.  They're $6, available at Chick-fil-a and have 12 free food/drink coupons in each of them.  If you buy a calendar and put it away for con, because Chick-Fil-A has a corporate policy to accept expired coupons, you could be eating 8 pc chicken nuggets, one bowl of chicken soup, chicken biscuit/fries, small milkshake, one spicy chicken sandwich, and two drinks come con time for nothing out-of-pocket.  In a practical sense you're essentially paying in advance for food items at .50 each (since you get 12 freebies at $6 per calendar).  Sure they're not open on Sunday but by then you'll be glad to be able to quit eating Chick-Fil-a, or at least that's how my family felt last year :).

UPDATE 11-14 Sad to say these rooms are now "on request".  This means you can ask, but probably won't get them.  I hope some readers were able to snag a room!

EDIT!  Within an hour of my posting this the prices went way up for four people rooms!  Bookends are now $129 and core nights are $246.  Wow that deal went fast!  If you're staying at the Hilton already, go ahead and pick up the bookends, but otherwise this is now only a good deal for parties of 2, whose prices are still reasonable.

Wow, I guess it's just the week for con host hotels to pop up.  I checked LMT yesterday and nothing interesting was there.  Today it has the Hilton!

Book through lmtclub, not lastminutetravel.  Here are the advantages-
1. It will not be a mystery hotel, you will know exactly what you are booking!
2. It's cancellable!
3. It's way cheaper.- $825 at lmtclub as opposed to $991 at lastminutetravel for the *same nights*

Yes it costs money to join lmtclub, but it is less than the price difference between the two sites, so it turns out better this way, trust me.  Keep in mind each night is a different price, the bookends are around $80 and the core nights are around $200, so if you don't stay Thursday night or Monday night, it isn't as great deal for you.  You have to pay for all of it in advance with lmt, hotwire.. etc but you save a ton of  money so I do think it's a good value.

It's the 4 star 10.56 miles from the airport, but if you book through lmtclub, you won't need a how-to-spot guide as the name will be shown before booking.

Now I kinda wish I hadn't booked the Sheraton yesterday, ah well.  I hope someone is able to snatch this great rate!

Handy Links and references for DC hotels-
A good downtown area map with all host and some overflow hotels -
www.centennialpark.com/docs/DowntownMap.pdf
Dragoncon Hotels FAQ
xiandesi.livejournal.com/6763.html
Dragoncon Hotel reviews -
xiandesi.livejournal.com/8801.html
Downtown Atlanta parking and prices map (interactive, so you can find all overflows on this one)-
www.atlantadowntown.com/parking/index.html
How to save money at Dragoncon-
xiandesi.livejournal.com/12223.html
List of hotels at Hotwire and how to spot them-
http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/19172.html
How to know which downtown hotel is which at lastminutetravel
http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/16213.html

This isn't a hotel post but rather a reminder that now is the time to invest in your cheap food at Dragon*Con.  You see, the Chick-fil-a calendar is out.  It has 6 free food coupons and 6 free drink coupons (as usual).  Lucky for us, August is a free spicy chicken sandwich!  It's important to note that Chick-fil-a corporate policy says that they will accept expired coupons, so you can use January all the way to July coupons as well (or even last year's coupons).  The calendar is $6, so it's about .50 per food/drink item.  Trust me it feels pretty amazing to walk up to Chick-FIl-A with a handful of coupons and pay nothing for your meal.  Mind you, it's really that you paid in advance and cheaply.  There is also some chance you will be thoroughly sick of Chick-Fil-A at the end of the weekend.


I'm going to buy 10.  Seriously 10.  I might even buy more.  Sure I'll be out $60, but it's easily over $300 worth of food.  It should be able to cover all meals but Sunday (since they're closed Sunday).  Hmm maybe I'll use my Pitty Pat's GC on Sunday.  So go buy your Chick-Fil-A calendars, and be prepared to make your con cheaper!

  Let's see
memberships $60 x 4 = 240
Sheraton at Hotwire = 640
Chcik-FIl-A meal calendars = 60
total spent for con = 940
Under $1000 for an amazing vacation for a family of 5 = Q'Plah!

Oh and just a reminder that yes the Sheraton is at Hotwire, details are in the previous post.