Yakima is the closest city to the meet.
The best place probably to stay in Yakima is the Comfort Suites. It's right by the exit/ramp to the highway that takes you up the pass to the meet. Plus it's newer. I believe most of the rooms are in the 80-150 dollar a night range. There are a handfull of other decent hotels in Yakima, but they are all on the otherside of town. We've got a couple Red Lion's, a Clarion, The Oxford Suites and Inn, and a Holiday Inn, that I think are all pretty decent places.
Whistlin Jacks is over 250 a night for a cabin, but you can put at least 4 people to a cabin, so if people are coming in groups that may be an option. I forget at the moment how much a motel room is. I want to say somewhere from 120-150 a night. But they are riverfront... there is only 8 of those, though.
The cabin's are worth it, if you can afford them, there are some that sleep 8 people, and most have hot tubs. Half of them are less then 100 feet from the river. But they do have a lot of Wedding's up there during the summer, so it may already be booked. We did that a couple years ago, booked the entire resort 13 months in adavanced, I guess that isn't too unusual, so if you want to stay there you better act fast, and you may already be too late.