stonest

So I've never used Hotwire before. I've considered it, but I'm a little too much of a control freak to actually book a hotel without being able to do the appropriate research.

Well, on a whim, I decided to give it a go this morning. I posted up earlier this week about two potential hotels in Dublin (either the Davenport or the Burlington) and thought I had my decision made. Geeeez, being a woman who changes her mind a lot is sometimes really difficult!

Anyway, I decided on a 3 and a half star hotel option on Hotwire.. and ended up booking the Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel. Has anyone ever been there? According to the maps I've been looking at, it's a little further from city center than I wanted, but it's too late now. Just how bad of a walk is it? Is the hotel reasonably decent? Just want it to be clean! I've read what people have posted on Tripadvisor, but I'm interested in hearing from you guys, if you know anything about it personally.

I'm considering using it for one night in Venice and one night in Milan in September, but I'm definitely going to wait until after Dublin! I met a woman in Greece last month who had fantastic luck with Hotwire and was using it to book an around-the-world trip. Do you use it? Do you recommend it?

kybourbon

Did you check for reviews on betterbidding.com?

PeaceOut

I've never used Hotwire. I'm like you-- a control freak. And my hotel location and style is very important to my travel comfort. So, I'd be afraid to roll the dice and get a place I don't know.

nukesafe

Check on TripAdvisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...ty_Dublin.html

Says it is rated 121 out of 201 hotels in Dublin. I read some of the reviews -- some good, some awful, as usual.

I'm sure you will have a fine trip! Let us know how it works out, please.

nytraveler

Stayed at that Jury's once - not voluntarily it was part of a meeting. I wouldn;t consider it walking distance from the center of Dublin - about 1.5 miles. And I'm glad they're calling it a 3.5 - it used to be rated higher - but didn't deserve it.

It was perfectly clean, but used by a lot of tour groups, so fairly noisy - and the food was dreadful.

(Since I was working there I was stuck eating their food for 3 days. Every single thing you ordered came with soggy frozen french fries. When I asked if I couldn't have something else instead, they refused to substitute - and said "anyway, potatoes are out of season". How the hell can potatoes be out of season? They're grown everywhere and always in season somewhere. Same with the OJ. Definitely long-frozen and barely reconstituted. Even if they were too cheap to buy actual oranges and squeeze them, at least they could have poured Tropicana out of a carton.

stonest

Thanks for your replies! Good thing we're not opposed to walking a good distance to see what we want to see.. At least it means we can eat whatever we want and burn some calories while we're at it!

Thanks nytraveler, we'll definitely plan to eat elsewhere!

kfusto

I use Priceline ofter for Europe and have never been disappointed. It is quite easy to predict your hotel if you are willing to do the research. I have never been surprised by what my bid has won.

betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com and worth the time it takes to thoroughly read through the wealth of info there.