HOTWIRE.COM 101 AND OTHER CALIFORNIA QUESTIONS.
 

It looks like our family trip to the West Coast will be brought forward to mid June and we will have in excess of 4 weeks on the ground.
I was trying to work with a Hotel budget of $4000 which on preliminary enquiries seems to be throwing up some challenges as we are a family of 4 (kids 8 ,11 and happy on a sofa bed)
I have stumbled across Hotwire which may prove to be my saviour but I am a little nervous. I would like to hear from anyone that have used them and if you would recommend "rolling the dice" on their mystery hotels.
For example, they have Lake Tahoe Hotels for $129 a night that say they are waterfront but everthing else seems to be $200+. It seems a little too good to be true.

Are there places that you would and wouldn't use them for and is there a way of being a bit more specific with location? Are there any better sites to use that allow booking for 2 Adults and 2 Kids?
For those that haven't read my previous Threads, my plan is a loop of the West Coast...
LA....ANAHIEM...SANTACRUZ or MONTEREY....SANFRAN....TAHOE....YOSEMITE...VEGAS/GRAND CANYON....SAN DIEGO...LA.
Also, my initial plans of staying at Camp Curry in Yosemite may fall apart as I have plotted all my possible dates into the Yosemite web site and it tell me there is nothing available. Is it possible the entire camp is booked out? I have been looking at the "tented" accomodation for 4 but was wondering if I looked at the 2 bed tents if I could request 2 next to each other?

Are there any other similar Camps in the park that provide inexpensive places to stay or if I need to look outside the park, what would you recommend?

I will be hiring a medium sized car for the duration of the trip. Is there anything apart from Insurance that I should consider? What is a good booking site to use for a long term rental?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have used Hotwire for car rental... a TIP for you.. IF you want to get an idea which hotel you will get... go to PACKAGE... and select your hotel and car.. and it will show you hotels!! Like for Vegas we didn't like any provided (Trump used to be an option but not on the strip), so signed up for hotel e-mails, etc. to get promotions.. for hotels it might be a little riskier.. you CAN get a good deal and you can't.. if you don't care WHERE you stay, then it's a great deal.. but like for Vegas I knew where I wanted to stay, so it wouldn't work for us.. sometimes priceline will be a good tool also...

We booked a one way rental from Avis.. you can't do one way rentals on Hotwire, so we booked our 2 days in Rapid City through them so far happy with how it went. We are doing part of your trip in our 16 days.. San Fran-Yosemite-LAS-Sedona-GC is one part of our trip also.. I got hotels from Trip Advisor on San Fran, read reviews, check rating... make sure you get free parking.. it can cost up to $50 to park for one night.. read reviews.. for Yosemite we splurged and are staying at The Homestead 30 min outside.. cute cottage..BB type.. LAS I wanted Bellagio..and for GC we're still looking, probably will be Best Western in Tusayan..in Sedona we don't know yet..

Good luck! It takes a lot of planning, and spreadsheets will be your best friend..

Thanks for your help. I suppose the exact location for us is less important as we will have a car but $50 a day for parking will blow our budget pretty quickly.
I LOVE the planning but dont mind leaving the odd thing to chance and running with the flow. As long as I have a solid framework in place I am confident all will go well.

I am leaning towards using Hotwire in the bigger cities and hand picking places where the location may be more important.

betterbidding.com is a website that lists the hotels Hotwire uses by area, star level and amenities. You can often figure out what they are using this list. Then using Caribchick's tip of checking packages, you should be able to confirm. Tripadvisor.com has reviews of all the hotels. Just realize Hotwire is not cancelable for any reason and requires prepayment at the time you book. (ie your credit card will be charged immediately).

Thankyou Mclaurie.

I have joined betterbidding and will use them as a resource.

The worst thing about Hotwire and Priceline is the rigidity...no changes or cancellations or refunds of any kind. I'm sure your realize this can be risky with kids, a flu or something can warrant that you stay on in one city for a couple more nights, yet if you do your pre-paid bookings are worthless, gone, ka-putt.

Are you U.S. citizens with your own car insurance and a credit card that covers secondary collision damage? If so, no need to take out insurance with your car rental.

We're from Australia Tracey. We will definately take out full Insurance. How much would that normally add to a med sized car rental. Hotwire have deals from $25 a day but I presume there are taxes etc on top.

We will use a combination of Hotwire and flexible bookings. We need to save where we can so to splurge on something nice at Tahoe and we would like to stay in Disneyland Park for 3 nights so the kids can get the absolute most out of their time there.

whizzcarrental.com is a website I found a while ago that's UK based and includes insurance in their price quotes. You might compare them to some other options.

Could not remember betterbidding.com! I typed in bestbid last night and it didn't work.. I have used them as well in finding the hotels used...

Since you're from Australia, I would get the extra insurance, BUT that can come out sometimes as $25 a day JUST in insurance.. so be careful with that!

Hotwire also made me PAY for the rental... while Avis just let me make the reservations, and no full payment yet..

Make sure you can select FREE PARKING when you do some of your searches on hotwire.. even in Salt Lake City some places hit us with fees.. glad I selected free parking..

Good luck!

Also forgot to mention, IF you book on a rental site directly, booking at an airport CAN be higher cost.. higher taxes, etc. so sometimes it's better to look for the closest rental office around the airport...

I have found the best month plus rentals at LAX through Enterprise. Book the car at the closest off airport site and cab over to pick it up. The $15 -$20 cab fare is offset by the $100's, yes hundreds, of dollars discount on the rental fee. You can make a reservation without paying until pickup which allows you to check back often to book a better deal. Full insurance can double the rental rate. Check with all your credit cards to see exactly what your coverage is so you are not doubling up. I used autoeurope for a rental a couple years ago in europe and heard that they also do rentals in the states. They had great deals on cars including the insurance needed. You might want to compare what they have.

Another site for learning the ins and outs of Hotwire and Priceline is biddingfortravel.com. I have used Priceline for years with great results. The only risk is of course if your plans change you are out the money.

Sounds like a fun trip - enjoy!

Be careful with hotwire car rentals, you are locked in with no chance to change or cancel, and the insurances/taxes can add up to $40 per day.

Currently the best rate I see for 4 weeks, Aussie citizen, is $350 per week with NationalCar.com This includes all taxes and insurances and fees except for the "2nd driver fee" which can also add up to quite a bit over 28 days.

Thanks dMM. I have made a booking with National. The initial quote came back with everything included and they didn't even require a deposit. Good advice.