Hotwire Hotel-How were you treated?
 

I booked a 4 star through Hotwire in Chicago, and got the Millenium Knickerbocker. I'm not real fussy, but this was the smallest room I've ever stayed in-we couldn't even fully open the bathroom door without hitting the bed. When I asked about a bigger room I was told the hotel was full. However the person in front of me had been offered his choice of 2 doubles or a king size bed, while we had a queen. 4 stars and the room didn't have a coffeepot.
Anyway, should I expect second class treatment when I book through Hotwire? I am 99% certain the hotel was not full since there were no conventions in Chicago this week and hotrooms was offerering really good prices(after I booked on hotwire)

How big of a discount did you get on this hotel? Were you expecting the Presidential Suite at that price. Think of it from their perspective. If you had smaller rooms, who would you give them to, people who paid $75 or $275?

I agree with MikeTr. While some have stated that they think there is no difference how you are treated, I only did Priceline once for one night and got a "worst room" of the house. When I asked about the room, the desk clerk clearly stated that I had booked through Priceline.

While Hotwire and Priceline may help them to fill rooms, you can hardly blame them for giving the best rooms to people who paid more and paid directly to them.

I agree with MikeTr. While some have stated that they think there is no difference how you are treated, I only did Priceline once for one night and got a "worst room" of the house. When I asked about the room, the desk clerk clearly stated that I had booked through Priceline.

While Hotwire and Priceline may help them to fill rooms, you can hardly blame them for giving the best rooms to people who paid more and booked directly with them.

Well wasn't that fun? For once I edited my post first, made a slight change to the last line and when I hit "post my reply", it posted both the edited and the unedited version.

I have booked Hotwire many times and always feel just like anyone else checking in.

I've had both types of experiences.
I think it depends on how full the hotel is, how many different types of rooms they have, and whether or not it's a big business hotel vs. a non-chain hotel.
At big impersonal hotels, I don't think there's much difference unless the hotel is close to being booked.
At smaller hotels and non-chains, I think the chances for 'discrimination' are more than trivial.

Have stayed in both Priceline and Hotwire rooms and have not had a bad eperience in any of them. Maybe it depends upon the hotel and how they look at Priceline and Hotwire clients, who knows? In any event, I have not had any problems whatsoever.

I did 2 Priceline stays and I could honestly say it has been a 50/50 experience. The first time it was in Manchester, UK, a well known chain hotel and the experience was as described above. The room was ok at best at this 4* hotel, but it probably was one of the least desired rooms at this property. The second time it was a smaller, boutique type of accomodations in London and I did not feel I was placed in the least desired room, although it did not have any view.

Both stays were for 1 night and they were satisfactory, especially for the rate I paid. Still, I do believe there is a difference in the type of the room you get when going through the above mentioned suppliers. I don't blame the hotels, because as others have noted, you get what you pay for, but I would never do a Priceline/Hotwire stay when I'm looking for a specific type of accomodations, or when more than one night stay is required.

It's unfortunate you felt that you were treated differently. I have used hotwire extensively and have had great experiences. In fact in some instances, by asking courteously and nicely, had been upgraded to better accommodations. Aside from the space and capacity issues as suggested, I think your experience will also depend on the overall quality of the hotel that you end up with. The Knickerbocker Chicago for example had been reported to have unsatisfactory amenities and customer service and may have contributed to this bad experience and treatment. Using hotwire now has never been easier. There are some sites available now providing clues on which hotel specifically are being offered at hotwire. With this additional information the chances of ending up on a hotel with bad reputation is even lesser.

I've often found that if you ask about paying to upgrade your room on check-in, you can get some very good deals.

I think a lot of hotels are going the way of the airlines, why give something away if you pursuade someone to pay a little extra. Or why give your best rooms to someone who is staying one night and will never stay again, particularly when you have plenty of regulars in.

Best example of paying on check-in I had was by paying 40USD on top of my rate of 60USD I upgraded from a standard room in a 5 star hotel in Kuala Lumpur to a club suite on the top floor of the hotel - probably the best room i've ever stayed in, with drinks, food, laundry etc thrown. The hotel normally sells these rooms for over 300USD a night. But the hotel was quiet, and I had stayed there twice before.

When I worked in a large hotel in New Orleans, we had "Priceline rooms" on bottom floors, near elevators, etc. They were nice but tended to be the ones that guests liked the least. If we weren't full, we were happy to not use these rooms but we were often full.

<i>What</i> do you expect when hotels view you as the sort of person who'd push your own non-swimmer kid off the diving board just so you can retreive a quarter off the bottom of the pool?? Sheesh!

;)

eileenleft,
you have clearly stated what concessions are unacceptable as one who paid less for a room than everyone else. Just curious: please list all the trade-offs you EXPECT (and accept) as a result of paying less than others.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

I disagree with the &quot;what do you expect&quot; comment. If a hotel does not want my business then they should not participate with Priceline/Hotwire. There are a lot of business travelers out there and when you spend weeks or months in hotel rooms it is practical to try to save money. We still spend a significant amount of $$ at the hotel anyway once we arrive there.

Now it is a known fact that Hilton hotels give bad rooms to PL/Hotwire bidders. I do not bid zones where a Hilton is a possiblilty. Out of about 20 Priceline stays I have only been given a bad room on one occasion. I reported the experience to Priceline (as I'm sure many others did) and the hotel was downgraded soon after. I have been upgraded to concierge/suite on 3 occasions and have used my Starwood gold and have still received the perks (upgrade) at Starwood hotels.

That said, Hotwire is more expensive than Priceline. HW is very generous with their * system, their booking fees are higher, and your bid will usually be at least 10-15 dollars per night cheaper on Priceline. There have been times I have booked on PL and checked HW afterwards. Sometimes HW's price is even higher than the hotel's website.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get the commercial joke. I took the post literally:)

Sounds like it really depends on the hotel.

Some hotels think: &quot;Well, glad you found us. We'll make you as comfortable as possible, and hopefully next time you come to our city, you'll want to stay with us again, and by booking through our own computer system.

Other hotels think: &quot;You cheapo will probably just find another HW/PL deal next time, and won't come back to us. So, here's your bottom floor room facing a wall.&quot;

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like one can predict which is which.

travelinwifey...yeah and then there all those Hotwire people who <i>jump up and down on the beds</i>! Double sheesh. Glad you realized I was joshing--I was getting worried for a moment there!

Yes, it took me a minute though, I'm embarassed #o :D

I used priceline recently for the first time and was very happy. One was a Hilton resort. Priceline was never mentioned and I basically had a choice of which of the towers I wanted when I checked in.
The next was a Sheraton hotel. I showed my SPG card and got bumped up to a nicer room.
The site biddingfortravel.com has member reviews about hotels stays through priceline, so you can see exactly how a particular hotel treats priceline guests. I'm sure it's similar for hotwire.

I think a lot of people are missing the point here by saying &quot;if they want my business or if they participate in the program then they should treat me equally&quot;. That sounds logical except for one thing. Let's say the hotel has two rooms that are really bad. The hotel is completely sold out. Two people got their rooms through Priceline or Hotwire and the hotel is getting $50 from them. The rest of the people have paid between $150 and $300. Now, think for a minute. Someone's going to get those two lousy rooms. Who do you think it's more likely to be??? And do you really think they are likely to upgrade those people so they can bump someone who paid $300 into one of the horrible rooms? Is anyone really naive enough to believe that?

By the way, that one experience I had was at the Times Square Hilton and it was completely sold out. They made it clear that I couldn't get a different room.

Well of couse, I don't expect to get special treatment, but I do expect fair treatment. If a hotel is sold out I would expect to get one of the less desirable rooms. One of the times we were upgraded was when the hotel was sold out in DC. We arrived at 130 am and were given 2 concierge floor rooms. This was the Marriott. On the same note, there have been times I have paid rack rate for a room (sold out) and have been given the worst accomodations in the house. I always dress well, am super friendly, and tip at the front desk. I don't know if that makes any difference whatsoever but at least it makes me feel better about being a PL guest.

Thank you everyone for your input. I wanted to know others' experiences and see if this is the norm for Hotwire. I actually only paid about $30 less than their web price. I figured that Hotwire helps them fill rooms. I have another Chicago stay booked next month. We'll see....

I have used both Priceline and Hotwire extensively and have been very pleased in every way. We've stayed at several Hiltons, always in a very nice room (with Hilton Honors ammenities). Well, except for one experience at a Sheraton (and it was the hotel staff, not the Hotwire booking).

I have always paid significantly less with Hotwire than hotel rates. We are staying at the Sheraton New York with Hotwire at the end of this month for $112/night (though we booked this quite a while ago) after exhaustive bidding with Priceline.

In the overall, I've gotten better rates with Priceline, but have been more pleased with the Hotwire hotels. Nearly always we are asked if we'd like to upgrade for a few dollars more, which has always been well worth it when we've accepted.

In my observation, room assignments depend mostly upon what's available for the length of your stay at the particular moment you happen to be checking in.

I would agree that you can get better rates on Priceline but it seems you get better rooms with Hotwire, in my experience.

We had a one night stay on our way to the Keys at the Wyndham Grand Bay in Coconut Grove-got a great deal on PL-
but it's was a worn-at-the-edges 4* in my opinion and I would never have paid
regular rates. Other than that, we were treated like everyone else-the entire staff had their palms out at every
corner...
:))
R5

I booked a room through Hotwire for San Diego last summer. When we got to the hotel I asked the front desk clerk if we could have a room with two doubles as we were a party of three. He was about to honor our request when the other desk clerk told him that they were not allowed to change &quot;those&quot; types of bookings. The room did have a sofa sleeper so we were okay, otherwise it would have been a pain to sleep three on a queen bed. I would only book through those discount places if I was traveling alone or with one another person.