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-   -   Hotwire question (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/hotwire-question-267753/)

Wendy Oct 22nd, 2002 11:36 AM

Hotwire question
 
Generally I use Priceline and the biddingfortravel website when making my hotel reservations but I'm running into a brick wall for Philly accomidations next week. Checked out Hotwire and was wondering if there is a similar site such as the biddingfortravel site where people tell what places they have gotten.<BR><BR>I'm looking at a 3 or 4 star in downtown Philly area.

Anthony Oct 22nd, 2002 12:26 PM

No, there is no website like biddingfortravel.com for hotwire.

Jen Oct 22nd, 2002 12:30 PM

Biddingfortravel has a few tidbits about Hotwire down at the bottom of its home page.

Fodorite Oct 22nd, 2002 03:05 PM

Wendy, try reposting with Philly and hotwire in your title. You might get some info on hotels people have booked thru hotwire here.

Brenda Oct 22nd, 2002 08:27 PM

Just for your info. I have had good luck with Hotwire for air and hotels. I just booked 2 nights hotel at the Seattle airport for January and got the Holiday Inn, a nice propery for 39.00 per night plus taxes. I checked the Holiday Inn website and the cheapest rate they offer is 109.00 per night. I think I got a good deal. Last year in January I booked 2 nights at the Seattle airport also and got the Hilton for 35.00 per night plus taxes, an even greater deal. So....that being said, I have been happy with Hotwire.

Laurie Oct 22nd, 2002 08:36 PM

I actually booked a 3 star in NYC Midtown on hotwire for LESS than what I was TURNED DOWN on for priceline.com. I was VERY pleased. I guess it varies from day to day which is the better site of the two. Personally, I'm TIRED of bidding on priceline and getting rejected and having to wait 3 days to try again. Even if I were to pay a couple bucks more, I prefer hotwire because it's a sure thing, no games!

Andrew Oct 22nd, 2002 09:57 PM

You don't have to wait three days to re-bid on Priceline for hotels. Several tricks:<BR><BR>1. Free re-bids. This is all explained on BiddingForTravel.com, but: if you add a zone that doesn't have the star rating you originally bid for, you can re-bid right away but are guaranteed not to get a hotel in the unwanted zone. Example: if you bid for a 3-star in Zone 1 and are turned away, find another zone that has no 3-star hotels, then add that zone and you can rebid immediately at a higher price. Your ability to do this (if at all) depends entirely on the city. Some cities have several free re-bids for 3-star and 4-star hotels, other cities have few or none.<BR><BR>2. Re-bid using a different credit card and email address. Done it many times. Nowadays Priceline makes it harder by using cookies to attempt to prevent this, but you can delete the Priceline cookie - or use a different browser for the 2nd bid, say if you have Netscape and MSIE both on your computer. Get a Yahoo! free email account for your 2nd address if you have to.<BR><BR>Supposedly #2 is "against the rules" so you won't see it advertised or even discussed on BiddingForTravel.<BR><BR>And if you are using Hotwire as well, you can always see what Hotwire offers you, then bid a little less on Priceline to see if they can beat it. If not, go with Hotwire. Just remember that Hotwire rates the same hotels a little higher than Priceline does - e.g. Priceline rates Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale as 3-stars but Hotwire rates it as 3.5 stars. Remember that if you try to bid one against the other.<BR> <BR>Andrew<BR>

r-travels Oct 23rd, 2002 05:54 AM

The problem might just be the particular date in Philadelphia you're looking for.<BR><BR>I've been trying to get lodging in PHL for next week - everything is sold out or is $250+ night, and even those aren't in central locations.

Wendy Oct 23rd, 2002 07:51 AM

R-travels that is the same week I am going, there are a million conventions in town! Well my main concern with Hotwire is I know they rate hotels higher than Priceline and then there isn't anyway to find out what people are getting. So I finally just booked the Omni by calling. R-travels just so you know a lot of the hotels told me they have turned off their availability on their web sites because of the conventions. I got the Omni for $160 a night which beat the only other availability I found at the Sheraton for $259!<BR><BR>Brenda thanks for your info too. That is a pretty average price for an airport hotel in Seattle thru Priceline too.

r-travels Oct 23rd, 2002 02:27 PM

Thanks for the info, Wendy. I was going to start calling, just in case, and you've confirmed the situation.


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