I am planning a trip and while reading hotels review on another website, I noticed that a few users claimed that they made their reservations on Hotwire. After investigating Hotwire myself for a little while, I am a bit skeptical.

Has anyone used this service before? Not knowing the name of the hotel makes me nervous...

Any experiences? Please share both good and bad.

Thanks!

Why are you skeptical? I've used hotwire many times and have not had a bad experience.

Hotels dump excess or estimated excess inventory that liquidators sell at distressed prices. No different from an outlet store or a car lot.

I just used Hotwire about 30 minutes ago to book a hotel for 2 December. The only drawback is that Hotwire will classify a hotel as 3* whereas Priceline will list the same hotel as a 2.5*.

Sometimes you can figure out which hotel Hotwire is offering, by comparing the amenities list to the list on betterbidding.com.

I've used them twice for hotels and have been satisfied. Hotel #1 was an upmarket chain - very nice. Hotel #2 was an independent - again, very nice.

The general concensus, I think, is that USUALLY you will get a better price with Priceline than with Hotwire, but it is a different system, and you have to work harder on Priceline. With Hotwire you know you will "get" the hotel, it's just a matter of which one it is. With Priceline, you have to pick a price and if it is too low, you have to go higher or change something.

I've used Hotwire only once, to get a hotel I'd already gotten elsewhere with Priceline, and I could tell it was almost definitely the same one (Embassy Suites). I usually use Hotwire as a reference for my Priceline bids and have always wound up scoring with Priceline somewhat below Hotwire's best price. If I ever strike out with Priceline and Hotwire has a better price in the same zone, I'll go for it.

Andrew

Wow! All of this information is really helpful. In response to GoTravel- I am just skeptical because I've never used it before.... Nobody I know has used it before either, so I'm just a little hesitant.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts!

Beachgirl, Andrew gave some great pointers (as using hotwire as a reference) I've used it many times and I personally prefer it for cars (hotels are usually better with priceline) recently I got a minivan for 12 days in San Francisco for $408.00 everything included.

Be aware that with services like Priceline and Hotwire you can't make changes after you've bought the room. You're not making a reservation, you're making a purchase.

I've used Hotwire three times for three different trips to Hawaii. Once for the Hyatt Maui, once for Hapuna Prince on the Big Island, and once for Sheraton Maui (this coming summer). We've had no problems whatsoever. You can usually figure out what hotel it is by entering the same info. on the Vacation Packages page and comparing ameneities. Also, check out www.betterbidding.com for the hotels that have come up in the past.

Use both P'line and Hotwire quite a bit and, knock on wood, never had a problem.
Last trip to Oahu used one of them for the hotel and got a sweetheart of a deal at the Hawaii Prince.
Used Hotwire for rental cars on Kauai the past 2-3 trips. Pretty smooth.

Ditto B'man about some P'line v. Hotwire ratings. Found out in SF when they rated the Club Quarters 3.5
while I think it's lucky to be 3 on P'line. But it was still a very nice place.

Also as xrae mentions double, triple and quadriple check before buying the hotel/rental car etc because once you click, you bought.

I, too have used Priceline and Hotwire multiple times. I often compare the suggested retail price listed on Hotwire and the description to check on Hotels dot com and usually I find the match. Once I was wrong, but the place was still fine. I often look for the customer favorites on Hotwire, you can hardly go wrong with those.

Some years ago, I was absolutely thrilled with Hotwire. Note that you can often figure out the hotel, but no guarantees, when shopping for hotel only if you also shop the packages for the same dates and have a very good map on hand (or mapping software). (And, same goes for Priceline.) In fact, we snared a fabulous deal with Hotwire for the Argonaut in San Francisco that way for July 2004 (and that happens to be the last time I booked with Hotwire).

Anyway, some years ago, I used to use both Hotwire and Priceline, all depending, but mostly Hotwire. In my experience, the Hotwire hotels were superior, better located, worth the "extra" compared to what Priceline bidders were winning, despite BFT's reports of difference in stars and insistence that Hotwire often offered hotels for the same or more than rack rates.

I booked some exceptional packages with Hotwire as well (within the USA, air, hotel, car rental).

But, suddenly (can't remember when), the "bargains" vanished. Rates went way up, etc.

Along the way, I got completely turned off by follow-up e-mails (after shopping) "save 'up to' $570 more on your Chicago trip" that was just not available.

I continue to check rates with Hotwire, but it's been a long, long time since I've found any favorable hotel rates.

Once in a while, there is a terrific rental car rate.

Not knowing the hotel should make you nervous. And, you must pay very, very careful attention to the borders of the area in which the hotel is allegedly located.

Both Priceline and Hotwire change the boundaries of their "areas" all the time.

For the past couple of years, I've just had better luck with Priceline.

I agree that the prices on Hotwire have increased, so it's not the great bargain it once was, but then again, neither is Priceline.

The reason I would use Hotwire over Priceline is if I'm bidding for one room for my family. If I bid on Priceline I usually have to bid for 2 rooms in an area where I could get a room with only one bed (NYC for example), but with Hotwire, they ask you how many adults and how many children under 18, so they guarantee you a room that will accomodate 4.

To me, that's the biggest difference between the two. As far as suppliers, they tend to use the same hotels, but Priceline will get you a better price.

I never followed pricing on Hotwire, but have been a devoted follower of prices my DH's hotel can be gotten for on Priceline (by checking biddingForTravel) so know their lowest rate has doubled since the dark days following 9-11. Even so, it's a great deal, just one that is more costly and more difficult to get. His wasn't available at all during the winter, but they've just now opened up a week in May which would have had low occupancy, but it is going for twice the rate it would have in the post 9-11 days.

I wouldn't have a problem using hotwire, primarily because you can figure out the hotel quite often, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to do Priceline with its blind bidding, and sure wouldn't bid below the 4* level on Priceline.

Malesherbes,

So then do hotels see that their occupancy is low then put a block of rooms on PL or Hotwire? That would explain why Hotwire had nothing in Newport RI a week ago for May 28th but when I just checked yesterday, there was availability.

I guess some hotels get nervous early, because they accept PL bis months and months ahead of time.

Some hotels definitely wait to release rooms to Priceline (and presumably Hotwire) closer to the last minute. I've had bids fail on Priceline at pretty high prices only a few weeks before arrival only to see them succeed at much lower prices just a few days later. Actually I've had great success with Priceline booking at the very last minute.

Andrew

Yes, hotels can decide whenever they want to release or not release rooms to Priceline and Hotwire. If it's a big convention hotel, and it's past the time where a converter will block rooms, they know they'll have lots of empty rooms - so it's time to release rooms to PL or HW. Just an example...

Hotwire (or the like) buys a block of rooms at a specific rate. Because they are "sold" to them, the hotel gets paid whether the rooms get sold by Hotwire (or whomever)or not.

On the other hand, hotels do not "sell" Priceline blocks of rooms. Instead they open up their PCLN rate or close it off, depending on occupancy, which, with the right system, can be projected with some accuracy months and months in advance, then they allow bookings for as many rooms as the hotel wants to release. The hotel sets their lowest acceptable rate. Corporate handles the program that projects occupancy, but if the GM is good, he micro manages it from there. There is some screen, which if it shows for a certain date, you are supposed to open PCLN rates, but in my husband's case, he's told his revenue manager that he could see that screen every day of the year and it means nothing at all for this hotel, do not necessarily open it to bidding...as this city books and fills differently from other cities.

I've used both, but in recent years,
Priceline more than Hotwire.

My experience is similar to all of the above. I too have noticed that Hotwire in many markets has prices that are now not what I would classify as great bargain.

I always try Priceline first. If that doesn't work I go to the others, and Hotwire is usually the venue that comes in second.

I have noticed that regardless, you do need to know your market city and time elements involved. There are very few markets now which don't tighten up immensely when the period of stay is quite near. But in my experience, if there is at least 3 months until the date of stay, I can still get great prices and MY locations on these discount vendors.