I'm going to be going to Montreal in a couple of weeks, and I need some advice on booking a hotel. (And yes, I realize that this is the US forum, but the question really has more to do with Hotwire than it does with the city of Montreal.)

Initially, I booked a room at the W Hotel for two nights. For Thursday night, they will give me a rate of $200 (US), plus taxes and parking. For Friday night, the rate is closer to $250, plus taxes and parking ($23 per day, I think).

Well, now I have an opportunity to spend an extra day in Montreal. It would involve going up a day early and checking in on Wednesday. I called the W Hotel and they will give me the same rate as Thursday, so that's $200, plus taxes and parking.

Unfortunately, due to budget limitations, this is really going to be stretching the wallet. Once you factor in the room rate, taxes and parking fees, I'm looking at about $800 (US) for the three nights.

Just out of curiosity, I went to Hotwire and did a search for Montreal. It came up with a 4.5 star hotel for just $139 US per night (plus taxes, parking). This would not only enable me to stay three nights, but to do so for less than it would have cost me to stay at the W for two nights!

Now, I know it probably seems like a no-brainer, but I had a very bad experience with Hotwire last time around that left a very bad taste in my mouth. I was booking a room in Buffalo, NY and it gave me a rate for a 4 star hotel for $89/night. However, the rooms were completely unacceptable. The furniture was mismatched, the carpet smelled of mildew, hotel staff was generally non-responsive to requests, etc... Even though the hotel in general was very nice, it was obvious that I was getting a second-rate room.

I've used Hotwire with good luck in the past, but it has mostly been for business travel (3 star hotels, 1 night stays). But the incident in Buffalo has left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm really concerned about using Hotwire for this trip.

So if you were me, what would you do? I can swing the $800 for the W, but it will be tight. Should I just go with the Hotwire option and hope for the best?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

It's most probably the Intercontinental, as that's the only 4.5* that comes up when you poke around with the packages. (But, you never know...) The Intercontinental receives mixed reviews on TripAdvisor. This is a bit odd, because I've never not been thrilled with a 4* or higher with Hotwire - and I've used them to book all over.

Our favorite place to stay in Montreal is Hotel de la Montagne. In fact, every time we've stayed elsewhere, for whatever reason, we've wished we'd just booked la Montagne. Rooms and service are fabulous. Cocktails and dining within are terrific. Back of hotel is on Crescent Street (really happening restaurants, nightlife...). In the nice weather, your room key gets you instant entrance to the rooftop bar (past a very, very long line, it's so popular). Overnight parking charge here is reasonable. Depending on your dates, rates would be well under $200 (US).

Note that taxes are 15%, half of which you can have refunded.

Have you looked at betterbidding.com? There are two 4.5* listed for Montreal - the Intercontinental and the Loews. Do the amenities match either? Would that property be acceptable to you?

www.betterbidding.com, the best help site for Hotwire and Easyclicktravel (and, in my opinion, Priceline) may help you narrow down what hotel it is that you are being offered on Hotwire, or at least come close enough to determine whether it might be an older hotel. The existence of unrenovated, substandard rooms, with which people who book on the "blind" sites might get stuck, in hotels most of whose rooms are much better, is much more common in older properties, I think.

In addition to BetterBidding's posts of winning bids and bidding strategies for the city, also check out their separate section of hotel reviews which might tell you if there is a Montreal hotel notorious for doing what you suggest.

Also, you might try Easyclicktravel through Betterbidding's link. Easyclicktravel offers "off the record" blind choices with more detail about them given than Hotwire does, which makes it easier in many cases to identify the specific hotel. Betterbidding has a reverse feature which allows you to paste the URL of an Easyclicktravel "off the record" hotel choice in a box, and it will come back with Betterbidding's informed guess of the identity of the specific hotel.

For me, it would depend on how much of a disaster it would be to repeat my previous bad experience with a blind site, and that would depend on the nature of my visit and of my companionship, if any. If you are alone, it's enough to have a pleasant place to stay, and the focus of the trip is outside the room, then I think the chance of really bad experiences with Hotwire, Priceline and Easyclicktravel hotels of three stars and more is acceptably small to save the bucks. If there is a special companion along, and enjoyment of the room and what happens there is critical to the success of the visit, then I would not risk a "blind" choice on any of these three sites.

For Montreal, there is not enough information on BetterBidding - and NO recent reservations at Hotel Vogue (last one was more than a year ago). Note also that Hotel Vogue would likely be a 4.5* BOUTIQUE hotel. And, the Sofitel used to be a Hotwire 4.5*, then a 4*, and that could have changed again.

Would you be uncomfortable bidding for a 4* on Priceline? Obviously you will not know which hotel is likely to come up but you will probably get rates quite a bit better than what you are looking at on Hotwire.

It's always worth remembering that Hotwire's star ratings are often inflated by half to one-star compared to Priceline.

The Priceline 4* list for Montreal includes: Hilton Bonaventure, Omni Mont Royal Hotel, Sheraton Centre, Sofitel Montreal, Hotel Intercontinental - some which have been mentioned above.

I tend to be a Priceline user and have had only one bad experience. I read biddingfortravel.com almost religiously before making a bid.

You get a lot of clues from the hotel reviews from previous BFT readers. It could be a Hyatt, a Hilton, a Loews and a 4* and still come out "smelly". I remember, especially, a 4* in the Greater Los Angeles area where there were accepted bids for $25! This seemed extraordinary! Checking into the reviews, it turns out that Priceline customers are placed in the old "smelly" tower and the parking was miles away.

In addition, if you look at the winning bids, you will have a pretty good picture of which hotel in which star category will likely be your hotel, regardless of how many other hotels are listed.

For example, in a bid zone, you could have a beautiful Intercontinental and a lousy Loews, both 4*, but the Loews is consistently the one accepting Priceline bids. For sure, if you bid 4* in that zone you will get the Loews. Then the only question remaining is: do I want to have a room in the Loews?

This is when I go to tripadvisor.com and start reading their reviews on the Loews.

For this kind of savings, it really pays to do your homework. I've gotten beautiful 4* properties in Vancouver, Costa Mesa, etc. for only $50, $65, $75 bids.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the great responses. I did, in fact, post a message to betterbidding.com (Great site!). I actually found it about five minutes after posting my message here.

Based on the current patterns, my guess is that the 4.5 hotel is the InterContinental. And as one of the other posters suggested, it seems to have mixed feedback.

I guess that, in the end, it comes down to whether I want to go the Hotwire route in general. A 4 star or 4.5 star is completely acceptable to me, if booked directly. Its adding Hotwire to the equation that gets me worried --- do I risk a repeat of my last experience if I book with Hotwire?

I'll give this some additional though - including whether or not its worth the extra $ to stay at the W - and will probably make a firm decision tonight. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Why not use Priceline and save yourself even more? Most recent 4* winning bids are for the Hilton Bonaventure, for $88 to $110. Is that acceptable to you?

Priceline has 4 "free rebid" zones for 4* Montreal. Easy to bid and save money.

I ended up getting the Hilton Bonaventure from Priceline for $100 per night. I guess I probably could have bid lower, but this was my first time using Priceline, so I'll use it as a learning experience.

I was immediately sorry that I had gotten the Hilton, as it seems to have some negative reviews online. But I guess that's the case with almost any hotel.

The other thing that bothered me was that it seems to be a dramatic step down from a 4.5 star hotel (and a huge step down from a 5 star like the W), again according to reviews. But given that I'm hoping to spend most of my time out on the streets exploring, I guess I'm probably doing the right thing by saving almost $500.

I returned to Priceline a few hours later and used it to book a hotel in Burlington, VT for one night. I got the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center for $50 per night, which seems like a very good rate. After I leave Burlington, I'll be heading to Northampton, MA for two days. Priceline wasn't much help there, so I opted for Hotwire and got the Country Inns & Suites (a 2.5 star hotel) for $84 per night. Will be interested to see how that hotel is, given that 3 stars is usually my "minimum" and the price seems high for a 2.5 star hotel. Was a little perturbed to discover afterwards that Country Inns offers a deal through their web site for $80 per night, so I'm actually paying MORE with Hotwire. That is frustrating. It was important to me to stay in Northampton rather than have to drive in from Springfield, but after booking the hotel it says Northampton - Holyoke, and Holyoke is FIVE MILES AWAY!!! Does not make me happy.

starbuck -

Check the FAQ on Hotwire about price guarantee. You may be qualified to get some money back. Make sure you print out the offer from the hotel itself first.

http://www.hotwire.com/customer-care...erence-faq.jsp

It is very important to check out prices of hotels from their own websites or from various booking sites before you use Priceline and Hotwire. Or else you may overpay.

Priceline is most useful for big cities with lots of hotels. Especially for weekends when there are few business travelers. $40-50 for a 4* is the norm. But for other places with fewer hotels, then you have to pay more. You can't compare one place from another.

On a recent trip of mine, I paid more for a 1* hotel with shared bath in Jasper, Alberta than what I got on Pricelince for the 4* Westin in Edmonton and 3* Marriott in Calgary.

Sorry I didn't see the entry re: Hilton Bonaventure before you headed for Priceline. The one and only time I used Priceline for Montreal we got the Hilton Bonaventure. Left a night early for a variety of good reasons and checked into Hotel de la Montagne. This is the one time the Priceline savings did not begin to compensate for a less than satisfactory hotel.

Priceline and Hotwire results are better in some cities than others.

And, after using Hotwire for many years, I still check, but in the overall their prices seem ridiculously higher.

djkbooks, could you share some of your specific concerns about the Hilton with me please?

Sure. Except for the door/valet parking staff, we found service throughout the hotel to be stiff and dismissive. Upon arrival, you find that the Hilton is located atop an office building. The lobby is located some floors up and quite a distance from the elevators. Our room was located down several long hallways (with stairs down and up along the way). (There were rooms much farther away...). Room decor was drab and positively shabby, though housekeeping was just fine. Worst, though, was the bed - could not sleep well and woke up with backaches (our main reason for leaving early).

At first, we were thrilled the the location of the hotel right over a metro stop. On Friday morning, we passed fabulous cafes, shops, coffee shops. All closed, however, after commuting hours Friday and all weekend! And, it's quite the hike from the hotel elevators to the subway platform!

At the Bonaventure, there's only a small lobby bar (with the bartender, when there, paying more attention to sports on the blaring TV than customers) with hit-or-miss opening hours. The restaurant, too, had hit-or-miss hours. To our astonishment, on Saturday afternoon, the lovely courtyard gardens (where we would have loved to sit and relax for a while) were locked up!

From the hotel, it's a three block walk uphill (deserted business area at night and on weekends) to rue St-Catherine, the main street "downtown". After a long day of seeing and doing, returning to our room to freshen up and head back out for dinner was quite the treck! You would not want have to need to run out to a drug or convenience store for something...

Good news is that Vieux Montreal, chock full of dining and nightlife, is an easy stroll. Highly recommend Boris Bistro (moderate prices, great food, huge and lovely outdoor terrace) 465 rue McGill (see website with photos and menus). We also love Jardin Nelson (with live music of all sorts most of the time) at the bottom of Place Jacques Cartier.

We stayed in early October 2002 ($85 with Priceline) and checked into Hotel de la Montagne for $107 (American). The difference was not worth the location. And, the awful room and bed made this a "never again" experience.

Hopefully, since then, the rooms have been redecorated, the mattresses replaced, and maybe the staff is friendlier and more attentive.

See reviews on TripAdvisor, though. Very mixed - lots of folks just loved this place.

Because we booked with Priceline, and because the front desk staff was so rude, we did not request another room, but should have and would encourage you to do so if your room is not a good one with a nice view.

When we checked out early, the desk clerk did not even inquire why - only looked up and stated, "You will not be getting a refund for the ununsed night you know."

Thanks very much for the thoughtful reply. I'm sorry to hear that your experience was not better, and - having mapped it out now on Yahoo Maps - I'm disappointed that the hotel is not closer to Old Montreal. I guess if I could do it over again, I would just stick with the W Hotel. That way, I'd know exactly what I'm getting, even if it did come at a cost.

Oh well, live and learn as they say... I'll post a follow-up message about my experiences in Montreal when I return in a few weeks.