The hotel booking site, Hotwire.com, is one of my favorite sites to use when traveling. Among the deals I’ve received recently on Hotwire: InterContinental in Tampa, $99 over New Year’s Eve; Westin Jersey City, $129, at the end of January (neither price includes tax). I prefer Hotwire to Priceline, because you don’t have to guess on the price. The site is “opaque” – meaning that you must buy the room before you know the name of the hotel. It’s easier to figure out what hotel you might be getting on Hotwire and you don’t have to go through Priceline’s bidding process, which can drag on if the site rejects your original offer.
If you want to use Hotwire for your next trip, here are a few tips:
1. Figure out what hotel you are getting before you buy.
Unlike Priceline, Hotwire offers clues so you can figure out what hotel you are likely to get. Here’s how to do it: Check out the hotel’s amenity list – a group of icons that appear under the hotel’s location. Then open up another window in your browser to BetterBidding.com, a website forum where frequent Priceline and Hotwire users post their recent buys and lists of what the different hotels offer.
For example, for my Tampa trip, I saw that the hotel I was considering had an airport shuttle icon on Hotwire. Of the four -star Tampa hotels listed on BetterBidding, only the InterContinental offered shuttle service. So I was 99% sure that I was going to end up there.
If you are like me and you want to know where you are staying, this extra step is worth it.
2. Don’t forget tax.
Priceline and Hotwire show their prices without tax, which can add $20 to $30 to your per-night rate. Factor this in when making your budget.
3. Use it for car rentals too.
I’ve found prices on Hotwire for as low as $15 a day. Hotwire car rental is more flexible than their hotel purchases, as they don’t charge you until you pick up the car. (In contract, hotel purchases are non-refundable and must be paid immediately).
4. Be realistic about the kind of hotel you are getting.
Hotwire (and Priceline) specialize in getting rid of unused inventory – the rooms that hotels haven’t sold. And generally, these hotels are going to be the larger chains such as Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton that often appeal to business travelers (which is why weekend rates can be so low). So you aren’t going to find many boutique or independent hotels through the service. If your goal is to stay at the hippest hotel in town, you will be unhappy with Hotwire. Five star properties such as the Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental are usually not listed either.
But if you are just looking for a good deal on a city hotel that has basic four-star amenities, give Hotwire a try. If you want more travel tips? fell free to visit travel writer Chris Gray Faust’s site, Chris Around The World: A Travel Journalist’s Tips from the Road on how to plan a better vacation. Have fun
