Anyone have experience using Hotwire.com? About This Page:

[elbug10]

Has anyone here ever booked a hotel in NYC through Hotwire.com? My friend and I are planning a last-minute trip to NYC for the first weekend in November. We'd like to stay somewhere near Times Square/Theater District, but would really like to spend less than $250/night. I've seen a few deals on Hotwire.com, but have no experience booking w/ them and I'm a little leery about booking w/o knowing exactly what hotel we're getting and where. Complicating matters is that we'd really be most comfortable in a room w/ 2 separate beds. I know I'm asking a lot, but if I knew others have had good experiences, I'd be a bit more assured about using Hotwire.

So has anyone here used Hotwire for hotel stays in NYC or elsewhere? Did you get what you expected? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

[Chelledun17]

LOVE Hotwire. We have gotten some amazing deals, and been able to stay in four star hotels we could never otherwise have stayed in. In NYC, we actually got the Westin Times Square for $149 (it was around $300 elsewhere) and got a free upgrade to a suite!!! We've also got the Drake in Chicago, The Chattanoogan in Tennessee, and literally dozens of other hotels that we've been very happy with. One time we were going to a wedding in Indianapolis and randomly ended up getting a room at the same hotel that the wedding was at - for less than half of the block price!

My rules of thumb:
-It works best in big cities
-You are safest with 3.5 and four star hotels
-Get a good education on the "zones" to make sure you are booking in the right part of the city.
-Sometimes there will be Tripadvisor ratings for individual hotels. If so, you are safe with anything having a 3.5 star Tripadvisor rating. If it has a 4.0 or 4.5 star Tripadvisor rating, I would even book a hotel with a three star Hotwire rating.
-If you have a special request (non-smoking, separate beds) call the hotel IMMEDIATELY after your booking goes through to request this. Although the hotel has no obligation, I have never had one not honored probably because a hotel using Hotwire is obviously not full for that night.
-Go in with a spirit of adventure. You know you're getting a three or four star hotel, how bad could it possibly be?

You may be interested in a companion site of sorts:

Priceline and Hotwire Forum

This site can often help you guess the hotel before you even bid on it, using amenities, star ratings, etc.

One last piece of advice I would give is not to look at Hotwire as a place to book the cheapest possible hotel, but a way to get more bang for your buck. For example, if you would normally be spending $150 to stay in a no-frills hotel in an undesirable location, on Hotwire you can turn that $150 into a four star resort hotel in the heart of the city!

Good luck, and please let me know how it works out.

[RogerRabbit]

I have used it twice in the past 3 months. Once for Chicago and the other for Indianapolis. I have had great luck with using Hotwire. As the previous poster said, use the betterbidding site. I used it both times to compare the hotel and it was the hotel each time. It really helped us in Chicago, because we were able to pick a hotel we like in an area we wanted. You can PM me if you have any other questions.

Michael

[MinnieJen]

My husband uses betterbidding.com to narrow down what hotels we might be buying/looking at. He can almost always figure out where we might be staying before hand. Then you can read reviews and check maps. We have done it a few times. Always works out fine.

[Wantland]

We stayed at the Intercontinental in New York and I LOVED it. So for our 10th Anniversary we were going to get a room here in New Orleans. I really wanted the Intercontinental here but it was 229.00 we booked through Hotwire and got a 4 star for 69.00 and we got the Intercontinental!!! It was Great. Also used it for my husbands birthday again staying in town book the same 4 start but this time it was 89.00 we got the Sheraton it was really nice too. As long and you are ok with anything with the star ranking in the area your good. And Goodluck

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Wantland

We stayed at the Intercontinental in New York and I LOVED it. So for our 10th Anniversary we were going to get a room here in New Orleans. I really wanted the Intercontinental here but it was 229.00 we booked through Hotwire and got a 4 star for 69.00 and we got the Intercontinental!!! It was Great. Also used it for my husbands birthday again staying in town book the same 4 start but this time it was 89.00 we got the Sheraton it was really nice too. As long and you are ok with anything with the star ranking in the area your good. And Goodluck

Wow, that is a great deal!

[elbug10]

so much for all the info. I'll be making my plans this weekend, so I'll go check out those sites. I'm also going to see if AAA has anything to offer. Either way, fingers crossed that I can get a good deal!

[MinnieJen]

I realized I may not have been very clear. The site I mentioned is to use along with Hotwire. It just tells you what hotel Hotwire might be teling you they have for you. Kind of a way to peek before you buy so to speak. Sorry I was on my way out the door with the last post.

Have fun planning and booking!

[elbug10]

So after much investigating (THANKS, Chelledun17 for telling me about betterbidding.com!) and summoning of courage, I booked a 3.5 star hotel in the Times Square Theater District for $202/night, which turned out to be the Millenium Broadway! I'm VERY excited to have gotten a good deal on a hotel in the area I wanted. For comparison, on Hotels. com, they're listing the same hotel for $319/night and a room w/ two beds is more. I immediatedly called the hotel and requested 2 beds on our reservation (and I confirmed that would be no extra charge), so hopefully, they'll honor that request.

We also got tickets to see The Lion King for that Friday night. Neither of us has seen it before, so we're . Our NYC trip is coming together!!!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by elbug10

So after much investigating (THANKS, Chelledun17 for telling me about betterbidding.com!) and summoning of courage, I booked a 3.5 star hotel in the Times Square Theater District for $202/night, which turned out to be the Millenium Broadway! I'm VERY excited to have gotten a good deal on a hotel in the area I wanted. For comparison, on Hotels. com, they're listing the same hotel for $319/night and a room w/ two beds is more. I immediatedly called the hotel and requested 2 beds on our reservation (and I confirmed that would be no extra charge), so hopefully, they'll honor that request.

We also got tickets to see The Lion King for that Friday night. Neither of us has seen it before, so we're . Our NYC trip is coming together!!!

Congrats on your deal!

[minemoz1]

Congrats on the rate!!!! You'll LOVE the Lion King!!!