Have any of you used Hotwire.com to book hotels for Europe? I looked on the website and although they cannot tell you which hotel you would be in they do say that it will be a nice hotel. Have you guys found this to be true or is it a bad idea to book something you cannot see ahead of time?
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
805 posts
I have used them in the US/Canada only and its worked fine. Can't vouch for Europe or anywhere else though.
Posted by
San Jose, CA, USA
423 posts
Jodi, I have not used hotwire for hotels, but I have used priceline. With priceline, you can actually pick the area and the star rating and you can name your price to narrow your search. Not sure if you can do that with hotwire or not. I used it several times to book a hotel in San Francisco and was very happy. I saved about 20% from the best rates the hotel offered.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5513 posts
Jodi, I too have used priceline but not hotwire. I've mostly used priceline in the U.S. when I wanted to book a hotel near the airport when travelling home on an early morning flight. I've gotten some great deals. I've also used them for last minute trips when I need an overnight stop while driving. Most of their hotels in the U.S. are the major chains (e.g. Marriott, Hilton, etc.). For example, a 2.5 star in the U.S. might be a Marriott Courtyard. Their star ratings and locations are quite accurate. I typically bid about 60% of what I think the going rate is.
I've only used priceline once in Europe in London. I ended up getting a hotel about a block from Victoria Station. It was a very nice business hotel with all the amenities.
If you can narrow down the location (they will show you a map and let you pick an area in the city), you can get a good deal. The best deals are when you book within a couple of days of when you want to stay.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9099 posts
Anyone considering using priceline should check out this site before bidding: http://tinyurl.com/4pyfr
Its a message board where other travelers post their winning/losing bids. You will also find very informative FAQs for each city, which give bidding strategies and the list of hotels priceline uses. Over the years I estimate this site has saved me about $2000!
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
I used hotwire 2x's and got a great room, great location, and great price!
Once was the Hilton Wardorf, a 3 1/2 star hotel at $110 a night.
The other was the Holiday Inn in Paris another 3 1/2 star for $79
Go for the highest star hotel but the cheapest price. Hotwire does show the ammenties so get the one with the most ammenities for the best price.
Posted by
Union, Maine, USA
95 posts
Jodi, I've used Hotwire only in the US. I got a fantastic room at an awesome location (a quiet location just outside of Boston). It turned out to be so much more than I expected, and have even booked directly through this hotel's regular website for the following year, rather than take a chance that Hotwire would put me in a different hotel (only due to location purposes, nothing against Hotwire). Added bonus: hotel staff was very friendly,courteous and helpful, even though I booked through Hotwire. Terrific experience all around. If you move forward with Hotwire, be sure to let us all know how it worked out for you. Good luck.
Posted by
quebec
3 posts
It's been a few years since I've tried it, they used to have 'Customer's Pick'.
When we chose that, they were always really good. When we didn't, we had a few lemons.