The Good: Palmer House Chicago Loop
Over time I have been an avid user of Hotwire and on occasion Priceline Name Your Own Price. Obviously, I chose them to save money against their fellow online travel booking engines the likes of Orbitz and Travelocity or booking with the hotel chain directly (e.g. Hilton, Marriott, etc). As you know if you have ever used either Hotwire or Priceline, the name of the hotel you book is not revealed until the sale is final. If you are unhappy with the selection, no changes can be made to such bookings short of a decree from God (just kidding, well kind of). In my case, not knowing the hotel ahead of time has worked out well at times (Chicago), but at other times (Ft. Lauderdale) as they say in German nicht so gut. Using Hotwire or Priceline can be a rather hit or miss endeavor, even when one uses the additional features provided by the sites such as star ratings, customer satisfaction percentage, and customer reviews.
The Bad: Ocean Sky Resort Ft. Lauderdale
But I digress to the main point of my post. Does one compromise their chances of a quality room when booking with Hotwire or Priceline Name Your Own Price? Through a synthesis of personal and other people’s experience (both acquaintances and 3rd parties unknown to me via travel forums such as fodors and tripadvisor) the reviews are mixed. More times than not it appears to be a matter of capacity. If the hotel is rather full, one should expect to receive lesser accomodations than his/her fellow guest who has paid more via an online hotel booking site such as Expedia or the hotel directly. Another factor could be the duration of your stay as one night surely will not carry as much bargaining weight as say a 3 or 4 night stay. Ultimately it becomes a matter of cost benefit analysis. Does having a small room dramatically decrease your enjoyment of the hotel or is sacrificing square footage worth it in terms of the hotel’s value regarding price, amenities, and location as was the case for me in Chicago?
The Ugly: Ocean Sky Resort Ft. Lauderdale
There are a couple of things you can do to prepare yourself for a Hotwire booking stay. Of course use their features of map, star rating, customer satisfaction rating, and customer reviews to make the best possible choice prior to booking. After booking and the name of the hotel is revealed, look for them on twitter, begin following them, and send them a message informing them of your upcoming stay. When checking in ask them what the capacity level of the hotel is so that if the room you are assigned is substandard and the capacity is less than full, you have a bargaining chip. Finally, tweet both positive and negative impressions of the room directly to the hotel using a hashtag before its name so it is public in the twitterverse. These are some of the steps I have taken to improve the quality of my stays via Hotwire and Priceline Name Your Own Price bookings. I would love to hear from you about other effective means to ensure the best accommodations when booking with the aforementioned companies.
Happy Hotel Hunting!
Innvestigators 