Hotwire.com Hotel Booking Overview

I have used Hotwire.com in the past to make several great deals on hotel rooms, but for those out there that have never used or reluctant here is the lowdown. Go to the site, put in the city and dates of stay and they will give you a list of hotels with star ratings, amount per night and some generic info on the hotel but not the name of the hotel. It will give you a list of the hotels that generally fall into that star rating so it is a bit of a guide so you are not going into it blind and sometimes will give you a Tripadvisor.com rating for further information. If you find one you like, then pay for it and you will find out the hotel once your credit card is accepted. There is no going back after that, so it is a bit of a gamble but if you follow these tips you should be pleased.

• Always look in the specific area of the city you are looking to stay. Sounds pretty basic, but if you looking to stay in downtown Dallas but see a great deal in North Dallas and think the extra ride won’t be a hassle, think again. Saving an extra 20 bucks/night is not worth it. Believe me, learned the hard way.
• Always look for a 3.5 star or better hotel and a customer favorite rating. I use hotels basically to sleep and take a shower and I tend to stay in nicer ones if someone is traveling with me or I have my laptop, but I have stayed in some great hotels for less than half I would have paid on their own website.
• Sometimes I have run a search and found that the price was not that great, but a few hours later Hotwire.com will send me an email with a better deal. Sometimes it is or maybe not, but it sure beats going back to the website to search later as it does it for you. Wish I would have waited before booking my last trip and I would have saved 25 bucks a night on the same rated hotel.

• If I know I am going to a concert or music festival in another city 3-4 months in advance, I book a hotel room close to where the venue is and look at the reservation cancellation policy for the last date I can cancel without a penalty.  Then, 3-4 days before I am to leave I run a search on Hotwire to see if there are any deals in the area where I want to stay and probably 60% of the time I find a better deal and usually surprised with the results.
• When you check in, always ask to be away from the elevators or stairs. Forgot about this detail on my last trip to New Orleans and was one room down from the elevators, but it was not that bad since I was wandering home late at night anyway.
• I have heard stories of bad service at hotels for customers who booked throught Hotwire.com or other similar sites. My advice, report them and you might be compensated for part of your stay depending on the situation. I have never had a problem anywhere I have stayed through Hotwire and I have a fairly low tolerance.

If you have any other tips, feel free to comment or send me a link to your blog via my contact form and I will be happy to include in a future post.  I have never used Hotwire.com to book flights, vacations, cruises or rent a car, but if you have and interested in sharing your experience, contact me and I will give a rundown of what I receive at a later date.