Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Hotwire - Is There A Way To Determine Hotel Name Prior To Paying?

I seem to recall reading somewhere that there was some method to figuring out Hotwire hotel names prior to paying? Is this true, if so how is it done?

Thank you.

It's done manually, with input from previous accepted bids forming a collective knowledge about what hotel is likely, and the amenities shown by Hotwire being cross-referenced against the possible hotels in a district.

www.betterbidding.com is, I believe, run by an FTer, and is a good place to get an idea of this sort of thing. If you look at your city (assuming there is enough information) you will see amenity lists and star ratings as likely to correspond to specific hotels with some degree of accuracy.

I know it CAN work--though of course there are no guarantees, I ended up with exactly the property I wanted recently based on research information. There were two others differing slightly in amenities but at the same price, so it really helped me to narrow down.

You can set up a dummy vacation package for your dates and your city, and see what hotels pop up with what amenities. But it's not guaranteed, of course.

You can set up a dummy vacation package for your dates and your city, and see what hotels pop up with what amenities. But it's not guaranteed, of course.

I would suggest the same thing and add I did try it once for a stay in Tampa and ended up getting the same Hotel.

Simply look up the Hotwire section for your locality on betterbidding.com and compare the prices paid with what Hotwire is quoting for the blind hotel.

The accuracy of the posted info depends on the number of hotels in a given zone/star rating and how recently the person reported their PL or HW bid. If it is New Orleans or a similar place witha LOT of hotel options, be careful, but you should be OK- if the price is ridiculously low or out of line, expect a very poor hotel.

I did very well with HW hotels in NYC and SF, where I got what earlier posters reported. I was very happy with the Hotwire bookings, except New Orleans, where I was allocated a disappointing hotel (but got the Katrina refund after that disaster).

Am I right in thinking that Hotwire hotel "wins" pricing information is available only on BetterBidding, not on BiddingForTravel.com?

Is there any other site that lists winning bids on Hotwire?

Thanks! :)

BFT has a Hotwire hotel section that is almost at the very bottom of the main page, but it is only VERY limited Hotwire win information, and it is not organized in the least. Best bet is just to go to BB.

I'm not aware of any other site with Hotwire wins, but if there was, it would probably get trumped by the information on BB.

The BFT Hotwire section is limited to postings where people have found a better deal through Hotwire than they could by bidding. I seem to remember it is broken into Hotel, Auto and maybe Air. It doesn't have the Hotel ID info/aid Betterbidding does.

Romelle

The BFT Hotwire section is limited to postings where people have found a better deal through Hotwire than they could by bidding. Romelle

and the most recent posting was made in September, 2008.....not very relevant. I thought posting a Hotwire "win" on BFT got you "Branded" like on the Chuck Conners TV series.

Some of the hotels on hotwire.com show a summary of the tripadvisor reviews. This can help narrow down or in some cases uniquely identify the specific hotel.

From the search results, click the desired offer and the tripadvisor info is down toward the bottom on the right, next to the area map.

But it seems that some hotwire listings show the tripadvisor info and some do not.

Has anyone figured out the rhyme or reason for which listings show the tripadvisor info and which don't? A small unscientific sampling suggested to me that maybe the higher-star rated listings are more likely to display the Trip Advisor review summary info than the lower ones.

these tripadvisor ratings come and go, there seems to be no rhyme or reason.

If I can't determine the hotel's ID on www.betterbidding.com, I search Expedia and use the hotel amenities reported on Hotwire to narrow the list. Its not foolproof, but in smaller markets this can work. For example if I'm getting a Hotwire listing showing "Breakfast, Fitness Center, HS Internet, Pool" then I can check these off as my preference when doing an Expedia search, since both Expedia and Hotwire have the same ownership and assuming the star ratings are close on both sites.

I'm the webmaster for www.hoteldealsrevealed.com. Hopefully this isn't a conflict of interest or against posting policies. The information I'm posting is completely relevant and may be helpful to forum members.

We have over 4700+ Hotwire and 4500+ hotels in a searchable database. It's not entirely current, accurate, or complete but it helps identify the correct hotel probably 95% of the time.

http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/hotelinventory/

I'm the webmaster for www.hoteldealsrevealed.com. Hopefully this isn't a conflict of interest or against posting policies. The information I'm posting is completely relevant and may be helpful to forum members.

We have over 4700+ Hotwire and 4500+ hotels in a searchable database. It's not entirely current, accurate, or complete but it helps identify the correct hotel probably 95% of the time.

http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/hotelinventory/

Great site, much easier to search than bidding for travel.

Great site, much easier to search than bidding for travel.


I appreciate the positive feedback.

I'm the webmaster for www.hoteldealsrevealed.com. Hopefully this isn't a conflict of interest or against posting policies. The information I'm posting is completely relevant and may be helpful to forum members.

We have over 4700+ Hotwire and 4500+ hotels in a searchable database. It's not entirely current, accurate, or complete but it helps identify the correct hotel probably 95% of the time.

http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/hotelinventory/

This is an excellent additional source, many thanks!

It does look like an excellent new source. May I be so bold as to ask if you expect the site to be profitable, and if so, generally speaking, how? Not trying to learn your business, it's just that many of us like to know a little bit about what drives a website like this since it helps us understand if there is any possible bias.
Thanks for your understanding.

Hi Richard. That is a reasonable question.

I do a lot of travel and originally started keeping a spreadsheet of my Priceline/Hotwire reservations, noting the price, area and hotel amenities. I started sharing the list with colleagues and friends. With their input, the spreadsheet and its popularity began to grow and grow.

Many people suggested I make a website out of it, and I finally decided I would. I consider it a hobby and not a business. This combines my passion for saving money, helping others, traveling, and computer science.

Like most websites that offer a free service (including this forum), there are advertisements placed throughout the website that generate revenue. My site is fairly new and gets about 100 unique visitors a day, so it's am not even paying for hosting costs let alone my time and effort. But like I said, it's a hobby.