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For some hotel guests, opaque stars don’t shine as brightly

June 9, 2009

Is something wrong with the star ratings system used by “opaque” sites such as Hotwire and Priceline?

I ask that question for two reasons: First, I’ve been fielding an awful lot of complaints from travelers who claim the star ratings systems are bogus, which is to say a promised four-star property only meets three-star standards, for example. (Look for several of these in upcoming Travel Troubleshooter columns.)

And second, because even though both companies are aware of the gripes, they don’t seem to be moving toward a resolution. At least not in Louise Werner’s case.

Let me hand the mic to her for a second.

I’ve booked hotels with Hotwire many times over the years, and never had a problem – until tonight.

I arrived in Tucumcari, NM, and saw numerous hotels with great prices advertised – Econolodge, Travelodge, etc., for under $40 for two, but thought I could get a nicer place at a great price through Hotwire.

I wound up with the Super 8, advertised as 2 star, at $65. It was so decrepit looking I wouldn’t even go inside!

I called Hotwire and was told I could get a refund as long as I booked a higher rated hotel on their site. This time I wound up with the La Quinta Inn at $102. Way overpriced, but not a bad hotel, except the pool has not yet opened even though it is advertised, and I would not rate it more than 2 or at the most 2.5 stars. Since I love to swim, I was extremely disappointed.

But what took the cake was the fact that Hotwire paid the hotel $71.18 (including tax) for my room while charging me $102. So it cost me more than $30 to book through this site. I am astounded and outraged, and asked for a refund of the difference, to no avail.

There are two separate issues here. Let’s start with the rate difference. Hotwire buys rooms in bulk and resells them at a markup. That’s how it makes money. I’m sure La Quinta would be happy to sell Werner rooms at $71 a night — if she booked a few hundred of them.

The second issue is a little bit more complicated. I’ve been back and forth with both Hotwire and Priceline, the two major “opaque” Web sites (so named because you don’t see the name of the hotel until you’ve already paid for it).

Let me start by saying that no star rating system is perfect. Not even those in Europe, which are highly regarded but way too rigid.

Opaque sites have a homegrown rating system that can change as hotels upgrade — or downgrade — their facilities.

Here’s how Hotwire comes up with its stars and here’s Priceline’s star rating system explained.

But lately, after reading stories like Werner’s and dealing with several dozen rating-related problems with both Hotwire and Priceline, I’m concerned.

To paraphrase Elmer, I think something is vewwy, vewwy wrong here.

Are opaque sites intentionally upping some hotels by half a star to squeeze more money out of their customers? Are hotels intentionally overstating their amenities in order to squeeze more money out of Hotwire and Priceline? Or are people just complaining more?

Look for a whole series of columns in coming weeks on the star problem. A little teaser: Some have happy endings. Others not.

What do you think is going on here?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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19 comments

  • Carver

    I don’t book through Hotwire as a rule, but its hard to take Werner seriously when she expects that Hotwire will charge her the same price it pays to the hotel. Doesn’t she expect Hotwire to make money.

    Hotwire doesn’t use any of the traditional rating systems. It uses its own system which is explained on their websites. The rating system is based upon the presence or absence of amenities, not the quality of those amenities otherwise they could just use AAA or Mobil’s rating system.

  • Phil

    I have booked several times through Hotwire and have declined to stay in at least two or three of their properties. In my opinion the star rating was way off. I have booked twice with Priceline, bidding for my room and have been extremely happy with the results. A Marriott and a Hyatt, I do think a little homework must go into the bidding process first. I have decided not to book with Hotwire unless I can figure out the hotel property in advance, but will stick with Priceline, that is until I get burned.

  • Bill Foster

    Since 2005 when Hotwire charged me MORE than Buget Rent a Cars’ website for a rental I have NOT used Hotwire. I will never use them period. But Priceline we use frequently and have found great value in their bidding process. The Name Your Own Price is great, their other program is about like all the others, not better than you can do on the individual facility website. IMHO

  • LeeAnne

    I have to echo the other comments on here about the difference between Hotwire and Priceline. I have NEVER found a decent deal on Hotwire…in fact, I can always find a better price in the same star rating on my own than the one I see on Hotwire.

    Priceline, however, has one great advantage: you can get a pretty good idea of what hotel you’re going to end up with in advance, and of the best price you can get for it. Just go to http://www.biddingfortravel.com – they have a list on there, for each major city, of what hotels you can expect to get for each star rating. And if you do your research in advance, you will know whether or not the price you bid is actually less than what you could find the room for elsewhere.

    Last year I wanted to get two rooms at the Palazzo in Vegas. I managed to get them for literally HALF what the hotel was advertising on their site…and 35% less than I found their rooms on other discount hotel sites. I knew with a very high certainty that I would get the Palazzo because, in the category/area I was bidding, that’s all that had been coming up lately, according to the posters on that message board. And they were all reporting what their successful bids were, and which ones were NOT successful, so I knew how much to bid.

    Hotwire is just useless. The opaque sites can be of value, but ONLY if you have at least some idea in advance of the hotels you are likely to get…so you can have some level of confidence that you’ll get the quality and amenities you expect. With Priceline you can (by using Biddingfortravel). With Hotwire you can’t.

  • P. Kipnis

    I’ve been a road warrior for over 30 years and I would disagree with those who blast Hotwire or Price line for not being like more traditional booking sites. I use Hotwire for most of my hotel stays and have found that by using some road smarts and occasionally cross checking I can save 20% -30% over the best rates offered by other sources including the hotel’s which I will call and ask for better pricing. Car rentals take a little more homework, but the actual rate is only half the cost given all the fees and taxes they saddle us with. About half the time I can get an upgrade on good car through Hotwire for about the same cost as the fees.
    I’ve got it down to where I can book a month’s travel in about two hours and save several hundred dollars (usually much more!) by buying smart. Do your homework. Oh, there a way to check the actual hotel on Hotwire, but that would be telling!

  • larry

    I agree with the other posts about priceline being a better value and having a better star rating system than hotwire. I do however use both sites extensively and there are times when hotwire makes more sense. Since they post the amenities icons, you can select a hotel with a suite room or an all inclusive property. You can’t do this with priceline. You can also get an idea of what hotel you will be getting by using betterbidding.com for hotwire info.

  • Mike

    +1 on LeeAnne’s biddingfortravel suggestion. I think i found that site somewhere around 4 or more years ago. The main problem is that you really have to pay attention to the rules and how to go about re-bidding and what you might get. On the other hand, you get a reall y good idea of what property you will get via priceline when you bid and based on experiences of others, you know how much to bid.

    As for the story, what would you expect from a Super 8 motel? I stayed at one over Christmas while visiting family out of state and will never visit another again.

  • Diana Anson

    What is website is recommended for making travel arrangements for hotels in the London area?
    Thank you

  • http://www.brandlogic.com Emerson

    I can usually tell what the hotels are on Hotwire by first checking the Hotwire packages (which show the names of the hotels). You can usually pretty easily match the hotel by the descriptions on the opaque part of the site.

  • Ed

    The star rating system in the united states is very messed up…Recently I stayed at a hotel at the beach that was advertised as a 3 star hotel…when we arrived, while it looked nice from the outside, the lobby was nice, but the rooms were no better than 2 star at best! And the cleaning crew that starts at 8am promptly with a cart that has a square wheel make no attempt to be quiet. Talking loudly, slamming doors and vacuuming a single spot that seemd to be directly in front of my door for 45 minutes (exageration of course, but point made)
    Then compare this to a hotel I stayed at in Hong Kong last year…WOW! This was listed as a 3 star hotel, but what a hotel! there was a team of door-men to help you with your luggage and they carry it to your room while you check in! The elevator had an operator who pushed the buttons for you and every morning you got a free newspaper hanging from your door. Plus, I never once heard the cleaning crew! All the employees greeted me by name and bowed slightly when I encountered them. I was treated with the utmost courtesy and consideration…all for $120/day which included breakfast for two at their 110 item breakfast buffet! WOW! Had I known this, I would have booked a 5 star hotel that was only $20 more expensive per day…I can’t even imagine what they would do to show the difference between 3 stars and 5 stars!
    Ed

  • larry

    Ed, I agree, without a doubt, Hong Kong has some of the BEST hotel service in the world. I was staying at the Sheraton there about 15 years ago and entered the lobby around 1am. I counted 21 people behind the front desk. The hotel was run by a German who I had the pleasure of meeting and the service was off the chart good.

  • Kathleen Pierz

    I have had consistently good luck by using Trip Advisor. No matter how I book a hotel I always check Trip Advisor first and read as many reviews as I can. I also work to consistently write thoughtful reviews for the site and includ my own photos where possible. This backfired when I was (against the rules) contacted by a hotel in Spain and essentially called a liar. Once they saw my photos they apologized and said they’d close that room for repair.

  • David Z

    Are opaque sites intentionally upping some hotels by half a star to squeeze more money out of their customers? Are hotels intentionally overstating their amenities in order to squeeze more money out of Hotwire and Priceline?

    Some kind of third party “auditing” service or so could check the two. Under a nondisclosure agreement of not revealing certain details like the methods used and what-not, though.

  • Phil

    In reply to Diana above, you can use Priceline.uk or booking.com, I really like booking.com which is a branch of Priceline.uk

  • Jay

    She passed on an Econonlodge at less than $40 and took a price of $65 on a 2 star?

    Am I the only one who thinks she’s might be a little off?

  • Jay

    I got the time so I checked Hotwire for Tucumcari. There are ONLY 2 hotels listed, a 2 star and 2.5 star. MUST be the Super 8 and La Qunita. So again, why did she complain it was no better than a 2.5 when that is what the site says?! AND she got a refund?

    Chris, find people with better examples, pleeeeease!

  • http://mergeweddings.com Rachel

    Last month on Hotwire, I booked a room advertised as a 3 star, and it turned out to be a very sketchy Holiday Inn Express (Waterbury CT), a brand very commonly accepted to be a 2.5 star hotel. When I sent a letter of discontent to customer care before my stay, they sent back a very generic form letter about how the ratings were based on user reviews, etc. (No way anyone staying at the Waterbury Holiday Inn Express had anything good to say about it in the past 15 years!) They even left a card on the bed telling people not to open the door to anyone even if they said they were hotel employees but to call down and verify, etc. Furniture was damaged, missing knobs, etc. It was worse than I expected.

    While I didn’t pay that much for the hotel, I chose it *because* it was rated 3 stars (my lowest star rating choice) and I was really disappointed that Hotwire is so clearly misrepresenting its hotel choices.

  • MC

    Yes, I echo the sentiment that hotwire loves giving a canned response about it’s 3 star properties, or misrepresenting them. Have never had that problem with priceline. I will be speaking to an audience soon that will be making many trips over the next year, and will recommend them not to use Hotwire.

  • P.J.Zornosa

    The old adage applies: “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
    When consumers want everything for very little the expectations are too high. With some comparative shopping and/or a good travel agent one doesn’t need to “resort” to on line “opaque” websites. Frankly I am surprised that more folks aren’t complaining. While consumers continue to let price be their ONLY consideration they should not be surprised. Perhaps the better metaphor should be: “You get what you pay for.”

    I have been staying at Marriott and Starwood properties for over 25 years and must say that with a little effort I generally find lodging that is reasonably priced and the minimum quality almost always is there.

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