I gave Hotwire another call to see if I could escalate my complaint–their own Hotwire site plus Hotels.com and Expedia list this property as 3.5 stars. After explaining the situation to the first associate she apologized and said that this was a discrepancy and she would escalate my complaint to a supervisor. Cassie, the supervisor, was no help at all. She said that the ratings were set by Hotwire and to not compare those ratings to Hotels or Expedia even though they all owned by the same company. What about that 3.5 stars on Hotwires own site–she said ignore that rating as well because that page doesn’t belong to Hotwire. What??? It is on Hotwires page. She refused to cancel this hotel and book me into a four star as I had wanted.

Can you help? And if you can’t please make a post about the deceptive hotel ratings of Hotwire out to the public?

“We are writing to let you know that we have received your email in our
Executive Offices. Due to the nature of your concern, we would like to
speak with you directly by phone. Please be advised that I will be
reiterating the non-changeable information that has been discussed with
the Customer Service Representatives.”

“All properties offered through priceline.com have been evaluated
according to the specific star level standards that we have developed
exclusively for our program and described on our web site. While you may
feel that the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles should have a different star
rating or is rated differently by other groups, we are confident that
our four star rating of this property is correct. The reservation
remains non-changeable.”

Hey it was rated differently by Priceline themselves! Again, she was unwilling to address the issue about the inconsistent star rating between the opague and vacation products. The star rating was changed the day before the bidding, as I had tried to bid a hotel room the night before. I was not asking for a refund. So I filed a complaint with BBB of Conneticut, where Priceline was a member, and the matter was not resolved in my favor. A lawyer friend suggested me to go to small claims court, but for about $300 it’s simply not worth the effort. I e-mailed Mr Elliott but never received a reply from him.

So I stayed at the hotel and I was assigned to a room that was not ready, with towels on the floor and trash can full. There were some other issues with the hotel as well. While the hotel might have four-star “facility”, it did not provide the corresponding “service”. Not to mentioned that the issue with inconsistent star rating was never addressed, not with the Executive Offices. Since then, I have spent a few thousand dollars at Hotwire and other web sites, and I have not purchased any travel products, even traditional ones, from Priceline again.

The person with more knowledge is always in the stronger position.

And as a Steven Segal movie line goes….chance favors the prepared mind. :)

I would echo LeeAnne’s comments. Any booking site works best when you know how the system works and can plan accordingly. I personally don’t use priceline and hotwire because I’m very particular about hotels. So I book directly with the hotel. However, even then, there are numerous strategies for getting better deals.

The person with more knowledge is always in the stronger position.

Perhaps a comparison would be people who have never played blackjack sitting down at a gaming table. Some of them, no doubt, will come out ahead quickly. Others will rapidly lose their shirts. Experienced players around them are more likely to know when it’s in their best interests to stand.

After all, the opaque sites like to make you think that the only reason they’re putting rooms out there is that they’re horribly underbooked and so willing to take almost any reasonable bid. The truth is, many hotels put a few rooms on the opaque sites constantly as a way of testing the market for what it will bear – seeing if people will snap up a room if it’s 10% off or if it takes 20%. Or whatever. After all, the hotel is likely to think this way: We know we’ll have a room that will otherwise go unused at full price. We can either take lowball bids to fill the room, no matter what; or we can use that vacant room to see just what it really takes to snag that extra customer – and get valuable information as well as filling the room with less of a discount. It’s a no-brainer.

The next day I got a call on my cell phone from a man who literally YELLED at me over the phone, accused me of scamming Hotwire and told me I (and every member of my family) was banned from ever using their services again. When I asked why, he claimed that I had disputed the charge to my AMEX card and they had had to fight this scam. When I pointed out to him that I have NEVER received any notice from AMEX that there was a disputed charge he yelled again that I was a liar. Nothing I said could convince him that I had never disputed a charge from AMEX. I even called AMEX and they said they had no record of any dispute. So, I’m banned from Hotwire and that’s ok. After their incredibly rude treatment I have no desire to ever use their services again.

With Priceline, you don’t offer the *highest* amount – you offer the lowest, and move up from there. Can’t do that, you say? Wrong! Go read the instructions at biddingfortravel.com, and it explains it. Not only that, but by using that site you can even determine exactly which hotel you’ll get…or at the very least, narrow it down to a few, so you really do know what you’re getting…and if you do it right, you’ll know exactly how much you’re saving off the lowest price available elsewhere. Of course you have to be patient, do your research, and learn how to work it…but that’s what we frequent travelers do, right? We learn how to work the system and get the best deals.

Last year I got two rooms at the Palazzo for three nights, for less than HALF the lowest rate obtainable anywhere else. I know this because I did my homework…which is what you have to do if you’re going to be able to take advantage of the benefits of Priceline. I saved something like $900 – not something to smirk at.

If you’re impatient, unknowledgeable about travel and hotel pricing, and just want to book a room regardless of the price, then Priceline is not for you. But for those of us who want to get great deals and don’t mind putting in a little work to do it, it is very much worth it.

As for Hotwire, you don’t bid on Hotwire. They tell YOU the price. You get to decide if you want to pay it. As others have pointed out, it’s all about knowing the area, and doing some research to get a good idea of which hotel you’ll get. I too have scored on Hotwire – on a night in Seattle when we wanted a room just for one night and didn’t want to pay a lot, rather than stay at some cheap motel we ended up at a 4-star hotel, for the same price. We would have been fine at a motel, but…why? Why not go stay somewhere really NICE for the same price?

Are you beginning to see how this works? I hope so. It would be a shame for people who haven’t used them before to come in here, read your comments, and decide not to bother trying.

Yes, there are times that booking directly is just as cheap, or maybe even cheaper, but sites liek priceline and hotwire do offer advantages.

In this case, hotwire shouldn’t have given a problem at all and should have changed the hotel asap. their own star rating clearly did not match the property that was purchased.

Also priceline is full of sh*t. Their ‘name their price’ is only of benefit to them, not you.

When negotiating, you never want to tell the seller the highest amount you are willing to pay, because if you do, surprise surprise, he decides thats the lowest amount he’s willing to accept. Instead (AFTER seeing exactly what you are making an offer on, or at least a specific description (eg ebay)), you make an offer, that you hope if more than the lowest amount the seller will accept. If its not, the seller can counteroffer with a higher amount, and negotiations proceed. It is possible for a sale to complete with neither party knowing how (high/low) the other party would have gone, but as long as both parties accept the last offered amount, the deal is done.

Basically, like others have stated, its a matter of doing your homework and determing what is in your own best interest.