Hotwire- a no-bidding alternative to Priceline

The Idea

  • Hotwire is an opaque booking channel (like Priceline) which does not require bidding
  • You are shown the star level, neighbourhood and price per night for a particular hotel. If you accept the offer, the name of the hotel is revealed to you after your purchase is complete
  • Because you donโ€™t bid with Hotwire, youโ€™ll invariably end up paying more than you would with Priceline; however, this is a valid option if youโ€™re short on time
  • You can get up to 6% cashback with Hotwire through Ebatesย andย Topcashback

The Details

Hotwire is like a reverse Pricelineย (be sure to check out the Priceline bidding tutorial). While Priceline asks you to name a star level, neighbourhood and then state your willingness to pay, Hotwire offers you a star level, neighborhood and a rate- you decide if you want to pay that rate. As with Priceline ,the name of the hotel is obscured until you finalise the (nonrefundable) transaction.

An example is shown below for Las Vegas. Iโ€™ve indicated I only want to stay on the Strip, so Hotwire has highlighted the North Strip, Central Strip and South Strip in red.ย  We can see that Hotwire is offering us a 4 star South Strip area hotel for S$181 (prices shown inclusive of all taxes. However, in Las Vegas and certain other cities it is the norm for hotels to charge an additional resort fee. This will be disclosed separately to you before you finalise your booking). Hotwire also lists the amenities this property has, like a fitness center, a casino, a swimming poolย hotwire1

Clicking on this property sends me to the next page where the resort fee (if any) is disclosed to me. Of course, if youโ€™re booking a hotel in a city where resort fees are not the norm (eg Singapore) then whatever price you saw on the first screen is the price youโ€™ll pay in total.

Still keen? On the next screen youโ€™ll fill in your details and finish the transaction. As with Priceline, no refunds are possible.

hotwire2

Whatโ€™s fun about Hotwire is that itโ€™s a game of information asymmetry. Hotwire drops certain clues about the hotel- the star rating, the neighbourhood and the amenities it has. Based on this information, it is possible to narrow down the potential set of hotels under consideration. In fact, thatโ€™s exactly what people do online. On BetterBiddingย and BiddingForTravel, posters describe what theyโ€™re being offered on Hotwire and moderators offer their best guess based on the information at hand.

For example, in our Las Vegas scenario, we know that some Strip properties donโ€™t have casinos of their own. This one does, so that rules those out. We know it has a business centre, so that rules out a few more. Follow this iterative process and youโ€™ll have something approaching a best guess.

A note about star ratings

In my experience I tend to find that Hotwire overstates the star rating of its featured properties. Since the star rating is based entirely on the sellerโ€™s own system, there have been allegations of star inflation- websites making the hotel sound nicer than it really is.

An interesting study has been done over at HotelDealsRevealedย 

To summarise-

“If you book a Hotwire hotel, thereโ€™s about a 1 in 4 chance the hotel rating will be inflated by half a star compared to Priceline”

So do be aware of that. I once got a Holiday Inn as a 4 star hotel in Salzberg. It wasn’t terrible, but I certainly wouldn’t consider the Holiday Inn to be anywhere near a 4 star.

Conclusion

Iโ€™d personally never opt to use Hotwire over Priceline. Hotels donโ€™t really discriminate in selling inventory to opaque channels so thereโ€™s no reason why one site should have better inventory than another. Also, youโ€™ll always be paying more to book via Hotwire than Priceline, simply because theyโ€™ve taken the guesswork out of it.

But if youโ€™re in a rush and donโ€™t mind playing a bit of hotel roulette, why not give it a shot? Remember to use a cashback site and save additional money!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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