Hotwire.com - Tips to Save

I recently booked another hotel using hotwire.com.  I have used hotwire several times (but only for hotel deals) and have had really great experiences.  Never heard of hotwire?  Well, hotwire.com offers Flights, hotels, and car rentals for WAY under the normal price.  I have never seen a lower price, not even from sights like travelocity, orbitz or kayak.  The catch is, they don't show you the name of the hotel/car rental agency/airline until after you purchase it...and, according to hotwire, this is how you get the cheapest price.

So, when to use hotwire?

• When you want a cheap hotel, car rental or flight*
• I would not personally use hotwire to book a flight, mainly because I want to know the airline.  There are some that I just can't stand to use, plus with baggage these days it would be hard to know if you were getting a better price b/c some charge more for baggage.
• For Hotels, it is best for big cities, a small town probably won't be listed.

Why I love hotwire:

• Great Prices - I recently booked a room and got it for $51 a night after taxes and fees.  I checked online at the hotels website after booking (that's how I knew the hotel) and prices started at $91 a night, not including taxes or fees.  At the exact same hotel with taxes and fees, Orbitz was $81.03 per night, travelocity was $89.40 per night and kayak found nothing under $80 per night at the same hotel.  For the non-math folks out there, that's $30 off per night and we are staying 2 nights so we will be saving a whopping $60!
• Great Customer Service - last summer I booked with hotwire and the hotel guy was new and made a huge hassle out of our checking in.  The hotel customer service ended up not being very good, but hotwire was great!  They dealt with it all to get it straightened out and they really want to make their customers happy.
• They tell you the important stuff - You aren't going into it totally blind.  You can pick from several different areas so if there was something you wanted to be close to, you could find a hotel near there.  Also, they list the amenities so you can make sure your hotel has a pool if that's important to you (like it is for me!).  And, they give you customer reviews and a star rating for the hotel (I'll talk more about this below).

Tips for using hotwire:

• The best deals are in larger cities.  I have used hotwire for hotels in Dallas Area, TX; Nashville, TN; Little Rock, AR; Columbia, MO; Evansville, IN.  Of those, Dallas and Nashville were the cheapest and Evansville the most expensive.
• Choose 3 stars or higher - You don't have to do this, but I do because I want a fancy hotel.  When you search there is a box on the left you can check for only 3star and higher hotels, I always check this.  If you go to their website, you can click on a thing that says "how our star ratings work" and they list how they determine the star rating along with hotels names that would fall under that rating.  *Tip:  I have found that I like 3-3.5 the best, I have stayed in some of the more expensive and they sometimes come with extra fees or are just a little to stuffy for me.  Plus, you're more likely to get perks like free continental breakfast :)

Here is a quick example list:

• 1-2.5 Stars - super 8, days inn, quality inn, best western
• 3 - 3.5 Stars - Hyatt, Holiday Inn, double tree, sheraton 
• 4 - 5 Stars - Hyatt, Hilton and a lot of others i've never heard of

• Look at reviews- It's scary to book a hotel not knowing what you are going to get, so I always look at the reviews.  I look at 2 primary things:  how many reviews there are, and the percent of reviewers that liked it.  In the number of reviews, I try to find a hotel with at least 100 reviews to insure it is a consistent review.  In the percent area, I want one that was enjoyed by 80% of users or higher.  I know that every hotel has off days, and then there are also those people who would hate anything, so this is a good indicator that they are a good hotel.
• Find the amenities you want- They list the amenities that come with it so find the ones important to you to insure you like your hotel.
• Add/Remove areas you do/don't want - there is a map provided that offers different areas of town.  Start off by removing the ones you don't want and adding ones you do.  This will keep you from wasting time on hotels out of your area.
• Sort Results by price - I always sort by price because doing so allows me to see the least expensive first and I don't have to waste time on ones out of my price range.  Once I reach the highest price I want/am willing to pay i'm done looking.

Hope this information is helpful and that it can be used to save you a ton of money and help you have a great trip!  I'm always so nervous booking and after I do they show me the hotel and I get so excited!  It's like opening a present :)  I can go check out the hotel's website and see where we will be staying.