It seems to me that a good quality (i.e. clean and comfortable, with decent service) 2.5-3.5* hotel can end up being better than a 4* hotel with poor cleanliness and/or service. I understand that the Hotwire ratings are meant to combine conventional star ratings (based solely on amenities, without regard to quality) as well as hotel reviews, whereas Priceline relies on the conventional stars. So in using Hotwire, and leaving aside the price differences, would you think it is preferable to book a 2.5-3.5* hotel with a 4 of 5 or better tripadvisor rating (as reported by Hotwire) than to book a 4-4.5* hotel with a 3 or 3.5 TA rating? I think I read in another thread that the consensus is the Hotwire * rating is within 0.5* of a conventional star rating, but it did not say in which direction. Is this still the consensus? Also, how up-to-date is Hotwire's reported Tripadvisor rating?
