Narita Excel Hotel Tokyu booked via the Hotwire link.
3.5 star, Narita Intl Airport NRT area hotel, $45
Amenities listed:
1 night: $45.00
Tax recovery charges & fees: $9.70
Total price: $54.70
Cheapest external price was $70, so not a bad deal. And for a one-night stay before an early flight, I don't need an amazing property.
Booked a 4½-star in Berlin (Checkpoint Charlie - Gendarmenmarkt - Potsdamer Platz) using the HOTWIRE link.
Amenities:
The Hotwire hotel list for that part of Berlin only lists the 5-star (why is that?), so I took a gamble. Ended up with the NH Berlin Mitte
Subtotal $168.00
Tax recovery charges & fees $27.51
Total price $195.51
A quick search showed the lowest price on other sites to be around $225 total, so not a huge savings. Oh well. I'll take one for the team, and now you can update the hotel list so that the next bidder can make a more informed decision.
(PS - The Eurostar still hasn't been added to the list after this Hotwire Berlin post.
I love Betterbidding and use the site (and links) for hotels quite often, and I almost always book rental cars through Hotwire or Priceline, since I don't care which company I end up renting with.
However, I booked an Economy car in IND for 5 days (13-18 Aug) at a quoted rate of $17.95 per day
I received a reservation with Thrifty for a total of $141.58 :
Car daily rate - Hotwire hot Rate: $17.95
Rental days: 5
Taxes and fees: $51.83
Subtotal: $141.58
However, when I actually went to pick up the car, the agency told me that as per their local policy I was required to buy the "Supplemental" Liability Insurance and refused to let me have the car I had already paid for unless I paid an additional $14/day plus tax.
Actual total:
Hotwire pre-paid amount: $141.58
Supplemental Liability Insurance: $70
Additional taxes on insurance: $19.67
Grand total: $231.25
According to Hotwire, local agencies are allowed to require whatever additional insurance or other purchases they choose, so in spite of Hotwire's reasonable $18/day quote, the actual daily rate was $32.
I booked it fairly last minute and didn't have time before I left to post the details. I didn't mean to post this particular message as a win history but more as an inquiry about other people's experiences. I would like to know if this was a one-off incident or if more people have been stuck with exorbitant additional fees when picking up a rental.
I did get a reply from Hotwire that essentially said the agencies can charge whatever extra they want. Since I could presumably be charged double (or more) the amount quoted by Hotwire, I'm afraid I won't be able to book through them any longer. Just because you pay a certain amount to Hotwire doesn't mean that the agency can't insist that you give them hundreds of dollars more when you show up to collect the car you've already paid for. :(
So it seems that people should stop posting their win information until after they pick up the car since the actual total won't be known until afterwards, since my $141 suddenly turned into $231 when I went to pick up the car.
IND 13-18 Aug (5 days)
$141.58 paid to Hotwire
$89.67 mandatory insurance charge from Thrifty
$231.25 total <--- NOT a great deal. More expensive than booking independently through other vendors.
I recently booked a car via Hotwire, requesting an economy at IND. The quoted price was $141 for the rental period, and I opted to buy the additional insurance from Allianz. Once the purchase was finalized, it showed that the car was reserved with Thrifty at IND airport.
However, when I went to pick up the car after arriving at the airport, the rental agent told me that I was required to pay an additional $90 before they would allow me to drive the car off the lot. They cited a local policy that required the purchase of supplemental liability insurance, since I had booked the car with an international address. (The rental paperwork indicated that the supplemental liability insurance was optional and said nothing about a local franchise having the authority to require it.)
Is this allowed by the Hotwire purchase agreement? I understand that sometimes there may be additional fees or taxes, but $90 on a $141 rental is a huge difference! It makes me very hesitant to book with Hotwire again, since I have no idea how much I'm really going to end up paying! After all, it's not like I could refuse to pay the extra since the Hotwire booking can't be canceled, so the $141 was non-refundable. It would have cost much more than $90 to rent a new car elsewhere.
In the end, after a long discussion with the management, I managed to get the charge refunded, but only because I happen to be a US citizen with a US driver's license, and both a foreign address and a US address. I suspect that a foreign citizen with no US ties would not have been so lucky.
Booked this (using the BetterBidding HOTWIRE link, of course) as a bit of a gamble! In town for a wedding, and The Curtis was the recommended accommodations for guests. Unfortunately, the Doubletree website wanted $199/night! I looked The Curtis up on the Hotwire hotel list and found out it was a unique amenities match and was showing up in the Denver listings for $79. Took the gamble and it paid off!
The Curtis - A Doubletree Hotel
3
First bid was accepted. Used the PRICELINE link.
Hyatt Regency Chicago - 4*
3 Nights: Tue, Sep 8, 2009 to Fri, Sep 11, 2009
Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $65.00
Subtotal: $195.00
Taxes & Service Fees: $38.53
Total Charges: $233.53
I was a little surprised. I tried using the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins, and it showed wins around $80 and $100 for similar time periods. I figured I'd have to rebid up to the same range or just go for a lower star rating. Do all of the wins reported here get input to the calendar, or is there a separate interface for that?
Sorry, I guess that wasn't really clear! I meant "non-US/non-Canadian." My credit card address is in Norway.
The country options for the address are only US and Canada. I've tried using my Norwegian street/city with California and a 99999 zip code, but it wouldn't go through.
Original bid of $75 failed.
Waited a day and bid again (successfully) at $90.
Total with tax ... $112.38
I probably could have edged my way up trying $80 and 85, but I don't have that kind of patience. And I definitely didn't want to end up out of downtown through some re-bidding accident! Also, $90 is less than the cheapest 3
4* Doubletree Sonoma Wine Country
Amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business
Booked the 4* for $54 in Sonoma (Santa Rosa-Rohnert Park-Petaluma)
3 nights: 12/28/08-12/31/08
It was the Doubletree as expected!
Hotel rate per night: $54.00
Nights: 3
Rooms: 1
Subtotal: $162.00
Tax recovery charges and fees: $28.94
Total price: $190.94
Considered bidding for something on PRICELINE, but I was afraid of landing the Flamingo.
Decided to go for the relatively safe bet on the Doubletree at HOTWIRE instead.
Thanks as always for the help!
3.5* Tokyo (Narita Airport NRT) Narita Excel Hotel Tokyu Hotel
in Hotwire Hotels - Other Countries
Posted
If I go to my booking, it says:
Not sure what the trailing comma is all about, but I couldn't find a link to expand the list, and that's pretty much the same as they showed in the expanded view of the mystery listing.
If I look up the hotel on the site, it shows:
Sometimes I wonder why I bother posting at all. I never seem to do it exactly right. This time I thought I had all the little bits and pieces y'all want, but no. I figured it would be nice to have one of the Narita hotels listed, but maybe it's not worth the effort and all the other people who've booked in the past already realized this.