deafcorn

Used the HOTWIRE link to book a night at the Country Inn and Suites in Dover, Delaware for $69 and must say that it's a GREAT place to stay.

Booked the morning of the my stay for 2 adults and 1 child. Hotwire has it listed as a 3* hotel with a 4.5 satisfaction rate, 95% Hotwire recommended rate and 4 circle Tripadvisor rating. My stay was for 1 night, 28-29 June.

Amenities listed were:

Complimentary Breakfast

Fitness Center

Pool(s)

Business Center

Laundry Facilities

High-speed Internet Access

Ended up not using HOTWIRE / PRICELINE for this stay and booked directly thru Holiday Inn for their hotel on the US side.

It's clear that we're dealing with those dreaded apples and oranges again, so with that, to each their own and I'll update with how I proceed at a later date. :)

You only quoted half of your sentence and in that context, it does sound as if you'd use the information to form a conclusion. Your actual statement was....

So while you may be able to exclude a hotel from the possibilities if one site lists it as 'favorable' and the other site lists it as 'horrible', but i personally wouldn't make any conclusions based upon one site having a 55% favorable option while another site an 80% favorable opinion (or the two numbers being closer together).

As written, the message of your sentence is that you "personally" wouldn't use the differences noted in various review site recommendations to form a conclusion. And if it works for you, then as previously written, "to each their own".

i personally wouldn't make any conclusions based upon one site having a 55% favorable option while another site an 80% favorable opinion (or the two numbers being closer together).

Neither would I, hence my example mentioning 18 out of 20 sites having a negative review. I find it hard to believe that if you were researching something and found that a majority of sites provided negatives reviews on it, you wouldn't use that information to form a conclusion...... but to each their own.

My guess on the *4 Niagara hotel is the Fallsview Plaza, which is actually going by the name Four Points (Sheraton) now. Not sure if I will be using Hotwire or not, as Travelzoo has a couple offers that are equally as good in price, plus include a few extras (breakfast/dinner voucher/etc...). Regardless of how I proceed, I'll update this post to close it out.

Thanks for the info.

I took into account the # of reviews when averaging, as you are correct when stating that the lower the number of reviews, the greater the impact upon % results. I chose to use an average of the three sites listed (actually I used Tripadvisor, Hotels.com and Expedia [not Orbitz]), because I felt they would give me a better overall view of how the property is reviewed. I agree that dependant upon what someone paid for a room, their outlook and view of it may differ greatly. I've tried it on a few properties that I have won and a few more that others have posted winning here on BB and the Hotwire recommended % is normally right around +/- 5% than the average of those three sites.

You are again correct when saying that there was no statistical basis for my choosing 20%. I chose that number because in my mind, a 10% variance on the same property could be easily justified between different review sites, so the 10% isn't enough to rule out a property as a possible candidate. On the other hand, 30-40% seems extremely high to me and if I was trying to narrow down a list of potential hotels on Hotwire/Priceline, I'd list those as not very probable.

I'm not sure I understand your apples and oranges reference. If I'm researching anything, I prefer to use multiple sites to gather as much information as I can. Once I have all the info, I'll sort it and then decipher what I can from it. Granted anything can happen at any given time and that's a variable we really can't control, but if 18 out of 20 sites say that the hotel (or other product/service) is bad, then if avoidable, it's a risk I won't take and look for possible alternatives.

I was using an average of total reviews from trip advisor, Hotels.com and Orbitz. I was figuring that if, on average, those other sites had a 20% higher recommend rate, then less likely it was the same property. I'm guessing that isn't true? Is it common for hotwire/priceline reviews to be that far off the other averages for the same property?

3

Looking in Hotwire I see a 4* hotel listed for the Niagara Falls, Ontario area listed for $119 a night. Amenities include; fitness, pool, restaurant, internet and business center. It is recommended by 70%. I do not see the trip advisor circle rating normally listed on hotwire. Not sure if that could be considered a good or bad thing. From looking at the Niagara area hotel listing on BB, I think I've narrowed it down to either the Fallsview Plaza, Sheraton Fallsview, or the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview. Amenities also match up with the Mariott Fallsview and Doubletree Resort/Spa, although those have much higher recomended %'s than that listed. Can you confirm or narrow down the hotels I think it may be?

My group will have 6 adults and 4 children and be staying 1 night (27 - 28 June 2010).

Thanks for any help!

Decided to go with Hotwire and the guarantee of having actual sleeping positions for everyone in my group.

I was looking for 3 rooms (7 adults / 4 kids) for June 20 - 23. Via your link, HOTWIRE listed a 3 star hotel in the Dupont Circle - Embassy Row area that has a fitness center, pool, restaurant, business center and laundry. This hotel has an 80% customer satisfaction rating and a trip advisor rating of 3.5 circles. After 10 days of watching the price for this hotel (at least what I thought to be this hotel because of the area, stars and amenities listed) fluctuate between a low of $124 and a high of $144, I finally decided to grab it when it hit $124 for the second time. Here's the hotel information:

Holiday Inn Central

1501 Rhode Island Ave NW,

Washington, DC, 20005

Phone:(202) 483-2000

Price Per Night: $124.00

# Of Nights:3

# Of Rooms:3

SubTotal:$1,116.00

Taxes And Fees:$176.92

Total Price:$1,292.92

Location is listed as being on the closer side of Dupont Circle to the White house/mall area, so happy with the location in relationship to typical tourist spots. As mentioned earlier, I watched this price for 10 days. The first time it hit $124, I didn't buy as I was noticing a downward trend in price and hoped to see it drop lower, but that was as low as it went and the next day jumped up to $139. Over the next two days though, it slowly dropped back to the $124 and I grabbed it at that time. On the "wins calendar", I see that someone else booked this same hotel back in early March, with a check in date one week earlier than mine and paid $144 a night. I checked again just prior to this post and the hotel is still listed, but now back up to $139. I know I took a gamble with not booking right away, but it ended up saving me $180 over the length of my stay and basically paid for my parking. In the future, if I don't see what I'd consider to be an all out, great deal right up front and still have a decent amount of time before my travel dates, I'd price watch again.

Thanks to everyone for their input on this thread!

I went ahead and took the $59 offer from HOTWIRE (via your link) and ended up with the Holiday Inn. Specifics are below:

Hotel: Holiday Inn Akron-Fairlawn, OH

4073 Medina Road,

HotelCityStateZip:Akron, OH, 44333

HotelPhone:(330) 666-4131

PricePerNight:$59.00

Nights:4

Rooms:3

Subtotal:$708.00

Tax recovery charges and fees:$106.11

Total price:$814.11

Thanks again!

Thanks. Answered my question!

Does anyone know how/where Hotwire pulls it's customer review numbers from? On a few listings, I've gone into TripAdvisor and looked for similar star rating hotels and haven't been able to find any with similar review numbers? Does Hotwire use a mixture from multiple different sites?

One more question for you..... I'm looking to travel roughly 2 months from now. Is this the "right" time to be looking? In your opinion, should I be looking to book a place now, or do I still have some time to check if prices will drop any in the next couple weeks?

What type of little risk comes with the 3* in Dupont? Is getting the price down to 136 guarantee beds for everyone or is that thru PL? (Does that Holiday Inn have a pool?)

Yes, PRICELINE and only double occupancy being guaranteed has been in the back of my mind and probably the reason I haven't made a serious bid yet. Last night, via PRICELINE, I tried offering $70 for 3 rooms in the 4* White house area and didn't get selected. I upped it to $75 in the White House and Capitol areas and still didn't get selected. Final offer was $80 a night and added in Dupont and chose both 3.5 and 4*'s, but still didn't get selected. I know those were low ball figures, but was just getting a feeler out there.

For this trip, I would like to be at a 3.5 or 4*. I've used both HOTWIRE and PRICELINE in the past, but didn't know about this site, so just blindly went in hoping for the best. Most times I was happy with the result. Ideally, I would like to spend no more than $100 a night per room, but from what I've been seeing online, that may be unrealistic....... unless of course I want to stay out by the Dulles airport. If I can get into the White House, Capitol or Dupont areas, I'd be ok with going up to $150.

FYI.... since being referred to this site, I now use your links everytime for HOTWIRE and PRICELINE. This is a great source of information!!!!

To be close to the tourist sites, is Dupont, White House and Capitol Hill the best areas tio be in?

thanks for the info!

I'm traveling to DC June 20-23rd and will have a total of 11 people in my group (7 adults and 4 kids [ages 10-17]). Can I take advantage of Priceline's name your own price with this many people in my group? The prices I'm seeing people posting about via naming their own are great when compared to what hotwire and pricline are currently offering. I'm looking for 3 rooms, but could go 4 if the price was low enough.

Hello everyone! I'm new to the boards and have been reading thru all the "read firsts" and "getting started" posts, so now think I'm ready to ask a question.....

I'm looking for a hotel in the Fairlawn area of Ohio (just outside of Akron). I'm looking for 3 rooms as there are a total of 6 adults and 5 children in my group and we'll be staying for 4 nights. Our dates are: arrive 23 Jun 10 and depart 27 Jun 10. I've read fairly decent reviews on various websites about both the Raddison and Holiday Inn in Fairlawn, and wondering if from the hotwire ammneties info anyone can tell me what I might expect. Here is what hotwire has to offer....

It says it is a 3* hotel in Akron and has a fitness center, pool, restaurant, business center, high speed internet access and has golf near by. Out of 300+ reviews/comments 80% of the people recommend the hotel and overall satisfation is a 4.0. It shows a Tripadvisor rating of 3.5 circles. Price listed is $59 a night per room.

Thanks for any help you can provide.