Hotwire Hotel: 4* Niagara Falls, Ontario area.... which hotel is this?

[deafcorn]

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!

[yellowdog]

How many rooms have you searched for?

Yellowdog.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[deafcorn]

3

[thereuare]

...although those have much higher recomended %'s than that listed.

Based upon what... previous reports of these hotels OR are you trying to match this with the information shown at Tripadvisor? If the latter, this information is based upon feedback from HOTWIRE customers and is not the same as the data shown at Tripadvisor.

There is no way to narrow the selections from those guessed above, but i'll point out that the Marriott Fallsview uses a different amenity combination than above, so unless it has changed, that property would not be a high probability bet.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. (and your searches too!)

Let us know what you decide to do for this stay or if we can be of further help.

[deafcorn]

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?

[thereuare]

The percent recommended are fairly new so i don't thin we have seen enough history to learn the nuances of them, but i have seen substantial differences between HOTWIRE user statistics and those at tripadvisor.

I've stayed at a few properties where my discounted rate was a GREAT value and i would give the hotel glowing reviews based upon the price paid...whereas if i had paid rack rate i would have expected more and the hotel would have disappoitned. Just one example of how the reviews of a discount customer could be vastly different than those of a 'full price' booking service.

Also (and here is my statistical background coming out... forgive me :) ) the accuracy of your theory above will likely be different based upon the number of reviews at each site. If each site as 500+ reviews the numbers may be able to be trusted a bit more than if each site as 10+ reviews (where as the next review added and greatly skew the average results since there are few datapoints). As well, there is no statistical basis for your choosing "within 20%"... why not within 10% or within 40%?

Bottomline is that you'll likely find your theory above hold true for some properties and not for others... with little correlation, as i believe using the various sites for comparison purposes is an "apples and oranges" scenario.

Please click this HOTWIRE link before your next reply, and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[deafcorn]

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.

[thereuare]

The "apples and oranges" reference was in using the reviews from the various sites (apples) and comparing them to the HOTWIRE user reviews (oranges). HOTWIRE is not even that consistent in their own reviews at this point (sometimes a hotel with come up with 85% recommended... the next search 90% recommended). 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).

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[deafcorn]

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.

[thereuare]

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.

I didn't say i wouldn't use that information:

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'...

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Please follow-up this thread with whatever you end up doing for this stay, even if you choose to book direct, cancel your trip, etc.

[deafcorn]

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".

[thereuare]

If it wasn't clear, to clarify what i was trying to say...

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'...

I would use this information in forming a decision.

...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).

The difference in these two numbers exceeds your 20% threshold, yet i don't think (yes, my opinion) these figures are far enough apart to make any meaningful conclusions to include/exclude a hotel from the possibilities... and i wouldn't use this information in my decision.

[deafcorn]

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. :)

[deafcorn]

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

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread.

[thereuare]

Please note, as per our support page, that we are an affiliate of the Holiday Inn... please check for, and use, the links there for your hotel direct purchases when available.

Thanks.