Hotwire Hotel: 4* Paris (Gare dAusterlitz-Place dItalie) Novotel Porte dItalie

[2syb]

If you are considering booking this Hotwire hot Rates hotel, please read to avoid making the same mistake I did:

I had used Priceline a number of times in Europe with some success but this was the first time I'd used Hotwire and I'm fairly unhappy with the result.

On Thursday, July 14th, I booked 2 nights in Paris (Sept 10-12th, 2011) for a 4-star listing in the Gare d'Austerlitz/Place d'Italie area hotel with restaurants and internet access, at $116 a night (this is still live on their website). After taxes/fees it came out to $256.89. I ended up with the "Novotel Paris Porte d'Italie".

First off, despite coming up under the "Paris" search, the hotel is actually located just south of the city in "Le Kremlin Bicetre" (though still on the metro line) which I found to be quite misleading. Also from the photos and reviews I've read online, this particular Novotel shouldn't really qualify as a 4-star.

Secondly, the site was telling me that this gave me "extreme savings" and my booking confirmation cited that I'd received a 44% discount compared to if I had bought on another site. This was actually quite inaccurate as the Novotel website itself offered the same nights a few dollars cheaper and it was about $20 less on Expedia. Hardly a "great deal".

As a matter of principle, I submitted a request for the difference to be refunded under their "Low Price Guarantee" but I am sure there's some fine print somewhere in their T&C's that will allow them to deny my request (e.g., they only refund the difference in the before-tax amount and the total on Expedia was tax-inclusive so they'll probably say the pre-tax amount on Expedia was actually more than their pre-tax amount even though after tax it came out to be less). I will be surprised to hear back from their CS team.

But oh well, lesson learned and whilst I know others have had success with Hotwire, I shall not use it again based on this first experience.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with the results. Just like with PRICELINE, it's the zone boundaries on the map which determine the possible location of your hotel, regardless of the general description the name implies.

Feel free to ask the board for help before your next opaque purchase, and even if you choose to not use HOTWIRE in the future, we hope you begin to share your PRICELINE wins with the board.

Thank you for sharing the details of your purchase with the board and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

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

Enjoy your stay... hope it goes better then you anticipate.