Hotwire Hotel: 3* Rapid City Holiday Inn Express Rapid City

[stupidfatuglything]

Search using Hotwire, and was provided the following information:

Rapid City - Mt. Rushmore South area hotel (0.2-1.2 mi from city center)

Complimentary Breakfast, Pool(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access

Recommended in 85% of Hotwire customer reviews

Got the Holiday Inn Express Rapid City @ 750 Cathedral Drive for US$135 (taxes incl.per night).

Cannot say i am too pleased about it, since i thought it was the Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza property. The 3* and distance provided (official website stated it is 1.83 mi from city center!) fooled me into making a bid. :)

On another note, betterbidding.com is an excellent website, me thinks.

Cheers.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Sorry to see you didn't receive the hotel you were hoping for, but note that the distances shown by HOTWIRE are from the center of the zone to the destination point, not specific to the actual hotel being offered. Also, while both the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are both often 3* rated by HOTWIRE, the Holiday Inn doesn't offer a Complimentary Breakfast, which would have been a tip-off that the above was not likely the Holiday Inn.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List. Feel free to ask for help before purchasing your next 'opaque' hotel.

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

Enjoy your stay... hope you can make it work for your needs.

[stupidfatuglything]

thereuare, i have just tried finding the Holiday Inn Express on the Hotwire website. I cannot find the hotel in a 'traditional' listing (to check if the information they provided fits the hot Deal), even when i tried searching as far as Feb 2012. The hotel appears on all other major websites, such as Priceline, Kayak, Expedia and Travelocity.

Now, i feel i have been scammed. Feeling really incensed about it (not so bad last night). I wouldn't use Hotwire again. I find Priceline to be a much better/reliable website. Sorry i am not able to help link Priceline to their website like you did on your post (i don't understand/know how to do that).

Cheers.

P.S.

Whoa, the Expedia and Travelocity link appears automatically. You should make an auto PRICELINE link too. :)

[thereuare]

thereuare, i have just tried finding the Holiday Inn Express on the Hotwire website. I cannot find the hotel in a 'traditional' listing (to check if the information they provided fits the hot Deal), even when i tried searching as far as Feb 2012.

With both PRICELINE and HOTWIRE, the 'retail' and 'opaque' each use a different universe of hotels... some participate in one side of the service but not the other, and vice-versa.

While perhaps you guessed wrong and were expecting something different, I'm not sure exactly what aspect your upset with regarding this property... it is located fairly central in the zone so is within the mileage parameters indicated by HOTWIRE (even though as explained above this information is not hotel specific), the reviews are pretty good, and you get breakfast included with the stay (an amenity not offered by the Holiday Inn you thought/were hoping you would get)

Enjoy your stay... hope you can successfully make it work for your needs.

[stupidfatuglything]

I'm not upset with the hotel that i got, just the provider that i got it from (partly b/c i thought a hot Deal would mean a discount :) )

I always assumed that the 'opaque' hotels would also be in the 'retail' listing. Now i know that it isn't always true.

I definitely will make this work. Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post.

Cheers.