Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* Philadelphia (City Center West) Wyndham

[kittykathy]

I bid $115 for a 4* in Downtown Philadelphia & did not get it.

I saw a rate of $68 for 3.5* Center City West on HOTWIRE, which I believe to be the Wyndham...can you confirm that?

Also, I saw a 4* for an Off-the-Record price of $107 in the "heart of the business district" on easyclicktravel.com. I tried the REVERSE look-up & this is an unknown URL for your site.

Thanks!

kk

[dahammer]

you need to show the amenities, on Hotwire, there is 3.5* Sheraton University City with restaurant, pool, fitness center, business center icons. Not a bad property, but it's on 36th and Chestnut streets in West Philly and close to the U of P campus. Not really close to any of the Center City action, although you could catch the Market Frankford Line (the "el") into Center City at 40th and Market. It appears that the Wyndham has the following amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness Center, High-Speed Internet Access, Tennis Nearby, Business Center and is the one available for $69 on HW. The Wyndham is a better location.

[trvl3]

kittykathy, you might be interested in my post a few lines down about my experiences bidding for a 4* in Downtown for 6/11 only. Notice how far up I had to go.

thereuare will probably have further guidance, but I bet you could get a 4* for Friday for much less if you requested that night only. In my observation, it takes a much higher bid to get a 4* in Phila on Saturday than any other night of the week. I think this is because you can get the Hyatt Penn's Landing for an excellent rate on other nights, but not on Saturday. That hotel appears to be much more popular with weekend getawayers than with business travelers, due to its relatively remote location from the business district but closeness to historic and entertainment sites.

The problem is, of course, that if you bid separately on Priceline for Saturday, you might not get the same hotel. But maybe to save the money you wouldn't mind moving, or (particularly if you are interested in the Hyatt) you might save by getting a great Priceline rate for Friday and paying the same hotel's own rate for Saturday, over the bid they'd be willing to accept for a combination of the two nights.

If size of room is important to you in bidding for a 4*, let me warm you that if you bid 3*, or go for a 3.5* on Hotwire, you may get the Crowne Plaza as I did recently, and my room there, while attractive and well equipped, was very small and felt too cramped for two people. In my opinion, Priceline and Hotwire should rate it below 3* for that reason. If you will be by yourself, and a nicely appointed but rather tiny room is satisfactory to you, then no need to worry about the possibility of getting this hotel. (Also, reading the reviews reveals that some people get upgraded to the concierge level, and have gotten considerably larger rooms than some of the rest of us have.)

[thereuare]

We have added the EasyClickTravel URL to the Easy Click REVERSE tool, re-try your search.

For unidentified hotels please follow the instructions regarding emailing us rather than posting such request on the board.

Thanks!

[kittykathy]

We booked the Wyndham thru HOTWIRE for a rate of $68. We enjoyed our stay very much. Room was very nice & the Wyndham is located in a great area within walking distance to other fancy hotels like the Four Seasons, Embassy Suites & Hotel Windsor. We paid $20 for a cab ride to the baseball game.

kittykathy

[thereuare]

Is this in the Downtown West zone and 3.5* rated?

Can you also add the amenties that were shown before purchase... still accessible thru the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right corner of Hotwire's home page.

Thank you.

[dahammer]

FYI, for others that may get this hotel, the Broad Street Line, aka "the Subway" will take you to the ballpark as well for a $2.00 fare, go to www.septa.org :)

[kittykathy]

This was the Wyndham Franklin Plaza. A "Customer Favorite." Amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness Center, Hi-Speed Internet, Business Center.