Hotwire Hotel: Lancaster area hotels through hotwire?

[chriscap]

I've never used hotwire, and I'm new to this forum, so don't really know what I'm doing. I'm on a ridiculously tight budget and havent had a vacation in three years. Would like to take the family to Lancaster for a few days with a one day side trip to hershey. Planning to arrive July 15th and depart july 19th. Looking for a decent hotel, clean, safe, under $100 a night. Hotwire shows some hotels for way under $100, some even under $50, but I am terrified that once I pick and pay I won't want to go there, that it will not be aplace I would have knowingly chosen. Is there a way to figure out what hotels are offered? And once I pay, can I deal directly with the hotel for questions about the room? Thanks for any help!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

HOTWIRE does offer some information on hotel rating, with the customer % rating (although a more reliable indicator are the trip advisor ratings, which sometimes appear on the detail page for each particular listing.)

Once you have booked, you can call the hotel to make any requests, although with discount bookings, a hotel can say no to requests (such as exact bed type.)

Is there a listing of particular interest when searching for your dates (additionally, how many people are you searching for?) If so, please provide the details of the listing (star rating, zone, price and complete list of amenities showing with the listing) and we would be happy to take a look and try to ID.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[dahammer]

If planning to go to Hershey Park, you can get discount tickets at Giant Food Stores in Pennsylvania. With your bonus card, which is free, you can buy an all day pass for $46. You can even preview the park the night before, if the park closes at 11:00 pm, you can be admitted at 7:30 the night before you use your ticket. But the best part of buying a ticket in advance is bypassing all of the folks waiting in line at hershey to buy tickets. Kind of like an EZ pass at a toll booth.