Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* Miami (South Beach) Royal Palm

[Pitttraveler]

FYI: Last week I booked a 4* with Hotwire in South Beach and got the Royal Palm. I was disappointed when Expedia and Hotels.com rated the hotel as 3.5*. And as mentioned, the reviews are very mixed on this hotel. The reason I am posting however is that I went back to hotwire 24 hours after booking and noticed that the star rating on hotwire dropped to a 3.5 for the Royal Palm. I got a refund from hotwire based on this changed.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Thanks for the downgrade info... can you let us know the price paid and date(s) of your stay.

Have you re-booked elsewhere yet?

[Pitttraveler]

The details of my payment and booking dates for the Royal Palm:

$97 per night for 4 nights

Taxes and fees: $144.95

Total: $532.95

Dates: Wed. July 27 - Sun July 31

No, I did not book another hotel. Based on your lists, I did not like any of the current offerings at the given price points.

[thereuare]

So you cancelled the trip? (i didn't mean did u re-book thru Priceline or Hotwire)

[Pitttraveler]

Yep, I cancelled the trip; the tickets were on hold with freq. flyer miles, so it was no big deal. My wife was disappointed but.....

BTW, we are both graduates of UofM....Go Blue!

[billyblaze]

What is wrong the the Royal Palm? I could see if you were paying $200-$300 a night, but for $135 a night including taxes & fees is this hotel really that bad? BTW: It is still coming up as a 4 star property on priceline. I just did a vacation package search & 3 nights plus airfare from newark came out as $270 a person including taxes& fees.

[thereuare]

This 3.5* rating is from Hotwire... it is currently still rated 4* by Priceline.

I have stayed at this property and have posted my own experience/thoughts in the HOTEL REVIEW section of the forum... for the price and location it's a good bet.

[Pitttraveler]

What's wrong with the Royal Palm? Check out the reviews on the Royal Palm on TripAdvisor, Expedia, etc. They are very mixed. And what do I expect for the price: Quality and good service especially for this time of the year.

[thereuare]

I think this hotel suffers from two 'problems', and is supported by the mixed reviews above:

1) Resort Fees: guests don't like to be shocked by their ultimate bill or 'nicked and dimed' during their hotel stay... which is how guests ultimatley feel when they receive a bill at check-out which they did not expect. I have long been an advocate that any mandatory fees should be included in the room rate... since it must ultimately be paid. Use of a fitness room, wireless access, safe, etc, can all be added later if they are optional or on a 'per use' basis. However, if a room can't be used with an additional fee, there is no reason to not include it in the room rate. It is unfortunate that more and more hotels are using such tactics, but it is the domino effect... if your competition is doing it, you must often do it to in order for your 'base' room rate to look competitive.

2) Expectations: guests often feel that if they pay more they should expect more, which is often the case. This area is similar to other large cities where $200+ room rates for 'average' hotels are not uncommon. Often users expect a 'grand' experience since they have never before paid such a large sum for a hotel room... but ultimately what they get is average, and are therefore (rightfully) disappointed. We often see such mixed reviews in other large cities (such as NYC), where rooms are typically very expensive and the experience is 'nothing out of the ordinary' (Puerto Rico is another excellent example, as room rates their are quite high and the service level is not up to 'typical' high-end standards)

Just my .02

[lowballer]

I previously reported an upcoming stay at the Royal Palm. My winning bid was so low ($65) that the resort fee won't be that big a deal. But generally, I'm not so blase on this issue.

I have no problem with resort fees when (1) everyone, including conventional bookers, pays and (2) the property is classified on PL as a Resort. I consider a Resort a more or less self-contained destination, with enough facilities (restaurants, extensive pools or spas, tennis courts, beachfront) to occupy most or all of one's time during an entire stay. This seems to describe the Palm, but not everyone wants a hotel with all these things. Such a place should not be classified 4*, or even 3* as a couple places which charge resort fees are. PL should shunt all the places with resort fees into one category, so that a bidder can choose to pay or avoid the fees by bidding Resort or X* respectively, and separate the Resort category from the star continuum, so that a bidder does not receive an unwelcome "upgrade" to something with a resort fee.

I'm surprised PL allows the practice of non-Resorts charging Resort fees for two reasons. One, which thereuare implied, is that it is uncompetitive compared to hotels at the same star level that do not charge fees. If the Palm's PL rate is $65 with a $20 resort fee, but 4* Hotel X has a $70 rate with NO resort fee, Hotel X will lose business even though its total cost is lower. In addition, now that PL's booking fee is based on a percentage of the winning bid price, PL doesn't get to collect its vigorish on the extra $20 the Palm charges. Given the inexorable creep of the booking fee over the years, how could PL keep allowing this?

Why isn't the Palm classified as a Resort? It's not to protect its identity because there are other PL Resorts in South Beach.

As for your issue #2, thereuare, that's not unique to the Palm, and $97 + 20 doesn't strike me as the threshhold where that phenomenon kicks in. It's pretty common right now to find very ordinary Holiday Inns and Courtyards in locations more prosaic than South Beach with published rates north of $200.

I haven't stayed there yet, but South Beach is as hot a destination as it's ever been and you can't beat the Palm's location. You can certainly pay a lot more than $97 + 20 a night down there and get less.

[thereuare]

My "resort fees" issue is more of a general nature than specific to Priceline/Hotwire. I agree that if all guests are subject to the resort fee than Pricelne/Hotwire users should pay as well, but in a more global scope... if a fee is mandatory, it should be included in the hotel's (direct) rate. Otherwise, where do we draw the line? Is a $5 resort fee acceptable while a $20 fee is not? What if the hotel decides to cut it's room rate by 50% and institute a $50 resort fee per nite? (obviously unreasonable, but my point is: where do you draw the line?)

My opinion is that Resort fees are really just a way to bring in extra revenue while advertising a lower price than the room actually costs (ex.- i'm certain a hotel would sell more rooms advertised at $89/nite (and then tack on a $20 resort fee) than if they simply advertised those rooms at $109/nite).

My comment #2 above was based upon a review i had read where the user compalined about a $200+ room and didn't get that level of service.

I agree... at these priceline rates (even $100 + $20) it's an excellent deal for the area.

[jluff]

I agree that resort fees should be part of the bid. If they address this on their site that is fine if I am booking directly through the hotel. That way I will not be locked in without having the opportunity to take into consideration these extra fees.

Secondly

[billyblaze]

I agree with the above. tripadvisor is a great source of info, but almost every hotel has a few negative reviews. I currently have a $95.00 a night ressie at the Park Central South Beach. This hotel has mostly good reviews but is far from a 4 star property. The Royal Palm may be a better bet for the money (if I can get it for 70.00 a night on priceline) despite the negative reviews.

[Pitttraveler]

For my booking of the Royal Palm, taxes and fees were $144.95 for 4 nights which I assumed was $20/night resort fee and about $15/night for taxes. Do I have this right? If not, what could be the explanation for such high fees and taxes? If my assumption is correct, does this mean that hotwire always shows you all the fees and taxes before you have to make the purchase decision?

[billyblaze]

I sent an E-Mail to hotwire asking why the taxes & fees were so high for this property. I asked if Resort Fees were included. I rec'd a reply that they are not allowed to tell me how they determine the taxes & fees. They would not confirm that the resort fees are included. As such, I would not book this property on Hotwire unless I was willing to pay an additional 20 a night for resort fees.

[Pitttraveler]

billyblaze:

Thanks for that information. I would have flipped out if I had showed up and they requested resort fees on top of that $144.95.