Hotwire Hotel: 3* New York City (Times Square - Theater District) Washington Jefferson

[aragain]

Amenities

* Free Internet

* Smoke Free Rooms

* Fitness Center

* Restaurants

* Self service laundry

Hotline claimed standard price: $149

Actual price on hotel's web site: $92

Price had I booked through hotel: $109.07

Total cost booked through Hotlwire: $105.27

Savings from Hotwire: $3.80

[AaronJB]

Sorry to hear that the deal was a disappointment, although this property is well-located. The "retail price" is not the exact detail price of the underlying hotel, it is a compilation of prices of similar hotels in the area for your date/s.

Hope the hotel will still work well for your travel plans.

Thank you for letting us know about the change in amenity set for this HOTWIRE property so that we can update the site's Hotwire Hotel List.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.

[aragain]

Thanks. I actually complained to Hotwire about their inflated "regular" prices the last time I booked a Hotel. Their reply:

"We calculate the savings our hotel rates offer by comparing the hotel's published rate on other travel sites during your stay to the hot Rate offered on the Hotwire site. Hotels offer varying rates to travel sites depending on the room type, dates booked, and reservation policies and so Hotwire compares hot Rates to the reservations that are as close as possible to the reservations offered on our site. "

It is of course true that rates vary but for Thursday none of the travel sites I could find quoted rates anywhere near the base rate of $149 they claim for the WJH.

Now for this WEEKEND you can't get a room there for less than $300, but that's because of the fans in town for a football game in the Meadowlands.

[thereuare]

The savings are based upon an average of rates for hotels at the same star rating and in the same zone... not for the specific property you're being offered.

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

[aragain]

That's not what Hotwire said to me.

At the moment for Times Square for 1/30 on offer is:

*** Standard $139 Hotwire $75 - 46% off!

***½ Standard $127 Hotwire $94

That would mean that the average rate for 3* is more than a 3½*. I don't think so.

It gives the misleading impression that the 3* is a good deal. It's not.

[thereuare]

That would mean that the average rate for 3* is more than a 3½*. I don't think so.

I can show you many examples of higher rated hotels costing less than lower rated hotels for the same dates, it happens all the time since each hotel determines rates based upon their own supply/demand (ie- occupancy levels) for a given set of dates.

Easy example:

4* hotel with 200 rooms - no conferences booked for a given weekend, 100 rooms booked/100 rooms vacant

3.5* hotel with 200 rooms - hosting two business conferences and a wedding, where most attendees of each are staying overnite... of the 200 rooms only 20 remain available

Given the scenario above, you could easily see the 3.5* hotel cost substantially more than the 4* hotel for the same set of dates.

However, to address your original issue, direct on the HOTWIRE website in reference to their price comparison:

Savings based on median published rate we've found on leading retail travel sites in the last 24-48 hours for the same neighborhood, star rating, and stay dates.

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

[aragain]

The same neighborhood not the same hotel? That means the number is meaningless.

I checked the rates a this hotel after reserving on Hotwire on an aggregator site and found:

Himpmunk $97

Expedia $93

Travelocity $93

Hotels.com $94

Getaroom $104

PRICELINE $110

Booking.com $110

While all were more than the $92 on the hotel's own web site, none were close to the HOTWIRE regular price.

Now having stayed at the hotel, I can say that for seeing a Broadway show the location is great, just a few blocks from most of the theaters. The hotel has been nicely renovated, especially the sleek bathrooms.

The "Standard Queen" room is the smallest I have ever seen. It's small even for a New York City 3* hotel. The bed was comfortable but there is not another piece of furniture in the room. While the hotel does have a restaurant as advertised it's not open for breakfast, there is no coffee maker in the room (no surprise there) and there no coffee service in the lobby.

[AaronJB]

The rate is for "comparable" hotels in the same neighborhood for the same date/s (the "fine print" on the HOTWIRE website: "*Savings based on median published rate we've found on leading retail travel sites in the last 24-48 hours for the same neighborhood, star rating, and stay dates."). Glad to hear that the stay went okay - this property is certainly in a terrific/convenient location, I've walked past it in NYC previously.

Sorry to hear about room size, but nice that the hotel was recently renovated.

Thanks for the follow-up review.