Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* New York City (Madison Square Garden - Hell's Kitchen) Distrikt Hotel New York City, an Ascend Collection Hotel

[Flight Delta]

02/10 - 02/11

These are the amenities:

Free Internet

Smoke Free Rooms

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

Internet access

Accessible for the blind

Accessible for the deaf

Accessible path of travel

In-room accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

Accessible bathroom

Roll-in shower

And here's why it's a scam.

This is the super deal from Hotwire "reg $144"

Rate per night: $96.00

Nights:1

Rooms:1

Taxes:$11.02

Occupancy tax:$8.30

Fees:$11.24

Subtotal:$126.56

Trip total:$126.56

But when I went to the Hotel's website I found this:

Distrikt Hotel Website

Arrival:2/10/2014

Departure:2/11/2014

Length of Stay:1 Night

Room 1:Grandview Doubles

Guests:1 Adult, 0 Children

Best Available Rate:103.55 USD

Subtotal:103.55 USD

Taxes & Fees:18.77 USD

Estimated Total Cost:122.32 USD

Hotwire has a 'Low Price Guarantee' but since their rate is technically $96 (although they make up for it in the mysterious "fees" which even the hotel doesn't charge) and the hotel's rate is $103.55 even if the grand total from the hotel website is lower, there's no 'Guarantee' - just a plain old rip-off.

[thereuare]

Sorry to see you're disappointed in the result and this wasn't much of a deal.

If you look on HOTWIRE's website they do indicate that the crossed out rate is not necessarily for the specific hotel offered, but rather an average rate for hotels of that star rating in the zone:

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.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and feel free to ask the board for help before your next opaque purchase and we will try and help you obtain a more desirable results and discount.

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

Enjoy your stay (on the bright side the hotel does get excellent reviews).

[Flight Delta]

Yeah, a company like HOTWIRE is bound to have small print covering everything possible.

What irks me most though is the fact that they really fooled me. Regardless of the hotel outcome I was always sure there's some sort of discount by using Hotwire. Being more expensive then the actual hotel website is a new low (or high...)