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Hotwire Hotel: 2.5* Houston (Aldine - Bush Ictl Airport IAH) Extended Stay America Houston - Greenspoint


purplelotus
By purplelotus,
in

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Total cost:    $70.95.

 

Amenities:  free parking, free internet, free breakfast, fitness, pet friendly, pool , self-service laundry

 

Showed TripAdvisor rating of 4.5/5 but no customer rating

 

 

Won this hotel yesterday.  I think it is a new hotel.  Am not happy -- and I'm understating my emotions.  When I went  to book the hotel, a pop-up came up that said the last person who booked got the "LaQunita Inn& Suites".  This has happened to me before, and I got the hotel in the pop-up.   That is the hotel I wanted since it is nice and very close to the airport.  I've stayed there before.   Extended Stay is quite a drive -- maybe 7-8 miles. whereas the LaQuinta is maybe 2 miles and has a shuttle.   I did check the reviews, and the Extended Stay has been renovated and gets mostly good comments.  I don't like the chain;  they only have queen beds (or make you pay extra for 2 doubles in my experience) , and the breakfast is pathetic.  I am also very surprised that this hotel rates a 2.5 star, but it does.   I wonder if Priceline would give it a 2.5 star.  AAA gives the LaQuinta 3 diamonds but doesn't rate the Extended Stay.   I've never seen an Extended Stay with 3 diamonds in AAA.   They get 1-2. 

 

I called Hotwire this morning when I'm more rational -- and I have a special number since I'm a good customer -- and explained to the rep that I realize Hotwire followed all the rules, but I think it is :"sneaky" and "misleading" to show the pop-up and not get the hotel in the pop-up.  The agent was pleasant but could not do anything for me, eg, a partial credit or change the hotel.   He said if I called after I stayed, they could block the hotel so I would never get it again.   However, it is exceeding unlikely I will need a hotel in this area anytime soon so that doesn't offer me much.  I did question the rating, and he said it was just reviewed on 3/14.   He did note my comments on the opo-up, but I seriously doubt anything will be doen about them.  So, I just want people here to know that the pop-up is far from  a sure thing.   Such is life.  

 

We will just blow the hotel and the $71.   I thought about checking it out, but it's out of the way on my drive to the airport.   I have a hotel booked with points across the street from the LaQuinta so I will just use my points, stay there, get a king bed and a better breakfast, and  eat the $71.   So I will be unable to review the hotel.    Equally bad, I think I forgot to use the BB link.  Sorry.      At least something good could have come from my money.  

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Sorry to hear of your disappointment with this one.

As i'm sure you now know, note that the 'Last Person received ____' info is in relation to the star rating and zone, not the specific hotel currently being offered.

While i can understand that you may be inclined to 'forfeit' this stay, given the 4.5/5.0 TA rating i might be inclined to give it a chance, and arrive late and leave early. (i know of at least one other user who previously disliked this chain, but recently had some good experiences at two different locations)

Thank you for sharing the purchase with the board and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

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

Good luck with the stay if you decide to give it a try.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Getting there late and leaving early doesn't solve the problems with the breakfast, the distance from the airport,  no shuttle, or the queen bed.   Besides I have time to kill which I planned to spend at the hotel since I don't like to drive in rush hour.   Offhand, do you know which Extended Stays people liked?  I'm curious.   I'll read the posts if you tell me which ones they are.    I used to stay at the chain about 5-10 years ago, but then gave up on it after several bad experiences.    And I still think it is sneaky of Hotwire to do that, and I'll probably give them less business because of this.    The 2.5 star rating is highly variable based on this experience.     I just checked Expedia;  the hotel only gets a 3.5/5 rating there, but it does get 2.5 stars.   I'm inclined to go to the hotel, check it out, and if I find something wrong, call Hotwire.  But I probably wouldn't find anything so it could be a waste of my time.

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It was a PM exchange, not a post on the board, but it was in reference to the ESA in Secaucus, NJ (and i re-read the message, he said that he is beginning to like the chain... but that his wife probably wouldn't).

If you have the time i would try to check it out and give HOTWIRE a call if you find any issues... they are usually more apt to providing a refund/credit if you at least check out the property first.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Here's an update:

 

1.  Thanks for your comments on the Extended Stay in Secaucus.  We have stayed in Secaucus many times  (50% of the price of New York even including the cost of the bus ride in) , and I have seen that hotel.  My recollection is it is only rated 2 stars so I was able to avoid it if I bid 2.5-3 stars.  I wouldn't have stayed there although it is right on the bus route so an excellent location.  And my husband does have different (lower) standards although it must be clean, and the last few Extended Stays we stayed at were not.  I live within about 3 miles (different directions) of 2 Extended Stays in the  Houston area so I may wander over to one sometime and check it out.   Don't know what those are rated now.  We've stayed at both many years ago (7-10), and they were borderline fine then (about the bottom we would stay at) , but I'd be hesitant to recommend them again unless I checked them out.     

 

2.  I called the Extended Stay hotel the night before the stay to inquire about the pool.  I thought this might be a way out..   The front desk agent told me the pool wasn't available because it was too cold and the ph level wasn't right according to city inspectors.   I called Hotwire, the Hotwire rep called the hotel and talked to the same agent and rebuffed me telling me it was too cold to swim even if the ph level was acceptable, pools are specified as seasonal so ph level didn't matter, etc..    He was nice about it, but I didn't pursue it for $71 and further, I didn't think I'd get anywhere even though I thought my point was valid.  Some people do swim in cold water, but this pool was unusable due to sanitation problems. 

 

3.  My husband was able to get on an earlier flight due to a nice United agent not in the US (a plug for United overseas even though service is generallly so-so in the US).  She didn't charge him a fee and gave him an aisle seat in Economy Plus (he did qualify for it because it was an upgraded award ticket).   So I canceled our free night hotel reservation  and drove home even though I dislike driving long distances at night.  

 

4.  I didn't bother checking out the Extended Stay before I picked up my husband because it was several miles out of the way I was driving to the airport,  I dislike driving, and I figured I'd be wasting my time besides because it probably would have met the Hotwire requirements. 

 

 5. I did check Priceline.  They only rate the Extended Stay I won 2 stars, and it gets a 7/10.  Given the other lower customer ratings, the Trip Advisor rating (4.5/5) seems overly generous, and I wonder if the hotel is telling people who are pleased to go on TripAdvisor and give it an excellent rating.   This happened to a friend of mine at a Priceline hotel in Connecticut;  they asked her to do that when she praised the hotel at check out.   This would skew the ratings higher.   There's also the possibility of phony reviews.  But maybe it is very nice.  I'll never know unless someone I know stays there. 

 

6..  If you or anyone else on the board has any thoughts/comments/similar experiences about Extended Stays,  Hotwire customer service, overly generous ratings, etc, I'd like to hear them.   

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Your post is very interesting for me. I have been a frequent Hotwire user over the years and use Priceline with even more frequency.

 

I have been noticing a change with Hotwire over the past two years. I have had a couple of wins where the reported Trip Advisor did not match.

 

I most recently had have had an incident where after I clicked the button, Pay this amount, they changed the amount on my billing on the next screen and they insisted on a screen shot of the price. I provided it

and they then did not reply. When I complained again, they finally replied that they would remove the extra charge, but it might take 3 months or so, but I could get dollars to spend again with them right away.

 

I also won a hotel in Madrid that has been on the Hotwire list here for years and they showed it having just 18 reviews and 100% recommended now.

 

 

Now, the issue you have pointed out with this hotel is interesting. A December 2012 post states, 'What a transformation" Almost all the reviewers of this hotel with Trip-Advisor have only one review posted. Then, also very odd, is that this hotel

has every single post getting a helpful vote. This inflates there rating. While if I was Trip-Advisor, I would research a property with this many single review posters and all with helpful votes, there is another issue.

 

Trip-Advisor and Hotwire are owned by the same company. It seems hotels can now re-set their Trip-Advisor rating somehow. I wonder if this hotel really did just open in 2012 and find it odd that all the reviewers have been so helpful. I have about 80 Trip-Advisor posts out there and in years have only 50 or so helpful votes.

 

While it does not help you, I had figured out this was this hotel by using a Hotwire foreign site. There they tell you over how many reviews a hotel has. This hotel says 25+ reviews on the international websites.

 

The American Hotwire website does not provide this feature. So, if you know a foreign language, you can get one more piece of info prior to booking.

 

Thanks for your post. Unfortunately, it will only help those looking at this particular zone, but it seems to be happening all over with Hotwire. 

 

Well, another point is that the 3 star currently on Hotwire also shows a 4,5 rating but is a Comfort Suites that is even farther away.  I know that as it shows only 60+ reviews on Tripadvisor through Hotwire international sites.

 

 

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Thanks for your insight.   I, too, use Priceline more than Hotwire.  I think their ratings are more accurate, and from reading other posts on this board, I think most contributors would agree.  I didn't know that a lot of those TripAdvisor reviewers were single posts.  That now confirms my theory that the rating is biased on the upside.   It's also something else to check in the future.    I did a little more research on this hotel;  Orbitz, like Priceline, only gives it 2 stars.   There was only one review on Orbitz, and that person gave it a 1/5!  Travelocity does give it 2.5 stars with 4/5 rating based on 2 posts.

 

  I've generally had reasonable service from Hotwire agents -- never had a pricing problem like yours.  I think a really nice Hotwire agent would have refunded or relocated  me based on the pool, but I thought the chancers were low.      I have  received a couple of small credits when I complained about hotels after my stay.  That was several years ago though;  in one case, the A/C wasn't working in the hallways in the middle of the summer and the hotel was rundown.

 

  I did call Hotwire yesterday, and they did block the hotel.  So I will not get it on a future stay.   They even sent me an email confirming this.    Thanks for the warning on the Comfort Suites.  That's another chain I'm not that fond of.   

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I am trying to book a hotel in Aldine - Bush Ictl Airport IAH area. 

I am getting a 2 star property for ~$42-$45 secret, with the regular crossed out rate as $81.

The amenities listed are:

Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Self Service Laundry.

 

I see that the hotel has 113 reviews. 

So when I search on TripAdvisor the only hotel in the area with 113 reviews is Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Intercontinental Airport South

 

But what is confusing me is that on Hotwire they don't list Airport  Shuttle as an amenity, but this hotel has it and I require it.

 

Do you guys think it will be this hotel?

Or which other one is the possibility? 

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Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

 

Please start a new thread with the details of the listing and we would be happy to take a look and try to ID the listing.

 

The number of reviews are the number of reviews from HOTWIRE customers. If you click on the listing, click on "buy now" on the detail page and then click 'see all' on the amenities box, you should see all of the amenities. If shuttle is not showing then shuttle is not a guaranteed amenity.

 

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

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