Hotwire charges higher 'booking fees' than Priceline (no, not talking about resort fees either)

[Fragbert]

Ever since I started paying attention to Priceline's "Express Deals" I have noticed that the bottom-dollar price of hotels advertised on Hotwire are higher than Priceline for the same rates/dates. The price difference is solely in the 'taxes and booking fees' tacked on when you are about to book your room.

 

I frequently travel to NYC on weekends (Manhattan only), and you all can take for a look for yourselves on the many Manhattan hotels offered on both websites for the next few weekends (fri and sat night) where they are offered at the same exact price (or within a dollar or two), however when clicking through to the final booking stage, the hotwire final price is going to be $15-$20 more! Take for example next weekend - 7/18 checkin, 7/20 checkout, a 3.5* in the financial/wall st district for $130 on Priceline and $132 on Hotwire (most likely the Club Quarters / World Hotel @ WTC) results in a final tally of $322.72 from Priceline and $338.67 on Hotwire - a $16 difference. Why? Hotel taxes are the same throughout NYC and easy to calculate, and these are not resort fees. The difference is the discretionary "booking fee" lumped together with "taxes and fees".

 

I'm a Hotwire "Express" customer (still not sure of the value just yet), so I called their 800 number to question this and was told I would get a response from a manager later. At this point I'm not really sure what use Hotwire has for me if I can get the same hotel class in the exact same area, at the same rate....for less money?

[thereuare]

It would be appreciated if you would 'close' your previous Hotwire NYC thread with whatever you ended up doing for that trip, as well as share any recent purchases you may have made.

As far as your comments above, each company has their own booking fee and can charge whatever they would like (just as each can use their own criteria to assign a star rating to a hotel). As with any purchase (travel or otherwise), compare the total cost to determine if it is a good/your best deal and make your purchase decision accordingly. Fortunately the 'all-in' rate almost always better than you can get anywhere else.

Our BiddingHelper.com is designed so that you can easily compare rates to choose your best deal (and compare to 'retail' named hotels too)

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

[choctaw1990]

Well, I don't know about New York but everywhere else I've tried to use Hot.wire vs Price.line I've discovered that Hotwire, on their "secret rate" hotels, has prices so much lower than Priceline that the difference in taxes is almost a moot point. Right now where I'm staying, through Hotwire, I'm getting at $24/night (weekly) and the lowest offer on Priceline for what I assume must be the same place is like $37/night. (Now, this Extended Stay America has a monthly rate of $562 through their own "Extended Stay Plus" program but I don't know who you'd have to kill to get into that program...granted, this is in a part of the country in which, for example, I walked in to a Super 8 which had previously advertised in the newspaper a weekly or monthly rate and got asked where I was "from" as in they wouldn't let "locals" in...I practically bit their heads off on that one because in this part of the country every where I go I'm getting treated like everyone thinks they're a bloody IMMIGRATION agent with the "where you from" every time I say pretty much ANYTHING to anybody....) 

 

...let's see: $24/night versus $37/night, multiplied out weekly...yes Price.line's taxes are probably lower out here too but when the room rate is THAT MUCH LOWER through Hot.wire it becomes a moot point.