Hotwire Hotel: 2* Newark (Jersey City) Howard Johnson North Bergen

[Donovan1981]

Hello everybody,

I am first time user of Hotwire from Germany, and although I read many threads in this great forum I probably did a BIG mistake.

I was looking for a room from 5/21 to 5/23 and found a 2* Hotel in the Jersey-Hoboken area. The price was $74 and as it is close to NY I decided to book.

As I booked, I found out that I have booked the Howard Johnson North Bergen Hotel... Many reviews showed me that this is probably one of the worst hotels in this region.

Why does North Bergen shows up in the Jersey City region?

Is there any chance to get this bid changed? In the description of the area it says that PATH and bus transfer is convienient, literally the next bus station seems to be 2miles away from the hotel, PATH is further away. Could that be a reason for a change in the reservation? I am travelling on a budget and I do not have a car. As a first time visitor to NY I thought Jersey City would be a good chance to save some money compared to the prices in Manhattan....

Any help is appreciated and sorry for my bad english!

Stefan

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please include the amenities that were shown before your purchase (still viewable by going to Hotwire and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page) and we will then answer your question(s) above.

Thanks.

[Donovan1981]

amenities are only the shuttle to the airport, nothing else...

[thereuare]

Call Hotwire's customer service and tell them that you are both disappointed and scared about the hotel you received. Tell them that you don't expect the 5* accomodations from a 2* property, but you do expect it to be clean and comfortable, something this property is not based upon the reviews at TripAdvisor (give them the URL to see for themselves)

I would start with the above and see if they will refund or switch the property. (don't ask for this right away, see if they offer anything first, but if they won't budge then ask them if they will switch the property if you pay the difference for another Hotwire hotel).

Let us know how it goes.

[Donovan1981]

ok, thanks for the infomation. I hope my english is not limited for a complaint...

I will let you know how it went.

Thanks so much for assistence!

[Donovan1981]

I just called them and they said that it is not possible to change the hotel cause they have to give their hotel partners a chance to make my stay enjoyable. A switch to a different hotel can not be made, the reviews on tripadvisor might be bad, but the hotel could have been changed until then. When I check-in and I find those reviews to be true, I should call them and they will find a solution with the hotel manager.

To be honest, I am really concerned about going there... Maybe thats just the money a newbie has to pay!

Any suggestions?

[dahammer]

PS, Your english is just fine :)

[dahammer]

I just read the Tripadvisor reviews of this property. All 13 reviews were negative, not a single positive review. I would contact Hotwire customer service and complain once again and mention that you will purchase a room in an adjacent area for the same dates of travel, they might charge you a fee of about $25 to do so. Good Luck

[Donovan1981]

I contacted them again and they replied:

"Due to this information, we will research these complaints for you.

Please allow up to 7-10 business days to complete this research, and we

will contact you with the results."

I will keep you updated.

Thanks for your assistence!

[Donovan1981]

I just got an email from hotwire which says:

We are contacting you about your upcoming stay at the Howard Johnson

North Bergen. We regret that the hotel is not able to offer an airport

shuttle for this reservation. We periodically review our representation

of our hotel partners' amenities for the most accurate and up-to-date

information and have made a change to our Web site to reflect the

current offerings of the Howard Johnson North Bergen.

As such, we would like to offer you the option of either canceling the

reservation for a full refund, or keeping the

reservation and receiving 85.98 in HotDollars good for any future

purchase on the Hotwire Web site.

woo woo!

I canceled and booked now a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Funny that they blame it to the missing airport shuttle...

But thank you very much, thereuare and dahammer!

[dahammer]

Excellent!! I would...."take the money and run"!!

Can you please post the results of your Midtown Manhattan reservation? Dates, Name of Hotel, Room Rate, How did you make the reservation? Danke!

[TravelGuy]

Funny that they blame it to the missing airport shuttle...

I think they agreed with you that you ought not to have to stay there, but that it wouldn't be a good precedent to allow a cancellation based on poor tripadvisor reviews, so they conveniently found another reason they could hang their hat on.

[Donovan1981]

The hotel is still listed, I wonder what they will blame it next time to.

They changed the amenities for the Howard Johnson, it shows no longer an airport shuttle, but complimentery breakfast and laundry facilities are now listed.

@dahammer: I just posted my winning hotel (Paramount- better small rooms than roaches you have to share with). Bitte sch