Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* Paris (St. Germain-Latin Quarter-Montparnasse) Villa Luxembourg

[dddane]

Villa Luxembourg

121 Blvd Du Montparnasse

Paris, 75006

France

Listed as 3.5 stars, Latin Quarter - Saint Germain des Pr

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Can you please add the date of the above stay so we can add it to the topic title.

Thanks.

[dddane]

Sorry :)

the stay is 1 night, March 2nd, 2006.

I would edit the above message but I don't actually see any edit button (and I am logged in...).

...An update to the price match issue... I found the booking for 100 Euro ($118 USD) AFTER tax/fees on several other sites. Hotwire.com's before tax price is about the same ($116) and after taxes/fees is $137, so for those who flunked math that's a $20 difference if you estimate the before tax rate on the $118... Plus hotwire.com advertises they will double the difference.

Unfortunately, I can't find any site that advertises the before tax rate. Many of the European travel sites ONLY give the all inclusive rate with the taxes in. I found sites that do give the before tax rate too, but they are more expensive... I e-mailed laterooms.com and they said they are unable to break it down, for whatever reason. Hotwire.com replied saying to fax a screen shot of the before tax rate to them within 48 hours. Hotwire KNOWS getting the before tax rate isn't always possible. They ask for something they know you can't always get. If you ask me they're running scammin'! Anyone have any additional advise on what to do? Also, they seem to be pretty adament about a "48 hour" window in all of their e-mails... (I'll post this in a thread in the questions/answers forum, since this isn't immediately related to this forum other than it was a "won" booking I was posting)

[dddane]

I posted a winning bid for a room in Paris two nights ago... Hotwire rate was $116 USD, after tax/fees $137. Immediately after I found it for 100 Euro INCLUSIVE of all taxes and fees on two web sites (laterooms.com and deminia.com). Many of the European travel sites ONLY give the all inclusive rate with the taxes in. I found sites that do give the before tax rate too, but they are more expensive...

The other issue is that the 100 euro rates also include breakfast, and I'm not sure that the hotwire one does (I think it saw somewhere that its 13 Euro/Person extra x 2 for 2 ppl).

So the other web sites are CLEARLY cheaper. Not only that, this particular hotel is listed as 3.5 star on hotwire, but many other sites list it as 2. (Mismatch of star ratings for European hotels is very common, though, so I can ignore this). But it still annoys me since I could've just ordered the room and actually had a say in where I stayed at. I really thought that Hotwire was giving me a deal, and it clearly did not.

I e-mailed laterooms.com and they said they are unable to break it down, for whatever reason (I'm pretty sure they weren't doing it because I'm not a customer--I actually did make another reservation for my other 3 nights in the same e-mail). I submitted my hotwire.com price guarantee by estimating what the pre-tax rate was. Seeing as how the European site is also in EURO instead of USD, even knowing the pre-tax rate would still be an estimation.

Hotwire.com replied saying to fax a screen shot of the before tax rate in USD to them at 1-262-364-2419 within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Hotwire KNOWS getting the before tax rate isn't always possible. They also know that a European site will not always put it in USD. They ask for something they know you can't get. If you ask me they're running scammin'! Anyone have any additional advise on what to do? Also, they seem to be pretty adament about a "48 hour" window in all of their e-mails... (I'll post this in a thread in the questions/answers forum, since this isn't immediately related to this forum other than it was a "won" booking I was posting)

[thereuare]

It's very clear i their terms that the comparison will be on a pre-tax/pre-fee basis, so unless you can find a cheaper rate i don't think there is much Hotwire can do as there is not a clear figure on what the refund should be based upon. In this situation i think that Hotwire is "within their rights".

[dddane]

but the point is they advertise they have the best price policy, when in this situation they CLEARLY do not. They've purposely designed a policy that excludes a huge percentage of web sites from being able to compete with their prices.

But yes, I agree, its a bit foggy as to how much they've been beating by, but there is no disputing that they were more money. They're in the hotel business, it wouldn't be hard for them to know what the VAT and taxes in Paris are.

Also, I posted question this in the question/suggestions forum, since it was not related to the winning bids forum. That post now has magically disappeared. Its not in that forum, its not in my "last 10 posts" ...Do you know who is responsible for this? Deleting posts that were relevant and in the appropriate category is just plain rude. Especially when done without explanation.

[dddane]

One more update... and cudos to Hotwire.

After my e-mail accusing them of being scammers for purposely designing a policy to exclude many of their European web competitors, they just sent me an e-mail stating "You are entitled to a refund of $32.." ... So I guess persistance has prevailed, despite their shady price guarantee policy... :)

[thereuare]

I am responsible for your other post being deleted... i considered it a double post (which we don't allow) as it contained the same information as above. As well, since your Double the Difference claim didn't conform to their stated Terms, it was more specific to this actaul stay and not a change or deviation from their policy.

In a perfect world every user whose post is deleted or edited would be contacted, but there simply isn't the time to do so. Running this board, which i'll remind you is free to use yet does cost money to run, is already a tremendous time commitment and to have to contact each user as you suggest would only add to this committment and take away assisting users who are awaiting help for their upcoming stays. You could have also used the board's private message system to ask the above as we reply to all PMs sent to us.

Thanks for your feedback and for the follow-up... glad that Hotwire came thru to your satisfaction.

[anyway]

I used Hotwire in Florence last year, found better rate elsewhere (including tax), just subtracted the italian VAT from it and submitted. No questions asked, got double difference back.

[dddane]

just an update on the hotel itself, if anyone was wondering :))...

we loved the villa luxembourg! the room was above average in every way for paris... it wasn't all that "parisian" (small, vintage, etc...), but wasn't like an american chain hotel either.

They upgraded us to a balcony room for free, without even thinking about it... the balcony was great, and with 2 chairs a bistro table, a full size lounger, and various herb garden boxes it was pretty sizable even. the room itself was clean, modern, and pretty decent sized (...it was bigger than any other parisian room i've been in... and I think that the "non balcony" rooms are a little bigger, since they come out to the edge of where our balcony was). There was also a full size bath/shower, which is somewhat unusual for paris and is something we paid $30/night extra to have in our "second hotel"

The hotel turned out to be in a great location.. we were skeptical because we weren't familiar with it, but the area was lively all day and night, with plenty to do in the immediate area. there were lots of great restaurants within blocks (5 or 6 within the surrounding block), many of which were open late night too. The metro was less than a block away, RER was about 3 blocks..

Our second hotel was in the heart of st germain, and there was more to do and eat in the area around the villa luxembourg.