Hotwire Hotel: 4* Las Vegas (Strip) Aladdin

[shikr]

On Hotwire,

Hotel: Aladdin

Amenities: Casino, restaurant, pool, fitness center, high speed internet access, business center, golf nearby, tennis nearby, spa services

Star rating: 4

Location: Vegas Strip

Date booked: Thu, Mar 25 - Sat, Mar 27, 2004

Number of Rooms:1

Price per night: $156.00

Total taxes and booking fees: $43.45

Room type: Deluxe

On top of this, I found this same booking on Travelworm for the following costs:

On Thu: 99.95

On Fri: 199.95

According to the DD guarantee -- "For Hotwire hotel rates, the rate that will be used for comparison will be the first rate displayed to the customer after the

customer chooses his or her preferences multiplied by the number of room nights the customer has purchased. For other hotel rates, the rate that will be used for comparison will be the lowest qualifying published pre-tax rate available for each night of the customer's stay."

Since the lowest rate that travelworm posted was 99.95, and since hotwire's posted rate was 156.00, the difference is 56 bucks. double that for the DD guarantee = 112.

This is the real kicker -- since I'm booked for two nights, I get 112 X 2 = 224 in refund.

The total cost of my stay equals 130 or so.

It's good that travelworm posts the rates for each night.

After reading all of your posts on this forum, I really benefited from knowing about the DD guarantee.

By the way, tried using the free bidding process to get the Venetian -- went up to $100, but couldn't get it for Thursday of this week -- sprinb break, but worth the try.

Joe

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Has this been 'approved' by Hotwire (ie- have you received confirmation that you are entitled to the amount you stipulate above?)

I would think that in this situation they will compare your stay total ($312) vs. the TravelWorm total ($300) and give you a guarantee of $24 ($12 x 2).

OR

First nite: $156 rate vs Travelworm's $99 gives DD of $114

Second Nite: $156 rate vs. Travelworm's $199 gives DD of zero

Where did you find the wording above on their Double the Difference Guarantee. I found:

The Double the Difference Guarantee from Hotwire is available to any customer who purchases one or more room nights from Hotwire and finds a lower total pre-tax rate for the same hotel and the same dates...

Which implies that they look at the total for the dates of the stay (scenario #1 above), but your wording implies they'll look at your nightly rate and break it down by day (scenario #2 above). In either event, i don't think you're entitled to the $224 you mention in your first post (but lucky you if you are).

Please let us know the ultimate result.

[shikr]

I'll just paste the e-mail they sent back to me:

"Thank you for your message regarding the Hotwire Hotel Double the Difference

Price Guarantee. Hotwire works hard to get you the best hotel deals. We

hope you'll continue to check Hotwire when planning future trips.

You are entitled to a refund of $224.20. We will issue a credit to the card

used for your Hotwire purchase within 10 business days.

For your review, I have pasted below the portion of the Double the

Difference Guarantee Terms and Conditions that explains how we compare rates

and calculate the refund amount.

All comparisons will be made between Hotwire's aggregate rate for the

customer's entire stay before taxes and booking fees on the one hand and the

hotel's aggregate published pre-tax rates for each night of the customer's

stay on the other. For Hotwire hotel rates, the rate that will be used for

comparison will be the first rate displayed to the customer after the

customer chooses his or her preferences multiplied by the number of room

nights the customer has purchased. For other hotel rates, the rate that will

be used for comparison will be the lowest qualifying published pre-tax rate

available for each night of the customer's stay."

It sounds official, no?

I'll let u know the ultimate results.

[bbbb]

Nice!

[thereuare]

I'm certainly glad this worked for you, but

All comparisons will be made between Hotwire's aggregate rate for the

customer's entire stay before taxes and booking fees on the one hand and the

hotel's aggregate published pre-tax rates for each night of the customer's

stay on the other. (bold added for emphasis)

implies to me that 'aggregate' means that the rules state that they would look at the Hotwire total for your stay vs. the Travelworm total.

Even if this isn't the case, i still don't see how/why you're entitled to the refund for the second nite. Maybe i'm just too tired, but perhaps you could explain it again <sorry>.

Although this may have worked out for you, i don't think that this complies with their actual terms and i don't think we can count on this interpretation of the policy in the future when claiming Double the Difference"

[thereuare]

I'm just adding to this thread because it seems to have caused some confusion in recent posts....

How the above played out is not the 'official' Double the Difference Guarantee! Either it didn't happen as the user says it did OR Hotwire made a mistake by granting this refund. I'm not saying which scenario occurred, but want to avoid confusion for future users.

The easiest way to see how the Double the Difference Guarantee would be applied is to look at the total cost of your Hotwire stay (before taxes and fees) vs. the total cost of your stay if booked thru another source. If the total from from other source is cheaper for the entire length of your stay than you should be entitled to Double the Difference. If only certain nites of your stay are cheaper, then you will not likely have a successful claim.

Bottom line: look at the total price based upon the entire stay in order to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

If you're looking for more info, here are a couple of the other threads where there was confusion but subsequently clarified:

HOTWIRE LAS VEGAS HOTELS

HOTWIRE DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE GUARANTEE