Hotwire Hotel: 4* NYC (MTE) Millenium UN Plaza

[markforbes]

Hello

I just wanted to post so that everyone is aware that hotwire is not always the best deal.

We booked Nov 1 - 4 and got the millenium UN plaza at $369 per night.

New york is soooo expensive at that time and this is to be our first visit. Excited after our win to find how much we saved immediately we checked the hotel website both to see all about the hotel and see how much we had saved.

It was a huge disappointment to see that the hotel website offered a rate of $359 per night and that far from saving anything our mystery hotel had cost us more than if it were our 1st choice.

I submitted a double the difference request within an hour of making the booking but emails from hotwire are not reaching us.

As we are not receiving any emails I didnt know how to progress so I called the international number and had a long conversation with a very pleasant representative but concluded that they would not pay the double the difference as they could not verify the lower rate. All in all we are left with a sour taste, maybe its our own fault for not researching more. When I did research I found tales of hotwire rooms being lower standard than regular rooms so we'll just have to wait and see.

We're still going to have a great stay in New York and i hope its appropriate to post this message here

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Of course your message is welcomed here... we welcome all experiences as there are risks involved with the opaque providers and only be hearing both the positive and negative can users decide of it's right for them.

When did you make this purchase... as i just searched the Millennium website and showed no availability for your dates. Was the $359/nite rate that you saw direct from the hotel's own website?

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with the outcome and i'm assuming you found this forum after your purchase, but hopefully the information here will help you have a more positive experience in the future if you choose to try the opaque suppliers again in the future. If you choose to do so feel free to ask for help before your purchase.

Can you please also add the amenities shown before your purchase. You can still view these by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY STUFF link near the top of their home page.

Also, as a side note, i always recommend users staying in this area go to Ess-A-Bagel for breakfast (Third Ave at 51st St)... one of the best bagels in the city and makes for a good, inexpensive, breakfast while blending in with the locals.

Thanks again for sharing your experience... enjoy your stay.

[markforbes]

Thankyou for the welcome!

I made the booking on Friday Sept 7th and the hotels own website was offering $359 per night. We only went to the website to check out the hotel and thought it would be fun to see how much we had saved!

It really is a very small difference its just that it was so totally unexpected...

The facilities advertised are Fitness centre, Pool, Restaurant, Business centre, High Speed Internet, Tennis nearby.

Since discovering this board i found other sites which suggest that hotwire rooms are the worst available in the hotel. I can only hope this is not the case. It is meant to be a special occasion for us, would you recommend calling the hotel and paying for an upgrade?

We'll certainly take your bagel recommendation!!

Thank you again for the advice

[ValleyGirl]

Hi,

I just wanted to ease your worries a bit. My husband and I just came back from a 3 night stay last Sunday at the Millenium UN Plaza. We booked through HOTWIRE. The check in went very smoothly. There was no mention of Hotwire... just that it had been prepaid. We did check in earlish (10am) but there were no rooms available yet. I asked if it was possible if we could request a room with a view of the Empire States building and downtown, and asked if we could have something higher up. I asked this specifically, because I read on trip advisor that the rooms were better in the West tower in comparison to the East tower (although when I phone about this before our trip, they said that the East tower was the one that was most recently renovated). The West tower was the one with the views of the river and the Empire States Building. I also asked about corner rooms and she said that it was an extra $50 per night for that. We decided that we didn't need a corner suite.

So we left our luggage with them, and came back later at around 5pm to get our room. We ended up with a room on the 38th floor (top floor) in the West tower, with a great view of downtown, the river, the Empire states building and Crysler Building. The room was a good size, the king sized bed was comfortable, and had a really wonderful view. The only couple of things that we not the greatest was that there was a bit of mildew between the tiles in the bathroom and the tub didn't drain as quick as it could, and an intake vent in the room looked like it could be cleaned better as it was dirty. But overall the room was fine. I also read some of the reviews and worried too. I was glad that we had no problems.

I also took thereuare's advice about the Ess-A-Bagel (but went there for lunch). It was great, full of locals. Great bagels, great variety of cream cheeses, and a tasty filling bagel sandwich. I also used the HOTWIRE link.

So keeping my fingers crossed that you have as pleasant a stay as we did.

[thereuare]

ValleyGirl,

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Glad you enjoyed your stay (and the bagels :) )

Can you please add the details of your results as a NEW TOPIC... including the price paid, dates, and amenities shown before your purchase. You can still view all of this info by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY STUFF link near the top of their home page.

Also, feel free to copy/paste some of your comments above to the Hotel Review forum as it will be seen by more people as this thread makes its way off the front page of the NYC Forum.

Thanks!

[markforbes]

Thankyou very much for taking the trouble to ease my concerns.

Its all a 40th birthday gift for the wife and we have purposely never before visited New York. I have booked to see hairspray and the colour purple, which are shows she is particularly keen to see.

My confidence is increasing and we're not particularly demanding guests, who knows we might even be able to catch a glimpse of the New York marathon before checking out on the sunday. I checked the routing and it looks quite close by.

Our arrival time will be the opposite of your own arriving at kennedy airport on British Airways around 9.30pm I don't expect we will arrive at the hotel much before midnight once all formalities are complete.

Thanks again for your guidance

Mark