Hotwire now has European cities

[WillTravel]

Thereuare mentioned on another thread that Hotwire now has some European cities. I checked London, Paris, and Rome for random dates.

I can't see this will be very advantageous in most cases. For example, why would anyone pay $104 for a 1* room for one adult in the Kensington zone, when you can generally get a double room in a 4* hotel in that zone for around $75-85 on Priceline?

I checked the dates I'm going to be in Rome, and none of the prices were competitive. The Central zone is huge, and the prices can easily be beat for the same star level through other sources.

In Paris, there seem to be a at least several hotels that supposedly have self-service laundry facilities. In fact, that's a very rare feature, so I can't help but think there's a weird linguistic issue. I'm wondering - if you did purchase one of these hotels, and didn't like it, could you get out of it if there wasn't a self-service laundry (which there almost certainly isn't).

Another odd thing - With Paris, Hotwire seems to have zones that are almost exact (or maybe exact) copies of what Priceline's zones for Paris are. The London and Rome zones also looked pretty close. Even the names are the same. Who approved this, I wonder?

Another problem is that most European hotels, at least at lower price levels, do not have any distinct amenities. So a Complimentary breakfast icon, or no icon at all, might be about all you can expect for less than a 4* or 5* hotel. And that seems to be the case for a lot of the hotels.

[LoneStar]

I can't see this will be very advantageous in most cases.

Given hotwire's "reputation," I'm shocked. :)

FWIW, the Entertainment Book does have a $30 off coupon (see the general hotwire section of this board), so maybe that might help -- especially if you can somehow use their "package" feature to identify your hotel (but do they have European "packages" yet?).

[WillTravel]

Some European cities are listed in the Packages dropdown list. When I gave it a try for random dates and for a particular city (Rome), I was told there were no packages available for that time period. But yet there are hotels offered in Rome for that time period. Previously, before this new feature was added, I have tried checking airfares on Hotwire, and then been offered the chance to get one of several hotels also. But given the fact that most hotels list no distinguishing amenities, matching up with package offerings would be very risky anyway.

[karebear]

Has anyone had experience with Hotwire in booking international hotels? I am specifically interested in Barcelona. I am curious as to how accurate the star ratings are since I have heard often that there are discrepancies between American ratings and European ratings.

Thanks :)

[karebear]

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on how accurate the star ratings for European hotels compared to American hotels. Is a 3star in Europe considered the same as a 3star in the US. I am specifically curious about Barcelona?

Also, are the hotels booked through Priceline/Hotwire chain hotels???

Thanks so much!

[WillTravel]

The Priceline ratings for a 3* hotel in Europe are a little different than a 3* hotel in the US. But keep in mind that the ratings don't tell the whole story - they don't tell you how big or clean or modern your room will be, for one thing. But you can see that a 3* hotel in the US is guaranteed to have many more amenities than a 3* hotel in Europe.

I don't know much about Barcelona, except that many people are unhappy with how the zones are drawn, which makes it quite likely you will get a hotel in a less desirable area.

Many Priceline hotels in Europe are also tour bus hotels, and because these hotels want space to park buses, these tend to be somewhat outside the historic city centers. There are many well-located Priceline hotels too, but this problem with outlying hotels is worse in some cities and some zones than others.

I'd suggest you look at http://www.venere.com and http://www.bancotel.com for starters.

============

3* hotel - US

The most recognized name brands and quality independent hotels in the industry, these hotels feature high quality rooms and well-decorated public spaces.

Along with all of the amenities of a moderate-plus hotel, 3-star hotels offer a higher level of guest service, a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and in-room dining. A fitness center may also be available.

3 Star hotel examples:

The hotel brands shown below are for example only and may not be partnered with priceline.com. You may get another name-brand or independent hotel of equivalent quality.

[karebear]

It seems like most of the hotels are owned by major US hotels. Do you think that is still the case or they are using more local hotels?

Any tips for Barcelona? I tried doing a 'search' for Barcelona, but I kept getting an error. I wonder if I am doing something wrong.

[Tburr]

I use Hotwire to book hotels in London, and I have always been very satisfied. It was in the area they said, and the quality of the hotel was the * value. The rate is always signficantly lower then the hotels website. I always us hotwire or Priceline for London and am never disappointed.

[thereuare]

Maybe you could look at your profile in both Priceline and Hotwire and add some of your winning results to the board... it would certainly go a long way in regards to Hotwire since availability in European cities are relatively new there.

[Chris26WI]

In Paris, there seem to be a at least several hotels that supposedly have self-service laundry facilities. In fact, that's a very rare feature, so I can't help but think there's a weird linguistic issue. I'm wondering - if you did purchase one of these hotels, and didn't like it, could you get out of it if there wasn't a self-service laundry (which there almost certainly isn't).

Most of the Choice hotels in Paris (comfort) do indeed have self-service laundries in their houses (coin operated washers). See b. ex.http://www.choicehotels.com/hotel/FR263 - under "hotel services" it says "guest laundry".

[ShibuyaJon]

I've been out of the loop so forgive me if this has already been noted...

Prague (TONS of ZONES!!!! )

Berlin (three zones)

probably others

it is also funny because they list Split (Croatia ) and part of Yugoslavia (which of course it once was but someone at hotwire needs to read a history book!).

HW might have some advantage in a few cities, like Prague where it has more zones than PL.

[WillTravel]

It's true that in general Hotwire seems to have a lot more zones than Priceline, which is very good for pinpointing your location better than you usually can with Priceline.

[mcgervey]

My experience has found that Hotwire doesn't have anywhere near the deals you can score on Priceline. But, I also agree that in some places it's easier to more establish your location or even the hotel you're going to get, depending on the side of the market, on Hotwire.

Across the board though, all the hotels I've gotten on Hotwire are considerably more money than the same hotels when I've gotten them on Priceline.

And the "deals" I have gotten on Hotwire, calling them deals just because they were at least $30-40 cheaper than the "rack rate" at high quality hotels, have seem to creep up a bit over the last 6 months or so. It could just be hotels I look at on Hotwire, because a few are the nicest hotels in the areas I visit.

Priceline is just far more useful to me as a frequent traveller wanting to do it cheaper so I can travel even more still!

Every $10 or $20 saved is $10-20 more I can stick into hotels on another trip!

PS...I'm still looking for cheaper Ireland flights, Shannon preferred, in October if anyone has any tips! Probably buying tickets next week. The best deal, without bidding, seems to be cheap tickets at about $466 all inclusive, pp. I'm probably going to try some bidding before I do that though, so if anyone has done Ireland off Priceline just into the offseason in the fall, PLEASE contact me! :)

Peace everybody!