Hotwire Hotel Stars Rating

[Teddysan]

A few years ago before Hotwire was owned by IAC Interactive, Hotwire was a partner with either Expedia or Orbitz (I forget) and they each had a link to the other. I booked a 5 star on Hotwire and got what was a 4 star on either Expedia or Orbits. Other ratings agreed with Expedia or Orbitz. I stayed at the hotel and it was a nice hotel, a good solid 4 and definitely not a 5.

Hotwire would not acknowledge their errors.

The only other time I used Hotwire was when I was able to CLEARLY know what hotel they were offering and find that it really was the lowest rate by any other avenue (excepting Priceline which was unclear).

Now that Hotwire is owned by IAC Interactive, since I live in NYC I can sue them in small claims court if they were to try the star inflation game that they did a few years ago with the 4 star hotel.

[thereuare]

Please share your previous wins with the board (hotels, star ratings, and amenities)... many will still be viewable by clicking the MY ACCOUNT link on the top right corner of Hotwire's home page.

I also don't think you would have any claim, as their star ratings conform to what they describe on their site (admittedly, no matter how vague that may be). As there is no universal star rating system throughout the industry, each company is free to rate hotels as they see fit... and just because two companies have the same parent does not mean that they need to share the same criteria for rating properties.

It certainly is in Hotwire's interest to rate properties as consumers are likely to perceive them, as when buying an opaque product, trust and truth in advertising is the only way to stay in business in the long run.

[Writer]

Are Hotwire star ratings equivalent to their partner, Hotels.com's star ratings?

Or are there differences?

[ufjoe21]

across the board, star ratings tend to be similar, but don't count on them to match

[I regret the inconvenience]

Even though Hotels, Expedia, and Hotwire are owned by the same company, they've each got their own set of star rating descriptions. And that's all star ratings are, subjective discriptions. Guess what, if Hotwire decided to list their description for 4-star hotels as: has a bed; then all their hotels would accurately be 4-stars. What are you going to sue them for, that they secretly don't believe their own star rating system? Guess who's the only one who can tell you what Hotwire really believes? Hotwire.

And for a run down, here's the standard Hotwire hotel review process (when there isn't any special exception):

1. Starting star rating (from where ever, maybe it's what the hotel said they are)

2. Collect the star ratings for this hotel from about 6 major travel sites, average this.

3. Is the Hotwire rating within 1/2 star of the industry average? If not, change it to be.

4. Are there any special considerations for giving this hotel an extra 1/2 star bump up? If so, bump up.

5. Is the final amount higher than the highest star rating collected in step 2? If so, lower it to match.

And guess what, nobody actually visits the hotel and nobody's opinion enters into it, unless maybe when coming up with the original original star rating for the hotel.