Hotwire Hotel: Help with San Diego Hotels

[Vikki_G]

Hi everyone!

I've checked through the San Diego hotel listings but am having difficulties in identifying quite a few of the hotels coming up on Hotwire for our trip in September, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

3* La Jolla $79

Near beach, smoke free rooms, fitness centre, pool, restaurant, high speed internet access, golf nearby, tennis nearby

4* Downtown / Harbour Island $99

Smoke free rooms, fitness centre, pool, restaurant, business centre, high speed internet access

These amenities look like they match those in a post regarding a recent win for the Westin San Diego at a similar price, but on the main hotel listings post "smoke free rooms" is not included for the Westin so I'm confused!

3.5* Downtown / Harbour Island $104

Boutique, fitness centre, restaurant, business centre, laundry, high speed internet access, spa

2* Gaslamp Quarter / Convention Centre $156

Complimentary breakfast, business centre, laundry, high speed internet access

3* Gaslamp Quarter / Convention Centre $159

Bed choice, airport shuttle, restaurant, business centre, high speed internet access

Our travel dates are 27 September to 29 September 2010 (p.s. I know Hotwire is usually better for bargains closer to the date of travel, but after a recent success story for our stay in San Francisco I thought I would have a quick look for San Diego too!)

Also, I've noticed a few people mention using trip advisor ratings to identify Hotwire hotels but have not seen these - can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Vikki

[AaronJB]

The tripadvisor rating - if visible - is at the bottom of the detail page for the listing (it'll show the TA logo, then a tripadvisor rating image (for example 3.5/5) then sometimes the number of reviews. Many times no TA rating at all is showing.

If a listing is not showing on the hotel list, it has not yet been reported to the board/ID'd.

I'm guessing the 4* Downtown is likely the Westin showing a previously unreported smoke-free icon. The 3* Gaslamp may be the Ramada. I'm guessing the 3* La Jolla is the La Jolla at the Shores. Not sure regarding the other two, although with a 4* $99 option, a 2* for $156 does not seem too ideal.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchase.

[Vikki_G]

Wow that was quick! I had the same thoughts about the 3* La Jolla funnily enough but can't decide how that location would work for us. If the 4* Downtown for $99 is the Westin then I would definately ignore both the Gaslamp locations as the Westin would be fine for us - I'm just not sure how confident to be!

What are your thoughts on the 3.5* Downtown being the Sofia Hotel? I am quite new to the process so am not 100% sure I'm looking at this the right way, but if I do vacation packages for the same dates the only 3.5* properties which are not large chains (one of the amenities is "boutique") are the Hotel Indigo and the Sophia, and the Indigo as far as I can tell does not have a spa. As someone with a little more experience of these matters, does this seem like a reasonable deduction?

Oh, and thanks for the info re. Trip Advisor ratings - I will have a closer look but if a lot of hotels don't show these then at least I'm not just being completely blind!

[Colfax]

I am quite new to the process so am not 100% sure I'm looking at this the right way, but if I do vacation packages for the same dates the only 3.5* properties which are not large chains (one of the amenities is "boutique") are the Hotel Indigo and the Sophia, and the Indigo as far as I can tell does not have a spa. As someone with a little more experience of these matters, does this seem like a reasonable deduction?

I haven't tried ID'ing the 3.5* but I'll mention that Hotwire Vacation Packages are powered by Expedia, which means they use Expedia's rating system, not Hotwire's.

Hotwire and Expedia are owned by the same company but I'm not certain they always assign the same ratings. Until someone else confirms I wouldn't assume a 3.5* in Hotwire Vacation Packages is also a 3.5* in Hotwire's "hotel only" product.

[thereuare]

The amenities for the 4* above are common, but they do match the Westin San Diego, as does the Tripadvisor information, so that would be my best guess for this one.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

let us know how it goes.

[Vikki_G]

Thanks for your help so far.

As we are still in the process of deciding exactly which dates we will be in San Diego (depends on how many days we stay on our trip down the coast) and what exactly we want to do during our time there, I am going to leave off booking this part of the trip for now. Once we have decided on our definate plans I will update here with our final decision & outcome if we decide to go the Hotwire route.

[AaronJB]

Please let us know when your dates are confirmed and if you have further questions. Also, please do let us know what you decide, and thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links.