Travelocity top secret hotels

[cap]

Will betterbidding.com cover the new "Top Secret Hotels" by Travelocity?

This new service works a lot like Hotwire.

[mesillagirl1]

I noticed that Travelocity now has top secret hotels. Do you plan to include these in the forum in the future and has anyone booked a top secret hotel yet?

[thereuare]

This has actually been out for awhile, launching a few months ago very quietly, but i'm aware they just move forward with a 'full announcement'. I gave Travelocity another quick look with their 'official launch' and i suspect their product will mature/evolve over time.

I'll look deeper into their product as time permits over the next few weeks and think about if/how to do this.

In the meantime if anyone purchases a "Top Secret Hotel" from Travelocity please report in a reply to this thread.

[SocialAdept]

The lack of 5* hotels is somewhat disappoining and Travelocity offers nowhere near the same number of destinations as PRICELINE and HOTWIRE. Still, as mentioned above the service will probably mature and expand.

[Gallus50]

Per my understanding of another post, if Travelocity grows this program, it will look very attractive. It seems as though their fees are a lot less than Hotwire's. Where HOTWIRE seems to charge approx $13 - $15 in fees, Travelocity may be charging $5. Iding may be tough, but the lower fees sounds good to me.

[SAILSKAT]

I'm doing a last minute trip and decided to give Travelocity Top Secret a try because the HOTWIRE rates were a little high this week and I've been a little skittish on Ft. Lauderdale on PRICELINE because I keep getting the Hyatt Pier 66 whenever I book a 4 star through them and I don't love the location.

I always come here to use your links for HOTWIRE and PRICELINE because you provide such a great service so I was hoping that you guys had picked up some Travelocity Top Secret info and I found this thread.

I too was concerned about the very large area on the map. For Hollywood FL it showed all the way up to Pompano Beach with Hollywood being a very bottom. However, when I did the search I noticed that the Top Secret hotels showed the actual town name for each hotel so that narrowed things down a bit. Then I went through and looked at their "regular" hotels and compared the ratings with the top secrets. It does say that they change the decriptions to hide the hotel. I was looking at 4STAR/4Smiley Faces and found that the hotel I saw for $87 per night on a Friday and Saturday matched almost exactly for 10/11 rating points for the Westin Diplomat. It wasn't even close for any of the other 4Star hotels so I took a chance and booked. I got the Westin Diplomat on the beach for $87. (They changed one rating point, kid friendly, from a 4.5 to a 4).

Something else to note - it says 45% off regular rates and the regular rate for Diplomat the same time was $159 - 45% off was $87.45 - so it was right on the money.

I hope their inventory grows and that in the future you'll have a Travelocity link.

[thereuare]

I always come here to use your links for HOTWIRE and PRICELINE because you provide such a great service...

Thanks. We're glad that the board has been helpful to you and appreciate you using the links here for your purchases. It would also be appreciated if you shared your wins with the board so that the information can best help other users, just as you have been helped by the posts of others :)

...and that in the future you'll have a Travelocity link.

We do have a Travelocity link... just check the support page

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the date(s) of your purchase of the Westin Diplomat as well as the amenity icons shown by Travelocity before your purchase.

Thanks.

[deejub]

The Travelocity Top Secret Hotels do look promising on my search as well. Looking at Charlotte NC, University Place area, 6/17-6/19, listing in each case the per night rate followed by the total cost including fees for the two-night stay:

Travelocity: 3*, Traveler Rating 4/5, Pool, Non-Smoking, High Speed Internet, 50.60/117.64. Ratings by category (e.g. Staff and Service, Room Quality, Activities, etc.)perfectly match Holiday Inn Charlotte-University Place, and no other property, assuming the traveler ratings are consistent across Travelocity

Also, 3*, Traveler Rating 3/5, Non-Smoking and High-Speed Internet, 46/106.96. Except that the traveler rating is 3.5/5 on regular Travelocity, the ratings perfectly match Candlewood Suites Charlotte University. (Of course, Travelocity says it's non-smoking in the summary, but lists smoking rooms to book.)

Finally, there's a 3* at 68.95/160 that is almost certainly the Wingate -- again, the ratings match perfectly.

Hotwire: 3*, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, High Speed Internet, Business Center: 59 per night/142.73 total cost. This, too, is looking like the Holiday Inn.

also: 2.5*, Fitness, Laundry, High Speed Internet, Kitchenette, 54/131.13 -- Could be Candlewood, TownePlace, or maybe Residence Inn.

Priceline: I can't get it to accept 50/124.30.

I'm not yet sure I'm going to book any of these this time -- but on my search as well, Travelocity has Hotwire and Priceline beat.

[thereuare]

I'm not yet sure I'm going to book any of these this time...

If the above are the best deals you're able to find, what is your gameplan for this stay?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. (or Travelocity)

[deejub]

I'm holding until Tuesday. I've recently learned that there's a small chance the trip could be canceled; I'll know for sure Tuesday. If it's not, I'll make the call then -- first seeing if the bidding on Priceline's gotten better, then checking Hotwire and Travelocity.

[deejub]

Since I tried last week, the Travelocity deals stayed the same, but the PRICELINE deals got better. I've posted the priceline accepted bid in that area.

[Colfax]

I puchased my first Travelocity Top Secret Hotel this week---the Menlo Park Inn in Menlo Park, CA.

It was $59.51 at Travelocity Top Secret. Same hotel was $59.00 on Hotwire. But TTS seems to have lower service fees than Hotwire so I went with TTS.

Travelocity Top Secret: $59.51 + $6.67 tax/fee = $66.18

Hotwire: $59.00 + $12.86 tax/fee = $71.68

I saved $5.50 by using TTS over Hotwire. Not stellar but I'll take it.

[pammee80]

DO NOT USE Travelocity TOP SECRET HOTEL!!

I reserved a room through their website.. however, when I tried to check in, they did not have my reservation.. even after I showed them my confirmation number from Travelocity and that my credit card had been charged. The hotel gave me a room anyway but I had to give them my credit card again for security reasons. Travelocity customer service assured me that they will fax the hotel my reservation and get it straightened out so that I will not be charged again.

It

[ScrwdGuest]

DO NOT USE! They screwed me!!

I book my hotel through Travelocity Top Secret Hotel at the Crowne Plaza Corobici in San Jose Costa-Rica. The shown rate was 109$ CAD per night plus taxes and booking fee. But still when they gave us the hotel name, they would still tell us Top Secret Room so we couldn't verify what was the actual rate.

Later my brother decided to come with us in Costa-Rica and book directly with the hotel 10 days before check-in and paid 96$ USD which at the time equals about 91$ CAD. He didn't go through any booking website, didn't had any special discount and yes, it was the regular room rate.

You guessed it, when we got there, we had the exact same room, right next to each other (and no, there wasn't any "corner room" or any difference at all). When I contacted Travelocity to tell them, they basically told I had the best rate available to public, the one the hotel disclose to me was a privetaly negociated rate with Travelocity and that I shouldn't have known about it. But since they 'appreciate me doing business with them, they would offer me 25$ discount on my next trip.

I told them again, that the hotel didn't disclose to me any negociated rate, It just happend my brother took the exact same hotel at the exact same date with the exact same room and paid grossely 40$ less than me without any special discount.

Thats where it gets frustrating, since if I tought the first time they just didn't understand right, they contact me back with the same bull. There was no misunderstanding they just didn't care. I wasn't supposed to ever find out.

Travelocity offers a guarantee, If you find a lower rate, they will give you the difference back or let you cancel your trip AND give you a future trip discount of 50$. When I told them about that, theyr answer was that I was supposed to call in advance, and that it was my problem if they didn't show the room type. And even today, the room type isn't shown online.

I refused the 25$ (anyway where can you book a night with 25$???).

[thereuare]

While i understand your frustration, you have to understand that hotel pricing is dynamic and rates for the same nite(s) will fluctuate, both up and down, over time based upon hotel occupancy levels.

At the time you booked $91 may have been a very good deal for your dates of travel. Over time, the hotel may not have received as many bookings for your dates (or received more cancellations then they expected) and at the last minute lowered their rate in an attempt to attract last minute business (at which point your brother booked). I don't know the terms of Travelocity's price guarantee, but if as you describe, if you had contacted them at this point, i'm sure they would have honored their guarantee. All best rate guarantees i've seen require you to show proof before your stay, as they want to verify the lower rate, and this can only be done before your travel dates.

Other then feeling you paid too much, hope you otherwise enjoyed your stay.

PS- we don't allow hotlinking to images on the board, and prefer profanity be kept to a minimum. :)

[Matthew]

So far I've used it three times. Once when I was bidding in a small zone near Grand Rapids MI, and was almost 100% certain it was the HI Express that my roommate wanted. It was a big discount at $63.14, and I tried bidding in that zone for up to the total price of the Top Secret listing, but couldn't get it accepted.

The next time I was trying to find a nice hotel for my Mom in downtown Chicago, and Travelocity had a low price on a 4*. I grabbed it since I was too busy to wait for the bidding process and she was already in town. The hotel ended up being the Hilton on Michigan Ave, which was nice enough. Not close enough to the stuff she wanted to be close to, but it was good for last minute. I got it for $95.46.

Then last week I needed a room in Chicago and wanted a nice hotel. It was already past 11 pm, so I quickly looked at Hotwire and Travelocity. I found a 3.5* in ORD for $66.50 after tax, way better than anything I found on Hotwire. I grabbed it fast since it was getting so late, and ended up with the Crowne Plaza, which is actually listed as a 4* on Travelocity. I found that interesting since I deliberately wanted to get something less than a 4*, hoping to wind up with free parking. Although Crowne Plaza does charge for parking, they do have quite a few handicap spots out front that are free - I was very happy! It was $101.87 less than retail.

I have noticed that I rarely see anything more than a 2 or 3 star hotel in Top Secret. It makes me wonder whether some nicer hotels don't reveal their true "star" rating, especially since the 3.5* was actually a 4*. I look at the list of retail hotels and Travelocity lists too many in the 2* zone especially. I think I would use Top Secret more if they had a 2.5* zone as well. Most Top Secret hotels are 2* from what I've seen. Sometimes the rates are ridiculously low, I saw one for $29.59 after tax, and taxes were only $3.05 so obviously Travelocity isn't charging fees like Priceline and Hotwire do.

[Gallus50]

We got a Top Secret hotel outside Savannah in January. The place was ok for a decent price (Wingate by Wyndham for about $42 or so).

The drawback was that we wanted to be north near the airport and the listing said this was an airport hotel. It was actually some distance south, nowhere near the airport. So when we wanted to walk around downtown before we got back on the road, we had to backtrack. Don't know why they were so off about the location and don't know if this happens very often.

Their fees do seem to be a good bit less than HW and PL, as mentioned.

[jamesl]

I used the Travelocity Secret Hotel today. The ratings and amenities match up 100% from the secret hotel and their hotels on the Travelocity website. 100%! They even had double amenities listed on both. There was no question what I was getting.

It turned out a good deal as well. HOTWIRE and PRICELINE were jacking me by about a $100 more for the 3 nite stay.

Past posts mentioned issues with distance. This hotel did say, 'near Jackson Square (NOLA),' which turned out to be 5 blocks 'near.'

Hope this helps.

[RNJ]

2 star - Top Secret Hotel Near Van Dorn Metro in Alexandria

Days Inn Alexandria

110 S Bragg St West

ALEXANDRIA VA US 22312

Booked at $48 per night plus $10 tax and a $1 fee. Not very happy with the property based on reviews and is only $10 cheaper than the advertised price on Days Inn website.

Furthermore, it's not anywhere near walking distance to the said Van Dorn Metro in Alexandria. I am going to try to get my money back. At worst, I'm only out of $58 as I doubt I will be staying there. Wish me luck. (Something told me to stay with HOTWIRE and PRICELINE. Lesson learned). :(

EDIT TO ADD: GOT A REFUND ! =)

B)

[thereuare]

Glad to see you were able to work it out with Travelocity.

[das_ubersoldat]

I have been looking for a while on their site but where can I find these top secret hotels?

 

EDIT: Found it. The trip can be 7 nights max.

[AaronJB]

The "Top Secret" deals on Travelocity are now powered by HOTWIRE.

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.