hotwire/priceline hotel rooms

[Judy]

Is there a trick to booking on hotwire that could avoid getting a room (or studio) with one double/queen bed, but instead get a room or studio with a king or two queens?

How about on Priceline?

 

[markel]

Judy,

While I'm no expert on either you can specify how many will occupy a room on Hotwire (not on Priceline though). If you put in 2 adults, and one or two children (even if only two are traveling) that should accomodate you having two beds. I don't think it affects the pricing, at least it didn't when I booked a room on Hotwire in August.

Mark

 

[jeffmelpsl]

I have always booked and then callled the hotel with the reservation number and asked to have the room 2 bedded. I have never been denied. Also look on biddingfortravel.com before booking and look at what other people pay for the area you are looking for. It is real helpful. All the ask is use their link to book with priceline as i think they get a referral from it. It doesnt affect the user at all. Good luck

 

[DeniseM]

It really depends on the area you are in, and how full the hotel is that night.

For instance, in San Francisco, many hotels only have rooms that sleep 2, in their entry level rooms, and a room with 2 beds is an upgrade, that you have to pay for.

If you absolutely have to have beds for 4, I'd go with Hotwire, or bid on 2 rooms at the same time on Priceline. Or plan to put kids on the floor.

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

One time, we had a Priceline room at the Sheraton LAX the night before Hawaii and we got a teeny, tiny room with only one double bed. That just doesn't work for us at all. They did bring us a cot (finally at no charge). It was a CTA meeting and they were totally full. I have never had that happen otherwise. Recently we stayed at a hotel in Oakland, (not through a discount bidsite) and this place has mostly full beds only and few rooms with king, no queen and one room with two full beds.
Liz

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

On Hotwire sometimes you can deduce which hotel you are being offered from the description of amenities and the reports of hotels received through HW at sites such as betterbidding.com. Then you might be able to verify the room configurations and arrangements.

One time, for example, we were traveling with one of our kids and I was able to deduce that HW was offering me a Courtyard by Marriott, which I knew would have a sofa bed.

 

[b2bailey]

Hotwire and Priceline Reservations

My experience is that the standard reservation is for a room with two beds. More often than not, we have found the King Bed room was the premium room. I think it depends on which is more in demand at that particular hotel at that time. A call ahead is the best bet, but you can't always get what you want, or for that matter, what you need.

 

[DeniseM]

My experience is that the standard reservation is for a room with two beds.

I have to respectufully disagree - Priceline states in their terms that the standard reservation is for 2 people only.

 

[markel]

I have to respectufully disagree - Priceline states in their terms that the standard reservation is for 2 people only.

Denise is right concerning Priceline. It specifically says room for 2 adults. That's why I used Hotwire and put in 2 adults, 2 children. I was travelling with wife and one of our daughters. I did call hotel in advance to request a room with 2 beds. I was given the "we can't guarantee.........." stuff and called Hotwire. They assured me that I would be given a room "with bedding for the number of people requested". They told me that if I had any problems to call them and they would take care of it. This is why I'd use Hotwire.There were no problems at check-in. We had a room with 2 queen beds.

Mark

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

My experience is that the standard reservation is for a room with two beds. More often than not, we have found the King Bed room was the premium room. I think it depends on which is more in demand at that particular hotel at that time. A call ahead is the best bet, but you can't always get what you want, or for that matter, what you need.

I have to respectufully disagree - Priceline states in their terms that the standard reservation is for 2 people only.

I have been using Priceline regularly for about 12 years. In my experience, Denise is absolutely correct.

With Priceline, all that you are guaranteed is a room with a queen-size or larger bed. You can request a room with two beds, and it is up to the hotel to decide how they respond to that request.

Whether the hotel chooses to give you a room with two beds is tottally at their discretion.

On the occasions where I've requested a second bed, I have often received a room with two beds with no problem. Other times I have been told that no switch is possible with a PL reservation, even though rooms with two beds might be available. (Happened to me at a Marriott one time). Other times I have been told that I would need to pay an upgrade fee. And I've also been told that such changes were made only on a space-available basis and nothing was available.

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

Steve, look at my post about the full size, not queen bed. I would think a queen would be minimum for 2 people, but unless it has changed since that time, we were given a full bed and that met the Priceline requirements.
Liz

 

[Tia]

We lucked out once in downtown Denver and got 2 queens in our room via Priceline, but as said you do not know ahead .

 

[LLW]

I like Priceline better than Hotwire because it is usually cheaper. (Actually I go to Hotwire to check pricing first, then go bid at PL with a lower price. If I can't get it then I might go with Hotwire instead, depending on the locale, star-rating, and hotel description.)

I have found that hotels with 2 1/2-Star rating or above on PL usually have larger than full(double)-sized beds. So if you need a bed each for 2 persons you can at least have more space if they don't accept your request for 2 beds. You may pay a little more (sometimes not much more), but you get a nicer hotel also.

You can usually find out in advance if they can give you 2 beds (with the "No Guarantee" disclaimer) by calling.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve, look at my post about the full size, not queen bed. I would think a queen would be minimum for 2 people, but unless it has changed since that time, we were given a full bed and that met the Priceline requirements.
Liz

Liz - you are correct.

From the Priceline FAQ on "Can I request a specific bed type?" [emphasis added]:

If you use our Name Your Own Price® hotel service rooms are guaranteed to accommodate up to two adults. We can only say for certain that the room we book for you is guaranteed for double occupancy, but you may get one king, one queen, two queen, one double, two doubles, two twin beds or any combination of the above. Once your hotel room is reserved, you may contact the hotel to request specific bedding. Special requests are at the discretion of the hotel and subject to availability. Keep in mind that if available, there may be an extra charge payable directly to the hotel. Your confirmed hotels phone number is listed on your itinerary page located on our website.

also see my comments below - reflecting further I realize that I have received rooms with a double bed. Those don't standout because I was traveling alone. so it wasn't an issue.

I have found that hotels with 2 1/2-Star rating or above on PL usually have larger than full(double)-sized beds. So if you need a bed each for 2 persons you can at least have more space if they don't accept your request for 2 beds. You may pay a little more (sometimes not much more), but you get a nicer hotel also.

I'm not sure that's a reliable guide. I've received single double bed rooms at four-star hotels via Priceline.

I think it depends greatly on location. With a downtown urban hotel, where rooms are generally small, the chances of getting a room with a single double bed are probably pretty good.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

On Hotwire sometimes you can deduce which hotel you are being offered from the description of amenities and the reports of hotels received through HW at sites such as betterbidding.com. Then you might be able to verify the room configurations and arrangements.

One time, for example, we were traveling with one of our kids and I was able to deduce that HW was offering me a Courtyard by Marriott, which I knew would have a sofa bed.

Real life example of what I'm talking about.

I have a conference coming up in November. I went to reserve a room at the conference hotel (a Doubletree) through the conference website. Conference rate is $86/night, but when I go to book the conference block is sold out - and the Doubletree now wants between $186 and $250/night.

So I go start checking PL; I go to BiddingforTravel and BetterBidding to see what people are getting. At PL, I can see that people are getting rooms that are far enough away from the conference site that I would likely need to rent a car to get to the conference, which would negate a substantial part of the cost savings.

But when I check the list of hotels and amenities for Hotwire at BetterBidding.com, I can see there are a couple of hotels that show up frequently at Hotwire that are within one-quarter mile of the conference site. So I ask for a Hotwire offer, and I see a 3* hotel being offered to me for which the listed amenities identically match those for a Holiday Inn two blocks away from the conference hotel. Further, there have been no other hotels reported with that combination of amenities at the 3* level.

So I'm pretty sure that the hotel being offered to me is the Holiday Inn two blocks away from where I need to be. So I take the Hotwire offer, and I'm right.

There's no way I could have had that kind of precision with PL. In fact, given the recent reported successes at BFT, it's likely I would have wound up about eight miles away.

I could report virtually identical stories where I have been able to use Hotwire to secure the Radisson in Waikiki, the Islander on the Beach and the Best Western Plantation Hale in Kapa'a.

*******

The point is that if you want to target a specific location, you can often use the listings of hotel amenties on Hotwire to accomplish that. If you have flexibility and don't need to be in a specific location, PL will likely work better for you.

+++++

One of them is not better than the other. They are similar, but still different. When you know the differences you can use whichever one works better in your specific circumstance.

 

[Judy]

I ended up using Hotwire because it would allow me to search for accommodations for more than two people and book a condo. Another thing I liked is that hotwire told me before I committed whether the hotel charges a "resort fee" or has "free parking". Extra fees not revealed ahead of time by priceline can run up the cost significantly.
I found a one-bedroom condo that betterbidding was able to identify correctly for me. Then I went to tripadvisor and read the reviews and to the hotel website to investigate the bedding probability. I had a very good idea of what I would be getting before paying and I got a bargain.
Thank you everyone, for your input.

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

That is interesting about Hotwire. How do you get so you know what amenities describe what hotel?
Liz

 

[Judy]

That is interesting about Hotwire. How do you get so you know what amenities describe what hotel?
Liz

Do a search on hotwire. When the hotel options appear, each will have some symbols. Hover your cursor over each and a description will appear.
Click "continue" and you might see some more.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Never Mind.

-- Never Mind -- ​

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

That is interesting about Hotwire. How do you get so you know what amenities describe what hotel?
Liz

Go to betterbidding.com and look in the lists of hotels that have been reported as offered and what the amenities are for that hotel . If there is a unique match with the hotel that you have been offered on HW, there's a very good chance that is the hotel that HW is offering to you.

Not guaranteed, as a hotel could be added or there might be a change in amenities at a hotel, but it's worked for me pretty good.

Of course, you also have to be willing to accept the result should it turn out the match didn't work in your case. So if it's absolutely essential that you stay at a specific hotel, you probably shouldn't try it.

 

[KevJan]

FWIW, I've used Hotwire quite a bit and never gotten more than 1 bed in a room. Once I even got 3 rooms at the same place but still only 1 bed per room.