The one discount travel site that *actually* can save you $50 a night on hotels.
I’m quite a skeptic.
You might know this by reading my articles, or maybe you know me personally. I don’t believe much that I read as far as discount travel sites go. I feel like they are either posting discounted rates as their own under the guise of “50% off!” (Hotels.com) , or charging hidden fees (I’m looking at YOU, Expedia!)
...but this site actually advertises some truth, and it’s absolutely worth looking into.
I’ll cut to the chase: Hotwire.com.
The annoying Hulu commercials where a person puts his or her finger in front of the name of a mini replica hotel and it suddenly changes the room price; Have you seen it? It got me thinking, is this a gimmick?
I looked it up. It’s not.
The concept: Buy a hotel room without Hotwire revealing its name and save 20-40%.
I imagine they can do this by charging a flat rate based on neighborhood and hotel class. It may be a good deal, or it may not, but the average is the same for Hotwire.
...but it seems it’s almost always a good deal for the buyer. (Not sure how they profit, but that’s none of my business...)
I looked up a hotel in New Orleans because I’m planning a trip there in the spring. Sure enough, the Hotwire mystery price was a dang good deal.
To confirm, I researched another trip I’m planning this year: San Diego.
(I was intrigued that you can get a hotel for $13/night in Tijuana, interestingly enough, but that’s not the point here).
In the gaslamp quarter (highly recommended) I found a mystery price hotel on Hotwire for $111. It was a 3.5 star hotel in a location central to gaslamp quarter. This is the district with great restaurants, bars, shopping, and a little train to Mexico (obviously).
Hotwire has a new feature where it will tell you 4 possible hotels where your mystery room is guaranteed to be booked. I used to have to scout through TripAdvisor and compare photos to figure out the Hotwire mystery hotel but now it’s SO easy! They give you 4 hotels it could be. Look them all up on TripAdvisor! Make sure you like them all and that their locations are ideal for you.
When I researched the cheapest price for all 4 suggested hotels for my $111 gaslamp quarter hotel, they were all $145+ a night.
It’s real. I compared prices on multiple hotels for multiple cities and you can really save $50 a night on a 4-star room. 3 star and 2.5 star rooms are featured too, but I wouldn’t trust much lower-rated than that.
The catch? Well, I couldn’t find one. All taxes and fees were accounted for. If you are a stickler for the location of your hotel central to your activities (as you should be), then this method could be problematic. Some of the hotels you might get could be further from your activities or friends/family. You want to research in google maps where each hotel is located before sealing your fate.
Otherwise, Hotwire seems like a great place to *actually* find a good deal!
happy travels!!!
Stephanie
