[ANALYSIS] Booking a Hotel Room on Hotwire.com
Hotwire.com is starting to catch on as a popular and more affordable way of booking a hotel room. Hotwire also works a lot like Priceline.
See also:
How it works
Hotwire asks you to pick your destination (name of the city), the check-in and check-out dates, the number of people in your room. Hotwire then lists out the hotels that match your choices with the prices with TripAdvisor ratings and amenities that the hotel offers.
Just like with Priceline, you will not know the name of the hotel that you are bidding on until you pay for it.
Pros
If you have done your research on the market prices, then you can potentially save a lot of money by bidding on Hotwire.
You get the pay the price that you want (or can afford) and not a penny more.
Unlike with Priceline, you will end up with the bed arrangements that you want.
Cons
If your bid is accepted, the reservation is non-refundable, non-transferable and non-cancelable.
You do not earn hotel points when you are booking with Hotwire.
Conclusion
Be sure to research well or else your bids will rarely be accepted. Personally, I am not a big fan of Hotwire or Priceline. I prefer earning hotel points, especially to earn elite statuses with hotels.
As usual, do the calculations and do what works best for you. Just know that you always have options out there, such as Hotwire, Priceline, etc.