Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Priceline and Hotwire - A Comparison

Priceline and Hotwire are not your standard hotel booking sites. Rather than hotels and their rates being clearly visible to the user, for both sites, you do not know what hotel you'll be staying in, until your credit card is charged. Why would anyone use such a service? Because the savings from them can be enormous. Hotels depend on Priceline and Hotwire to sell any remaining rooms which would otherwise go unsold. Both sites act as a middle man between the hotels looking to sell off unsold rooms at discounted rates and hotel bargain shoppers who don't mind not knowing what hotel they'll be staying in.

priceline

When you use Priceline you bid the lowest rate possible on a hotel. You know which general neighborhood you'll be staying in, the star level of your hotel, but not the hotel itself. If you search "priceline bidding strategy" you'll see that there is a way to beat Priceline's bidding rules. Rather than being able to bid 24 hours for a hotel for your desired destination , you can bid virtually when you want for as many times as you want.

PRICELINE

When you use Hotwire, rather than using any bidding strategy, which can get a little confusing for some, the prices are already there for you. Hotwire is indeed more user friendly.

Here are the pros and cons for each site:

Priceline:

Pros: Amazing bargains. You can use a bidding strategy for immediate rebids. Ranks number 2 in customer satisfaction among travel sites by J.D. Power and Associates.

Cons: Not as user friendly as Hotwire, especially if you rebid.

Hotwire:

Pros: Amazing bargains. Named by J.D. Power and Associates as the top travel sites in terms of customer satisfaction.

Cons: This is my personal opinion, but I believe that you can get better deals on Priceline for the simple reason that Hotwire's prices are already predetermined, unlike Priceline where you get to name your own price.

Priceline and Hotwire - A Comparison

PRICELINE

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