I found a new website called, Hotwire Revealed. Have you tried it? It removes the cloak from Expedia’s Hotwire opaque hotel bookings.
As you know, both Hotwire and Priceline do not reveal the name of your hotel until after you’ve paid. That just doesn’t work for me, even though it is possible to select an area, star rating, and other amenities.
For competitor Priceline, the sites Bidding For Travel and Better Bidding (which also works with Hotwire) attempt to reveal the possible names of properties you will be getting.
Hotwire Revealed attempts to simplify and improve on the clarification process through its database of hotels listed on Hotwire. Once you see a property that interests you on Hotwire, transfer its location, star rating and list of amenities to Hotwire Revealed to see the name of the hotel. Like Bidding For Travel and Better Bidding, Hotwire Revealed relies on user submissions.
Tip: If you have several hotels with the same star rating, it’s the list of amenities that will help to separate them. For additional help there’s a short “How To” video to watch when you’re on the Hotwire Revealed site.
To give you an idea of some of the Hawaii hotel deals I found, I looked at September dates on Hotwire and then used Hotwire Revealed to find the hotel name. How do these prices and hotels sound to you? While some were only fair, others are top notch deals.
Big Island
Kauai
Maui
Oahu
Give it a spin and let me know what you think. I’ll definitely be trying it again for my travels.
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wbpiii (1 year ago)
I don’t think it is a very exacting way to determine resorts. I would not risk my vacation on this site.
Jeff (1 year ago)
The sites that help sort through Hotwire and Priceline work as advertised in my experience. Anyone else care to chime in?
Aloha, Jeff
Fred (1 year ago)
Great concept – horrible execution. I am looking for a hotel in Maui and it has worked 1 out of 10 times so far. Most of the time I enter the correct state and location – and no hotels even show up. Not to mention 1/2 stars cannot be input.
Jeff (1 year ago)
Hi Fred,
Thanks for your comment.
We kicked the tires and tried every option associated with Hawaii accommodations and encountered no problems. 1/2 stars do work – just try hovering over a star and move the mouse slightly left or right to achieve it.
Aloha, Jeff
Deb (1 year ago)
If you correctly use the information on the forums listed above you will have great success with Priceline and Hotwire. I have used them to book 4 trips and knew exactly what I would most likely get by “blind bidding” and knew how to figure out how much to bid. Two of the 4 trips were to hawaii- one to Maui and one to Oahu. You must put the time into doing this research if you want to be successful using hotwire or priceline. If you cannot decide yourself to doing the necessary “homework” these sites are not for you and you will either bid too much or get something you were not expecting.