TravelSheryl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2000
Hotwire tells you the daily rate up front, and then you select that rate and Hotwire shows you the total cost of the rental after all fees and taxes are added.
With Priceline, you name your own price. This is an advantage over Hotwire's system, because you can first go to Hotwire and get a price and then try to beat it on Priceline.
The purpose of this post is to let you know that comparing Hotwire's daily price to the price you name on Priceline is often not an apples to apples comparison because the taxes and fees can vary significantly between the two companies. This clearly should not be the case because Hotwire and Priceline should only be assessing the fees they are charged, plus their processing fee (Priceline separates their processing fee; Hotwire includes their processing fee in "Taxes and Fees"). But that's what they do, so we have to deal with it.
When you name your price with Priceline, you are then taken to a screen that will tell you the maximum amount you will be charged once all fees are added. The actual amount may be less, but obviously we have to go by the maximum.
Because Priceline's and Hotwire's fees can vary so significantly, the only way to know for sure if you are making a proper comparison is to compare Hotwire's TOTAL price to Priceline's TOTAL price, NOT the daily rate.
I have seen numerous examples where bidding $4-$5/day higher on Priceline than Hotwire's price will still result in a lower overall cost through Priceline. This is certainly not always the case, but based on information posted on the message board I administer to discuss Priceline bidding, we are repeatedly seeing where people are not bidding high enough on Priceline in order to beat Hotwire's price, so in some cases, they are paying more with Hotwire than they could have paid through Priceline, while thinking they got a better deal through Hotwire.
I will be posting a duplicate of this message on the Transportation Board.
With Priceline, you name your own price. This is an advantage over Hotwire's system, because you can first go to Hotwire and get a price and then try to beat it on Priceline.
The purpose of this post is to let you know that comparing Hotwire's daily price to the price you name on Priceline is often not an apples to apples comparison because the taxes and fees can vary significantly between the two companies. This clearly should not be the case because Hotwire and Priceline should only be assessing the fees they are charged, plus their processing fee (Priceline separates their processing fee; Hotwire includes their processing fee in "Taxes and Fees"). But that's what they do, so we have to deal with it.
When you name your price with Priceline, you are then taken to a screen that will tell you the maximum amount you will be charged once all fees are added. The actual amount may be less, but obviously we have to go by the maximum.
Because Priceline's and Hotwire's fees can vary so significantly, the only way to know for sure if you are making a proper comparison is to compare Hotwire's TOTAL price to Priceline's TOTAL price, NOT the daily rate.
I have seen numerous examples where bidding $4-$5/day higher on Priceline than Hotwire's price will still result in a lower overall cost through Priceline. This is certainly not always the case, but based on information posted on the message board I administer to discuss Priceline bidding, we are repeatedly seeing where people are not bidding high enough on Priceline in order to beat Hotwire's price, so in some cases, they are paying more with Hotwire than they could have paid through Priceline, while thinking they got a better deal through Hotwire.
I will be posting a duplicate of this message on the Transportation Board.
