http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T15:01:48Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Bidding%20Sites http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2010/3/8/15137/67701 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/21888/bevhiltonexternal.jpg" class="top"><p>You already know that we love <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/hotwire"><b>Hotwire</b></a> long time. But we&#146;re of the &#147;if something&#146;s worth saying, say it again&#148; school, hence we&#146;re going to tell you about our latest bargain. <p>We were in LA this past weekend and were in need of somewhere to stay on Saturday night. Yes, Saturday, the night before the Oscars. Yes, in LA. No, we had little chance of finding anything to suit our budget. Or so we thought. <p>Miraculously, Hotwire, as ever, came up with the goods. We wanted to be in Beverly Hills to increase our chances of sharing the elevator with celebs, and found a 3.5 star for $124, or a <b>4 star for $129</b>. Cross-referencing with <b>www.betterbidding.com</b>, juliab 2010-03-08T09:15:02-05:00 34.0663470 -118.41299 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/11/25/1516/6160 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/22421/2009_11_23_HC___BinFin.jpg" class="top"><p><i>We had our mind on Thanksgiving Turkey which is why we screwed up the name of <b>BidFin</b> in the first incarnation of this post. Everything has now been corrected and all traces of BinFin have been changed. Sorry!</i><p>A few months ago we told you about a way to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/8/31/75720/5646/hotels/How_To_Determine_Hotwire_s_Hidden_Hotels_Before_You_Book">definitively determine</a> which Hotwire hotel you were looking at - cracking the bidding site's opaque listings - by using a combination of TripAdvisor and forums like <a href="http://betterbidding.com/">BetterBidding.</a> The loophole in TripAdvisor that made the technique possible has since been closed, so it's back to just using forums and crossing your fingers. That's less than ideal. <p>Now a new web application dubbed <a href="http://www.bidfin.com/">BidFin</a> is making its way through Omri 2009-11-25T16:45:14-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/8/31/75720/5646 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/hotwirelax.jpg" class="top"><p><b>Expedia Inc.</b> has been on a bit of convergence spree recently. A few weeks ago our sister blog Jaunted reported on how the travel mega-company <a href="http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/4/13265/63769/travel/Expedia+Incorporates+SeatGuru+Into+Their+Flight+Booking+Fun">integrated Expedia and SeatGuru,</a> and in the meantime they've also integrated TripAdvisor and Hotwire. That last part integration has the potential to be particuarly yummy, though not for the reasons Expedia intended (they thought customers would benefit from seeing TripAdvisor reviews on Hotwire - <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/6/15/966/92871/hotels/Is_TripAdvisor_Removing_Some_of_Those_Fraud_Warnings_">not so much</a>). <p>Instead we're excited because the TripAdvisor/Hotwire integration may help Hotwire bidders crack the opaque site's hidden hotels. Hotwire has an interest in minimizing what a customer knows about the hotel being considered, lest they decide that they're not getting a deal and move on.<p> Omri 2009-08-31T09:44:44-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/