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Travelocity Joins the 'Secret Hotels' Pack

March 22, 2010 at 4:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

Selling "secret hotels" and holding "private sales" have been all the rage in the first few months of 2010 as options for finding a hotel room for less. So far we've got Jetsetter, Tablet Hotels, Kayak and Quikbook. Now we can add in Travelocity to the mix.

Michelle Higgins at the NY Times reports that Travelocity has unveiled its own Top Secret Hotels that are up to 45 percent off the rack rate.

It works very much like Hotwire's blind booking operations in that you don't know the hotel but you do know the location, a few amenities, a star rating and the price. After you pay, the hotel's name will be revealed.

Travelocity definitely needed to introduce this feature to keep up with traveling Jones so to speak and especially since lately, Travelocity has not been yielding any spectacular deals. But still, the competition might be too tough to overcome.

Personally, it would be hard for us to take a risk on these Top Secret Hotels when we feel as if Hotwire gives better descriptions about the property and its amenities. Travelocity didn't even have amenities for some properties listed in Vegas. Others, only had one or two.

Plus, we also have sites like BetterBidding.com who are devoted to the results found on Hotwire and Priceline. This enables you to narrow down what the hotels might be before you click "Book" and are thus charged in full. Priceline even goes a step further offering you the chance to negotiate your own price, making it more attractive to bargain hunters.

We're not dismissing Travelocity's new booking options just yet and we are super stoked about having another place to score deals but it just needs something else to make it more attractive, discount rates aside.

What do you think of Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels? Have you booked a room through this service? How did it go? Tell us in comments below!

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