by Camilla Persson

Created on: February 18, 2010

With the Internet came a number of new outlets for people to purchase goods and services which they required. Previously, most people had to go to a standard shop and pay hefty fees for their items. This was very true for the travel industry, where the travel agents could charge their customers premium prices and add-ons for their products. As the Internet grew, a lot of different sites popped up, selling travel-related products. Hotwire is one of the more known sites and one that seems to have made a good name for itself. They are not like many other travel web-sites, as you will not know exactly what you are buying. This is how it works.

Hotwire quickly got known as the site where you could book great bargains with a twist. What differentiated them from other travel sites was that you were not told with what company you were buying the product until you had made your choice and paid Hotwire. Does it sound strange? Well, in reality, this works in favour of the customer. Hotwire bought up cheap flights, hotel rooms, car rentals and vacation packages etc, that the companies couldn’t sell themselves. The companies could not advertise that they had problem filling their hotels or flights and had no way of discounting them away, so they turned to Hotwire. As Hotwire kept the identity of the companies hidden until the purchase was made, there were no high discounts advertised for a certain chain or airline out in the open.

You might now think that Hotwire is a site that keeps its consumers completely in the dark, but that is not true. Hotwire provides certain details for you to be able to make a good judgment on whether or not you want to buy the product. If you are looking for a hotel for example, Hotwire will provide you with the star rating of the hotel, the amenities as well as tell you in what area the hotel is located. Hotwire also provides a list of hotels that are available in a particular star category. Once you have decided to go for a certain option, you pay Hotwire and as soon as the payment has cleared, you will receive an e-mail confirming the name and address of the hotel.

It used to work the same for hotels, car rentals and flight, however, customers were particularly unhappy about the fact that they could not identify the airlines that they were going to fly with, and so had to forgo important airline miles if they used the Hotwire websites for their purchases. Hotwire listen to the complaints and decided to alter their strategy. Nowadays, you will see the airline name before buying the ticket and so will be able to use your frequent flyer cards to collect valuable miles.

It is important to stress that although this is a great site for finding bargain, it is by no means the only site to look at. Not all of their prices are the cheapest and you would be very wise to shop around. If you are looking for a good 4 star hotel for a 2 star price, this is one of the better sites. If you are looking to book a holiday well in advance, there might be other sites out there that suit your needs better. Hotwire’s biggest competitors are sites like themselves, Orbitz and Priceline being just two out of many. As with everything, shop around and you will reap the reward.

Learn more about this author, Camilla Persson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.