The One with Hotwire

I live for a good deal.

It's hard for me to fork over payment for anything without being 100% certain I am getting the lowest possible price.

Even if the difference is 15 cents.

This philosophy of mine definitely comes into play when I'm booking hotels for various trips.

I have had success with Expedia.com but my favorite hotel and flight site is Hotwire.com.

Kevin and I will be heading to Cincinnati this Friday for a 4 day conference.

The National Youth Workers' Convention.

I can hardly wait!

Nearly two months ago I set out to find us a fabulous hotel for a great price.

Hotwire wasn't really coming through for me at that point.

So I ended up booking with Expedia.

The hotel seemed nice enough.

Something along the lines of a Comfort Inn.

A two-star hotel, which is the "class" I am used to.

However, I started getting worried as I read and re-read "traveler reviews" of this particular hotel located 15 minutes from the Convention Center.

I knew it would be fine for a night, but three?!

I wanted to be especially comfortable.

This was going to double as some fantastic time away with my husband too.

I kind of wanted a hotel a step up from my usual choice.

Luckily, Expedia allows for cancellations so I wasn't afraid to check around.

Again.

Sunday night I headed to good ol' Hotwire.

Sure enough I found what I wanted.

A three and a half star hotel 0.0-0.7 miles from the Convention Center.

When booking through Hotwire, you don't know the exact hotel until you've confirmed your trip.

Nor is your trip able to be cancelled or changed in any way.

That's how they (claim) to keep prices so low.

After looking at the available hotel amenities and Google mapping the possible hotels this "3.5 star" was referring to, I booked it.

For $57 a night.

Even lower than the 2 star 15 minutes away.

The total cost (with all fees) is just $6 more than that slightly shady find on Expedia.

When I had finally clicked "confirm" I discovered the name of our hotel.

The Millennium Hotel Cincinnati.

Wow.

Just wow.

What a great find.

This hotel just happens to be connected by a walkway to the Convention Center.

It looks amazing.

I can't wait to settle in.

Now, the only problem about downtown hotels is parking fees.

But we were going to have to pay for a parking garage if we were commuting.

So I figured we could handle a couple extra dollars in exchange for proximity and pure comfortability.

(Is that even a word? Did I totally botch the use of it? meh.)

Hotwire.com works for me.

No where else can you find 3 and 4 star hotels for a lower cost than your 2 stars.

I have used Hotwire to book great hotels for our teen trips to Dare2Share.

Last year everyone was so impressed with my find.

A Hilton hotel for $39 a night?!

And for this year's trip in February a Sheraton for $46 a night!

And back in May I booked a round trip flight to Orlando for $139.

But, as I said, be certain in your decision before confirming.

Because there's no going back.

But it's so worth it.

For other great tips check out the blog carnival over at We Are THAT Family.