Monkeyless

This is interesting. I’m looking at this hotel in Manhattan on Hotwire, where it’s listed as normally being $169, but Hotwire is offering it at a whopping $8 off, so only $161 a night. I’m seeing only one hotel in that area with rooms available on Orbitz and Expedia, both listing it at $169 a night, so it’s almost definitely the same hotel. (The Club Quarters Downtown, for what it’s worth. I still haven’t decided if I want to stay there or go for a cheapo teeny shared bath kind of place for half the price, since it’s just for one night).

But Hotwire’s slightly cheaper price doesn’t mean anything once you add in the taxes and fees, which are different on all three sites:

Orbitz charges $28.97 in taxes and fees for a total of $197.97
Expedia charges $30.39 in taxes and fees for a total of $199.39
Hotwire charges $41.19 in taxes and fees for a total of $202.19

Hotwire’s $8 advantage was more than eaten up by their much higher fees.

I’m sure in some cases Hotwire gives you a bigger price difference, and will come out ahead, but this isn’t one of them. Not that the $5 difference is going to make a big difference in anyone’s life (if it is, you should be looking for a youth hostel kind of place, or, better yet, not traveling at all), but it just struck me as a little weird. I figured that taxes would be the same between every site, and the fees would be pretty much the same. A 50% difference in taxes/fees is much bigger than I would have thought, but there it is.