Swag's Jazzfest FAQ - Priceline and Hotwire Hotels

Are you having problems finding an affordable room for Jazzfest?

In the last few years, some folks have gotten outstanding deals using the "opaque" online travel booking agents: Priceline and Hotwire.  With Priceline, you offer a price for a hotel (specifying quality level and neighborhood).  With Hotwire, they show you the offer price.  In both cases, you don't find out the specific hotel until after your offer is accepted and your credit card has been charged.

Do not consider using these services unless you can live with their terms:

• All rates are Pre-pay, and are charged to your credit card the instant your bid has been accepted.
• All rates do not include sales tax (13% in New Orleans), or fees of:
      Priceline: Approximately $4.50 + 1.2% of the total bid amount.   Total is shown on the bid confirmation page.
      Hotwire: Small and undisclosed, but total with fees is shown on the page where you enter your credit card.
• There's also a $1-3/night New Orleans occupancy fee, depending on hotel size.  With Hotwire, that is included in your taxes and Hotwire fees.  With Priceline, it used to be added to your bill at hotel checkout, but lately seems to be included.
• All bids are non-refundable, non-changable, and non-transferrable.  
• All rates are per room, per night, double occupancy.  There's no guarantee that the hotel will allow a 3rd or 4th person in the room, and if they do, there may be extra charges.
• Any other extra fees, for example, parking fees, will be the same through Priceline or Hotwire as you would pay if booking with the hotel directly.
• There's no guarantee of bedding type.  The room may have one bed or two. Once you get a room, best bet is to call the hotel directly and make your request, but it may or may not be fulfilled.
• You must be 21 years old to book a hotel with Priceline or Hotwire.

Tell me about EasyClickTravel?

EasyClickTravel.com is the newest entrant into the opaque travel market. They offer both visible and opaque hotels, and mix both into a single list. For the opaque listings, look for a hotel name that says "Off the Record". Like Hotwire, they show you the price, star level, and neighborhood. What is notable is how poorly the hotel identity is usually disguised. A description is shown for each hotel, and many are lifted directly from the hotel's regular website. In some cases, they even list the name of the hotel restaurant! Needless to say, you should be able to identify the hotel with a bare minimum of web sleuthing.

The other big difference is that EasyClickTravel rooms are cancellable up to 3 days prior to check-in, for only a $25 fee.

Unfortunately, their opaque offerings are limited, and for prime dates like Jazzfest, they may not offer any at all. Still, given how little risk you are taking with the easily-identified hotels, it's worth checking.

The non-opaque listings may also be worth a look, especially if you are looking for something cheap out towards the airport. many of EasyClickTravel's available rates seem to beat Travelocity & Expedia in those areas.

What about flights?

Priceline and Hotwire may save you money on flights as well.  This is especially true for last-minute bookings, or trips that do not include a Saturday night stay, when direct-booked airfares may be astronomical.   What's surprising to me about the hotel savings is that folks are saving 50% or more, even months in advance.  I don't know if I'd expect similar airfare savings far in advance.  Also, remember that with flights on Priceline, your flight may depart anytime between 6 am and 10 pm, so you can't count on being able to Fest and Fly both on the same day.

Hotwire is now offering "FlexSaver fares", which allow you to see your departure time within a 5-6 hour window (6 am-11 am; 11 am-4 pm; 4 pm - 10 pm). This makes it a much more reasonable gamble, and since they show youthe fare before you purchase, you can decide if the savings are enough to make the uncertainty worthwhile. Flights are at most one stop, and they'll fly you on American, America West, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, or US Air. Click the graphic to the right to have a look.

Rental Cars?

Sure, give it a try if you like.  Typically rental car savings are much smaller, and the booking fees eat into the savings, especailly for shorter term rentals.  On the other hand, unlike hotels, where you may not like the location, or flights, where you may not like the times or connections, all rental cars are pretty much the same, so you don't need to be worried about what company you end up with.

Thanking Swag

Hotel Rates

Rates change all the time, so there's no guarantee that these deals will still be available, or that better deals might not be available.  And there's no guarantee that the same offer will result in the same hotel for you as others got.  Still, these should give some indication of the sorts of offers that these booking sites have been giving.

If you are comfortable with the process and see a price you like, act quickly.   Some deals don't last long.

If you book a Jazzfest room throught Hotwire's opaque product, or if you place a Priceline bid (whether accepted or not), please email me at and I'll add your result to the list.  The more folks contribute, the better this site will work.  Please include all the info on the chart, including booking date and star level. 

All rates shown are per night, before taxes and fees.

New: View the latest successful results using RSS, via feed of Swag's Fest Journal: http://swag.livejournal.com/data/rss.

Color Key

1st weekend dates in Green
2nd weekend dates in Blue

Rejected Priceline bids shown in Orange
For accepted multiple-zone bids, actual hotel zone is in Blue

*** Jazzfest 2009 Priceline Results (Scroll this page down for Hotwire results).

Priceline Zone Key - Click to View Map

New Orleans Priceline Hotel Map - My friends at BetterBidding have implemented a Map feature, and I've helped them to get the New Orleans map online. This shows many of the known New Orleans zone Priceline hotels on a Google map. You can scroll around, zoom in, and click the hotel markers to get details on each property. Check it out at http://www.betterbidding.com/maps/new-orleans.php.

Zones are occasionally re-drawn.  Always double check before bidding, and if you notice any changes, please let me know.

• Between the River and Rampart St, Canal Street is the boundary between the FQ and DT zones, so hotels on the even-numbered address side of Canal (Sheraton, Doubletree) are in the DT zone; hotels with odd-numbered addresses (Marriott) are in the FQ zone. Beyond Rampart, both sides of Canal seem to be in the DT zone.

*** Jazzfest 2009 Hotwire Results

Hotwire Hotels Identified:
Disclaimer - nothing is ever 100% guaranteed, it's possible that another hotel could match these criteria exactly.

• 4* DT Customer Favorite => InterContinental or Sheraton
• 4* DT amenities include Tennis Nearby => Hilton Riverside
• 3* FQ Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Laundry, Internet => Holiday Inn

Hotwire Zone Key - Click to View Map

Zones are occasionally re-drawn.  Always double check before bidding, and if you notice any changes, please let me know.

• The Hotwire Downtown zone does include the Treme, an area you might not want to walk in, much less stay at; but since there are no hotels of high enough quality there, you shouldn't worry about ending up there.
• Canal Street is the boundary between the FQ and CBD zones, so hotels on the even-numbered address side of Canal (Sheraton, Doubletree) are in the DT zone; hotels with odd-numbered addresses (Marriott) are in the FQ zone.

*** EasyClickTravel Deals

• If EasyClickTravel shows availability as "On Request", then the reservation is not guaranteed until the hotel confirms your purchase. This may take up to 48 hours.
• EasyClick's zones are sometimes a bit odd. I've found Garden District hotels listed as Convention Center or even French Quarter. But since the hotel name is shown or can be easily figured out, you should be able to find the hotel's true location before you purchase.
• When you see "Off the Record", click the "more info..." link for the hotel description, then try to match it to the table below. The hotels shown here were identified by using Google on the description, and finding a match from the hotel website or Expedia, etc. So I'm fairly confident that I have identified them correctly, but it's not 100% guaranteed.
• It's not shown on the website until you get to the final confirmation screen, but the Terms and Conditions for hotels can be read here (please re-read it when you get to that point in your booking in case it has changed). I called EasyClickTravel to confirm, and here's what they told me. Feel free to call yourself to verify.
  • All rates are pre-pay. For Available hotels, your card is charged when you book. For On Request, your card is charged once the hotel confirms.
  • All rates, including at Off The Record hotels, are fully refundable up to 72 hours prior to check-in. From 72 to 24 hours prior, there is a one night penalty, and within 24 hours, there is no refund.
• EasyClickTravel 24/7 customer service is 1-888-868-7426.
• EasyClickTravel has a sister company called LastMinuteTravel.com. They seem to offer the same deals almost all the time, but occasionally LastMinute may have a deal that EasyClick doesn't. I haven't checked LastMinute's refund policy or small print, so read it all carefully.

Hotel Ratings

The ratings on the different opaque sites are different.  Often, Hotwire rates hotels about one star higher than Priceline does, so a Priceline 3* may be a Hotwire 4*.

You can see a list of known Priceline hotels in New Orleans and their star ratings here on the biddingfortravel site.

Past Years' Jazzfest Bidding Results:

Here are results gotten by folks in the past. Rates and success vary greatly, and things are still settling down post-Katrina.

• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003

Other advice sites

• Use www.betterbidding.com for Hotwire and Priceline results and advice.
• Check out www.biddingfortravel.com for Priceline results and tips.
• For hotel reviews from other travellers, check Trip Advisor. Just type the name of the hotel and city into the search box, for example, "Park Plaza New Orleans".
• For general questions and discussion about online bidding and booking sites, check out the "Online Travel Bidding and Booking" forum on Flyertalk.

Questions or comments, please email me at

Priceline is a service mark of priceline.com Incorporated.
Hotwire is a service mark of Hotwire.