[getbak]

When I went, I used Hotwire's "secret" price.

If you're unfamiliar with how that works, they tell you what amenities are in the hotel and its general location in the city, but not the specific hotel until after you've booked and paid for it. The tradeoff of not knowing the specific hotel is that you pay significantly less for the room.

I used Hotwire all over Germany, plus Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, and Vienna. I always selected the city-centre area; 4-star quality or better; with 80%+ positive customer reviews (when possible, I went for 90%+). Using those criteria, I have never had any problem, and usually ended up in some very nice hotels at significantly lower than advertised prices.

My thinking is that it's a city I don't know anyway and don't have any specific place I want to stay, so as long as it's a nice hotel, I don't really care what it is. If I can get a 4-star for a 3-star price, it's worth it.



I used Hotwire for Prague and selected the Old Town area. The hotel wasn't specifically in Old Town, but it was only about 1.5km away from the Charles Bridge and Astronomical Clock area. It was really close to Wenceslas Square, the main Museum, and the central train station. It was a nice hotel. The only caution was that it was next door to a strip club, and across the street from another strip club, but other than the suggestive pictures in the windows, you wouldn't have even known that's what they were.

Of course, if your wife used Hotwire, it doesn't mean they'd get the same hotel I got, but that is the one downside of not knowing what you're getting until you've booked and paid for it. The upside was that I paid $100 CAD a night for two weekend nights for a very nice hotel in a great location in an amazing city.


Oh yeah, the hotel I was in was the K+K Fenix.