If you want to be finding cheap hotels in Omaha Nebraska, one of the best ways to do it is to go over to either Priceline.com or Hotwire.com. But which is better? While researching Priceline and Hotwire I can’t help but come to the conclusion that Priceline is a better service to use. After browsing through the forums over at betterbidding, it seems that although users do find deals on Hotwire, Priceline’s deals are better and have a more reliable star rating system. Heck, here’s an article about a class action law suit, which asserts that Hotwire inflates its hotel’s star rating to make you think that you are getting a better deal. There is no industry standard when it comes to hotel ratings.

Here’s how I think Hotwire makes their money: They knowingly bump up the star level of the hotel you’d be getting so you think that you’re getting a “good deal”. They know that most customers are not going to take the time to complain to Hotwire about the quality of their hotel. They expect a small minority to complain, and they give them refunds. But that is not a problem since they have made a lot of money off of the majority of people who don’t call and complain. Trying to get as much money their customers is nothing new in the hotel industry. That’s capitalism. It’s funny calling a hotel to ask for a price, having them give you a rate of $160 over the phone, while looking on their website, on the computer, and seeing $110. But what Hotwire is doing is taking advantage of a non-standardized hotel star system and using it to their advantage.

Furthermore, common sense also says that if Hotwire has predetermined rates, unlike Priceline, where you can bid as low as you want, for as many times as you want, Hotwire is making more money off you than Priceline is. So, although people are finding cheap hotels in Omaha Nebraska on Hotwire, you can find better deals on Priceline.

Finding cheap hotels in Omaha NE is simple on Hotwire. To understand how Hotwire.com works, it is best to compare it to its competitor, Priceline.com. Priceline allows you to bid on hotels. The catch is that you don’t know which hotel you’ll be staying at. You only know your selected star level and your selected zone or area in the Omaha area. If Priceline finds a hotel, which meets your criteria and accepts your bid amount, it is yours and your credit card is charged. There are forums dedicated to getting the lowest bid amount possible over at betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com. Hotwire works very much the same way. However, instead of you offering the lowest bid for a particular star level and zone, it gives you predetermined options from which to select. The Priceline bidding strategy, described here, does not apply for Hotwire. For example, one of its options for the Omaha area, at the time this article was written, is $93 per room per night for a 4 star hotel in the Downtown Omaha area. Another option is $65 per room per night for a 3 star hotel in the Downtown Omaha area. Once you buy one these options, you cannot get your money back. You can look at betterbidding.com to see what type of hotels other users got for the Omaha area. Simply scroll down to where it says “Montana / Nebraska / New Hampshire / New Mexico” and then go to the “Hotwire – Montana / Nebraska / New Hampshire / New Mexico” subforum. Then look at the type of hotels users got from Hotwire in the Omaha area. This will give you an idea of what deals you can except once you buy from Hotwire. For example, one user on betterbidding posted that for the 3-star West Omaha, he got the Crowne Plaza hotel at $67.53 per room per night whose original price on the hotel’s website was $99. The user posted that Hotwire gave him a price of $53, with taxes, it ended being $67.53. As you can see, Hotwire now has a rate of $59 without taxes for the West Omaha area for a 3-star hotel.

You’ll also notice in this sub forum that there is a pinned list at the top of the page which lists hotels, by zone for the Omaha area.

So which is better for getting cheap hotels in Omaha NE, Priceline or Hotwire? I answer that question in Hotwire vs Priceline: A Comparison.