What does 31/2 stars on Hotwire.com mean? I am going to be staying in the Houston Galleria area.

Check your hotel accommodations through other online resources.
A second opinion is never a bad idea.

What online resources? You mean a link on their site? Sorry for my ignorance.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic: If I understand hotwire correctly, you don’t know exactly which hotel you’ll be at until you’ve already purchased the room.

I would recommend doing a web search for the hotel name.
There are a lot of review sites out there.

I haven’t used Hotwire before but at some point they have to give their users a name of the hotel they are selling. If they don’t give you the name of the hotel until you buy, I would recommend other services than Hotwire. Buying a product before you know what you’re getting is a recipe for misery.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic that’s the thing, you don’t know until you buy. generally I would never consider it, but a relative used it in Houston and was very happy. The problem is I can’t call him again to ask what star rating he reserved…long story why…so I am nervous.

@JLeslie I wouldn’t pay for a an unknown quantity. Our vacation time is too precious too gamble on unknown variables.

You’re right to be nervous when you have no idea what you’re paying for.

It isn’t really a vacation. We are going to Houston because my husband’s cousin has Pancreatic cancer and she receives treatment in Houston so we are going to see her (she lives outside of the country. I don’t think we will spend much time “enjoying the hotel, so I thought I might risk it on this trip. I looked on tripadvisor and nothing seems like it will be horrendous in this location. Maybe I will wait and see if some Hotwire users chime in.

@JLeslie My best wishes to you and your family.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Thank you.

@JLeslie: I wish you the best on your trip and to your family! I always advise my family to stay at the Marriot in the Med Center, especially if you’re flying. It’s a really nice hotel, and they usually have pretty good rates (not as cheap as $57 though).
[I don’t work for them, promise.]

@La_chica_gomela Thank you. My first instinct was to say at the Med Center also, but it seems the husband of the patient typically stays at the Galleria, so we are going to do the same. Not sure why they prefer it, maybe because they have children who could spend time there instead of waiting in the hospital during appointments? Or, maybe just being typical, my husband’s Mexican family, that when they come to America they shop. Even if they are sick.

@JLeslie: That’s a fine area too. It’s probably safer to walk around the Galleria area than the MedCenter (it feels that way, anyways, fewer hobos) but be warned, traffic’s a bitch.

I took the risk and booked on Hotwire. Looks like I will be staying at the Hotel Derek, got it for $99 a night. Two blocks from the Galleria Mall. Looks nice http://www.hotelderek.com/index.cfm

Thanks everyone!

@JLeslie: That sounds great! Never been inside, but from the website it does look really nice! One thing I can say is you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. It’s like a huge beacon you can see from the highway.

I went to tripadvisor and no one complained about noise from the highway, my husband is a light sleeper, so I think we will be ok.

Oh no, I didn’t mean it was especially close to the highway, it’s just really tall, so you can see it from there (and from a lot of other places).

@La_chica_gomela Anything in that area besides the Galleria that is really worth seeing? I have no idea how our time will be spent. My husband’s cousin has 6 hours of appointments one day and 3 hours the next. I have no idea if we will be in the hospital the whole time or not.

I used a similar website for a vacation a couple years ago. Unfortunately they were allowed to adjust prices however they wanted. We were unaware of this until we got to the hotel and the prices jumped way up. The manger said the website can up the price to a certain amount. We were already there so we sucked it up and paid the extra $50 but I never suggest those kinds of sites to people anymore.

The Med Center is really close to the Museum district, and the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History are both worth going to. I think they still have the largest collection of the Terra Cotta warriors ever assembled outside of China at Natural History. I’ve been meaning to go to that. Herman Park is pretty too. They have zoo that’s not half-bad, a little pond with paddle boats, and the japanese garden is nice too. I don’t think you mentioned when you’re coming but we have some of the best weather of the year in the month of October. Today had been in the mid to low seventies and the sun is brilliant.

@La_chica_gomela The Japanese Garden is in the zoo? Or, it is in the Museum District?

@ItalianPrincess1217 That is horrible, I would be very annoyed if that happened. This is all prepaid, but I am going to have to pay for parking. I saw on tripadvisor some people were pissed about this extra parking fee, but it was stated on the Hotwire site and I booked through their 800 number actually, and they restated it to me, so hopefully all possible additional costs were already disclosed to me. We’ll see.

Sorry, that sentence was totally unclear!

The zoo, the little pond with paddle boats, and the Japaneses garden are all located inside of Hermann Park. Hermann Park is in the Museum District.

@JLeslie I’m sure everything will work out for you. The problems I encountered were with a totally different site. And since you’ve prepaid, you should be all set. Have a good trip!

Just thought I would let you all know that the Hotel Derek was great! They did try to pull some bullshit at check in, saying if we want a king bed instead of two doubles we had to pay more because we “booked on Hotwire.” We prefer a king bed, but don’t mind two beds, so we left it as is. If I find the time I am going to write the hotel to say how awful I think that is, they should encourage people to recommend the hotel and maybe book there on a return trip. The room are priced the same if you book through their website. The Hotel was great though, modern, with platform beds (that is what we have at home, and we prefer a low bed, hard to find, everything is so high now with think mattresses). The price was well worth it.

I would use Hotwire again, especially if I am going to be spending little time at the hotel. I would be more nervous if it was for a resort that I would be utilizing all of the facilities on a vacation, I would want more control over my choice I think.

By the way my husband’s cousin got very good news, as good as it can be about her cancer. She has pancreatic cancer, which you probably know is like getting a death sentence. and it has not grown in months, has not spread to any more organs (it was originally found in her pancreas and liver) and the cancer cells in her body are very low. Interestingly, she is doing much better than typical patients with her diagnosis, and she is taking medicine from Cuba that is not available here in the US. Gotta wonder. They have stopped her chemo, and if she her next check shows the same progress, they will actually try radiation to shrink the tumours, something we did not think would be possible.

@JLeslie It’s great that your trip went well!