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.

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.

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 2013 Priceline Results (Scroll this page down for Hotwire results).

Priceline Zone Key - Click to View MapNew 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.
• Although Priceline has expanded the FQ zone to include areas outside the Quarter proper (between Rampart & Claiborne, and areas downriver of Esplanade), I have yet to see a win in those areas. I don't think there are any properties there anyway, at least at 3* and up.

*** Jazzfest 2013 Hotwire Results

(B) means the hotel shows the Boutique amenity in the Hotwire listing.
+ indicates that a resort fee may be charged at checkout.

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. When searching, make sure you set the city to "New Orleans, LA" and not "New Orleans, LA (MSY)", or you'll only see the airport and Metairie area hotels.

• The Hotwire Downtown zone does include the Treme, 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.

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 will vary by year, based on the state of the economy, what conventions may be in town, and who the Jazzfest performers are.

• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 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, "Holiday Inn Superdome 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.