Beware: Hotwire and Kahler Grand Hotel

I did a hotwire reservation last night. The highest

star offering was 3-star which is Doubletree, Holiday Inn and Radisson, which I know are OK places in Rochester. So I submitted my reservation and got

the Kahler Grand. Then I read the reviews on this

website. Small, small, small, old, old, old, and dirty, dirty, dirty.

So I called Hotwire and pleaded health issues of my

husband who was about to have surgery. He%26#39;s a big

Czech guy who needs to walk with crutches until his

knee protesis put in last year in Madison, WI is surgically removed and replaced with a new more

appropriate one at Methodist Hospital in Rochester.

Small bathroom with pets around would not do. They relented...although they admonished me about the health situation and using Hotwire. (Don%26#39;t take the

chance...We won%26#39;t)

Just so you know that Hotwire has the Kahler Grand which gets very bad reviews here as well as Expedia is on their 3 star Rochester hotel list.

In Rochester I intend to look at a room in the Kahler Grand to report back here. No, we are not

staying there.

BTW, the Kahler Grand is conntected by skyway to the Mayo Clinic and the public rooms are impressive. If

location is a criterion, then the Kahler Grand does

have something to offer.

Beware: Hotwire and Kahler Grand Hotel

Also speaking from experience, I no longer use the third party sites for these kinds of reasons. It%26#39;s not worth saving a few bucks to lose the flexibility and service.

Considering myself a fairly knowledgeable traveler, I%26#39;ve been burned several times and really don%26#39;t receive good treatment from either the 3rd party or the business (airline, car rental, hotel, etc.) I booked with.

Beware: Hotwire and Kahler Grand Hotel

You didn%26#39;t say where you wound up staying. We were considering the Kahler, but it and the Kahler Suites are too expensive. Would you share with us where you did stay and was it nice/expensive, etc.? We were looking for something relatively close to Mayo %26amp; Hospitals with a kitchenette since we%26#39;re going to be there for 10 days.

Thanks.

Floridakids

There is also the Kahler Executive Inn which is their ';cheaper'; version. We%26#39;ve peaked into rooms at the Grand and they looked pretty nice, if old and smaller rooms than newer hotels. The rooms at the Executive also match the older smaller description with the added part of not so clean.

We%26#39;ve had a kitchenette unit at the Guesthouse Inn (formerly TraveLodge) and although not fancy the rooms have been clean. I believe most of the 3rd floor room facing Hwy 52 are larger and have kitchenettes. They have an indoor pool and are connected to a Famous Dave%26#39;s BBQ place. About 7 blocks from St. Mary%26#39;s Hospital and there is a free shuttle to the clinic.

The last trip (last week) we tried the Best Western Soldier%26#39;s Field and liked it a lot. See full review here on TA. About 4 blocks to the Clinic and Methodist and they operate their own shuttle serivce to the clinc and hospitals as well as anywhere else in Rochester.

As for 3rd party bookings....in Rochester you would be hard pressed to beat calling the hotel directly and asking for their ';clinic rate';. Usually a bit better than even AAA or AARP rates.

Also...for the subway walking system....in the evening be sure to check if the route you want to take pases through a closed building. Some do and they way you got somewhere may not work going back after 8-9pm or so. Check the hours during day with the blue vested helpers all over the place.

We had a similar experience with Hotwire on a trip to St Louis. We had booked a four star and got one listed on all the sites as a three star. After working with the Hotwire staff, they gave me credit for the room, but pointed out that one can%26#39;t use the other sites as criteria to determine star rating. I found that very odd since its affiliate Expedia was the one whose star rating I was looking at. I agree that it seems that there is something not quite right and recently their savings haven%26#39;t been all that great anyway. I%26#39;ll take flexibility over price...with the economy going south, perhaps the rooms will all get more reasonable.