I've done it with Priceline in the last year, because I was able to match the pictures. I was traveling solo to visit my son in college.

Starting to plan some college visits with my daughter who's a junior and may do this for a trip to Tampa next month.

Hotwire is owned by Expedia, fyi.

The last few times I used hotwire it said I was guaranteed 1 of 4 hotels that they listed and I just looked up each one and made sure I was ok with it.

Yes. They are generally corporate hotels (Hyatt, etc.), so no big surprises. And if they show you an actual photo of the room, you can usually use Google Lens to find the exact hotel.

I used to do this with Priceline. Based on what I learned back then, I would do it again if one or two people were traveling (but not 3 or 4) and if I didn’t care about bed configuration. (If a king size bed is a “must have”, don’t do it. If you do not want to share a bed with your traveling companion, don’t do it.)

^college

I did when my daughter was in collee. I knew if I picked four stars or above I would end up at the place I wanted.

You are using Hotwire to plan your vacation?! I thought they went out of business in 2010.

I have on Hotwire once and Priceline many times. but in both cases I have done places that I am reasonably familiar with and have had a car.

Yes. I've never been that picky, but I've never been deeply disappointed either.

Yes- there are websites that tell you what hotels they likely are. We used to do this with Priceline back in the day.

https://roomrevealer.com/
RevealHotels.com
BiddingHelper.com

Or a browser extension like TravelArrow.

I’ve sensed you can match the photo to the hotel photos but I’ve never done a secret hotel option.