I had shopped them on and off for several months in 2001. When I was ready to buy, I went through the process of entering my credit card information and choosing an itinerary. I was quoted a price of $231 on March 27th, 2001, 16 days before I planned to travel.
After confirming my itinerary, I clicked "purchase". Instead of a purchase confirmation, I got the error message below:
(I always take a screenshot of my online purchases for my own records). I believe "NSAPI" refers to the Netscape Server Advanced Programming Interface (Hotwire runs Netscape Enterprise on the Solaris operating system). There were no instructions for proceeding with their transaction, or anything to indicate it did or did not go through.
I clicked "back" and tried again, and got the message below:
Although I could understand this message, it was inaccurate. I had not been inactive for 30 minutes.
I went to the site's Customer Service section and sent a message using their web-based email form. I included the complete text of the error message, my purchase reference number, and user name. After submitting my email message, I received a confirmation which said I should hear back within 12 hours.
I didn't hear back, so I called later that same day. The customer service agent said the site was having difficulties, and the email staff needed a few more hours to get caught up.
I was told my transaction would still be completed at the price I was quoted. In other words, we had a deal; a sale had taken place, and I should not purchase a ticket elsewhere.
Two days passed, and I never heard back, so I called again. I was now told that my my transaction would not be completed, and they didn't have any of the emails I sent.
I was told the price of my itinerary was now several hundred dollars more. They would not honor the earlier transaction or give me the same fare because I didn't "complete the purchase".
They told me the purchase was completed on the phone earlier, preventing me from buying my tickets elsewhere. The 14-day advanced purchase window had now closed, and they were reneging on the transaction we agreed to over the phone.
I was told the website originally crashed due to a "necessary re-cycling of the servers". This is not a technically valid reason for dropping transactions. Hotwire could not explain why my email went unanswered, which is obviously poor service.
I would caution those looking for discount airfares that I found Hotwire (in 2001) to be unreliable their web technology and customer service.
I called to change my flight on Continental. They explained all the change charges and I said fine. They then said someone from the "change" department would have to call me back. Someone did two days later and I could not get to the phone in time. They left no return number and said they would call back in 36 to 72 hours.
48 hours later - no call. I finally called Continental directly and rebooked with them.
It cost me $35 more but was worth not waiting for a callback.
Does Hotwire think its customers have nothing to do but wait around for a telephone call.
Booked 3 star in El Paso, got 2 star at best, but Hotwire insisted it was my fault, as I did not read the FINE PRINT.
Save yourself a bad stay, USE someone other that Hotwire. A Big rip off, will never use them again
I'll keep it short. Booked a three star hotel. Given much less. I inquired immediately. Provided written proof that this was not a three star hotel. No dice. They would change the reservation or cancel it. This hotel was not listed as a three star hotel on their site. They still insisted it was. My advice, just book your room somewhere else. They will rip you off.
I'll keep it short. Booked a three star hotel. Given much less. I inquired immediately. Provided written proof that this was not a three star hotel. No dice. They would change the reservation or cancel it. This hotel was not listed as a three star hotel on their site. They still insisted it was. My advice, just book your room somewhere else. They will rip you off.
Just one more warning about Hotwire.
I booked a "3-Star"hotel in Austin, overlooking the lake. More accurate: a dirty, smoke-encrusted hotel located on the Interstate and bordered by a bad neighborhood. I asked for a quiet room that would not have freeway noise and was told I was in the back of the hotel with a lake view. My view was the parking garage. When I tried the heater, the room filled with that smell of smoke, and I awoke in the morning with red eyes from the air. This was in a 100% non-smoking hotel. Crazy that someone built this hotel in this horrible location . . . no way it is 3-star, even though it is a chain name. Won't use Hotwire again. First and last experience.
INCIDENTS FROM TODAY, FEB. 4, 2010
Hotwire.com has but one fine-tuned skill; CON ARTISTRY. The insane amount of time I spent online, on the phone, with my bank, again online, again on the phone, just to have them charge my credit card for nearly a thousand dollars, THEN tell me there is a "new" price...TWICE IN ONE DAY!!! That's right, I was put on hold during both phone calls for them to tell me the price had risen $50.00 each time! And they had already charged my card for the vacation, but sent no vouchers or itinerary to my email!!! What a scam!!! AND TWICE IN ONE DAY!!! I hate to be repetitive, but I'm still in shock and awe! They are well aware of my position and welcome their response (yeah right).
Hotwire has the WORST customer service ever. They booked a king size bed for myself, my 10 yo daughter and my 12yo old son to share...wth??? Who on Gods green earth sleeps with thier pre-teen kids. They refused to change the booking, but for an additional fee (almost double what I've already paid) I could make a new booking...DO NOT USE HOTWIRE, AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE.
I booked an all inclusive hotel through hotwire for 2 rooms and 4 people (2 in each). When we arrived at the hotel we were advised the reservation was only 2 rooms 2 people. We had to pay extra for 2 people. Then on check out we were charged again as the hotel said they did not get payment from Hotwire. Terrible customer service. Will never use again.
AVOID HOTWIRE.COM LIKE THE PLAGUE. I made a hotel reservation and was shown the zip code of the hotel in the area I requested prior to hitting the confirm button. After confirming my reservation, I was given a hotel in a totally different area code almost 30 miles from the area I requested. When I called them to find out why I was given a hotel almost 30 miles from where I requested, I was told that it was not a guarantee that I would get the zip code that I requested, but as close as they can get. I told them that this was unacceptable and I felt that their practice was deceptive. I was then put in another hotel other than the zip code area that I requested. Not only was the second hotel not in the area I requested, but it was in a shady area and I was afraid to get out of my car. Horrible customer service. Between the two calls I made to Hotwire.com, I was on the phone over two hours arguing back and forth. They gave me all of their mumble jumble about their maps and the area they covered, which was very deceptive. I will NEVER, EVER USE HOTWIRE.COM AGAIN, AND I WOULD ADVISE ANYONE WHO HAS HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE WITH THEM TO WARN OTHERS TO AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE.
This is an addition to my earlier comment I forgot to include. Not only was this hotel that Hotel.com put us in, out of the zip code we asked for and in a shady party of town, but they had no parking lot of their own and my daughter and I had to park in a lot across from the hotel and pay a parking fee of $6.00 a day plus tax! An extra $20.00! Worst nightmare of my life!
Hotwire.com should not be allowed to operate with such deceptive business practices. I just had a very similar experience to many of the other victims here. I was booking a hotel that I was lead to believe was in the downtown/bricktown area of Oklahoma City but once the reservation was complete, the hotel given was not in the downtown area but some fringe area of suburbia (not even considered Oklahoma City) . I assumed it was a mistake and called customer service. I spent over an hour with a representative and then a supervisor named Don arguing over the location of the hotel and how it was not in the area stated on the website. "Don" if that was even his name gave me a condescending lesson on how to use their map. The call center must be trained in "deceptive" mapping practices. They gave me the mumbo -jumbo explanation that the mileage is from the "center" not from the driving address etc..
I too asked for a name, number or address where I could file a formal complaint but was not given one. Instead, I was told that someone would contact me. NOT holding my breath. WHAT has HAPPENED to this COUNTRY? I was DECEIVED by their website and the information that they posted on it. Sad state of affairs...thanks for ruining my New Year's Eve Hotwire.com.
Maybe u didnt watch their commercials ......making cut throat deals and using laughing gas ! haha lol
The following is a post I made to Hotwire's comments site:
HotWire booked one queen size bed for the three people in my party. I expected this would have been easily resolved through a phone call to HotWire. It was not. HotWire's solution was to have a roll-away bed put in the room. I did not find this acceptable. $90 for a 2 star hotel; I expected a decent night's sleep. I asked the Hotwire support person if he would find this acceptable if he were the traveler; he said "we are not talking about me; this is the best we can do." I have used HotWire's services for many years and have been very satisfied. Maybe it is the "sign of the times" but HotWire has lowered it's standards to an unacceptable level. I WILL NO LONGER DO BUSINESS WITH HOTWIRE!"
I recently booked a hotel room through hotwire. On the final screen before agreeing to purchase, the "Total Price" was $33.13. I took a screen-shot. When my e-mail confirmation came through, the total price was $83.13. Customer care told me the $50 discount was only using a citibank credit card. Well there was certainly nothing saying that when booking, and no discount condition of any kind was shown on that final screen before booking. Hotwire denied responsibility, and maintained that even though they charged me a different price than I agreed to on the website, they would do nothing about it.
Tried to book a one-way car rental on Hotwire and didn't realize until too late that it logged it as return to the same airport. I needed a one-way only, as I was flying out of a different airport, so I immediately tried to cancel the reservation. However, there was no way to cancel it. I called, wrote numerous emails and still they wouldn't cancel the reservation. I WILL NEVER USE HOTWIRE AGAIN - THEY ARE TERRIBLE!!!!
Similar issue to others. 3 star hotel was rated higher than should have been. Common areas were nice but rooms needed to be redione multiple issues this particular stay. Other times used hotwire with good results. Comfortable stay at very reasonable prices. Eve not so good experience not quite a disaster
Booked a trip on Hotwire for Jamaica only to realize I had been gouged, same trip on expeduia was almost half. Spoke to hotwire on same, their low price gurantee is only good for 48 hours, so you have to spend two days searching the web after you book to ensure you got a good rate. Mine was almost doubel what I should have paid, terrible deal. I was an idiot for trusting their site.
I had an awful experience with Hotwire.com as well. I blogged it at www.party-of-one.com. Feel free to leave comments.
Like an earlier poster, I started to rant about Hotwire but then read other people's stories and thought "what the heck" -- my problems sound utterly typical. The only thing I can add is that if the customer no-service people had been even polite I would be less steamed. Helpful may be too much to hope for, but sympathetic would be nice, and polite is the least someone should be able to expect.
Ok. I hope this review reaches a large number people who plan to use Hotwire to make reservation. I asked for a 2.5 star hotel in Asheville, NC, paid for it and then got a hotel that was barely 2 star based on 5 other online services and 1 star rating in another. I called and complained. Hotwire indicated that they do their own rating and they determine that the 2.5 star rating was valid. Of course, both Hotwire and the hotel owner make profits from this rating exaggeration. The hotel actually gave a better rate than the Hotwire if pre-paid and I brought this to the Hotwire People's attention. They said I could file a form so they could give 2 times the difference back. That was about $3 per night. The fact is they didn't give an extraordinary rate and the hotel was not a 2.5 start hotel. This is an amazing skim. So, before you find yourself in a poor managed hotel with bumped up rating to satisfy the owner and result in large profit for Hotwire, make your reservation by calling the hotel direct and negotiate. Note that Hotwire adds so much additional costs to the rate you get, that is what you don't see up front.
fireboat protects erectors.Peale loadings!shrilled,repertory
booked a three star, confirmed it, website error and I got a two star.
hot wire said since i couldn't prove the error as you can't click "back" on their site they wouldn't do anything. I had used them for 5 years for both business and personal travel - no more. completely rude and wouldn't offer any help at all
DO NOT BOOK ANYTHING THROUGH HOTWIRE!! I made the mistake of booking two airline tickets through Hotwire. About 2 weeks after confirming my reservations and charging my credit card (immediately upon booking), I received a call from Hotwire telling me that one leg of my confirmed booking had been cancelled. After repeated calls to Hotwire (talking to a different person each time who explained the same thing over and over), I was given the option of either accepting an unreasonable flight change or getting a refund, I chose the refund. Little did I know what I was in for. According to Hotwire, the refund will take up to TWO MONTHS to be credited to my credit card. They claim that the airline is responsible for the credit. Yet, when I talked to the airline, they said that Hotwire has the ability to issue the refund immediately. Needless to say, I haven't received my refund yet. Hotwire's customer service is a joke and their policies are very UNCUSTOMER FRIENDLY. Unless you want to lose your money, go elsewhere.
I was going to complain about my terrible experience with Hotwire but after reading all these lousy reviews who need another one. Let it be known that my 2 1/2 star hotel rated no better than 1 star. Shame on Hotwire
I was promissed a 4 star hotel and now there rating is down and I was told I might get a discount but could not change hotels.All I want is a nice clean and safe hotel for my 20th annavercary. iwill never use hotwire again.
I was going to complain about my terrible experience with Hotwire but after reading all these lousy reviews who need another one. Let it be known that my 2 1/2 star hotel rated no better than 1 star. Shame on Hotwire
You sent me an email saying you had a car in Ft. Lauderdale for $10.95 per day but when I look they start @29.95 per day. If its not for that day then you should tell us when its good for otherwise I have to guess it could be anywhere from today thru next year. You do this all the time.
Whats up with that. Any email you ever send is the same way hotel, flights and cars.
Please tell me there is some way to fight this company. Bait and switch should be their company name. I have never used them before but decided to in June and what a nightmare. I entered a zip code for a specific area in a state I have never been to before. Researched it first to ensure the zip was only for this area. They came back with a hotel in the matching area. However after I booked it they sent me a hotel in another area; as my transportation was in the other city it was not possible to stay there. I emailed and called them the same day and they said the tiny little map (you have to click on below) listed it as part of their "custom areas" they group together. Yet no warning stating nothing was available in the zip code range I entered. It was so misleading. I had to book another room in the zip range I entered and pay $500.00 for a hotel room in the the other region as well. I felt like I was legally mugged. Then to add insult to injury I filed a complaint with the BBB that list them in "good standing" with hundreds of unresolved complaints (so how could the BBB consider that Good Standing)and the BBB closed my issue before it was resolved. I no longer trust the ratings from the BBB. I disputed the charge with my bank and they backed up Hotwire because they said I should have known Hotwire makes up their own regions and once you click "book it" your screwed. I'm still fighting this with my Visa. I decided to test it using my own zip code and they came back with hotels 20 plus miles away. If you were not from this area you would never know the distance because they don't give you real addresses (just their own customized regions). I am all for a class act law suit. I can't believe they are allowed to get away with what they do. You can find hundreds of sites with the same complaints so why are the allowed to continue to legally mislead the public?
I will never use Hotwire again. They have absolutely no interest in accommodating their customers. I booked a hotel that did not fall into the area stated and their customer service reps refused to change the reservation to a hotel in the area stated...they were of no help whatsoever! I hope others will not give their travel dollars to this crappy company.
Hotwire screwed me too. Booked a room at a "three star" hotel in New York for over $1,000. Turns out this dump has (a) total of 34 rooms a number of which are UNDERGROUND; (b) has several complaints in the last week about bed bugs; and (c) is across the street from a homeless shelter where the line goes right by the guests' room windows (if you aren't underground, I guess).
They were completely inflexible, rude, and unwilling to help even though I've been using them for several years. No more!
Hotwire clearly misrepresents their 4 star hotels. I'm not staying in the hotel they sold me and am disputing the charge with my credit card company, claiming fraud and misrepresentation of their product. I bet I'll win.
honeybee.itemizes.infer random indictments!civilians plundering recollecting?
I also am being charged by HOTWIRE for a hotel stay I didn't want, For a qoute click here... hit the wrong tab w/ too many tab buttons open on computer. I am not going to pay for something I didn't use. I think that HOTWIRE are thieves and they take the money and run. Plus to add the icing on the cake my 18+ member Discover Card let them get away with it. Excuses, Excuses, Excuse - ZERO customer service or solutions to this issue. Steer clear of HOT "SCAM" WIRE and beware if you have a Discover Card - they might just back away from you and leave you out in the cold. It happened to me means it can happen to you....
I have never had a problem with bookiing Hotels .on the hotwire site. Because: 1. You already know the area you are booking into. They ask you. for me it would be downtown Miami. there are only 5 Hotwire Hotels in downtown Miami. I go for the 2 or 3 star. hotels. then I go to better biding.com they have a breakdown of wins for HOTWIRE in that area. they even tell you the name of the possible 2 or 3 or 4 star hotels down there. then I know If I book this hotel .I have the name of the hotel the location .the amenities etc. check out the better bidding site for both priceline wins and hotwire wins. before you book.
parson microcode,disregarding Jacques astronomers overcame ducking
I wish I'd seen these postings before I was screwed by Hotwire. I paid for a 3 star hotel and ended up with a La Quinta room that was at best, two stars. Priceline even gave it one star. Stains on floor...musty smells...bare minimum 'continental' breakfast. I spoke to two customer service representatives that were rude and absolutely refused to put me anywhere else, explaining that star rating systems were 'based on opinion.' I will never EVER use hotwire again.
DO NOT BOOK A 4 STAR HOTEL WITH HOTWIRE!!!!!!
I BOOKED IN TORONTO AT A 4 STAR HOTEL ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THE HOTEL WAS THE RENAISSANCE ATTACHED TO THE SKYDOME. THE NIGHT OF MY STAY, THE NEW YORK YANKEES ARE PLAYING THE JAYS AND WHEN I CALLED THE HOTEL TO EXPRESS MY CONCERN, THEY SAID THE HOTEL "WOULD BE ROWDY"!!!
NEVER AGAIN, HOTWIRE. I GAVE YOU A CHANCE NOW YOU'RE HISTORY. FOUR STAR HOTEL MY FOOT.
@Marie (San Diego)... I am all for a class action lawsuit against Hotwire. They are some true SUCKERS! I have used their site serveral times for flights and have found I can go directly through Continental and book just as cheap and get my flyer miles just the same. On 8/6/09 I completed a hotel booking to ABQ, New Mexico. I specifically requested a 4 star hotel in the Uptown area. Once I refined my search, only one listing came up, "Hyatt Regency Downtown - Old Town" Being that I have never been to ABQ, I just assumed that Downtown -Old Town, Uptown was one in the same. I contacted my family member, a Master Sergeant at Kirkland AFB to advise of where I would be staying in "Uptown" and he immediately states, Tierjas Street is not UPTOWN. I then immediately contact the Hyatt just to confirm, and they advise, "no we are more than 10 miles away from Uptown, but we DO have a Hyatt IN Uptown that is a 4 star". I contact Hotwire and let them know that where I have been booked, although I selected Uptown is actually NOT Uptown, but Downtown. Please move me to where I requested. OH NOOOOO we can't do that. Well I need a refund and I will gladly rebook. OH NOOOO, we can't do that either. We can put in a work order to the research department (so much BS, you need air freshner) who can make a decision for a full refund in 7-10 days. Well you all have charged by CC, what am I supposed to I fly out in a few hours. "Well go ahead and stay there, will work on the refund and we apologize, blah blah BOLOGNA." These suckers then tell me TODAY, well you stayed there and we can't refund you because we have already sent your money to the hotel. I have been going round and round with Hotwire since the 6th of August and still on the 17th there is NO resolution. Customer service is RUDE and of no assistance. They gave me $50 hot dollars. Dude, I don't plan to EVER use to you all again, are you serious, hot dollars!? And I want even type about this so called "4-star" Hyatt they booked me in that had: dingy towels that were so thin that they came from dolar general, no fridge/microwave in the room (had to pay 15.00 extra per day for that), no safe or ironing board in the room, and the coffee pot was sitting in the bathroom. I am livid with Hotwire! We need to stop their practices NOW.
OMG!! IMPORTANT: PEOPLE, PLEASE DON NOT BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS WITH HOTWIRE, YOU CAN OBTAIN THE SAME PRICE WITH THE AIRLINE DIRECTLY! IF YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES TO YOUR FLIGHT, THEY TELL YOU THAT THE FLIGHTS HAVE BEEN CHANGED AND SOMEONE WILL CALL YOU TO CONFIRM WITHING THE NEXT X AMOUNT OF HOURS...THEY CALL YOU 1 TIME AND IF YOU MISS THE CALL OR TRY TO CALL BACK YOU WILL HAVE TO REPEAT THE PROCESS AND WAIT AGAIN. THEN YOU COME TO FIND OUT THAT THE FLIGHTS ARE NOT CONFIRMED AND IF THE PRICES HAVE GONE UP, YOU PAY THE $150+ANY CHANGES IN PRICE!!! WORSE HEADACHE EVER!! PLUS THEY ARE OWNED BY EXPEDIA AND EXPEDIA DOES NOT HAVE THIS POLICY, SO YOUR PROBABLY BETTER OFF BOOKING ON YOUR W THE AIRLINE.
Will NEVER use Hotmail again. Was not the best deal offered on Car Rentals in Canada(after I confirmed costs with other team members that booked the same vehicle for the same timeframe - with bookings done before, during and after we booked).
Big SCAM that we booked a car in Canada, from a Canadian Company, and used in Canada and were charged in AMERICAN DOLLARS. Didn't realize that the Canadian site we googled switched us over to an American site and didn't catch the itty bitty fine print reference.....does it border on fraud when companies are not clear. Will never use them again, nor will any sporting event we are involved with use them either. Will be contacting the travel sections of our Provincial newspapers and Television stations to advise fellow Canadian travellers.
Booked a hotel in New York with Hotwire yesterday and obviously I didn't know what the hotel was in advance. Turned out it was the Hudson which is fair enough. However, upon checking the Hudson Hotel website it turns out I could have obtained the same room for 20 USD cheaper had I booked directly with them. So basically no big discount as per Hotwire's publicity stuff. Added to the inflexibility of non-refundable bookings; limited room choice and so forth I don't really think that this is the best site to book a hotel room from. Maybe if it is very last minute fair enough, but I have learned my lesson and will try to book with the hotel directly in future. All in all I feel slightly ripped off if only because Hotwire was actually dearer than booking directly with the hotel in the first place.
i alway got a good motel for less i call the motel for a room they alway cost more i stay at holiday in in fort smith for 50 per night the hotel want 80 or more by phone
i alway got a good motel for less i call the motel for a room they alway cost more i stay at holiday in in fort smith for 50 per night the hotel want 80 or more by phone
Just like everyone else never again, buyer beware. Booked flights from US to UK depart Ft Walton beach to Charlotte change in Paris to UK also change from US airways to BA for Paris to UK flight. Left the US with two bags no problems on inbound flights. On outbound BA stuck me with the one bag rule so charged $575 for extra bag called excess luggage. Complained to useless supervisor that this is the same journey in reverse so why the charges.Its not our fault its how it was booked was the standard reply. Had no choice but to pay since I was being held hostage without a gun what was I supposed to do with a suitcase in the airport. On arrival in the US called Hotwire who were not interested customer service what a joke. Called to HQ of BA same response we are not interested. In future will only book direct with an airline. Common sense if I had two bags on departure I would have two bags on return could have mailed suitcase for $50 had I have known the rules would change in mid travel.
Had a really bad experience with hotwire.com as well. I am going to try and find corporate number and tell them about their service not being done very well. Then, I am reporting them to all the news stations so that people will know not to use them and that we are not crazy people just going online to complain. We are serious about the bad service of hotwire.com!
Well, I have looked at a couple of comments and I never gave my story.
I have used hotwire.com three times before this incident so I did put them into Great Faith because they had not screwed me around the previous three times. I tend to go back home in WI and stay in a hotel to not be a burden to relatives. I have stayed at the Hilton downtown twice and the Hyatt once. They were exactly the hotels that hotwire said they were going to be so I had a good guestimate that this forth time would be no worse.
They booked me at the Ambassador hotel which was also a nice place but I was worried about it when first booked because I saw the hotel a while back. It was a nice rehabbed hotel but still in a bad neighborhood and since my husband was not with me, I called up hotwire to see if I could get a refund. They told me no and that if I wanted my money back, I would have to check in and then check out and call them after I checked out. I did that and did not have much time after to call. When I did, they told me that they could only give me $50 in hotwire dollars. The customer service was rude to me and nicely enough, Ambassador Hotel refunded me most of my money back so if I had the hubby, I would stay back at that Hotel but NOT though hotwire.com. This was sad for me to have to go through this and lose $200 but hey, it is a lesson well learned. I will never go through hotwire.com again. I will just call hotels directly and see if I can get a good deal! Will I file a class action suite. Probably not but I will let people know about the service and how I was treated. Instead of being on here, tell all the people you know about this as well. We will get the memo and stop using hotwire.com.
I have had the exact same experience as all of you. I went to book at a 4 star hotel. I thought it was booking me for the Hyatt. They don't even tell you what hotel they are booking you for until you pay and they won't give you your money back. I finished the transaction and they booked me for a hotel on a college campus that didn't have a pool. I called to complain and they wouldn't give me my money back. This was the week of my honeymoon and my husband and I couldn't go anywhere really fun because he had to be back for state police stuff. We had already had a pretty bad week with things going wrong on our honeymoon, then this. I called them and they said they guarantee that anything booked would be 4 star quality. That hotel didn't have a pool. I mentioned this to them and the agent said "I'm looking at the amenities for the 4 star category and it doesn't say anything about a pool." First of all, I'm the customer, I didn't call for your attitude. Second, what kind of 4 star hotel doesn't have a pool. If I didn't want a pool, I would have booked a two star. And, why in God's name would I want to spend my honeymoon on a college campus? I just graduated college and I am sick of being on campus. Needless to say, we didn't stay at their stupid hotel. We booked ourselves at the Hyatt. We lost almost $200 that could have been used for bills. I hope they get sued and get taken for every cent they have and more.
I can not belive all the people who got cheated off there money. And yet i am another victim of hotwire. I am a military member and if you know anything about the military is that we can not controll where we go or when we go. Last December I had a ticket ready, bag ready and a ride to the airport. When out of nowere I was given orders to go from California to North Carolina and I had to be there a couple of days before my flight so I was forced to cancel my flight. Once I got to my destination I called hotwire and told them what happen, they told me that my credit was still usable for a year from the purchase date. I told them that I just wanted my money and they keep insisting that I just leave it and use it later by paying the diffrence of my new ticket and a 150 charge for the change. I just keep telling them that I wanted my money back. Finally after literaly an hour they told me all I had to do was send them a copy of my military orders stating why I was unable to make my original flight, it sounded easy. After going though my comand just to be able to send the orders , that took a couple days. They send me an email that said that they where unable to refund my money becouse nothing in my orders said that I was not going to be able to travel for the next year!! WTF that not what they ask for originaly!! Then when I called them again they said they needed a letter from MY COMMANDING OFFICER ! Stating why I should get my money back. WTF , I am not about to go to my commanding officer for something like this, he doesn't deal with these things he has over 100000 marines that he has to worry about. It's been many months now and I'm still calling these "people" about the issue and keep getting the go around. Them when I tried to use the credit for a flight that was at least two months away they told me my ticket would be about $800 and pluss the $150 for the change WTF not even buying from the air line was that much! Then they where surprised when I refused their offer ,idiots. Point is hotwire makes no exeptions whether you're mother died, natural disasters, civilian or military and that just disgusting.
To:William , Toronto, Canada -- 2009-06-11
Your post made me laugh so hard! Do you even know what you are talking about?? The people on here are complaining about the qiality/location of the hotel they were put in because hotwire doesn't tell you the hotel. So how on earth are you supposed to do "research" on them before you book??? LMAO
HOTWIRE IS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL!!
I had to cancel air reservation I made with hotwire earlier this year due to my mom's diagnosis of cancer and I had to attend to her. I was told I couldn't get a refund but had to use it within 9 months with an additional $150.00 tacked on which I was willing to pay. However, I have to wait for a booking specialist to call me to make a new reservations.
If you are not at the phone waiting for them to call within '72 hours', they will have to reschedule you to wait for another 72 hour period to call. They asked me for the best number to call and a time frame. I gave them the best time to reach me and thought I was very clear.
I told them I can be reached on my job between certain hours and I gave them my number to reach me at home at certain hours. So why do they call me at the number I told them I wouldn't be at a certain time. When they should have called me at the number I told them I would be at !!!!!!!!?????
What is really going on???
So of course the difference I would have to pay in addition to my original fare cost is going up which is added to the $150.00. This is so FRUSTRATING!!
I've called customer service, NO HELP at All!! The rep was so nasty and basically didn't give a care.
I'm on my 4th 72 hour watch!!!
DO NOT USE HOTWIRE FOR AIR TRAVEL!!!!!!!!!
I've read others blog about hotel reservations and it seemed to work out for them but hotwire's air travel portion truly, truly is a sham!!!
I believe I'll get my lawyer in on this and BBB and see if a class action suite can filed against them. If anyone is interested to join, please let me know (contact HOT hotwire Customer, P.O. Box 2905, Spring Valley, CA. 91979)
It's a shame that they would do this in this bad ecomony. You would think they would want to give good service to get more satisfied customers but I guess that's not very important to them.
mislead sufferings.ailing launching computers pineapple Nipponize:
UPDATE TO
George , Vancouver BC -- 2009-07-23
I called my credit card company and explained the problem. Their policy is that foreign currency refunds be done in the exact dollar amount of the original purchase. My bank did a chargeback against Hotwire for me.
Take that Hotwire!!
Don't even think of using hotwire. They will put you in a dump way out of town when you asked for 4* in the middle of town. It's a total scam - look at other sites at least you know where you will stay: trust me it's worth the extra $5 you saved for a night in hell.
hotwire.com is a bait and switch scam. dont use hotwire. ck this out. my wife saw tv add $13.95 per day for rental car. go to site. i picked chicago for $11.95 clik continue--now 33+/- for least expensive. then with taxes and weazel charges more like $40 per day.
went to hotels found 2star at bwi airport for $48 basic charge. trademark/logo icons indicated days inn,la quinta and comfort. weazel words below in small print said and other respected hotel brands. You do not know what hotel type you get until you pay and are locked in saying no refund.
We were given a Microtel with total charge of $60.25. taxes are 12.99 per cent of 48 or $6.23.
The balace was for a “recovery” fee of $6.02. what are they trying to recover?? The hotel is not going anywhere!! Must be a rip off fo r the ceo’s gillion $ bonus.
We have stayed at a number of other Microtels in various parts of the u.s. they have all been just fine. A little compact but always neat and clean.
When we got to our Microtel at bwi the lobby was messy. The carpets in the hallway and elevator were filthy. The curtains in the room were hanging and dirty. The sheets were unchanged and dirty. In general the conditions of the hotel were more than horrible. Needless to say we took one look and walked out. Now dukeing it out w hotwire for fee.
Admittedly we were newbies to hotwire and in my haste did not digest and fully comprehend all the weazel disclaimers. They put caveat emptor at a new level.
Hotwire misrepresents themselves and has terrible customer service. It's to believe the same parent company owns Expedia and Hotels.com.
I booked and paid for a suite in a 5 star hotel in Madrid on April 21/09 (for a July 31 arrival). On July 11, they emailed me to say that the suite is no longer available and they would offer me a FULL refund plus "50 Hotdollars"or receive 50% off in "Hotdollars" for future travel, all with a 1 year expiry date. I phoned the hotel directly and the suite is still available although at a much higher price. Since we had our hearts set on staying in a suite and finding that the regular rooms appeared too small on the website, we chose the refund option. The problem is the value of the dollar changed over the past 3 months and I lost a full $82.80 Canadian on the exchange rate differences.
My questions are: Why did it take Hotwire almost 3 months to figure out that the suite was no longer available?
Was the suite ever available? Is this a case of bait and switch?
Since Hotwire operates a Canadian website and offers toll free support, I expect a full refund on my Canadian Visa card, just like the way they gladly took my money to make the reservation. I realize that they cannot control worldwide currency market, but I did nothing wrong except trust Hotwire to provide what they promised. After calling them today and speaking to useless and robotlike customer disservice personnel and supervisor (employee Jenna#1016),I am convinced that Hotwire is not as honest as they pretend to be. As a measure of good faith, they should give me a full refund and pay me the $80.80 CAN missing from "MY FULL" refund.
"Hotel Deals you won't find anywhere else"...Except for the hotel's very own website! Know what my savings were? Nothing. For a stay in a condo village that you can walk to nearly any gas station or grocery store in Wisconsin and grab a coupon for a free stay if you sit through their timeshare pitch.
I thought I was recieving a 3.5 star condo in Wisconsin Dells. I don't know...Chula Vista, Wilderness, Rhapsody, NOT CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN!
Hotwire did not deliver.
I just got the big screw from hotwire also. I don't understand why we don't all get together and bombard the attorney general's office with complaints to put a stop to this.
you have to take in consideration that hotwire is a gamble. If it was not a gamble then they would tell you what hotel they have available for that price. Now the scam Hotwire rates there own hotels they dont guy be the official ratings. So when you get a 3 star hotel from them its really a 2 star hotel etc. etc. So hot wire gives you a false illusion that your going to get that really great hotel room for that little price the only way they can do this is to cut corners. Okay your in a hilton hotel so they charge you 70 dollars a night but then the hotel bills you 40 for parking 20 for internet 5 for cable and 5 dollars for hot water etc. so then ur paying what you would have with an AAA card. dont gamble your vacation with hotwire know what your going to get. hotwire is a scary blind date.
First time user of Hotwire.com, but never again. Booked my rooms days before my trip, of course you had to book your reservation before they would tell you what hotel they booked you at. Once I had the name of the hotel I went online to see what it looked like but once there I was very, very upset with the rooms. Went back to the Hotel Office who then told me I had to call Hotwire.com which I did who then told me sorry no refund. Even the hotel clerk informed me that she had other complaints from customers checking in or out concerning Hotwire.com. Overall I felt Hotwire.com refusing to help me or refund me they were forcing me to stay in this terrible place. I even requested to be moved to a different but better hotel but was told by both they could not do that.
I spoke with other Managers at other hotels like Days Inn and they said the hotel could and should have canceled my reservation from their end where then Hotwire.com would have had to refund me and when I shared that information with the Homestead clerk and manager I got nowhere. They said they could not cancel me without Hotwire.com’s approval but that they would call Hotwire.com and try to get at least a one night stay refund which Hotwire.com refused based on the fact that I had already called them and was turned down. I ended up spending more money to go stay somewhere else. So Hotwire and Homestead both are making pay for something that was unsatisfactory and no one likes spend that kind of money on something no worthy of buying.
Then the last blow was calling the number on the back of my Master Card Debit card to find that I have no back up there either because it is a debit card. I thought that the Master Card or Visa symbol on the cards represented some kind of protection. So I feel just totally at a loss, other than filing with the BBB or placing my review out on the internet everywhere that I can is the only satisfaction I am going to get which is very sad at the least.
I agree w/you. Hotwire is deceptive. I just booked a hotel designated as an airport location. After booking, I found out that the hotel was 20 minutes away from the airport. Called hotwire immediately and asked to cancel. Of course, no cancellations (but exceptions can be made)- not w/hotwire. Wouldn't budge. Now taking it up w/credit card company and better business bureau.
Customer beware!
Beware, Hotwire has introduced me to some fine hotels in San Francisco, and deals can be found at the highest price points; however, my last three experiences have been horrific. After receiving a small, handicapped room with no door on the bath and blood on the mat in one room, sharing a wall with the elevator in another, and being told by the front desk at the third that I was receiving a basic room with two double beds because I booked with Hotwire, but could pay another $80 for a King...I have had enough. Hotwire offers their "dollars" as an apology "for the hotel" but will not admit that the rates they offer are for the most undesirable rooms in the hotels. It is also industry standard to offer reduced amenities and services to customers of third party travel sites. You get what you pay for, why give Hotwire the money?
wow...if I had done a search for Hotwire, I probably wouldn't have used them either. As it is, I've used them twice with very good results! The first time, I paid $58 for a 3.5 star hotel in Cincy (turned out to be a handicap room @ the Millennium, but I was quite content!) and more recently, I was having computer issues so I called Hotwire directly, spoke with a rep who was very patient with me (I was battling a cold that had me sounding like I had a terrible case of laryngitis, plus I kept asking her to repeat every other word 'cause my ears were plugged up, too) & booked a 3 star for $52 in Baltimore..ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn, brand new hotel in Hanover (had only been open about 4 mths), was less than 10 mins from the airport AND offered an airport shuttle (I was also able to print my boarding pass using their business center). The hotel was clean & quiet (I think I may've been the only person on the entire 5th floor), the bed was so comfy, it made me want one for everyday! (The 32" LCD tv also helped me realize that I wouldn't need anything larger than that), & the staff was extremely courteous.
I admit that the whole idea of prepaying (and not knowing which hotel I've paid for until the end) was almost enough to make me think twice..but I've been satisfied the 2 times I've used them. The only reason I was doing a search for it now is because I'm still having those computer issues (the date fields aren't visible).
HOTWIRE AND HOTEL ROOMS
I read a number of people here were angry about booking a hotel without first finding the name of it and its location.
The rates on Hotwire are probably great for hotels, but it is "too much an act of faith" to choose a rate...and then get the hotel later on...
Sorry, I don't have that faith, and common sense tells me it is unwise to rent an (unnamed) hotel. The exception is if you are traveling alone on business and don't really care.
I will try it for a rental car. There's less risk in that.
Folks, be reasonable...it just doesn't make any sense to get an un-named hotel room.
sanjosemike
I booked a 3.5 star hotel with Hotwire only to find that when the hotel was "revealed", it had become a 2 star. They are not going to give me a refund, even though their website amounts to a bait and switch.
I consistently find these sorts of errors in my later searches: you click on one deal and it switches to something else as some point in the check out process. They are basically a scam, and seem to not care, as their customer service is a joke and cannot refund or switch your deal.
Class action lawsuit in the making?
asynchronously Durer Lyra puppets poignancy withstands ...
I'm doing some research on the internet to see if there are any legitimate complaints against HOTWIRE.COM, and came across this site.
At first I was shocked at all the negative postings, but then I read many of them and noticed that most of you people who were burned by their experiences often put 100% faith in the descriptions and details on Hotwire instead of doing proper third party research on the hotels in question...when I pull a package off of the site I type the hotel name into TRIPADVISOR.COM and also have GOOGLE EARTH up at the same time. I can check the hotel area, estimate distances to attractions, airports and such, as well as get a variety of reviews from TRIPADVISOR.
You would think when you guys plan to spend thousands of dollars on a trip you might actually do some research before you sign on the dotted line.
Ever hear of buyer beware? Shop smart, do the leg work and protect your investment. All you complainers sound like the parents who blame McDonald's or Coca-Cola for making their children obese, but fail to look in the mirror to see the ACTUAL person to blame.
Complaints are fine, but show us all that you think first!!
BTW Guys,
I did a little more research...you all DO realize that HOTWIRE.COM is a fully owned and operated company by EXPEDIA...trading on the NASDAQ under EXPE (Expedia's normal stock code).
The terms and conditions on Hotwire is quite the document, but not any different than the same conditions on Sears Travel, Marlin Travel and all other travel agencies.
love this website. you get your moneys worth.you only get what you give. just be smart with their policies every company has one.
i tried to book a car rental at 18.90 but when i clicked on it it said the SAME CAR SAME TIME was 26.90. i called them and i talked to a costumer service person that was in INDIA! they are rotten liers
I have booked several times on Hotwire and never had any problems. Maybe it was because I read the rules and restrictions before booking knowing how much flexibilty I would have.Granted it wasn't much but thats why I booked on there,I knew I was getting a deal on the rooms I booked.Our Church uses this site all the time.
I booked a hotel room weeks ago.Got confirmation #, everything was fine & dandy. 7days before leaving up to N.Y. to stay at my booked room I receive an e-mail from hotwire. Sorry but the suite you paid for is no longer available. Now how is that possible? I can keep my reservation but take another room & I'll get hotwire bucks as a reward for my next booking through hotwire. First of all, I never booked a suite to begin with and second of all I WILL NEVER USE HOTWIRE AGAIN. So I am downgrading my room for the same price & getting some stupid hotwire bucks that are worth sh..!
I am being charged by HOTWIRE for a hotel stay I didn't want, hit the wrong tab w/ too many tab buttons open on computer. I am not going to pay for something I didn't use. I think that HOTWIRE are thieves and they take the money and run. My next stop is Attorney General!
forge hedges?wenches ha?grinder stumbling braying viscounts
Not only is it a scam, it is extortion. They have no regard for the end user in mind. There rates aren't even that good! I would rather pay $5 a night extra to be sure that I won't get screwed.
All I can say is DON'T USE HOTWIRE!! They are the perfect desription of "scamming" on the interent! I booked a hotel for my parents in Mass. for June 2009. After booking it I was surprised with what I got since I asked for a certain area and got a totally different one. I went by the hotel to take a look with my parents and could not believe my eyes! It looked like the gheto! I am not even exaggerating a little! The place as my mom put it "is a "dump"! There were people living there! Grills on the patio, ripped curtains and even a tire swing hanging from a tree!! I was appalled. My parents kept asking me if I was sure I had the right address! The place looked like a bedbug cockroach infested place without a doubt! They are absolutely not going to stay
there so I contacted Hotwire and got NO help what so ever! They basically told me that once you put in all your information and hit "ENTER" that is it!! Never will I use them again. They were so rude and could care less that these were elderly people I was talking about. My parents were not even asking for their money back they were just asking to be switched to another hotel and would even pay more if they had to! They again told me "Sorry we can't do anything for you." I guess it's true what they say "You get what you get and you don't get upset!" They should have that plastered all over their website then maybe people would think twice before hitting "ENTER"!!!
I am always surprised to see that Hotwire advertises car rentals for $19/day and the total amount for the rental happens to be the same as other sites that offer $31/day... Maybe it's just me or Hotwire really thinks that we are all suckers for a $19/day deal that really is a $31/day deal...
Used Hotwire for the first time and will NEVER use them again. I was promised a 4-star hotel in Chicago, but what I got instead was a company lodge in the woods. The trip isn't until July and I am NOT going to stay at a lodge. These folks do nothing but read from scrips about no refunds, etc., but they fail to see that a lodge in the woods does NOT qualify as a 4-star HOTEL.
Not one person at "customer service" can tell me the name of an executive I can write. Not one. I even spoke to a supervisor who had no clue. He didn't even know the corporate headquarter's address.
These scammers have NOT heard the last from me.
There is NO consumer protection and NO customer service. DON'T USE HOTWIRE.
I thought I found a deal on hotwire.com for a hotel for $99 per night, but after reading all of these experiences I'm very much hestitant from booking with them. I could never understand why they won't disclose the name of the hotel until you book. Now, I see. That quirk gives them leverage to bait and switch you. If this site is as bad as you guys say it is, some state's attorneys should be looking into these deceptive practices the same way they scrutinize Craigslist. There needs to be more consumer potection laws for users buying things on the Internet. I say making Hotwire clean up their act is a good start. I will not be booking with Hotwire; although I was surprised to read hotels.com is a subsidary of the Hotwire's parent company.
I have used Hotwire a lot. Usually things go ok although I have had a few surprises.
Tonight I was going on to book the room I booked last time. $49 per night. It stated it was in North Scottsdale but in fact when I got there, it was a neighboring city, Paradise Valley. It was much further than I had hoped but the hotel was so nice and the free breakfast buffet was great. I was suppose to pay $15 a day for the internet but if you go into the lobby and sign on for free you can walk back to your room and still be connected. So that turned out to be a great deal, despite the lawn mowing at 4:04 AM!
So when I was going on to book at that hotel again, which was a three star hotel, I noticed that there was a 4.5 star hotel for only $17 a night more. So I went ahead and booked 5 nights at $66 a night. I got the confirmation email, which I usually never read. I noticed that at the bottom, in gray letters, it says that this hotel will charge $25 per night once I get there.
Totally unacceptable! The hotel was not in Scottsdale as advertised. It's in Paradise Valley again and instead of $66 a night it is $91 a night. I think that is a bit of bait and switch. You think your room is paid for but then you have a 35% additional fee added on.
Isn't there anything that can be done about these deceptive practices. After being a monthly customer of Hotwire for the past few years, i will no longer be using them.
After reading all the complaints on here, I realize that without a doubt they are not going to refund me my money. Lesson learned. Hopefully all of these complaints will save someone else the cash and learn from our mistakes.
If only I have found this site, I wouldn't lost a thousand dollars for that shitty HOTWIRE site.
Obviously the people at hotwire can't do anything at all but sit in their scamming chairs opening their rude mouths to people.
I have not come across any company that hire employees that "can't do anything" at all.
DO NOT USE HOTWIRE!!!
I rented a car from Hotwire for "Houston". When I typed in Houston, it took me right into the car options screen. No pop up window or other warning that there are apparently two airport options in Houston, 45 minutes apart. When I got the HW confirmation, I realized the two airports didn't match, and called to switch airports. Same city, same pick-up day/time, same rental agency- I would even have paid more if necessary. I was given multiple, verbatim quotes on "company policy" and admonished in every interaction about my responsibility. Three transfers and a disconnect from a "supervisor" in India later, I finally realized that there would be absolutely NO attempt to help. None. A deceptive, miserable, exploitive experience. As a first and only time Hotwire user, I will avoid Hotwire at all costs moving forward, and will make sure to share my experience with every consumer website and unwary individual traveler I can. As a senior hospitality executive, I am absolutely shocked at the poor levels of customer service I received from this company- if I mistreated my customers even half as badly , I wouldn't have any customers to worry about. May Hotwire be as successful as their policies and customer service are fair and helpful....that is, not at all.
I've been trying to get a charge back for a room I booked in Cancun. Now the medical alert has been raised for all areas of Mexico and unnecessary travel has been discouraged, Hotwire will STILL not refund the hotel charge. They'd rather you risk your health and others. What do they care? THIEVES. Live and learn.
I decided to take my girlfriend to Paris for a long weekend for her birthday since flights were very cheap for March. I went on Hotwire to book a room and they showed a "4 star" hotel right near the Arc Triomphe. The site stated that the hotel had a fitness center and laundry facilities. It turns out that the hotel had neither, and according to the manager, never had. In addition, the hotel could not be considered a 4 star hotel by any stretch of the imagination. Calling it a 3 star hotel would also be a stretch. The bed sagged badly in the middle and had seen better days. The sheets were paper thin. The room was tiny (this after the manager upgraded us to a "deluxe" room). The safe was broken. After booking, I found the same room on Travelocity for $5 more INCLUDING BREAKFAST, which the hotel charged $22 per person if you did not have it included. I contacted Hotwire and they said they would investigate and gave me a $50 discount towards future bookings. It has been several weeks now and no answer. They are now not even responding to my e-mails. I would never use Hotwire again, nor their affiliated sites, Expedia and Hotels. com, all 3 owned by the same company. Stating that all transactions are final is not an excuse to lie and commit fraud.
Ugh, Hotwire is horrendous. I booked a small SUV to take a piece fo furniture and my dogs to Dallas from Oklahoma City. I got a confirmation saying the small suv was guaranteed. When I went to pick up the car, Hertz only had behomoth SUV's and "upgraded me to one" I said I didnt want a big car, (my everyday was is a TownCar), so the last thing I needed was another gas guzzler. I had no choice but to take the huge SUV. I called Hotwire to complain and ask them why they simply didnt place my reservation with another car company that HAD what they promised to get me. They said they'd give me $25 Hotwire dollars. I said, "do you seriously think I'd ever use your miserable company again" and they hung up on me. Hotwire is miserable to deal with and I would NEVER use them again.
Booked through Hotwire for a room in Venice Beach, CA. When we arrived there was no water in the room (front desk assured us it would be working by 7 PM and it was in the toilet and shower, however never in the sink.tough to brush your teeth without water in the sink) It was advertised as having wireless internet in all rooms (there was none, but for a fee, they would add it for us) there was no mention thru HOTWIRE of a charge for parking (and it was $15.00 per day) HOTWIRE advertised Breakfast with the room (there was ONLY coffee in the lobby) We called HOTWIRE from the room before checking out. The only response we got was they would investigate. Later told, these things happen occasionally. We complained at the front desk on checkout, told they weren't concerned as the hotel would be changing it's name shortly and any complaints would not pertain. I will never trust Hot Wire again. I certainly can understand things happening, but I can't understand their cold indifference, paying top dollar and getting campground setting. And all the extra charges that were "hidden" until were their "captives". Our nightmare was March 11, 2009.
Hotwire was and IS a huge problem. They would not allow us to make any changes to our travel reservations once the credit card was charged. My wife got sick 3 days before our departure date. I still had to go as it was a business trip. Hotwire will not help you in any way once the money is in their account. It took several phone calls trying to work with them to just change the reservation to my credit card. They simply refused to help me and wouldn't give us a refund. I ended up losing the money and still paying for the trip. I had a similar disaster with Hotels.com. In this case, I was the keynote speaker at a convention in California. I booked my hotel reservation 3 months in advance. The day before I was supposed to leave Hotels.com e-mails me and says due to an error on their part, I have no reservation. All the hotels were now booked and I ended up paying 3 times as much at a hotel 15 miles away. Hotels.com's idea of customer service when I called them was offering a $20. coupon the next time I used their service. I am convinced that on-line services purposely make non-refunds their policy to cheat people out of money. I will never use one again. NEVER. If you are smart, go directly to the provider and make your reservation and check with them about refunds before you give them a dime.
Hotwire - Hotels.com Horrible!
No problems with Hotwire -
I have never had a problem with the site--in fact, I have found great deals on hotels in downtown Chicago. Checkout betterbidding.com and you can basically figure out what hotel you will get (at least within 2 or 3 hotels).
As for the mileage complaint--read their terms. The mileage is not from the hotel, it is from the center of the area.
As long as you are not a complete fool you can rather easily use Hotwire to get a great deal. Here is a word of advice--don't book a 2.5 star hotel on Hotwire if you don't want to stay in a shithole. Stop looking for someone else to blame, Hotwire is not a scam.
As a note, my last use of Hotwire was staying at the Hilton in downtown Chicago for $79 a night.
Hotwire takes advantage of people.
Hotwire left me on my own after a completely irresponsible action of one of their hotel partners (OAK PLANTATION RESORT, Kissimmee FL). I was refused of the hotel room I had paid for in advance to Hotwire. I was left without any accommodation at 2:00 am in a city unknown to me. I was forced to look for hotels at 2:00 am in a place that was all booked up because of the irresponsible actions of OAK PLANTATION RESORT and because HOTWIRE did not assist me on getting an alternative place. I lost all morning and part of the afternoon recovering from a nightmare my family and I will never forget. I had to pay from my pocket for another hotel and after sending countless emails and making even more phone calls, HOTWIRE agreed to pay me my money back, not without a catch: I have to wait for up to 60 days to get it. In compensation HOTWIRE offered an apology and 25 Monopoly dollares (they call it HotDollars and they are only good for buying stuff from Hotwire). Yes, you read correctly: 25 Monopoly dollars was what they offered to compensate for their irresponsibility and incompetence.
That's HOTWIRE for you.
Join the campaingn: DO NOT USE HOTWIRE!!!
Hotwire takes advantage of people.
Hotwire left me on my own after a completely irresponsible action of one of your hotel partners (OAK PLANTATION RESORT, Kissimmee FL). I was refused of the hotel room I had paid for in advance to Hotwire. I was left without any accommodation at 2:00 am in a city unknown to me. I was forced to look for hotels at 2:00 am in a place that was all booked up because of the irresponsible actions of OAK PLANTATION RESORT and because HOTWIRE did not assist me on getting an alternative place. I lost all morning and part of the afternoon recovering from a nightmare my family and I will never forget. I had to pay from my pocket for another hotel and after sending countless emails and making even more phone calls HOTWIRE agreed to pay me my money back, not without a catch: I have to wait for up to 60 days to get it. In compensation HOTWIRE offered an apology and 25 Monopoly dollares (they call it HotDollars and they are only good for buying stuff from Hotwire). Yes, you read correctly: 25 Monopoly dollars was what they offered to compensate for their irresponsibility and incompetence.
That's HOTWIRE for you.
HOTWIRE IS A SCAM -
Today I booked a hotel on Hotwire at one rate, then opened another browser found the exact same hotel description at a reduced rate. I told my friend about it who was going to stay at the same hotel. He booked the hotel at the reduced rate and we discovered it was the exact same hotel. I called to tell them that the different browsers are producing different rates, they would not give me a credit for my "over charged" purchase. I talked to an incompetent manager who gave me a half-assed explanation. I have a call into corporate to let them know how furious I am. It is a joke and scam and they are taking advantage of the consumer.
DO NOT USE HOTWIRE!!! I used them the first time just a couple of months ago...booked a room that was to be within a certain mileage of a certain address but after I purchased it and was given the hotel information I found out it was actually NOT within the decided mileage. Called Hotwire and they DID NOT CARE! They commented that it was "only 1 more mile, was it really that important?" This past weekend I decided to give them another try. Surely it would be better! I booked a 2.5 star hotel. When I got there I found the hotel to be in complete disrepair. The location was unsafe (in my opinion, and I was traveling alone with my daughter) and the room itself was disgustingly filthy! Upon opening the door of the room a stench hit my nose that there are no words to describe. Also, when I pulled back the sheets of the bed there were hairs an other debris on present. The pillows were a dingy, dirty, stinky yellow mess. I went immediately out of the room and down to my car to call Hotwire. I described the problem to the service rep and was hassled on exactly why I wanted out of the rental agreement. After quite a long conversation I was given the option of canceling and getting a refund and re booking at a different hotel. Obviously I needed a different hotel! I was not allowed to use the money I had already paid-it was going to be refunded to me in 3-4 business days. I was required to pay immediately the amount that it would cost to rent another room. That put me in quite a position! OR I could simply cancel the reservation and not have a hotel room. Needless to say,I had to pony up another reservation fee and travel to another hotel. No apologies just business. Hotwire was NOT worth the $9.99 that I saved on the room rental! I will just pay the entire room rate in the future and know that I will be in a safe, clean hotel.
Glad I googled hotwire first! Even though there are a lot of comments in support of Hotwire(MUST HAVE SOME CONNECTION,I tend to believe when there are more than two or three complaints.I guess I'm so sick of all the companies,businesses,etc..with their schemes and scams (seems like everyone from cell phone providers to insurance companies have hidden "policies"). You should not need a law degree just to rent a car,use a cell service,isp, or any other service,and the customer service employees they pay and train to intentionally mislead all in the name of the almighty dollar.I hope you all know how to hunt,fish and grow your own food.Between you and the rest of the greedy slime that are destroying this country and world you will eventually need retraining when money is not worth the paper it is printed on as I will not be feeding you. Oh yeah,I will not be using Hotwire.
Beware of hotwire, very rude people, once you reserve there is no way back, they pick your hotel any where in the city so you don't know where you end, also they don't honor tax exemption when applicable
Beware of hotwire, very rude people, once you reserve there is no way back, they pick your hotel any where in the city so you don't know where you end, also they don't honor tax exemption when applicable
Beware of hotwire, very rude people, once you reserve there is no way back, they pick your hotel any where in the city so you don't know where you end, also they don't honor tax exemption when applicable
I too wished I had read this site before booking with Hotwire. I hate them and will tell the whole world about them I booked a room for two days in N. Carolina where my sister lives. She checked out the hotel they set me up with and said it was nasty, dirty and smelled. I am traveling with a four yr. old and six month old. I called hotline to complaint, but they said they could not take another persons word. That when I got there myself to call them and complaint. I will be getting in late and am not going to be looking around for another hotel at that time of night with two small children. Oh well I just lost 130.00 dollars. I hate you hotwire. Dont you check these hotels before you set people up in them.
I came across this site, and thought I would post a few insights into some of the issues I have read here. I am a hotel revenue manager, and my job is to manage content, inventory (rooms available), and rates on sites such as hotwire, priceline, expedia, etc. I also have an extensive professional travel background. Firstly, with regard to rates, and whether or not you got a "deal:" Hotwire does not set their rates, the travel vendors do. The same applies to all internet sites. We determine what rate we wish to receive, travel vendors add a pre-determined markup, which is usually 18-25%, and that is the rate you pay. The hotel receives the base rate, less the markup. The same applies for car rental and airline reservations.
You got to the hotel and they did not have your reservation-this is not the fault of the service you purchased thru. This is the fault of the reservations staff at the hotel. Understand that most front desk clerks understand very little about ecommerce, and how rates are set, or communicated to online sites. They are often poorly trained, and many of them honestly have no clue that someone at the hotel, or in the hotel chain, sets and manages these rates.
You can't change the name on your airline ticket, or make a change-duh. Again-this is an airline regulation, and has nothing to do with the service you purchased thru. You should also know for an absolute fact that if you ticket thru anyone other than the carrier directly, they will almost always tell you to go back to the ticketing agency. Unfortunately, the ticketing agency is legally bound by the rules of the fare imposed by the airline. Name changes are permitted on about three foreign carriers that I know of, and absolutely NO domestic carriers. Changes to itinerary always incur a change fee, and any difference in fare for the new flight. Any advance purchase, non-refundable fare incurs such charges, and that means virtually any ticket that is not first or business class. Period. If you have any doubt about your dates of travel, DON'T BOOK, or ticket thru the carrier directly, always. This also applies if you are booking thru a travel agent.
Hotwire changed my flight-NO, they did not. The airlines do schedule changes all the time. If the change is more than so many hours, they are required to contact the passenger. They usually don't. The new flights are booked by computer, and frequently create a misconnect. When you find this out, they will tell you to contact your ticketing agent or service. Don't stand for it. Demand a supervisor immediately. There are actual schedule change departments at all airlines, and it is THEIR job to fix the mess. This does not always mean you'll get the flight you want, as sometimes entire routes are discontinued, but going back to the ticketing agency or service really can't help a whole lot. It's up to the airline to fix the mess they created in the first place.
Regarding cancelling a ticket-it's an advance purchase non-refudnable fare. You're stuck. However, any ticket can be voided by the generating agency, including the air carrier if they did the ticketing, within 24 hours of issue. NO-the industry does not want you to know this, but it can be done, per ARC regulations. ARC, or the Airline Regulation Commission, governs the rules of ticketing for all agencies, including the airlines. A ticket can be voided in any ticketing system within 24 hours of issue by the ticketing agent. After 24 hours, the ticket is reported to ARC, and is a done deal. You are then governed by the fare rules regarding changes, and fees for changes.
Can you get a deal on hotwire-absolutely. We use opaque services such as hotwire and priceline to get rid of last minute inventory, or to build a base of business for future dates of stay, without publishing such distressed rates, and "cheapening" our product in the market place. This is why the hotel name is revealed after booking. And yes, I am employed by a four-star resort. Good luck!
Hi everyone. I just finished reading all the postings about Hotwire. OUCH! To all those who had horrible experiences, I'm sorry. IF I had read all your negative comments a few years ago, before I became an avid hotwire fan, I too would have never hearkened the door of Hotwire.
BUT, I didn't read these negative comments years ago. And I'm so glad I didn't.
Because Hotwire has saved me a HUGE amount of money over the past few years!!
1. Let's talk about Car Rentals. I travel a lot, and rent many cars, especially in the USA. By doing diligent comparative searches ahead of time between carrentals.com, expedia.com, etc., and by checking back every hour on Hotwire, I almost always find the cheapest (by FAR) car rentals through Hotwire. The same car-class on Hotwire at the same airport location is typically 25-50% LOWER using Hotwire than it's sister Expedia.com. (Note: Hotwire is only useful for car-rentals at airports, not city locations, so if you need to rent your car in a city, or one-way, don't bother with Hotwire.)
9 out of 10 times Hotwire car rentals have gone through flawlessly for me. I saved SUBSTANTIAL money and never once had any of the problems reported by others on these postings. I typically book the cheapest class on Hotwire, and then negotiate a few dollars more at the airport counter to get a good upgrade car. Frequently I'm lucky, and the company has run out of cars in the compact or economy class, in wuch cases the company had no choice but to upgrade to a better available car AT NO CHARGE.
Here's a couple examples: I just rented a week in Orlando the VERY HOT 2009 Dodge Challenger, serious muscle-car (salesman said 425hp) for all of $27/day, by paying $17/day for economy on Hotwire (believe me, the cheapest economy car on Expedia or any other site I could find was more than twice that) then upgrading an extra $10/day at the counter. That car would have cost minimum $50/day anywhere else, if it could even be found. (Hint: buy additional coverage $72/wk on Hotwire, it's $0 deductible, which in this case was good cuz some jealous person ran their key up the full length of the Challenger digging deep scratches...but hey, that's not my problem now, I'm happy to report, cuz I had bought the additional coverage...good idea if you're planning to upgrade your economy to a premium or luxury or jealousy-provoking race car).
Another time I rented an economy car at Newark airport for $16/day! Now the Newark airport car rental location has a constant influx of returning cars, and by patiently waiting 90minutes while watching all the returning cars come in, I nabbed the newest sporty Hyundai with sunroof for only $17/day for two weeks...believe me, that's unheard of at Newark airport.
Another ocassion I booked an economy at Phily airport thru Hotwire for $15/day (Expedia was $28), then using the same 'patient nice-guy' approach, ended up with the Pontiac G8, sunroof, black, VERY SWEET for only $5 dollars more per day.
My experiences were always positive with Hotwire, even when problems occured: for example:
I rented through Hotwire at "Enterprise" one time in Phily. Enterprise is one of the companies that works with only a debit card. However at the counter, I was told that since my driver's license was Canadian, under new regulations Enterprise couldn't rent to me. The manager, apologetic as all get out, gave me the government-issued bulletin as proof, apologized profusely to me, then let me use his computer to rebook at another agency, again through Hotwire. Kudos to Enterprise at Phily a/p. I got a similar deal at another car rental company only one minute walk from Enterprise, again through Hotwire. Please note, Hotwire didn't take money off my debit card.
Another time I had a "transaction interruption" on the internet on Hotwire's site, and I had to redo the booking. My credit card was charged twice. Upon discovering this, I called Hotwire, talked nicely (THAT IS THE KEYY!!!) and was given a full refund of one of the charges (however it DID take 20 minutes cuz the hotwire guy had to call Budget location to make sure I had not actually rented said car)...and that is the extent of any problems I've had with Hotwire.
One negative thing that can happen: knowing that Hotwire is linked with availability, one moment a car class can be very cheap, say $16/day. But if one searches again a few minutes later, it can pop up to $25 or more if no more cars are available. Here's what I do: make the transaction up to the very moment of no-return, but don't press the button. Then, open another browser and do further checks, compare locations, classes, etc...If you find a steal or cheaper deal, again book up to the point of sealing the transaction. If not, then GO BACK to the first browser transaction, and complete it. For some reason, it seems that the cheapest price goes through for me, even though other browsers may show a much higher price.
Anyway, that's my postive experiences with hotwire.
Negative? I don't like booking hotels sight-unseen. To me, comparitively-speaking, a car is a car, a flight is a flight, but a hotel is not a hotel. So I generally don't book hotels with Hotwire, rather I use Inter-state travel coupon booklets which are also available online, or go directly to the hotel site. That way I know what I'm paying for. And as far as flights are concerned, my experiences with other search-engines and companies, like Kayak.com, have proven better, and I prefer to book via kayak.com with the actual air carriers, which if necessary due to travel plan changes allows much better service, change-fees, flexibility at the counter (IF one is NICE, REASONABLE and [only where beneficial] just a little sweet-talkin').
To summarize, I have found Hotwire to be UNBEATABLE in getting great car-rental deals at airports, and their customer service excellent, staff willing to "break the rules" regarding "NO EXCEPTIONS" on refunds whenever I've been reasonable and the grounds are substantiative for refunds.
i've used hotwire heavily since their first month of inception ... so much so that they've included me both in a focus group they ran in the SF bay area and have included me in a new "super customer" (my phrase, not theirs) program ...
on the whole i've found them to be extremely good. out of about 50 plane tickets, a dozen rental cars and 75 hotel nights i've only ever had three problems.
one was a hotel that was listed as being three star partially because it had a restaurant as part of the hotel ... actually it was independent but on the same general plot of land ... a fine point to be sure and not really hotwire's fault since they had been mislead by the hotel.
another was a rental car agency that was closed when i arrived on a plane flight i had booked through hotwire as well. no big deal, really since i'd noticed they were an outfit i didn't recognize and i called them before the trip to make sure they were open ... when we realized there was a problem, they kept an agent for me when i got in.
the other was my fault. i made a reservation but had chosen the wrong weekend off the reservation calendar. i arrived at the hotel, they said they had no reservation. after discovering my mistake, and a LONG conversation with hotwire, they refunded my original purchase and made a new reservation. ACCORDING TO THEIR TERMS, THEY *CLEARLY* DID *NOT* HAVE TO DO THIS. superb customer service.
they are the ultimate company of "a deal is a deal." if you aren't certain you're going to make your trip, nor absolutely positive that you can accept not knowing *exact* details of a purchase before you buy, use someone else.
if you're looking for rock bottom pricing on well-represented travel goods and services, this is your company.
i like them better than priceline because you're not guessing you best price, you just know it.
the more you use hotwire, the more they are aware of you and will help you out if you find yourself getting stuck.
for last minute travel that isn't obscenely expensive, they're spectacular. like i've said, i've used them for well over a hundred transactions -- i hope to use them for thousands more.
use your own critical judgement when you think about the concerns other people show here.
thanks for reading.
I also had problems with Hotwire and I too should have done more homework before booking with Hotwire. I have learned my lesson and I do deeply appreciate the existance of this website.
Can someone provide me with Hotwire's corporate office address, phone number, fax number?
Thanks a million,
I was, up until last week, a long-term customer of Hotwire. However, last week I booked a 2 1/2 star hotel and was given a 2 star hotel (which was clearly stated as a 2 star hotel) on their advertising. I have complained to the customer service (no result), Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) and have even found a law firm in the process of filing a class-action suit against them. Everyone who has had this experience, please file with the Better Business Bureau. It doesn't take long and we might get them to change their policies if there are enough people complaining.
Do not use hotwire. You CANNOT cancel a reservation once you've paid for it. They are a total scam.
I've been using Hotwire for several years now for flights and hotels. Have never had any issues, although I have not had to cancel any of my reservations. I have saved thousands of dollars and have had no issues with the hotel rooms that I've been given. In fact, during my Vegas trip last year, they upgraded my room even though I booked through Hotwire. Again, just booked another trip trough Hotwire saving about 1/2 on my stay at the Wynn. I am sure that I would be upset if I had to cancel my trip, and love the full amount. However, I'm well aware of that possibility at the time of booking. Never been charged for anything additional through Hotwire but have had my credit card billed from the Hotels for things such as room service that was never ordered. Guess there will always be complaints about services, but I have nothing but positive feedback from my frequent experience with Hotwire.
Hotwire is the biggest scam on the Internet. I cannot believe they are in business. I tried to save business expenses by using them. I ended up having to buy everything anyway, after purchasing what I thought were the same travel plans. They totally misrepresent themselves. Their customer service representatives are the dumbest people I have ever spoken to...DON'T USE HOTWIRE!
Hotwire is the biggest scam on the Internet. I cannot believe they are in business. I tried to save business expenses by using them. I ended up having to buy everything anyway, after purchasing what I thought were the same travel plans. They totally misrepresent themselves. Their customer service representatives are the dumbest people I have ever spoken to...DON'T USE HOTWIRE!
i was trying to open all the e-mails that hotwire.com has sent me on hotels that were renning discounts I asked them if the hotel they said was 74 dollars was around a mall. they said they couldn't give me any ammenities that the hotel offered other than it had beds and high speed internet i said i need to go shoppping for my mother a present at a mall they said they couldn't give me the name of the hotel until i booked but once i booked i couldn't cancel. i said what if the hotel wasn't around the mall or a place to shop for my mom, we don't have a car and would only be in walking distance. they said they have no information about anything other than the beds and internet. why would i book and then be out in the boonies and not be able to shop, hot wire is a scam.
You get what you pay for. Hotwire books everyone into a room with one bed and tells them they can call the hotel for a free upgrade. I work in a hotel and we have constant battles with people who have been told a story by hotwire. People who book through any of these online services receive the least desirable rooms because the hotel gives preference to people who pay something near rack rate. Book through the hotels websire for good rates and service. We cannot give rooms away.
how about getting back at hotwire.com. put their name into a search engine and then click on the sponsored link 250 times and watch the dollars flow out of THEIR checking account.
Hotwire just pulled a "bait & switch" tactic with my hotel booking. I selected a hotel in Maple Grove, MN, paid for it, then the hotel was confirmed to be IN A DIFFERENT TOWN! Hotwire refused a refund claiming that I should have examined their little yellow map more closely as the hotel was within THEIR map boundary. This was true, I discovered after CLOSE inspection of their map BUT the "Hotwire" map boundaries of Maple Grove aren't the same as the actual city boundaries. I validated the boundaries with the City Government Office. I guess Hotwire makes up their own maps to include broader areas so as to make more money on hotels in less desirable locations. I will never use this travel company again. There should be legal action taken against this company in the form of a class action suit with the charge of misrepresentation of information.
I understand that many of you believe Hotwire screwed you over in one way or another. Keep in mind Hotwire has qon the JD Power and Associated Award for customer service for 3 years now and counting. Hotwire has the customers best interests in mind, but also keep in mind that the hotels, airlines, and car rental agencies are also "customers". When booking on Hotwire, please remember you are entering into a contract. All bookings are NONREFUNDABLE, and anything that Hotwire decides to do is an exception of that contract. Be smart when you book and know what you are doing before hand. If you have any questions call their customer service before booking. Thats what they are there for. If you are fully educated on Hotwire's policies you will be very satisfied,
I made reservations for a Hotel in Atlanta, but do to some problems i was not going to be capable of making the trip Hotwire would not refund, or even cooperate with me,with just moving the date of the Hotel stay.Even after contacting the Hotel and getting the managers approval. Hotwire still wouldn't cooperate.Telling me only and emergency with Doctors Giving me writin instructions to postpone my trip would get me my money back,or a change of date.
Jason Indianapolis -- 2008-07-22
Seems to me most of the people with issues are the same ones that do not read the terms and conditions. I have been using Hotwire for about 6 years ago and have yet to have an issue. It amazes me that people are complaining about things such as parking. The last I checked, if you travel with a car and want to park it in a major city, that comes with a cost. When people visit me in Indianpolis, I can typically get 3.5 star downtown for less than $60. I know it will be either the Crown Plaza, Hilton, or Sheraton. All of these hotels are within 3 blocks of each other and typically command $129-$199 on hotels.com and the likes. Do your homework on the city you are visiting before you make the final click. Don't blame Hotwire for not being prepared or for how the hotel may "screw" you. Hotwire books rooms at a discount, they are not the hotel you are staying in.
Jason, do you work for Hotwire? Do you have a friend or relative working for Hotwire? That sounds like the only way you can get the deals you claim. Or you are a bald-faced liar. Just admit it and I'll forgive you.
I received an email from Hotwire confirming an airline ticket that was not purchased by me. I live in Denver, Colorado. The ticket was a round trip ticket leaving from Philadelphia and coming to Denver on December 22nd. I called Hotwire and told them I did not purchase a ticket for anyonenor did I give anyone permission to book a ticket using my credit card. They told me that they could not cancel the ticket. Once a ticket is booked that is the end of the process. I then called my credit card company and reported fraud and ask them to discountue my credit card. I asked them to do an investigation to see if I could learn what happened. I also contacted United airlines and told them about the situation. United told me to contact Hotwire to cancel the ticket. I once again contacted Hotwire and they refussed to cancel the ticket. I feel so confussed and do not understand how Hotwire will not cancel a ticket that was not made by me, it was not in my name, it was not for the city I live in and my be used by someone has my credit card number and my work email address. I will never use Hotwire in the future and I will tell everyone that will listen to stay as far away from Hotwire as they can.
Do not support Hotwire! They do not support customers in Uniform. I purchased a rental car thru their website with my credit card.. I understood the reservation was non refundable. However to ensure that I was not wasting my money I put the car in my wifes name just in case I got deployed. When I showed up alone to pick up the car they wouldn't give it to me even though I paid for it and had my credit card.
I don't recall seeing that this would be an issue when I booked it. I called them and they didn't care when I told them the story.
Complete BS. This is a company that needs to be a casualty of the current economic crisis....
I think hotwire and expedia
I just got scammed by Hotwire & I leave for my trip tomorrow. I booked two nights at a 4-star ski in/out hotel in Vail. Well, well, well...the hotel is under construction and reviews are saying "disaster area", the ski lift is not open and the main pool and jacuzzi are not open. I'm furious. I can get the amenities I paid for 10$ more per night. I have the hotels agreement to release me, now I just have to get Hotwire's agreement. They are really a deceptive, aweful company
normally!windows fluffier casualness prancing Niamey!Gothicizing outcry
READ THE TERMS of use agreement before making the reservation you morons!! it was clearly stated on te website that all booking are FINAL.. no matter what happens it is technically final.. because that is the contract that you agreed to. it's your fault because u cannott comprehend!! i love hotwire! i'm happy with their service..
Well, here's another complaint about Hotwire. I bought a car rental planning on visiting family, then my husband's deployment got changed to an earlier date so I was unable to make this trip. I called Hotwire, and their policy is no refund, no change in dates. Since all I wanted to do was change the date, I called Enterprise, where the car rental was through. Enterprise was more than willing to change the date for me, but they couldn't because Hotwire put a freeze on my rental. All I wanted was for Hotwire to allow Enterprise to be allowed to change their dates, it's their company after all, and Hotwire wouldn't. I am very frustrated with Hotwire and am kicking myself for not just renting through Enterprise!!
Thank you for all the useful data. I will not use Hotwire.com ever. For the person who said their job is to book and that is what they do - yes I agree; however when they are to book a 3 or 4 star room that is what they should be doing. There are way too many instances where people have shown up to their reserved hotels (or car rental companies) and there is no record of them. I thought you said Hotwire's job was to book - where did they book this elusive reservation?
Nobody is perfect - I understand that; however when errors such as these are made why does the company have no responsibility for this error? Is that what the client has paid them to do?
I do hope that some sort of legal action is being taken against this company. Some comments in this site could be from people who want something for nothing but there are too many of them to dismiss. Many of them don't sound like they want something for nothing - they just want what they have been told they would get and what they did pay for.
I booked a flight last year for my son. I had used and at the time loved, hotwire. I paid 327.00 for this ticket. When my son went to the airport, hotwire and united said the ticket was booked for me, not by me. I had booked for him w/my credit card, as he's a college student. Could not get the mess cleared up, ended up buying another ticket thru the agent at the counter. I now had a ticket that hadn't been used. I explained this in detail to hotwire, who told me, sorry but I could use this ticket myself. I just called to use said ticket, found out I would need to pay the airlines an addtl 150.00 to use this ticket, and the flights aren't even 327.00 for the booking I wanted. This doesn't matter, they can't get me the flight I want, I might have to pay more, and even tho I went online, quoted the prices and the flights available to the representative, she told me, this was what they'd honor. So to incorporate this, I will end up paying again or losing the $327.00. I'm afraid I'll have to eat it, as priceline for car rental, motel, and flight I actually wanted, will book me for 275.00 at 3 star motel. I won't do business with hotwire and will tell all my business acquaintances to avoid them like the "plague".
I too was scamed by Hotmail. I ordered a car on line from them for Feb 2009, and they billed my credit card all ready. I wasn't happy. Called them and they would not let me cancel the reservation until I got the car. Not very happy. I will spread the word about them and I will not use them again. I will pay a higher price for an airline ticket before I use them again.
We attempted to book a travel package, and every time, got an error saying that the package was no longer available. Later that day, we found that they'd placed a hold on our credit card for every attempt; for about $8,000 of holds total. My first attempt to get the holds removed ended when they hung up on me while trying to call the credit card company. The second attempt ended when the incompetent customer service person didn't have their merchant account number, which the CC company needs. He said he'd get the info, and call it in within an hour. Three hours later, the holds had not been removed, so I spoke to my credit card's fraud department, and ended up cancelling the card so Hotwire couldn't charge me for something they hadn't delivered. I called Hotwire back to complain, and ask for compensation for my time and trouble, and among other things, the customer service agent said that the travel *had* been booked.
My wife hadn't received a confirmation email, and when she called them, they said that nothing had been booked. So at least one of their agents flat-out lied to us, and I'm glad that I cancelled my card to prevent Hotwire from defrauding me.
In a harried moment, I double booked a car from Hotwire. I realized my error immediately and called Hotwire. I was basically told to "forget it, I had to pay for both reservations I
billed the 2nd reservation under their Bill Me Later policy so knew I would not be charged on my credit card for my inadvertent error. I immediately called Avis from whom I was to rent the 2nd car and told them to free up that car for rental. The gentleman at Avis assured me he would call LAX and have the car freed up for rental. Bill Me Later did just that. I wrote them two letters, filled out a dispute form. They connected with Hotwire and Hotwire denied my dispute. Thus I keep getting notices (with service charges added) from Bill Me Later. I called Bill Me Later once again. Remember--all of this has been going on since May. They told me to contact Howire once again.I did so today. The result was I got an agent who listened and checked with Avis to assure that the car was not picked up. She was able to remove the charge. Finally, success. Advice--BE CAREFUL if you use Hotwire.
Hotwire sucks! Don't use them. Took my money. Won't refund anything even if its the airlines fault!
For all of you people who do not understand Fraud - "Please Read"
I went to Hotwire.com to book a ticket. After putting all my credit card information in the system a screen page came up and said that the price quoted, $365 was not available - the new price was $1065.00. I declined! Well, I decided to be bold and i went back on to Hotwire and the same thing happened. I called and complained. The Hotwire Rep offered me 465.50 and I declined!
a coouple days later a withdrawl of 465.50 was from US Airways through Hotwire. I have reported and complained. The customer service agent decided my "no" meant "yea". I never authorized nor recieved confirmation. Is this in the policies?
I don't know what ya'll are doing, but hotwire has always worked great for me. Sure you can't pick the exact room in the hotel, but why complain when it's so much cheaper? I suggest going to betterbidding.com, and doing a little research. You can find out what hotel you're about to book!
Everone that is defending hotwire and going against these complaints seems to say generally the same things; "read the fine print";"no cancellations","no refunds" etc. But how do you defend somone getting charged three times and not getting the service that was paid for? How do you defend getting screwed on money when you weren't even able to complete your purchase because of the glitch or problem with Hotwire's site? How is that the customer's fault? How do you defend the obvious improffesionalism in Hotwire's company? If there is truly nothing horrible to say about Hotwire, then all the issues stated would be able to be addressed or defended clearly, instead of the few same statements being defended. There are sooooo many more complaints about Hotwire than those few that were defended. Obviously these complaints aren't without good reasoning!! The customer service and hospitality behind this business is also obvious when reading the defending statements.
I TOO WAS SCAMMED BY HOTWIRE.
AFTER BOOKING A HOTEL AT THE HILTON CLEARWATER BEACH FOR 164.00 A NIGHT, I WENT TO ORBITZ.COM AND FOUND THE SAME FOR 122.00 A NIGHT. AFTER CALLING HOTWIRE AND TALKING TO SOME STUPID "KID" ALL I WAS TOLD WAS TOO BAD. WHEN I TOLD THE KID ABOUT THEIR POLICY, HE TOLD ME AFTER 48 HOURS OF MAKING THE RESERVATION WITH THEM THAT IT IS TOO BAD AND THAT WAS IT. WHEN I MENTIONED THAT THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS SHOWED ALMOST 50% LESS THAN ANY OTHER SITE AND I WOULD CONTACT THE B.B.B. AND THE F.T.C. HE SNICKERED AND SAID SORR I FELT THAT WAY FOR ALL THE GOOD IT WILL DO ME. I HAVE ALWAYS USED ORBITZ OR THE DIRECT WEB SITES IN THE PAST AND GOY BURNED FOR NOT STAYING WITH WHAT WORKED
We booked a hotel in Lynnwood, WA the same day we were to check-in. We wanted a three-star rated or better. To our surprise we found one through Hotwire for $112, all in. When we checked into the so-called 3-star Best Western we were surprised to hear one of the two desk clerks on the phone giving a quote for that night of $105 plus tax. We then went to the room and couldn't believe that this was a 3-star. It was the kind of room that when you walked in, you had an immediate urge to pull down the bedding and check for cleanliness. Yes, the sheets appeared clean but you still couldn't tell if the sheets were fresh. We looked under the (aged) beds and found a cigarette butt. Every VISIBLE part of the room appeared wiped down but still questionably clean...I hope you get the picture. I called Hotwire and explained my two complaints, 1) this is NOT a three-star quality hotel. 2) There is only a $4 discount by booking through Hotwire. The clerk so desperately wanted to help us but kept sticking to company policy. Hotwire - "Is the room clean and comfortable?" Me - "That's subjective. Yes it appears functional and Motel 6 clean but no were close to any reasonable expectation of a 3-star." Hotwire -"You don't receive as big of savings booked on such short notice." Me- "I understand that but is Hotwire telling me that a $4 savings by booking through them meets the spirit and intent of what they're selling and building there business on?" Hotwire - "I'm sorry; the savings isn't as great when booked on short notice." Me - "I gave up my right to inspect the hotel for quality and cleanliness and cancel the reservation for any reason for a $4 savings?" Hotwire - "The best I can offer is a $25 credit for FUTURE bookings at Hotwire." Me - "If we can't find some resolution to the current booking, there will be no future bookings." You get the idea. 45 minutes of a good customer service representative wasting her talents with a company with poor customer friendly polices. Yes I've used Hotwire in the past with very mixed results but one was just too much - completely misleading quality rating on this hotel and effectively no discount/value by booking through Hotwire. It's a Friday night and the Embassy Suite just a few minutes away is packed...this hotel is nearly empty...and for good reason.
Hotwire ripped me off too! They booked me to stay at a hotel in fayetteville north carolina but when I got there the hotel was all booked. Hotwire said they would refund and they did but the next day they took the money back.
Seems to me most of the people with issues are the same ones that do not read the terms and conditions. I have been using Hotwire for about 6 years ago and have yet to have an issue. It amazes me that people are complaining about things such as parking. The last I checked, if you travel with a car and want to park it in a major city, that comes with a cost. When people visit me in Indianpolis, I can typically get 3.5 star downtown for less than $60. I know it will be either the Crown Plaza, Hilton, or Sheraton. All of these hotels are within 3 blocks of each other and typically command $129-$199 on hotels.com and the likes. Do your homework on the city you are visiting before you make the final click. Don't blame Hotwire for not being prepared or for how the hotel may "screw" you. Hotwire books rooms at a discount, they are not the hotel you are staying in.
Hotwire is a rip off. We made hotel reservations in Flagstaff Az for 7/11/08 thru 7/13/08 in what was rated a 2 star, family friendly hotel. We arrived at the hotel, and it was a DUMP. Our room had mold in the shower, around the base of the toilet, the bedding had holes in it, the curtains were stained and the chairs were so stained, I wouldn't sit on them if I had all my shots AND they were covered in plastic!
Mind you, this was a well known chain of hotels.... Anyway, I was freaking out so I got on the phone with Hotwire- I wanted my money refunded and to go to another hotel. After 45 min. on the phone, I was told by the rep I had to try another room in this hotel before they would consider a refund. In the meanime, my 11 yr old son found a suspicious looking "rock" -
in the bathroom safe. Seems someone forgot their stash of illegal substance. SO we go to the 3rd floor to check out the next room. This one was in the same condition-- big surprise there!! The only difference on this room was the ac was pulled apart and there was a group of young men in the room next door, partying and smoking something in a glass pipe with their door open. Back on the phone I get with Hotwire and speak with another rep. Now they are willing to book us another room on our credit card, but they have to have their research team decide if they will refund our money on the first hotel- and this could take 7 to 10 days. We ended up checking out of that hotel that night and finding our own hotel and paying for it out of pocket. To date, Hotwire has made not attempt to contact me, or to refund any of our money. I have made numerous calls to them and get the same run around ... waiting on the research team to decide. Now, I took digital photo's of both rooms and have asked them for an address and name to send them to, but none of the reps will provide me with either. I will never book with hotwire again, and I let everyone I know see the photo's I took and tell them this story. Thank God we had the money to go to another hotel or it may have ruined our trip. Hotwire is obviously all about making money and does not care about customer service and doing the right thing. SHAME ON THEM!
room - some
I paid for a friend to come to see the town and I put the ticket in her name. I lost a family member had to leave town. Even thou i paid for the ticket I couldn't have the ticket changed and put in my name. I don't understand this. I paid for the ticket so why can't I put it in my name. Now i have a 419.00 ticket i can't use. I had to purchase another ticket but I made sure to buy it directly from the airlines. Hotwire sucks!
I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SHARE MY TRIP TO DAYTONA BEACH FOR THE COKE ZERO 400 NASCAR RACE.WE HAD BEEN SEARCHING ALL WINTER FOR A ROOM SOMEWHERE AROUND THE AREA WITH NO LUCK FINDING ANYTHING UNDER 200 A NIGHT.I WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP AND STAY IN ORLANDO AND JUST MAKE THE DRIVE TO THE TRACK, WHEN HOTWIRE SENT AN EMAIL SUGGESTING I TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT THEY HAD.BEING VERY SKEPICAL ABOUT USING HOTWIRE FROM READING ALL THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS, I CHECKED THEM OUT AND WE CAME OUT SMELLING LIKE A ROSE.I BOOKED A 2STAR HOTEL WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE TO THE TRACK.THE HOTEL ENDED UP BEING THE LA QUINTA INN, VERY NICE AND CLEAN,POOL,GREAT MAID SERVICE,FREINDLY MANAGEMENT, NO PROBLEMS CHECKING IN OR OUT,ON RACE DAY THEY THREW A FREE BBQ WITH FREE POP AND BEER, WE PAID LESS THAN 50 BUCKS A NIGHT FOR SEVEN NIGHTS,INCLUDING THE 4TH OF JULY NIGHT, OTHER GUESTS WE TALKED TO WERE PAYING 299 BUCKS A NIGHT FOR THE SAME STAY.SO I WOULD RECOMMEND HOTWIRE, WE WILL USE THEM AGAIN, JUST DO YOUR HOMEWORK, TAKE YOUR TIME WHEN INPUTING YOUR INFO, READ AND RE-READ ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AFTER YOU MAKE RESERVATIONS, CALL THE HOTEL TO MAKE SURE THEY HAVE YOU IN THEIR SYSTEM.
Just a reminder if you are unhappy with Hotwire you may want to avoid using or investing in brands owned by the same company Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE), Interactive Affiliate Network (IAN), Classic Vacations, Expedia Corporate Travel (ECT), eLong and TripAdvisor. Hopefully, a change in the white house will bring a crack down on some of the practices outlined here.
I booked my honeymoon flights through Hotwire 6 months in advance, at the last minute they changed my flight even though the original flight is still available to other customers. They want me to pay $$$$ to be switched back to MY ORIGINALLY BOOKED FLIGHT. I cannot accept the flight change or I will miss 2 days of my honeymoon due to connecting flights. What a nightmare! I will make a point of letting the 200 guests attending my wedding know of hotwire's incompetence, by not properly reserving my flight months ago WHEN I PAID THEM IN FULL. In the future, I will deal only with legitimate travel agencies.
I learned a lesson about Hotwire during a recent trip to Charleston, SC. A friend and I had planned a four-day trip down there, but we didn't know if we were going to stay in Charleston the whole time (we had also thought about driving down to Savannah for part of the vacation). My friend used Hotwire to book us a two-night stay at a 3* hotel in downtown Charleston; it ended up being at a nice Best Western. We lucked out and wound up with a two-bed room, which was definitely ideal. Anyway, we chose to stay one more night in Charleston, but the Best Western had only a single-bed room available--not for us. It was my turn to book the next two nights (one in Charleston and the final night in Myrtle Beach). After doing so I checked the website for the Charleston hotel and found that we would be staying at a B&B with NO two-bed rooms. Upon checking in, the clerk informed us that he could provide a second room at a substantially lower rate (50% off!), so things could have been worse. The room at Myrtle turned out to be at the Sheraton, but we were booked for a single-bed room this time. Luckily, the hotel staffer accommodated us with a different room with two beds. The gamble was worth it because we saved around $300, but if things hadn't worked out the way they did we'd have been screwed.
I had my first family vacation planned for July 7-9th of this year. I booked and confirmed everything on June 13th for these above dates. However when I received my confirmation it came back saying June 16-19 as my dates. I called hotwire and told them something got messed up after I realized it and they still charged me the 400.00 and told me I typed it in wrong. Bull....I have all my paperwork for them and yet they won't give me my money so I can still go on my vacation like I had originally planned. Not only am I contacting the BBB, I work in Law Enforcement and one of my detective buddies is going to pull up all my information off my computer to prove them wrong. Anyways I will never use them again! They ruined my vacation. And yes, I see there are no refunds but this wasn't my mistake...I'm just asking for them to give me the correct days since they already took my money!
In a nutshell, I booked a 3.5 to 4 star hotel, when I got to the site it was more like a 2 star. Hotwire said to go to another hotel and they would foot the bill for my new hotel. I have been back from vacation about 2weeks now and have yet to see my $500.00 dollars.I complied with all there request in a very timely manner and I'm still getting the run-a-round.....hotwire sucks when it comes to customer service and sticking to there word
once you book everything is final, it cannot be canceled, changed,exchanged or transfered,,.. learn how to read or listen morons...i LOve HOTWIRE,....
From the sounds of it, most people don't read the terms of use. they just click the box that says "I have read and agree to the terms of use." Just a hint alot of time prior to completing the booking most hotels will adv of fees that might apply. It is the hotels decision where they will provide that info, some will some won't, it up to the hotel. People should really learn how to read websites before booking, or YES you might end throwing $$ away. I have used hotwire over the year and really like alot of the great deals that you can get. I have had problems w/ some hotels but hotwire has always understood and been will to help. People need to understand that you are staying at the hotel not at hotwire, someimes you need to address problems with the hotel or their corporation. Every website has their niches you just need to find one that works best. I personally think hotwire has best interest in mind for there customers, that why they have won JD power & associates award for the past 2 years!!
Sorry for trying to find a decent rate,(not a huge discount)on travel...Hotwire definitely is not worth the minimal savings and the false advert.It does worry me that they conduct business the way they do,treating customers as they do,and they are still around.I think we all work too hard for our money to support rip-offs like Hotwire--DON'T!!
I booked a 3 star hotel on hotwire and when I got the name of the hotel (Holiday Inn) I looked it up on the internet and was disappointed with the price because I could have gotten a better price booking directly on their website. I thought the Holiday Inn was reputable, and the picture of the rooms on line looked okay. When I got there I found out they have some really awful (pay by the hour looking) rooms behind the main hotel. Those are for hotwire customers. If I had searched the reviews online I would have seen that many other hotwire customers have had this same horrible experience with Hotwire and that Holiday Inn. I ended up going to another Hotel. Hotwire's customer service is shockingly bad. They refused to refund my money. The Better Business Bureau basically says that customers know there are not refunds when they sign up so Hotwire is not a fault despite fraudulent advertising. Credit card companies can't help when you agreed to no refunds. I could have gotten a nice place for the same price, and wouldn't have had to pay for a room too awful to sleep in if I hadn't booked through Hotwire. What a truly awful experience.
It sounds like most of you don't understand how their site works. It's a little bit of a gamble, that's why they can offer discounts. I believe I've been using hotwire for about nine years (not sure if they've been operating that long) and sometimes it's awesome and other times not. That's the gamble you take when you're looking for the discounts. I would not recommend the site for a family planning a vacation, but I absolutely would for some buddies looking to crash on a trip. As for the customer service, I can't think of one travel website that has good customer service. They're not travel agents.
This is a good one: My brother used Hotwire to book his vacation to save a few bucks, stating there were three people, him, his wife, and their daughter. He just found out he's getting a room with ONE bed! He's furious, I'm grossed out, Hotwire is unapologetic, the hotel claims they cannot accommodate his need for two beds. Use the hotel's website, book what you need, and save yourself a lot of aggravation.
I wish I had researched on hotwire or run across this site before I booked with hotwire. It was such a horrible experience and totally ruined our upcoming vacation. We booked a 4 star hotel in San Diego (they list all the nice, truely 4-star hotels), which turned out to be a 3 star hotel by most other sites. There were lots of bad reviews on this hotel. Worse yet, we later found out this hotel allows dogs which my little one is extremely frightened of and allergic to. After countless phone calls, emails, faxes (to send supporting documents), hotwire wouldn't cancel or change our reservation. Obviously all they care about is making money. They don't care about customer service. As a warning, at the beginning, they always claim they would have a research team look into this matter and get back to you in certain days. Don't waste your time. It's totally useless. We're leaving for our vacation in two days. We are stuck with this undesirable hotel for 5 days if we don't want to waste the money. I'm not even looking forward to our vacation at this point. I will never ever use hotwire again, and I encourage all of you to take caution before using hotwire.
I DID NOT READ THIS SITE UNTIL IT WAS TO LATE.:0( WE WERE IN DC ON A FAMILY TRIP AND HEARD ABOUT HOTWIRE AND THOUGHT WE WOULD GIVE THEM A TRY. BAD CHOICE!! WE PURCHARED A 4* HOTEL AND WHEN WE GOT THE HOTEL INFO WE CALLED THEM TO COMFIRM THAT IS WHEN THE TOLD US THERE WOULD BE A $45 FEE TO PARK AT THE HOTEL. PARKING IS $45 NO WAY. WE CALLED HOTWIRE RIGHT AWAY AND THEY WERE LIKE YEA THAT IS A LOT FOR PARKING BUT OH WELL
YOU PAID FOR IT SO TO BAD. I CALLED AGAIN TO TRY TO HAVE OUR HOTEL CHANGED NO LUCK. WE ARE ON A TIGHT BUDGET AND PAYING $45 FOR PARKING WAS ALMOST ANOTHER NIGHTS STAY SOME WERE ELSE. DO NOT EVER EVER EVER US HOTWIRE UNLESS YOU DONT CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE OR YOUR MONEY BEING THROWN AWAY. WE DID NOT STAY AT THAT HOTEL WE HAD TO STAY IN VIRGINIA. IT SURE MADE A DOWNER OF THAT NIGHT. BUT LESSON LEARNED WE WELL NEVER EVEN THINK OF USING HOTWIRE. I HOPE NONE OF YOU EVER TRY IT, IT IS NOT WORTH ANY SAVING YOU MIGHT GET. TO MANY HEADACHES. I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH THEM AGAIN AND NOW AM WAITING 24-48 HOURS FOR A MANAGER TO CALL ME BACK LIKE THAT WELL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IT WON'T THEY GOT OUR MONEY AND THAT IS ALL THEY CARE ABOUT. BEWARE OF HOTWIRE AND MAKE SURE TO TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW NEVER TO USE THEM.
I do shop around and checked out all the other sights plus the hotels' websites. I got a room at the Westin for $120.00 which usually goes for $190.00. When we wanted to stay an extra night, the best the hotel could do was $160.00. So far I've had no porblems with Hotwire. Also, if the hotel office is dirty of the linens don't fit, complain to the hotel! You can't blame Hotwire for everything!!
I had success making a reservation for a car through Hotwire.com. I reserved the car, received a confirmation from the site telling me I would receive an e-mail confirmation, which I did. The e-mail confirmation gave me both a hotwire reservation number AND a Hertz reservation number. I went to the Hertz site, plugged in my number and last name and saw the confirmation for the car. I hope the pick up of the car in Denver goes as smoothly.
I have been a hotwire customer since they opened for business. Up until this past weekend, I've had no problems with them. This past weekend, I attempted to check in and the hotel had no record of my reservation. They were completely booked and had no room to offer. It was NASCAR weekend, so the whole town was completely booked except for a couple of rooms at $279/night at a Best Western. The hotel said that several people had the same "no reservation" problem all weekend and hotwire had been paying for them to get a room in another hotel and eating the cost. I called Hotwire and told them everything and although they did refund my money for the reservation, they refused to do anything else for me as a result of their incompetence. I was stranded in a city without a place to stay by hotwire. I ended up having to drive 150 miles to find a more reasonably priced place to stay in. I then had to drive the 150 miles back to Dover the next morning. A waste of gas, my time and with much aggravation. I emailed hotwire and got the "sorry, but we cannot do anything else" email. I will never use hotwire again and I am on a crusade to tell everyone else to never use hotwire. Their customer service is non-existant.
Hotwire is the WORST online company I've ever attempted to do business with. Here's why:
Last Sunday, very early in the morning, I attempted to book a car rental through Hotwire from my hotel room in NC. At the end of the search, select, and provide credit card information sections, I pressed accept to complete the transaction and get my rental information. Instead, I received a notice informing me that the website was "unable to communicate" with their car-rental affiliates, was unable to process my request, and that I should start the process over in a few minutes. I did attempt several more times to book the car rental through them, and even switched computers once, thinking it might just be my mac laptop causing the problem, to no avail. No confirmation number page, or rental agreement confirmation, etc., was ever provided to me. Finally I gave up and booked the rental with another company.
Still, the next morning when I checked my bank account I found a charge pending for "Hotwire, Sales Final" in my bank account.. I called them, and talked to a very rude male customer "service" operator who basically said he'd never heard of such a thing occurring before, and that he'd also never heard of a charge not being refunded due to company error. He rudely assured me that the charge would disappear in a day or two. It's now been three days and the charge has not yet been rescinded. Of course, I am now gearing up for war, but I would like to take this opportunity, to tell all who stumble across this review, to NOT BOOK THROUGH HOTWIRE. They truly are thieves. And, I found a better deal through Enterprise directly anyway.
so I work for Hotwire.com and waht it sounds like is that all of you either made mistakes when booking or did not fully understand our website before booking. Dont believe what these people are saying.
Working at a call center that books for several hotel chains, I'm so sick of morons crying to me because they want me to magically cancel their hotwire and other internet reservations. I can't even change the room or bed types they get stuck in. If we could cancel those awful things, they wouldn't say "Non-Cancellable" on them! Not only that, but such calls ruin our stats, since we need around 30% of our calls to be bookings (which are usually cancellable AND non-prepaid) to keep our jobs! I say, you cheapskates get what you pay for!
Those people that claim to have gotten "deals" on Hotwire, obviously don't know how to comparison shop -- 99.99% of the time the hotel is cheaper directly through the hotel's own website. Trust me on this one. You only THINK you are getting a deal if you don't bother to look around for other options and just believe Hotwire's false advertising. They will show you a savings that is not true, but you only find out later that it was bait and switch. Plus, by booking directly with the hotel you can still cancel, upgrade, etc. -- all things you waive your right to once you buy the room through Hotwire. So why bother? Hotwire is truly a joke -- don't fall for their scam! Shop around!!
JIMBO - you must be paid by Priceline! The service sucks, don't ever think that you get any money back when you have to cancel, and don't believe for one second that there is any support.
After using them once and losing $185 - believe me, just the Name rubs me wrong!!
I realize that this site is a place vent about Hotwire, but I have to say that there is a lot of whining and moaning going on here. I have booked at least 50 hotel stays on Hotwire in the past 4 years and have had few problems and thouse that had happened were resolved by customer service. Several times I've received Hot.Dollars put into my account for future trips. Hotwire has a double the difference guarantee so if anyone is overcharged, this is another remedy. I have often saved 50% or more off conventional bookings and can stay at higher rated accomodations than I normally can afford. I will use the savings to splurge on dinner. You should check out betterbidding.com and the moderators there will assist with revealing the name of the hotel before you buy.
I agree that HotWire is a scam! I booked a 3-night stay in Savannah at what their website showed was a 3-star hotel. When I got the confirmation, it was a 2-star, without very good customer reviews. I could have made the same reservation myself at that location and paid only $10 more! I've asked them to change,gave them screen shots of better hotels, etc. and now they tell me that their "Research Team" is looking into it. Unfortunately, that will take 7-10 days to get a reply, which the 10th days is the day before I leave for my trip. And the longer they wait, the fewer good rooms are left. Anyway, I'm not holding out much hope. But be assured I will never use HotWire again and I will make sure all my family, friends, acquaintenances and anyone else I find will know what a rip off this company is!
Hotwire is a stick up. I have searched a fare 3 times within 30 minutes. All the dates were the same but everytime I got a different low rate but when I click proceed I get a message "Sorry this fare has changed" and I get a fare $75. to $175 dollars more. Beware!!!
Thank,, all of you, for your comments. I heard Hotwire.com advertised on TV and as I needed a room in a specific area I decided to check it out. I go by the very old adage "Don't buy a pig in a poke". I will not even buy packaged underwear, so I would definitely not purchase a hotel room without knowing where it was. I am sorry all of you got so scammed. I would hope that something like this could be shut down by some authority!
Phil is wrong, when the rental agency will not provide survice hotwire 99.9% of the time refunds.
"Phil S San Diego -- 2008-02-21
I had to attend a funeral in NY, and found what I thought was a reasonable deal for a rental car at JFK with Budget, through Hotwire. So I booked the car.
However, when I showed up to pick up the car, Budget refused to rent it to me. I ended up walking across the way to the Dollar rent a car, and got a car from them - albeit at around twice the price I'd purchased via Hotwire for Budget.
Now, even though Budget refused to rent me a car, I can not get a refund from Hotwire.
Anyone know how I would go about suing them? "
Hotwire IS a scam. They need to be closed down. Everyone should write to their Atty. Generals of their states to start proceeding against them.
I was ripped off with the recent airline "failures". HOTWIRE NEEDS TO BE SHUTDOWN.
Dear Attorney General-
I believe that www.Hotwire.com is guilty of Fraud and Deception and uses Bait and Switch tactics on its web site.
Attached is a screen print of a search I did on Hotwire for air travel- I wanted to fly from Florida to New England.
As you can see several of the ROUND TRIP itineraries are from $160 to $180 TAX INCLUDED.
NOT ONE OF THESE BOOKINGS WAS ACTUALLY AVAILABLE.!!!!!
I clicked on ALL of the low cost itineraries and they all led to a page that said "sorry, that fare is not available" - the then quoted fare was for $300 to $400!!
I then re-did my search assuming the correct fares would come up.
WRONG.
Same deception- same bait and switch.
I called Hotwire and their service person found the same "low" fares but when she tried to see if it was available, she too got fares in the $400 range.
In the age of high speed computers it is UNACCEPTABLE that Hotwire can't get their fares current.
May I suggest a $100 fine for each misstated fare times all the hits they got in the first 4 months of this year- should be in the tens of millions I hope.
Thank you so much for this site. I have always had good luck with expedia and travelocity, but I went to hotwire to look for flight tickets. found some listed for 309 round trip. went back 3 hours later - prices up to 349. Thank god i did not commit. Went back to google to look for other cheap fare sites and came across this website. Usually, I don't take these sites seriously until I read all of the horror stories. I will definitely warn others about hotwire.
i have been on the telephone ad nausem trying to get a hotel confirmation. Hotwire has my money and the hotel has no record of a reservation. This BS has been going on for two weeks....I can't get my money back and I can get confirmation of a reservation. Hotwire is incompetent. THEY ARE UNHELPFUL AND UNFRIENDLY. I RATE THEIR SERVICE AS 1/2 STAR.
I booked a hotel that was considered to be in downtown San Jose for $79. It turned out to be the Super 8. The standard price of the room: $79. Had I used my AAA it would have been $74. It was near the airport, which according to Hotwire's definition is downtown, which is indeed only two miles from the convention center, but not anybody else's idea of downtown. I tried to get them to rescind the reservation, but no dice. Oh well!
I was able to book good priced flights to Hawaii, however I was very skeptical about their “4 star” hotels. When I tried to call their customer support line to ask a quick question, I was on hold for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Customer service representative sounded like a high school drop out was not helpful.
I have used Hotwire for the last four years and I travel frequently. If you read and follow their rules there is not a problem. All I've ever received was rooms and rental cars way below market rate. I would highly recommend this service if you are somewhat flexibile with your travel and want to save a ton of money.
Thanks for the Warning...I thought it was strange not to give you the name of the place before you pay...what was I thinking of even looking at this site...it's also a good thing my thier site if EF'ed up and it keeps closing on me' it must be a sign...!:)
I just completed a transaction on Hotwire.com and was amazed that i paid for a crap shack of a hotel near disneyland, and noticed after that all sales are final. Hotwire.com should be investigated for better business practices. its unfair to consumers to get stuck with something that will be a bad experience. after booking the reservation, i found out that my family and i will have to stay at Little Boy Blue Motel. Reviews all over the internet indicate that this motel is the bed bug motel from hell. i see a lawsuit on both the motel and hotwire.com if my experience is like others, terrible...
ha Wow! I'm trying to plan a family vacation to Cabo San Lucas and came acrossed hotwire, I found a "4 star" hotel for 89$ a night and thought...what a deal. I googled hotwire feedback just to make sure it was legit before actually booking the trip, but don't worry, after reading this page there is no way I'm gonna be another person scammed by hotwire. Thanks guys.
Well my grandma died. My dads mom. We knew my dad was strapped for the money so we bought him a ticket. He did not make the flight. He is wanting to go but Hotwire will not allow him to book onto another flight. I called cutomer service to find out if there is another way...there all money hungry minded. I called and spoke with a supervisor who was brain washed also. She to said the same thing over and over again. I asked if they could have a heart. He needs to get to his moms funeral which is on Friday 21 2008. I asked to speak to someone above her. I guess there is no one above her because I never could speak to anyone other then her. I am out 400.00 for the tickets and no one seems to care.
I hate HOTWIRE!!!!!!!!!!! Will never use or tell anyone about them.
I thought I was alone. I also have used hotwire plenty of times in the past and most of the time it was "good enough". However, I used it to book hotels internationally and it sucked. Like everyone knows, they won't tell you what you'll get until you pay for it. It was not worth it. I ended up paying tons for a four star hotel that was a piece of crap in a really crappy neighborhood (they lied about the neighborhood it was in). I really didn't find the need to do it this time, but I think that if I ever make another purchase through hotwire (which I doubt), I will use my platinum visa which insures me from these fraudulent charges. I have called my visa and cancelled purchases for other things, I think everyone should dispute hotwire charges with their visa and have your visa refund you the money hotwire stole.
Just returned from a FL "3star" 8 day condo experience from Hotwire:
1) Bed linens didn't fit
2) Floors were dirty (tile)
3) Carpet was dirty
4) AC didn't work
5) Noise outside room was a "siren" generated by the central cooling station - OSHA violation for sure!
6)Property was called a "resort" when all it had was a pool and a shuffleboard (old) court
7) We were on the third floor - No elevators!!
8) Front office was dirty, and littered with timeshare advertising
9) BEWARE of hot wire ratings! tHEY ARE FALSE ADVERTISING
My recent purchase through Hotwire was mixed. The car rental was excellent. However, the hotel did not fit the description for a 4-star hotel.
1. All public areas were under reconstruction.
2. No business center as promised.
3. A group of middleschool children on a field trip were running up and down our hallway until nearly 2AM.
4. When I turned the water on in the bathroom, it ran with rust for a few seconds.
5. The bathroom countertop was dirty.
6. The bedding did not fit the bed appropriately.
7. All luxuries came at additional exorbitant fees...internet, cable tv, wetbar. Why would I pay $3.00 for a can of Pepsi when the machine outside the door has 20 oz bottles for $1.50?
I'm not a seasoned 4-star traveler; but doesn't that rating usually imply that there are some luxuries included and that there will be some relative peace, quiet and cleanliness? This stay reminded me of the commercial where the guy is trying to ask his wife if she packed his flip flops.
On a positive note, the restaurant was awesome.
I think in the future, I will book the hotel on my own and use Hotwire for the car rental.
Well I was shopping a price as well and Hotwire was the best deal for what I was looking for. I tried to get back to their site and all I got was:
"Please check back soon!"
I guess that goes along with everything I have been reading.Its back to Frontier airlines as they were only .39c more in cost.
Hotwire is a rip-off. Dont waste your time. I purchased 4 tickets on line. I called within 2 hours of the purchase to change a name on one of the tickets. I had a 17 year old friend of my son who told me she asked her parents concerning the trip. Well she did not and her parents refuse to pay for the ticket. I know I should have called them first but. Now I am stuck with a 400. 00 ticket that I can not use. Hotwire said I could pay 100.00. to change the ticket but not the name. That really makes sense. I am already out $400.00 why would I pay $100.00 change fee so that young lady can use the ticket within a year??? Help. Her parents refuse to pay for the ticket. This was for a senior trip ticket. Never again, what a waste of time calling the customer service line. On hold for 30 minutes.
Hotwire is a rip-off. Dont waste your time. I purchased 4 tickets on line. I called within 2 hours of the purchase to change a name on one of the tickets. I had a 17 year old friend of my son who told me she asked her parents concerning the trip. Well she did not and her parents refuse to pay for the ticket. I know I should have called them first but. Now I am stuck with a 400. 00 ticket that I can not use. Hotwire said I could pay 100.00. to change the ticket but not the name. That really makes sense. I am already out $400.00 why would I pay $100.00 change fee so that young lady can use the ticket within a year??? Help. Her parents refuse to pay for the ticket. This was for a senior trip ticket. Never again, what a waste of time calling the customer service line. On hold for 30 minutes.
I am so thankful I found this site before I booked with Hotwire!!! I was sceptical anyway because their prices are not only NOT cheap, but one of the airlines actually has cheaper rates!!! Hotwire sucks!!!
Sure wish i had seen this web site before booking with hotwire . They are real scam artists . Take your money give you garbage then tell you tough luck. I will never book with them again and will tell everyone I know what crooks they are. As far as i am concerned they stole $212.00of my hard earned money and ruined my holiday.
STAY AWAY STAY AWAY. IT IS A SCAM. I wonder what they are collecting all of this money for..a good cause? Effin BULLSHIT..!
I wish I would have read this site before using HotWire. I always use Priceline but couldn't get a good deal in Lake Tahoe this time. So I figured I'd try HotWire. Same story.. you can get the hotel cheaper at it's own site. Now they're giving me hassle for their "guarantee" saying they can't verify the cheaper price. It's on their site. They want a screenshot faxed. I HATE HOTWIRE!! I'm posting this site on all the social media and blogs I can find. Everyone should do the same..Screw them back.
hotwire is BULLSHUT.i am planning to go to india.i booked a trip but at the time of booking instead of my date of return it shows another date .i called up the customer care people after 5 minutes my booking was made but now the started saying to pay $600 or $700 to make a change they are not helpful then i ask them that i want to talk to manager then they ask me that mananger will call u in 48 hours .they are ridiculous people
We are booking a trip to mexico,and went in to hotwire to check it out but had second thoughts because l could not get a hotel name till after l booked,so l checked out other sites(travelocity,expedia)l was watching the prices, so our group decided today was the day to book our vacation,l went into Hotwire and as it came up l bumped my mouse and this site came up, l started reading and after reading all of these there is NO WAY l would travel thru Hotwire and since l was the one in charge of making arangments l figured l would like to keep my friends and wife and book thru someone else.
I had to attend a funeral in NY, and found what I thought was a reasonable deal for a rental car at JFK with Budget, through Hotwire. So I booked the car.
However, when I showed up to pick up the car, Budget refused to rent it to me. I ended up walking across the way to the Dollar rent a car, and got a car from them - albeit at around twice the price I'd purchased via Hotwire for Budget.
Now, even though Budget refused to rent me a car, I can not get a refund from Hotwire.
Anyone know how I would go about suing them?
Oh yea, They are in no way cheaper. They as a matter of fact were the MOST EXPENSIVE of anywhere I looked. They were almost $10 more expensive than booking straight through the hotel. **** you again Hotwire!!!!
I have had nothing but a bad time with Hotwire. I read the entire site. I fully understand the FAQS. My problem is the fact that I requested a 3+ star hotel w/ a golf course, free breakfast, tennis, and a pool. I also requested a room to sleep 2 adults and a 15 year old boy. Hotwire placed me in the Crown Plaza hotel which has no free breakfast, no golf, and no tennis. Not only that but, they placed us in a room with only 1 KING bed. Who puts a married couple in the same bed as a 15 year old. Then I understand the NO REFUND deal, so I called the hotel to see about an upgrade to two double beds or at least two beds, I didn't even mind paying more. They had absolutely NO more rooms availabe. **** you HOTWIRE!!!!!!!
Hotwire always rates its hotels .5 star over priceline and all other sources. If you want a 3* hotel, look for 3.5* in hotwire. I base it on several hotels I purchased through hotwire.
I am very grateful for this site. I was ready to try Hotwire - but now I don't think it's worth the risk. I can't afford to have a vacation ruined.
I booked a supposed "3-star" hotel on Hotwire. ----Hotwire listed "retail" value of this "3-star" to be $243. I paid $116 + tax = $132 (which they noted to be a "52% savings"!). Guess what I got? A room at a Holiday Inn Express. Hotwire's own site lists Holiday Inn Express hotels to be 2.5 star, so passing this off after my purchase as a 3-star is misrepresentation #1. Was told by a "manager" that this particular property was reviewed by their own staff and by Hotwire customers and based on that, they had given this particular property a 3 star.
so, my PROBLEM #1 is---
**You can't state one thing on your site, and then make a special exception for one property AFTER the fact.** Even the hotel itself does not consider itself 3 star, because I called to ask. Bottom line= MISREPRESENTATION
Furthermore, the price on the HIE website worked out to be $1.88 cheaper than the Hotwire price, for total savings of... less than zero.
so, my Problem#2 is---
You can't tell me that I am getting a 52% savings, just to sucker me to buy, and then charge me a price that is 0% savings, because that is ...MISREPRESENTATION
Further, the "retail" rate for the room has never been, under any circumstance or any stretch of the imagination, $243 (which was confirmed to me by the Hotel staff, and on their website). Upon questioning this with Hotwire, I was told that the $243 rate is supposed to be a representation of what other 3 star hotels in the area might go for. But it doesn't explain this anywhere on the Hotwire site before you buy.
So, my PROBLEM #3 is---
Hotwire's website just flat out lies, lies, lies.
Hotwire completely misleads consumers with completely false information. "Manager" at call center no help - would not help even switch me to another hotel. My next step is to call corporate of both Hotwire and Holiday Inn Express (Intercontinental Hotels Group) AND most importantly, the BBB.
Any one ever, ever had any luck with a refund or switching of properties, due to the misleading practices?
So due to a medical emergency, I need to cancel my hotel reservation. The hotel said they would be happy to issue a refund. They just need Hotwire to fax over a cancellation form. So I called Hotwire back and told them the hotel will gladly issue a refund, if they'll fax over the cancellation form. First Hotwire lied and said they called the hotel, but the hotel would not issue a refund. I said, that's funny, I just spoke to them and they said they would. Can you call them back with me on the line, so we can ask them again? Then they said, well, the hotel may be willing to, but we can't fax over the form. So, not only are they difficult, and greedy, they are also deceitful. I'll never use them again. Never.
Be careful of Hotwire. Granted it is supposed to be nonrefundable, but they do tell you that in case of a medical emergency that they will just charge you $25 and refund the balance. This is hogwash. I have provided vast documentation showing the medical emergency of heart problems and even copies of my medical bills being reimbursed by Blue Cross for services rendered on the travel date. They still refuse to honor their own policy of refunding in case of a medical emergency. Use caution in using Hotwire. I don't plan on using them again.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>READ<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I was searching for a flight from Dallas to orange county about a week ago so I called hotwire on Monday morning. I spoke with rep and he told me the had an offer for $345 but the hours of departure and arrival could be from either 6am to 10pm, I accepted it because I was flexible with my hours .I was happy because that was the lowest qoute I was offered all morning. When it was time to check out the rep told me that the flight had increase from $345 to$560. Rep advised me to call later. I did call back about a half hour later and the same deal was offered again, I agree to purchase and guess what, the rate when up again almost $300 more. Frustrated but faithful I called one more time and rep offered same deal of $345 then I told him why he was offering this deal if he is going to say that it increased to $560 by the time I'm ready to buy it, agent said "the price just went up". I told rep that i understand that airfare increases rapidly, I was aware given the fact that I travel a lot, but it was a coincidence that every time I called the price was at $345 then it rapidly rose to $560, then when I called again it decreased to $345, and when i was about to purchased it rose again. Pissed off, I felt like I was being played with, so I ask to speak to a supervisor. The rep placed me on hold and hung up. I called 7 more times to try to speak with a manager, no lie, and they all hung up on me. The eight time I was finally transfered to a manager who said the samething the reps told me. I told him to stop scamming people, he said it not thier fault airfare increases dramatically when ever I try to buy. I was so disgusted with thier "deals" and customer services that I will never use hotwire again. They should be report to the BBB. I almost forgot, after that ordeal, I called up priceline, they gave me the same deal for $345, cautiously I told him if he was serious, he said yes. Then I asked him if priceline was affiliated with hotwire, just to make sure, he said no so I continued with purchase. At then he charged me what he promised $345, which also included a hotel, that I didn't need but what a deal. Try priceline. Com
I saw their commercial on TV about their low prices on 4 stars hotels, and got interested in the website, thank god, I saw this website too, thank you for the warnings, I am not gonna use Hotwire for sure!!!!!
I have read your horror stories and although they are troublesome, they are also encouraging. I thought I was alone in being hosed by this site but am coming to find out that this is far from the case. I am contacting the FTC. These folks are con artists and I feel its time for them to face the music.
Whew! I am glad that I read the comments on Hotwire. No thanks, I will not use this company. Any one at DateLine or 60 Minutes care to take these jerks on.
I too was deceived by the location and quality of a hotel booked through Hotwire. I would advise against using Hotwire as their description of location, quality, and savings are exaggerated enough to be considered dishonest in my opinion, and at the very least dubious. Although I completely understand the concept of no refunds, and the concept of accepting some unknowns in exchange for a discount on the price of a hotel room, Hotwire does not offer a product within the parameters they establish for quality, location, and savings. While very many may have had acceptable experiences with Hotwire, there are many of us who have not. The fact that positve experiences have been had in noway refutes the existence of the negative ones. If you still choose to use Hotwire keep your fingers crossed and all may work out well. But I know what mine was, and I would recommend all who read this to NOT use Hotwire for their Hotel bookings.
Thank you for this site, I was getting ready to book a vacation with airfare, rental car, and hotel for me and my family for two weeks, Thanks for all the warnings.. Spending $3,000 is alot to risk, sounds like I would have better luck at blackjack. WHo is parterned with hotwire so I can stay away from them too...
I have used hotwire Quite a few times and have been very happy. I think the person was right by saying that you should look on line and see if you can find out what hotel it might be and what area of town you are in. This summer we stayed in the out skirts of Washington D.C and for $45.00 a night. I think we got what we were promised! I think the disappointment is when you are convinced that your going to have a certain hotel and it falls through. I not saying that people don't have legitimate claims but mine was fine!
I just booked an Hotel through Hotwire.com, the hotel they gave me was a "Super 8", which I don't feel should even be in the caliber of hotels they list as possible options (Days Inn, Ramada Inn, La Quinta, etc.). Then on top of that, the location they selected is rated #197 out of 200 hotels in San Diego on Trip Advisor. On top of that, I could have went to the Super 8 website and using my AAA card, received a rate less than the one Hotwire gave me. I have used Hotwire many times in the past and it used to be a pretty good value. I tried getting a refund from Hotwire and received no Satisfaction. I think I am done using this website!!! NO MORE HOTWIRE, HOTWIRE SUCKS!!
No experience with Hotwire, but let me warn you about Hotels.com. When you book a room with them, they include some fine print that is literally so fine that you can't read it unless you select it with your cursor. It states "Bedding and smoking preferences are not guaranteed." They'll tell you that this is the hotel's policy, (Hilton in this case), but what they don't say is that the hotel gives preference to its direct customers. So, unless you prefer a room that smells and looks like it recently caught fire, avoid Hotels.com.
Hotwire,Washington 11/2007
The deals look pretty good, but after reading all the comments I decided not to use Hotwire. Thank you
i was jost going rent a car thru hot line but afer reading your comment i decided not to.
I booked a hotel on Hotwire tonight. The "3-star" hotel is really a 2-star with tons of complaints against it for being dirty, moldy and dangerous. And the bargain price is exactly $10 less than I could have booked it myself, if I had no taste and wanted to book a hotel in a dump. And their customer service email address bounces. This is my first Hotwire experience. It will be my last.
I recently attempted to use Hotwire to rent a car for a holiday trip to New Orleans with my family. I recieved an error message when I tried to complete the transaction online, so naturally I called into the 800 number for support. The representative that answered the phone attempted to run the transaction 2 more times while I was on the phone, but I was told my card was denied. I logged onto my online banking to confirm that I had the money for the transaction and noticed that my account had been debited 3 times for $250, leaving me with $18 to my name while on vacation with my family. I told the representative to cancel the transaction and that I would go elsewhere and she told me she couldn't do anything because risk management had blocked my account. I was given a number to call and left various messages but no one was ever returned my call. I was stuck with my family on vacation with $18 for 6 days before the transaction was reversed. Here is a clip of the emails that I recieved from Hotwire:
From: Phil Reynolds
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 1:28 PM
To: 'khalilthompson@gmail.com'
Subject: Access Termination
Importance: High
Sensitivity: Confidential
Unfortunately your transactions fall outside of our acceptable risk threshold and we are not willing to accept your bookings. Your account has been deactivated. This decision is final and we are neither at liberty nor obligated to provide any additional information.
The card used was not charged. Your bank is holding an authorization anticipating a sale we never transmitted. This authorization hold will fall off after a number of days set and decided by your bank and the funds your bank is holding will reintegrate to your available credit.
Hotwires terms of use, which you have acknowledged reading and agreed to be bound by, states:
"Termination of Usage. User access to all or part of this Site may be terminated or suspended at any time, without notice and for any reason."
We have decided to terminate your use of this website. This decision is final and no further review or communication is forthcoming.
From: Phil Reynolds
Sent: On Nov 20, 2007 2:23 PM
To: 'khalilthompson@gmail.com'
Subject: Access Termination
Importance: High
Sensitivity: Confidential
You can call and use foul lanquage and present an abusive deameanor all you want and it wont change the facts. We have directly tied your account to an account on our site where a stolen credit card was used. You can further threaten legal action as well. We have done nothing actionable. And even if we did, it would be entertaining to hear you explain to the court the correlation between you and the use of a stolen card on our site. I gaurantee you that any Judge would side with us in blocking your use of this site. We have every right to protect ourselves against fraud. No Judge will ever interfere with that right. Your threat is empty.
It is your bank holding your money not Hotwire. This has already been explained to you. Further, even if we wanted to request the release of the auths your bank is holding, it would be to no avail. Bank of America refuses to release auths even at the request of the merchant unless the card was issued in California. They make no exceptions. They do however promise that the auths fall of after three business days, which in this case is today. I would presume the auths will fall off today or tonight.
From: Khalil Thompson [mailto:khalilthompson@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:55 AM
To: Phil Reynolds
Subject: Re: FW: Access Termination
Phillip,
I find it very interesting that you say I was attempting to make a purchase on your website with a stolen credit card. It just seems so odd to me when I could walk into my bank on the same day with the same DEBIT card and have no problems at all. Furthermore, I could go and handle all of my holiday shopping with no problem whatsoever.
I cant even be upset with you anymore because it is apparently clear that you have no heart and you have no family. You know I thought I would surprise my kids this holiday season and take them and my wife on a trip to New Orleans for an early Thanksgiving, being that Im leaving for 6 months on Thanksgiving day to go work overseas. And thanks to you and HOTWIRE our trip was ruined. You know all 4 of us had to sleep in our rental car (that we got from AVIS not hotwire and accepted the same card you claim is stolen) last night because you illegally seized all of the money I had saved up for our trip.
Have you ever had to tell your child to go to sleep while you pointlessly drive around trying to find a place to park for the night? Have you ever had your child wake up in the middle of the night and ask you why cant we go inside? Have you ever stayed up all night just to make sure nothing would happen to the people you loved, praying that your own money that you worked so hard for would be placed back into your bank account so you could actually use it?
I hadn't experienced any of it until last night and I pray I never have to go through that again. How could you just hold almost $700 of someones money for 7 days, not let them rent the vehicle and never offer an explanation. Never pick up the phone and have the decency to return a phone call. Never call to see what could be done to expedite the process of canceling the order. Never do anything to help people out.
Maybe its just too much to ask for. Maybe us middle class Americans just aren't worthy of that little bit of customer service, that little bit of kindness. And since it is ever so apparent that you have taken such great pleasure in making our holiday's miserable, I can only assume that you really do not care. However, perhaps the media would be interested in taking a look at this. Im sure "7 On Your Side" would find your smug attitude and witty emails amusing. Im sure I can find plenty of media outlets that would be interested in what I have to say. I guess it does help some that I am a camera man for CNN, and it also doesnt hurt that my wife is a Lawyer. No those are just details we wont take into acount.
So Phillip to you and your company, I wish you a Happy Holiday. Hopefully you will be able to enjoy yours much more than we were able to enjoy ours.
On Nov 21, 2007 2:18 PM, Phil Reynolds wrote:
Save it
This is the rude response that I got from their customer support team after they held my money for 6 days
i would strongly advise not to book with hotwire. I booked a car for 3 weeks and the rates went down 250.00 for the same car and they would not consider any type of credit - rude customer service when i called - the supervisor stated I have the clearance to cancel this confirmation and let you re-book but im not going to. do not use hotwire - go to the avis budget enterprise etc and book yourself or call them directly..again, do not use hotwire.
Booked in Miami airport, supposedly .5 miles from the airport BUT the map they show is not even the airport. They give this blurry map and in small writing say the red dot is .5 miles from the center of the map, what kind of sales pitch is this? Our hotel is 3.5 miles from the airport. I wanted to be right next to the airport. Of course, they say it clearly states on their site where the hotel is......yeah, I can read, but did not know I'd have to give my lawyer a copy of their lowsy terms to interpret. I'll try and get a refund from my credit card company for misrepresentation of product.
Used them (Hotwire) made reservations had confirmation to find when I went to check in...Hotwire had cancelled my reservations without informing (via email or phone call)me prior to me going on my get away. I was stuck 3 hours from home without a room. They finally send me an email 3 days after my reservation date after I called for an explaination (which I never got), to inform me that my reservation had been cancelled.
I ALMOST USED HOTWIRE, THANK GOD I READ THE HORROR STORIES.....I DIDNT USE HOWIRE.
IS IT COMMON TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER I PAY FOR THE HOTEL TO WAIT TO SEE WHAT IT IS I BOOKED.
KINDA LIKE A SUPRISE....I DONT LIKE SURPRISES.!
NM
I'm furious with Hotwire. Attempted to book a hotel room in Brussels two weeks ago. Never received email confirmations after trying twice, so went back to their site to see that the rates were no longer available. Turns out they booked me in BOTH hotels. After some discussion, they refunded one, but swore that the other claimed I had in fact checked in. The hotel told me that i had been marked as a no show: not same thing. My requests that Hotwire substantiate their claim that emails were sent me to confirm have come to nothing so far.
i am not surprised at all the complaints i see listed. in june 2007 in anticipation of a rental car i used a new on line service for me to book celcar on a trip home for xmas. of course if i had just booked this car with avis direct they would have just held my reservation with a credit card but i thought i was going to save a few bucks. when our plans were changed by no choice of our own everyone allowed us to cancel even refunding all $ including delta airline, and orbitz except hotwire who absolutely refused any type of a refund with a two month notice. had i booked direct i may have been out a few more $'s but not the full payment. as far as knowing that there was no refund, i sugest that to have to use a magnigying glass or search out that info is purposefully done to take advantage of people. i will never use this service again, and i would sugest that those of my circle would not either. i doubt this will be sucessful with it's complete disregard for individual circumstances or any effort to retain customers by word of mouth. never again!!!!!!!!
Booked car rental on hotwire. Budget refused the rental at the desk with no explanation. When I called hotwire, they claimed they were trying to call budget and now one was answering and I should call back later. I called budget and they answered on the first ring. I tried hotwire three more times that day; each time they claimed budget wasn't answering. The next day hotwire tells me that because it's the next day: it now has to be sent to a researcher and they would email me in 10 business days. Hotwire is complete bullshit and I am a fool for using them.
This is to address the people who accused all of us with complaints of being illerate. I can read, and I do understand the meaning of nonrefundable.
Hotwire deceived me by charging me full price for hotel that I was suppose to receive a savings of 53%. I have used priceline and I have always been happy with the price, accomodations, and location.
Before booking with hotwire, I reviewed all the hotels in the area and their rates. I knew there were only three possible hotels with 4 stars, and had a rate of over $300.00 a night. They first tried to book me at a hotel in another town. I called and they said they would change it, but I had to pay for it again while they processed a refund. I am still waiting for my refund to come through. Beware that their maps are not to scale and may include other towns that are not listed.
I now have a room that I checked directly with the hotel and discovered that hotwire charged me the same price as the pusblished rate of the hotel. I didn't save anything.
Hotwire's deceit has nothing to do with the mentality of the customer. We are trusting that we will receive the services that hotwire has stated in writing, and nothing less.
Don't use Hotwire unless you are absolutely positive that you don't care if the hotel you get isn't what you expect. Don't trust their star ratings because it is hit or miss. And don't expect them to do much after you've made your purchase. You are stuck with little no recourse. Just a warning. You may get a good deal and then you may be truly disappointed with your experience. If price is the end all and be all of your quest for rates then its worth a try but otherwise avoid if possible.
Another unsatisfied customer who got screwed and ended up paying more than had I booked directly on the hotel's own web site. Zero customer service as usual manned by robots.
I booked a hotel in New York, it was supposed to be 3 star but was possibly 1.5. Within minutes of booking and finding out the hotel, I went on line to see what my savings were. Guess what, it was cheaper at the hotel! I immediately phoned Hotwire to complain and they said they would check. Did they tell me to print the computer screen to prove it? No! Did they ask ask me to print the computer screen the next day, when the price had increased - yes of course! Consequently, they told me they couldn't verify the cheaper price, even though I had printed it and faxed them a copy. So if you see the price cheaper after you book it - PRINT THE SCREEN. They'll have to find some other means of refusing you then. Once bitten, twice shy, I'll never use them again.
listen all you complainers read the terms of use know what your buying. All the information is there clear as a bell. Dont blame Hotwire when you can't read.
1st time user of Hotwire. Boy was I burned - my room ended up being 9 miles away from where I requested and at the same rate that the hotel offerred directly on their website. I called the hotel and Hotwire - neither will work with me. The hotel states since Hotwire made the reservation, they have to cancel it. The hotel is also not comparable to a Comfort Inn - it was a Econolodge! Hotwire is just robot people stating the TOS over and over and over. Got a couple of ideas from these posts will use them. DONT USE HOTWIRE!
Before purchasing hotels on Hotwire check the hotel lists for the area you want to stay in on Betterbidding.com. Many times you can find out exactly what hotels Hotwire has available from the amenity icons.
The botton line is that if you find an hotel on a non opaque site that is acceptable and in your price range don't use Hotwire.
As for cancellations, cruise lines, tour companies and airlines also do not let you cancel without penalties. If you book a $5000 cruise and your Mother dies two days before you are to leave you will most likely lose everything. That is what travel insurance is for.
Hotwire is great. I just booked a hotel in Miami for 65% off the lowest cost on the other websites.
Just know there are no changes and refunds and you do not know the name of the hotel until you pay. That is how they have such low prices.
A few tips:
1. All bookings on Hotwire are non-refundable. Since it's ALL of their bookings, ALL of their bookings state this on their website.
2. You can challenge with your credit card. The credit card company will investigate if your claim of Hotwire being bad is legitimate. Sometimes it is, for most people making the claim it's not. Congratulations if you canceled your card to force the refund, you just committed fraud! Check your credit score...
3. Internet-based companies send lots and lots and lots and lots of emails. For this reason, many of them are blocked as spam at some point in their travel to your inbox. Most internet companies aren't ingoring you. YOU're ignoring THEM. Let them know you're not receiving a reply if you don't get one. Also, computers now-a-days can detect curse words and automaticly dump those emails into the trash, without a human being ever reading them.
4. To get business partners, Hotwire offers to do the customer service FOR the travel company. When the guy at the hotel, car rental, or airport counter brings up your reservation, he just sees a screen that says to refer all the customers questions to Hotwire.
5. The guy at the counter doesn't care if your reservation is screwed up, it's not his problem, his computer screen says so.
6. Hotwire really will try to help you, so long as your request is more than "I want free money!".
7. Every airline and every hotel offered by Hotwire has a contract to get you a seat or a hotel room. Not so sure about the car rentals, though. Some big-wig made this agreement because having Hotwire help sell their stuff will make them more money, and they don't have to train their staff on any special Hotwire reservation procedures. The big-wig then issued the single piece of training about the Hotwire reservations to all their employees: refer all questions to Hotwire. See points 4, 5, and 6.
8. So by contract, the hotel or airline HAS to get you a room or seat if you're a Hotwire customer (sometimes that's better than they treat their own customers). Too bad nobody who will ever be helping you at the counter knows that.
9. No business can take responsibility for the actions or mistakes of another company. It's called liability. Any company that does is bankrupt the next day.
They have been so awful!!! I didn't buy one of their super cheap airfares...I paid retail. According to their own terms of service, they never say that retail fares are non-refundable. But they absolutely refuse to let me cancel! I understand them not letting you cancel if they were giving me a special rate, but they were giving me the same rate as the airline company and the company would have let me cancel!
I purchased tickets on 9/16/07 and I was told I would receive confirmation by email.My friend told me that his order was confirmed in minutes. Should I worry?
I've used Hotwire three times for hotels in Toronto and I was pleased every time. Like someone said in an earlier comment don't book anything under 4star rating, make sure you are familiar with the area and print all your documents and have them with you upon check-in. Don't know if I'd book a holiday with hotwire but my weekend trips to Toronto have been great and the savings have been substantial.Plan to use them again.
I've used Hotwire three times for hotels in Toronto and I was pleased every time. Like someone said in an earlier comment don't book anything under 4star rating, make sure you are familiar with the area and print all your documents and have them with you upon check-in. Don't know if I'd book a holiday with hotwire but my weekend trips to Toronto have been great and the savings have been substantial.Plan to use them again.
Hotwire lies about its hotel rating. I booked supposedly a 3 star hotel that is rating a 1 star by Mobile and 2 stars by Tripadvisor (Hotwire's sister company). What a joke. Contesting the charge with AMEX. I had the card for over 10 years and AMEX has good customer service so I like my chances.
I have to totally agree with you when you speak of a problem with Hotwire.com. Recently, a friend and myself decided to take a vacation to Nassau, Bahamas. Hotwire.com had a great deal for 6 nights including hotel for $607 per person. Since the website doesn't allow payments with more than one credit card my friend offered to pay it in full and I gave her the physical money simultaneously. We went on our vacation and the moment we got to the hotel we each had to dish out $75 ($15 per day) to the hotel (Wyndaham)for room service, non-motorized sports, fitness room and the pool which the website didn't inform us about. For that payment, I used my debit card. The vacation was great until we got back to New York and I looked at my funds and there was an immediate hold of $238, which the hotel had no explanation for and was returned to my account within the day. Three days later another $476 was taken out of my account again from the hotel. I called the hotel and they explained to me that HOTWIRE.com did not see my credit card in the pre-payment for the vacation and since it was on record at the hotel, HOTWIRE.COM assumed that I didn't pay for my portion of the trip when I clearly did with physical money weeks before. The hotel was force to credit me back the $476 and had to conduct further investigation with the website since my name wasn't associated with the hotel room or the pre-payments via HOTWIRE.COM
Thanks. I was just going to use Hotwire again. Now I know better and will not use it.
Thank you all so much. I was going to use hotwire.com but I can see from all the comments that it is not worth the discount. No thank hotwire.com
I used hotwire for a hotel room and was told what hotels would be considered, ie: Comfort Inn, LaQuinta, etc.
What I got was Extended Stay America. I needed a handicap room and got one not fit for a handicap person. I complained to Hotwire and was told that it was comparable with the other hotels which it wasn't. I complained and asked for the CEO's name and address, no response.
Call the hotel or airline directly. If you can get them to refund hotwire you will get your money back. I called the hotel and requested a reciept for the room I never used and suggested I would legally persue this. They wanted nothing to do with that a refunded the charges back to hotwire without further questions. Hotwire did not automatically refund my credit card until I called them to follow up. Persistance and legal suggestions worked me.
The other way I did not use but thought of was to dispute the hotwire charges on your credit card, after the charges are removed from your card-cancel it. Then hotwire will have no card to charge again.(your credit card company will side with hotwire and charge your account again unless you close the account while the money is out). Its a little devious but screw hotwire.
Good Luck-David
It is a well known fact that Hotwire Accomodations are the back of the bus......stinky rooms, bad service, and bumped if no room in the Hotel apparently it is true to go to the Hotel Website and ask for the best deal. I have been in many bad situations with Hotwire, none of which I asked for a refund. All were the quality of the room and service. I have not booked in about 2 years but I know for sure I won't now. Thanks so such....
don't use hotwire.com. they screwed me.
Tried to use the coupon in the 2007 Entertainment Book for a Hotwire discount. The promo is very misleading. Hotwire denied the rebate, claiming I made my flight using retail fares. The promo reads: Flights $20 OFF under that it reads Discount Airfare. One would think they promote discount fares, not that you have to buy a discount fare in order to be eligible for the rebate. The wording is vague and misleading. Don't waste your time trying to use the coupon. You'll probably end up getting stiffed like I was. Hotwire refused to reconsider. I guess they don't care if they lost one customer who probably would have used their site again, and others who will hear and read about this experience.
Hotwire was unable to find a hotel in the town of Eden North Carolina.I know for a fict that there are 4Hotels in that town.They are unreliable in my book.
Thank you
What a lot of you people don't realize is that hotel rooms aren't going to be cheaper anywhere else other than that hotels website. The hotels have this guarenteed on most websites. Its not worth the risk to deal with a third party. Just deal with the hotel. Find a chain you like, get with the rewards program, and they probably will be better to deal with if you have issues.
WOW. After reading below and seeing your experiences... NO THANKS HOTWIRE!!! It's not worth the risk for my family.
I booked a car for 3 weeks of use in LA using Hotwire online, I booked the reservation 6 weeks in advance and with 4 weeks to the ticket the tripped canceled, I contacted Hotwire to get my refund and they were just completely awful to deal with, I would never use this company.
We booked a room from Red Lion Inns in south Seattle through Hotwire. We paid for the room with a credit card, received a Hotwire itinerary#, hotel confirmation#, but when I arrived at the hotel at 9:30 PM I was told they were overbooked and Hotwire had been told not to issue any more reservations and I was out of luck, go down the road and find another hotel. Pretty hard at 9:30 PM near the Seattle airport! Red Lion said they were not responsible to place us in another hotel and to contact Hotwire. After holding over 30 minutes on the phone for a representive at Hotwire to help us, we gave up and went hotel searcing. Now we start the process of trying to receive a refund which may take 2-3 weeks. Who in responsible for our inconvience? We finally went to the Red Lion at Sea-Tac who helped us with a room.
Hotwire is simply EVIL and the do not care about helping people. I have had my share of problems with them. Even if they do not loosemoney they still simply DO NOT CARE!!!.
Hotwire is the worse, when I tried to cancel reservations, they stonewalled me. Here's my complaint, when you make an agreement, you get something for something. In this case Hotwire too 4 nights hotel fees, and I got nothing when I canceled. They refer to their notice, I say that their notices are unfair and the consumer is stuck with paying something for nothing.
Hotwire's site is based on opacity,if you need to know where you will be staying then dont use their site,they will even give you the phone# to expedia and hotels.com.their site is clearly for bargin hunters and not for someone looking for the whole vacation experiance starting with the flight and hotel decor.the booking asst.see the same screen that you see at home on your personal computer and they too have no knowledge of where you will be staying until after its booked.myself,im a bargin hunter and so it dosent matter to me what the room looks like as long as i have someplace to sleep and a flight to get there,i'm not there for the room,i'm there to visit friends,go to the beach or whatever and if i can save $ for the real reason im there then thats fine with me. their terms of use CLEARLY state that its NONREFUNDABLE and that you cant cancel, you have to check a box that says you uderstand that before you can even book the product.Again,if being able to cancel or know where you'll be staying is important to you then choose another site.Yes everything is hidden about where you stay or when you fly but the terms are not hidden.I always read the terms of use for everything,unfortunatly most people just check the box and proceed and then wonder what the f*** they got into and thats their own fault.
Their search criteria is a bait and switch. I specifically put in the zip code for which I wanted a hotel (wanted to walk to the ballpark) and the hotel we chose was 3 miles from the park. Why do they have a specific search criteria when they don't use it . The customer doesn't know if the hotel location is anywhere near the area that was originally specified until it's too late. I 'm done with them.
I booked with hotwire for hotel and car rental. My trip turned to an emergency situation so I called to change my car rental pick-up time and was told the rules for changes or cancellation, which was you lose your money and are required to make a new reservations.I asked where these rules were posted and was told I needed to look under something called customer care. Won't be using them again
I booked a hotel a week in advance on Hotwire that they list as a three star hotel. That same day I visited the hotel and looked at one of the rooms. I travel for living and I can tell you it was at best at 1 1/2 star hotel. Tried to cancel reservation and you know the rest. I WILL NEVER USE HOTWIRE AGAIN!
Wow, that's like a really old school Hotwire page, like from when they first opened. Hotwire for Windows 95.
So have any of you figured out that you're not paying Hotwire for the hotel room, or car, or flight? You're paying $$$ for the booking service. Yeah, the plane could crash, the hotel could burn down, the car rental could be denied because you don't have a drivers license (who tries to rent a car without a drivers license, sheep?) -- but Hotwire provided the service you paid for. They BOOKED it. And then they're done, peace out, have a good trip, have a bad trip, skip it, it's all the same.
DO NOT BUY "TRIP CANCELLATION" WITH HOTWIRE THROUGH ACCESS AMERICA...READ THE FINE PRINT AND IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET YOUR REFUND UNLESS YOU ARE HOSPITALIZED AND THEN YOU EVEN HAVE TO SEND IN LETTERS FROM YOUR DOCTORS. THIS IS A SCAM AND VERY DISAPPOINTING THAT HOTWIRE WORKS WITH ACCESS AMERICA. I'LL THINK AGAIN WHEN TRYING TO USE HOTWIRE IN THE FUTURE.
I guess I have to join in here. We made a reservation in Indy at the Holiday Inn Beech Grove. That is what our reservations state. Now they tell us 3 weeks before our trip that it has changed hands and is no longer Holiday Inn. Never heard of who took it over. I use to work for Holiday Inn and if they pull their name from a francise then it isn't upto Holiday Inn standard. I called Hotwire and requested they change the reservation. I don't even mind paying more but they won't do it. I'm not sure how they can send me a reservation stating Holiday Inn and when that changes refuse to redo the reservation. Not sure what I am going to do but may have to see an attorney. I will never use them again.
This is my very first experience in using any of these sites for fares. When I tried Hotwire, after I had put in my info, the screen said they were searching for the best fares. That screen stayed on for three minutes, at which time, I closed. Thank you for the telling of the experience you had.
I will not use Hotwire.
I made a reservation on hotwire.com for a hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN. I paid $76.00 plus tax making the total $90.00. When I arrived at the hotel I saw the computer screen. Hotwire was only being charged $52.00 for the room. I already paid a $5.00 booking fee to hotwire and now they are getting $20.00 extra dollars?
Hotwire states they have "deeper" discounts because hotels sell them they unsold rooms. Yeah, hotels sell the rooms cheaper to hotwire but hotwire still charges the full price to customers. In fact, I could of saved close to $9.00 by just walking in or reserving on the DaysInn website. Their normal non-discounted rate was less than I paid.
When I called Hotwire.com's customer service and waited 20 minutes. I got this very rude redneck agent who stated, "we are a for-profit company and we can charge whatever we want for a room."
Well, since hotwire did not save me anything and just upset me. I will take my business elsewhere. Atleast then I won't get surprised with a "3 star" roach motel.
The reason hotwire.com doesn't tell you what hotel you will be staying at ahead of time..is just so that you can't check with the hotel to make sure you can't being charged MORE.
I tried to contact Hotwire ,com several times I purchases a airline ticket #NFWJOZ that flight was cancelled. United stated that
is was cancelled and that hot line had the money already taken the 323.00 out of my account I grab another flight out due to the emergency I had to get to MI That cost me another 324.00 They emailed me stating to call united I call united stated get with Hot wire
I am going to dipute this mater please some one from Hot Wire please advise.Iam not paying for aticket that I was not on
Thank you Jeannie ward