Hotwire.com is Misleading

ComplaintsHotelsHotwire.com

Complaint

0
Devon
Country: United States
Me and my wife planned to have a family vacation and since we are running on a tight income I'd searched online for affordable hotels using hotwire.com, there they seem to have affordable hotels but they don't let you see its names until you've booked for it, It was a shame that I was forced to payed a substandard hotels. They told me it was mandatory. It was really unfair not disclosing those information to me before booking, I thought we'll stay in a 4 star hotel but it was not. When I contacted them they refused t cancel my reservation, they are only bunch of rip offs, thanks to them we had an awful vacation and our budget was ruin.

Comments

  • 0
    jennifer in Texas
    I booked a hotel for a weekend get away. The hotel was fine, but when i tried to get booked in the front desk lady told me that the credit card that Hotwire was using to pay for the room was declined. I checked my account and Hotwire had already took the money out of my account. After waiting on hold for almost an hour i get a rude CSR guy that hung up on me. i called back and spoke with a different girl at hotwire who told me that they could refund my money and i could go some where else for a hotel. The thing is it would take up to 14 business days for me to get my money back. Piss poor customer service from Hotwire. The front desk lady at the hotel did check me in after 2 hours of waiting..
  • 0
    Anonymous
    Let me explain to you, from a hotel point of view. As a Hotwire guest, you did not pay the hotel, you paid Hotwire. We cannot and will not adjust your rate for any reason, due to contractual agreement with Hotwire. These are non-refundable, non-cancellable, non-changeable reservations...it says so in the first line of the agreement that you were shown while making the reservation. We will get paid the same amount, regardless of how much you complain. There is no such thing as getting a five star stay at a one star price...it will not ever happen. You'll get the least desireable room every time, I promise you. As a Hotwire guest, you will not get an upgrade, a free breakfast, rewards points, or any other nice things that a guest paying full rate -or any rate directly to the hotel- will receive. You didn't choose us out of loyalty, but rather by what hotel would take your low bid. We are well aware that the guests booking on Hotwire will be the ones that complain about anything possible and try everything in the book to get a refund, while the guest who is upstairs in bed and paying $269 a night will be nothing but nice to our entire staff, and in the event of something going wrong will allow us to fix the problem without asking for money back. I don't tell you this to be mean, and you can believe it or not as it doesn't make a hill of beans to us. I've worked in several chains and at any property it is always the same. Do yourself a huge favor and book directly through the hotel or it's website. You might be suprised at the deals that you'll find on the hotel's website. And you will definitely be suprised at the difference in service, upgrades, and accomodations that you receive when you arrive. Just saying....
  • 0
    Bob
    We booked a 5 star hotel in Bath, England and were sent to somebody's dirty home 25 minutes from Bath (a bed and breakfast) where we were met by a barefoot lady who yelled at us for being late. We stayed somewhere else. Hotwire admitted the mistake but refused any refund and now Chase credit card went along with them.
  • 0
    Jackie
    Never again!!!!!! booked tickets on a Thur. for my mother to attend her brother's funeral. When she got to the airport on that Sat. she was informed by Delta that hotwire had canceled her flight. This was a horrible experience for her. Not too mention Delta was not helpful. She went from paying $289 rtn to paying $598. We are still waiting for a call back from customer service.
  • 0
    Pissed in Iowa
    Got hotel on hotwire got to the holiday inn and hotel owner said we cancelled your reservation with hotwire. So we have no room for you and Hotwire got $110 and I got no room. Hotwire said sorry need to deal with hotel WTF. Are you kidding me so I ended up at the motel 6 for 70 more and lost 110 . Holiday Inn was over booked so they emailed Hotwire to advise and hotwire just played dumb and said we will need you to work it out with Holiday Inn for another stay. Holiday Inn the owner stated so many people have trouble with Hotwire and we are looking to drop them.
  • 0
    Shon luv
    Get this! Booked car rental through Hotwire got to rental place and unfortunately i couldnt get rental.Hotwire send me an email saying funds will be transferred back into my account.I call my bank..bank tell me tht Hotwire put funds back into my account and on the same day they put in my account..took money back out of my account!! I called Hotwire while bank was on the phone.Hotwire requested bank send my bank statement to Research Dept and it would take 10business days to process the matter.After the 10days it was a different story and then I was told on the 25 of April my funds would be BACK in my acct! Guess what my money is still not bck in my acct! Ive talked to 2managers and received emails..now they are saying its my bank not them! Ive talked to my lawyer and he informed me to file,dont care how long it takes i want Justice! Hotwire are thieves and i would like to be part of the  petition as well!
  • 0
    Himanshu
    Same thing happened to me, I booked a 4 star hotel on hotwire and the hotel they gave is 3.5 star. When i called them and checked, they told that they compare that with their competitor but all their competitor website are also showing the same hotel as 3.5 star.

    I have filed a complaint against hotwire though BBB.

    Please let me know if you anything else need to be done to get justice.
  • 0
    Tony
    I was trying to book a hotel stay in Chicago for the weekend of the 7th thru the 10th of June. I attempted to book the hotel after being reassured that my card would not be charged until the room was booked. That was a blatant lie. My bank card was debited but no reservation. The site advised to try again so I did. Bang! Another charge to my debit account and still no reservation. That was the 24th of May and it is now the 30th. Still no reservation and I'm still out twice the cost of the hotel room. I called Hotwire and they did nothing but to confirm that they did indeed charge me twice for the same product and "No, you will never get the product because we can't confirm your reservation." Hotwire gives false and misleading information, takes your money and provides the consumer no services in this instance. I was ripped off!!!!
  • 0
    coby
    Will never use Hotwire again ,use to have great results but lately they seem to want to use extended stay america for all 2 star bookings and those places a sketchy a best never again also don't save that much for the chance you take
  • 0
    Steve
    Booked what was supposed to be a 3 star Ramada Inn On Bannock Street in Denver-was scared to get out of the car-looked at other reviews of this [***] and wonder why Hotwire even uses them-called Hotwire but no luck-asked if they ever checked out any place and to send a female employee here to see if she would stay-what a ripoff-I posted other reviews of this hotel below-The second one down saysa  car was stolen-I  bet that happens alot.  


    reviewed in the last week
    Stayed tha weekend for 710 cup. Both roomz had old technology(tv) & tha a/c unitz r trash. R room didn't have a/c so we asked to move n they said they would have maintenance come up(5:00) but never did. Finally at 1230 am after many complaintz we got moved to another rm. Not all their roomz are new so tha old roomz r definitely not worth tha money. Breakfast was nice tho. Don't miss that.

    A Google User
    reviewed a week ago
    Car got stolen out of parking lot, apparently the cameras on outside of buliding don't show the parking lot, had 2 on side we parked on seemingly pointed to where our car was parked, but they told officer they had no footage, what good are cameras on the outside if you can't even see a car leave you're parking lot, they were nice enough to comp our room for another night, but no free breakfast, coffee, room cleaning, felt kinda shrugged off about the fact our car was taken from their property, our room was ok, nothing to right home to mom about, bed comfortable, tv, microwave, fridge, amenities, would have been a ok stay had it not been for our car getting stolen, out of state, on vacation, from our hotel parking lot while we were sleeping, will never stay here again, had to walk to a gas station about a mile away cause ATM in hotel had 200 max withdrawal, but on our walk, another review said area seemed sketchy, after our walk I can say it is a very sketchy area, almost feel was inside job cause we had one of most stolen cars in Denver, and the way it was kinda shrugged off, if you value you're car do not stay here

    Kim Mikkelsen
    reviewed a month ago
    Traveled for 35 years -- this ranks as one of the worst. Holes in the sheets, fitted sheet elastic shot so sheet kept coming off. Towels gray and thread bear. Front desk and room service wouldn't answer their phone, but if you called in on the reservation they answered right away. When I asked on same line "how busy is the restaurant?" was told not busy at all. Employees finished their conversations before waiting on the people who paid their checks. Shuttle service is horrible. They are late consistently and won't help with luggage (I guess that's beneath them). Looks like the owners are attempting to strip all the profits out while they can. DO NOT stay here. I noticed a Quality Inn across the street and will try it next time. This is the first negative review I've ever left if that tells you how poor their service was.

    Alex Lippert
    reviewed 7 months ago
    Anyone who says this hotel is clean and high quality is smoking crack. This place was awful. The front desk people are nice enough but everything else is laughable. Our room had visible stains all over the floor/ceiling, the A/C unit sounded like a steam roller all night, the toilet would run non-stop and we had to shut the bathroom door to partially stifle the noise. My girlfriend was so disgusted, she slept on top of the bed using two comfy blankets she travels with. I'm surprised I did not get attacked by bed bugs. Even after my morning shower I felt "dirty" all day because the entire experience was just ridiculous. Don't brush this review off either, we travel a lot and I'd expect this sort of condition with a 15$ hostel, not a 75$ hotel room. I would have left the moment we arrived but I had a very early morning the next day and we arrived late. I wouldn't stay in this dump if they offered to pay me.  Oh and to top off our stay, I was double charged for staying two nights instead of 1 and its taken 2 weeks to get it reversed. So despite nice front desk people, service gets a Poor-Fair.  If you need to stay in a hotel in this area and this is the last resort, do yourself a favor and sleep in your car ( keep your doors locked though, the area is a little sketch)
  • 0
    Lura
    Booked a converaible with hotwire..I needed to fly in the next day of booking and I was told sorry cant make any changes...so my mistake which flight $37 and call off work so I could make the Sat night booking loss of wages $330...had to arrive on time so I could get my converiable...guess what no converiable was waiting...I had to take a crap car and drive back the next day to the airport which is two hours away...but guys isnt this what I was trying to do in the first place...so hotwire you wouldnt bend for me so why should I bend for you..small claims court here I come
  • 0
    Disappointed in Brooks
    We booked a hotel that was supposed to be a 2 star. It definitely was only a 1star. As soon as I opened the door, the smell of an ashtray hit me in the face, strong too. The carpet had huge stains on it, possibly from pet urine or something spilled & not cleaned. The toilet was running, which I fixed myself because I got sick of hearing it. The TV was one of the old tube tvs & when I went to open the dresser drawer, the front fell off in the floor. It was just on for looks. The free breakfast was a joke. I will not book a hotel in Brooks for fear of getting this same hotel, which was econo lodge. But when we booked another night a couple weeks later, in a different part of town of course, I was never more pleased. I had a very pleasant stay at the Super 8, which they classify as the same star rating & it was quite a but cheaper at that. I'm reluctant to use them for fear of where I'll end up & think I will just go to the direct site of the hotel since it's non refundable & obviously the star ratings aren't accurate.
  • 0
    Kate
    know my financial situation isn't great atm but should have either gotten what they took my money for, or an explanation of charges plus an "im sorry for this inconvenience"...expected anything better than placing blame on the customer and then even the bank, saying to call the bank (not hotwire) if the money hadnt come back onto the card in 1-2 days, bc later than that was only on the bank.The way she said it reminded me of a child saying 'I swear I didn't do it, so don't you say I did!' with a very guilty look on their face.
    Very disappointed that after 7 years, many bookings and 1000s spent I will not use hotwire again, and likely neither will many of people Ive referred to the site. Was nearly without a place to sleep on my birthday (except maybe my tightly packed car, in Texas summer, lol). Thank you priceline, for the great deal that made sure that didn't happen.
  • 0
    Kate
    Please disregard last post, thought it copied all of my text before I had to refresh the page.  I cant type it all on my phone again at the moment.
  • 0
    Bill
    I'm very disappointed with Hotwire. I have been booking through Hotwire for the last 15 years, and the Hilton Downtown Portland, Oregon was always listed as a 3.5 star hotel by Hotwire. I've blindly booked it many times through Hotwire as a 3.5 star hotel. Always when I have blindly booked a 4 star hotel through Hotwire for Downtown Portland, I ended up with a true 4 star hotel. Previously there star ratings really meant something, and they were truthful indicators of quality. There is world of difference in this ".5" mark and between 3.5 stars and 4 stars, and actually the Hilton is only of 3 star quality with the rooms you'll get through Hotwire.

    So in my 15 years of reliable experience with Hotwire, when I book a 4 star hotel, I expect a true 4 star hotel, as I have always received one, and don't expect to get a 3 start hotel like the Hilton, that has always been listed as a 3.5 star hotel in my last 15 years of experience with Hotwire. I called the Hilton expecting that I'd be booked in their higher-end executive tower, only to find this was just a normal room in the regular section.

    I'm following up with Hotwire now, and trying to get them to upgrade to the 4 star hotels I've had in past in Downtown Portland through them. If they won't fix this problem, I will never use Hotwire again. So far they have just emailed me a form letter and told me that they won't change anything and that I got a great deal! A live person didn't even read my concern.

    I noticed that they have sometimes at least inflated the scale from 3.5 to 4 stars and back on another hotel. So star ratings could simply be rigged at least by ".5" from time to time to increase sales  with plausible deniability. We suffer greatly us customers!
  • 0
    Isabel
    Hotwire just rip my hard earn money.. Waited for more than the 7-10 days wait.. The call centers are out in Manila Phil's where neither those call centers ppl have not been to USA .. Not understanding the distance of a hotel from what was given.. They booked me in Addison il which is totally different from ELMHURST il .. And that American supervisor . He's no good for the customer service job either.. Did not do his job and research.. He said they called me but all my emails said that I call them.. They get to the point that you get mad and say things you didn't want to say because if the customer service they give you... They are working in my home land the Philippines.. How many more ppl will get rip off of hard earn money.. The lowest of the lowest customer service (-) rate for you.. You should be out of the business ..
  • 0
    Browneyzdelta
    Hotwire needs to know if the hotels are really 4 stars. It's misleading to say you will get a 4 start hotel at a 2 or 3 star rate.
  • 0
    Sylvester Howard
    I was ripped off by hotwire.com on my latest car rental reservation 4771653528 made 03April.  Hotwire website allowed me to book a one-way rental from Toronto Canada to Buffalo New York, charged my credit card and issued me a confirmation for the rental. When I arrived about 2 hours later to pickup the car from Hertz, I was informed that I had to return the car back to Toronto Canada as my reservation was for a round trip and it would cost me an additional $250 for a one-way rental.  I immediately called Hotwire and was informed by the customer service rep that when you use your mobile device to book a one-way rental it automatically convert to around trip rental and that she was sorry for the inconvenience but the reservation could not be changed or cancelled.  There is no DISCLAIMER on their site stating one-way rentals cannot be done from mobile devices.  My return flight was suppose to be Buffalo NY to Atlanta but due to their rip-off, I had to incur additional expenses to drive back to Toronto Canada and expenses to fly home from Toronto instead of Buffalo New York. Had their site had full disclosure, I would not have booked the rental car and taken a shuttle to my destination to alleviate the cost of having to fly back out of Canada.  I am highly disappointed with their failure to acknowledge their own service failure and how they handled this with I am sorry!  Will never use this service again and will do all possible to discourage others as well.
  • 0
    SK
    I have had great experiences with Hotels.com, Expedia, Trivago, Priceline...every other booking service site. The experience with Hotwire.com has been a nightmare and I intend to take it to an attorney to recoup our loss of money, time, and peace of mind.  First, their booking algorithm for a Hot "deal" brought up a place in another country than where I was searching. My search criteria was for Valencia, California and I saw various results for the correct region. But these supposed great deals are purchased sight-unseen - ostensibly because, "They don’t want people to know that some of their rooms are being booked for absurdly low prices. Everyone would want the same discount!" per the Hotwire FAQ -  and when I locked in a commitment for a "4 Star Hotel in Valencia", what was revealed was in Valencia, SPAIN.  I called for an immediate refund which was not extended due to the final purchase policy on these rates. Instead they offered a re-booking for a similar (but still higher) price in the correct location, also sight-unseen until confirmation. I acquiesced, as we still needed a place to stay (mind, we weren't looking for a vacation spot, rather my mother is having emergency work done to her house and the 2-week displacement is already an unforeseen expense, hence our eagerness for some price break).  The result from that booking is a disaster: not a hotel, but a motel. It's outside a truck stop, it's old, musty and unkempt, the hot water doesn't work in the taps, and on top of everything, the price at which Hotwire offered it is only between $3 and $10 less per night than what other sites are advertising. That, in itself, is bait and switch.  It's downright fraudulent to present a transaction as some great value that it simply is not.  We would never have chosen the motel we got stuck with at any price. Furthermore, the bad programming on the site is what got us stuck in this situation; bookings for Spain should NEVER result from a search in the US. After numerous phone calls (being put on long holds and hung up on twice) - Hotwire has taken NO accountability for this simple fact, offered no acceptable solution that would make us whole (only yet another booking transfer, with the price difference at our expense - and for what? To end up in another slum??)...and basically leaves us with zero trust in their business ethos.
  • 0
    mindy
    Has any one book a car rental through Hotwire and the car comapany did not honor the reservation?....Never Never trust this Hotwire at all...lost money that I reserved with Hotwire then we got charged again when we pick up the car from hertz. Hertz will not honored my Hotwire reservation... my 6 days of rr taking drain out of me disputing with Hotwire...very depressed.

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