HotwireReviews 770

Hotwire is my go to whenever I want to take my family away. Their secret deals have been out of this world. I have never been 1 to travel. Since discovering Hotwire during summer, that is all my family and I do. I just booked for weekend of New Year's and was amazed at how cheap the rates were. I love Hotwire. I 've saved so much money thanks to them. I just recently came back from trip I booked through them. Their choices in hotels have been perfect. I have no complaints.

Arrived at airport to pickup car rental only to be informed that a charge of 50 cents per mile would be charged when the contract clearly stated unlimited mileage. Since the planned trip was expected to be 800 miles, of course I refused the car for what in my mind was an unfair business practice. The rental company told me the mileage charge was Hotwire's policy. I contacted Hotwire in India and got absolutely nowhere with the English as a second language rep. I will NEVER use Hotwire again.

On Oct 12th, 2017 we had travelled from Canada to Minneapolis Minnesota for conference from 13th 15th. On the 13th we booked hotel room at Extended Stay America for the night of 14th. We checked in around 5 pm and hotel advised that hotwire had overbooked by 8 rooms. We called Hotwire and spoke to agent that said we cld find another hotel and they wld pay the difference. She posted a $75.00 credit to use for difference in hotels. We looked, in the pouring rain for over an hour at at least 30 hotels and there were no hotels to be had as there was an NFL game. We ended up sleeping in the car and it rained all night. We attended the conference next morning. We left at noon the next day to drive home and it was the most painful trip ever, trying to stay away all the way home. It was not a pleasant time and could have caused many problems like accidents etc.
I have been credited the room however, I have asked to be compensated for a one night stay the next time I need a room somewhere. The supervisor, JC came to phone and wld only oblige with a $25 hotwire credit - good for one year. She advised the hotel overbooked on their inventory and the hotel advised hotwire overbooked. This is a very neglectful way to do business HOTWIRE

I've used Hotwire, enthusiastically, for years upon years, loving their blind website, which is the only reason I use them. I am having a serious operation and have to be at the hospital early, and needed a hotel nearby. I know how to find the areas in the blind site, so I know the area in which the hotel will be, what rating it is, how many recommend it. Always like that. But either on the side of Hotwire or myself, I was booked in the wrong neighborhood. When I called 4 seconds later to cancel and rebook, Hotwire said no way. We will refund 1/8th of it, and charge you $100 cancellation fee. A year earlier, this happened, and Hotwire's customer rep was able to change it for me; they got their $$ and I was a satisfied customer. No longer. Today, I spoke with the "manager," and she refused to help me. I told her my circumstance, I told her about last year. No go. Policy first, customer satisfaction, um, last. They lost me as a customer.

We have used hotwire often with great success in the past, but I was shocked to discover that they misrepresent what kind of bed you'll be receiving and offer negligible compensation to travelers inconvenienced by this.

In making a reservation if you think you have a "guaranteed bed type"- Look again - on the same page that they say "Your bed type is guaranteed" they also say " bed types may vary" you will continue to receive notice that you have a guaranteed bed type but you do not.

If this is important to you, do not use Hotwire,

If you're traveling with small children- do not use Hotwire-

If you intend to sleep with your spouse (on something other than a full or queen size bed)-do not use Hotwire.

Please see below:

Below is an example of the selection you -a customer would make:
You check your bed type and pay for the "guarantee".

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This is our actual confirmation;

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Be very very very careful if you are using Hotwire!

I was born and raise in Vancouver Canada and travel there quite frequently. I normally used priceline and booking.com, but today when I was booking a room for my permanently disabled husband for a medical appointment, I used hotwire.com.

Hotels in downtown Vancouver are very expensive, and therefore we were prepared to stay in Burnaby (city next to Vancouver) to save some money. I found a "Hot Rate" deal in "Burnaby - Metrotown" area, checked the commute time (for a disabled person with chronic pain, he can't commute for too long), and paid for the Burnaby-Metrotown room.

Once paid, I found out that it's not in Burnaby at all. It's in a completely different city on the other border of Burnaby.

I called and explained the situation and how it wouldn't work out. The operator continued for half an hour telling me that it's only an extra 20 minutes (with no traffic) from the promised location and therefore no cancellation is allowed. I pointed out over and over again that they sold me a room in a completely different city and is therefore false advertising and he continued to regurgitate the same information to me.

Eventually his supervisor came on and said that I CAN get a refund on the room if I get a different room in Vancouver for $100 more. I told her that the cost was the original reason I didn't book in Vancouver and she said there was nothing else to do. I'm out of $200 as a result and I just want to share my story so no one else would.

Make sure you check other sites before

Make sure you check other sites before making a purchase from this site. I saw options 3 time cheaper within minutes of my purchase and they will not match the price or refund you! The representative did not provide clear direction to take a snap shot of my search. In having me help her search to locate the same screen I had, I lost my deal. My warning to other is just use Hotwire as a last option. Before you use it make sure you have cross checked other sites ($322 versus $140). It is an expensive mistake I will not make again!

I must strongly recommend against the use of this application for the following reason.

I purchased a HotRate hotel in Quebec City from Hotwire for check in August 9,2017 and check out August 11,2017. I received a hotel confirmation #*******665 and an itinerary #*******479 for a two nights stay at Le Saint-Pierre.
I did not receive any notifications whatsoever of a problem. When I arrived at Le Saint-Pierre for check in, around 5:45pm, they told me that the hotel was sold out and that they did not have a room for me. We immediately called Hotwire and the recording notified me that my booking status was confirmed. Upon speaking with a Hotwire agent they regretfully informed me that there was a problem but that I would be refunded for both my booking and that once we find a new place to stay I would be fully refunded for my expenses wherever I end up staying as a compensation for this trouble. THIS IS NOT TRUE. They only refunded my original booking and the difference that it cost me to book a new hotel. The biggest problem however is that I was forced to spend 4 hours of my limited time in Quebec City in Le Saint-Pierre's lobby trying to find alternate accommodations and everywhere we called was fully booked. After 4 dreadful hours, a cancellation miraculously appeared at Hotel 71 (Same lobby). This room was of a lower class than I had originally reserved but cost us 311$ more, according to the front desk agent at Le Saint-Pierre. I accepted it in order to put an end to the nightmare of not knowing where I would stay; feeling comfortable with the promise of being fully refunded by Hotwire for anywhere that I might be able to book.

Do yourself a favour and stay far from Hotwire for your future bookings.

This company frauded us off over 1k in hotel costs. They advertised a 1 star hotel as a 3.5 hotel and refused to refund us. This hotel has water damage, mold, infested with ants and the beds were broken, causing physical injury to our backs.
When trying to do a chargeback *******@Visa, they would not issue it because we stayed at the hotel. As if we had a $#*!ing choice, everywhere was booked at 1am in the morning!

They claim to do a "review" which only consists of calling the $#*!ty hotel to ask if we stayed there and if the hotel sucks. Of course the hotel will say they are a great hotel and deny they are below code! What a joke.

I was a long term customer (over 9 years) with zero complaints on my record. You'd think they would take that into consideration. Nope! So when you knowingly lie about hotel ratings and refuse to take care of a loyal client, you're officially a fraudulent company.

I prepaid a car rental though Hotwire and at end of car rental, the actual charge for the car was $58.00 less than the amount Hotwire took to prepay the booking. And they sent me this cockymamie email to justify not refunding the difference.

"Thank you for contacting Hotwire Customer Care regarding your reservation with Advantage, Hotwire Itinerary *******774. I recognize you are requesting to clarify the receipt the car rental agency provided to you. I regret the inconvenience this has caused you. I am pleased to provide information on this matter.

We received your documents and as we review, I can assure you were not overcharged. The car rental agency may have shown you the Hotwire rate. Please be assured these base rates are specially negotiated for Hotwire, and are generally lower than the available rates presented to car rental customers booking directly. Our Hot Rate® Cars are non-commissionable, meaning rental agency do not pay us for bookings.

We ask our car partners do not disclose the Hotwire rate on their receipts, as it leads to confusion. We addressed this with the rental agency directly, to prevent this situation from occurring in the future.

Please accept our apologies along with 25 HotDollars, which we have added to your Hotwire account under *******@yahoo.com. You can use HotDollars to book any Hot Rate® Car or Hot Rate® Hotel on the Hotwire site.
Each one is equivalent to one U.S. dollar in value and is available for one year from the date of issuance.

A separate email will be sent to you with more information about how to use your HotDollars. Keep in mind that you will still be required to enter other billing details to cover any amount beyond your available HotDollars. Any remaining HotDollars will stay in your account for future use. Please note that your HotDollar credit will expire on the 5th of August 2018."

So, if your want to book something in the future, be aware that they will scam you like I was above.

I made a reservation through Hotwire, when I got to the hotel they couldn't find my reservation. Despite my showing them my online confirmation and itinerary and when the desk called Hotwire, Hotwire confirmed that I had a reservation. However the service desk at Hotwire somehow couldn't manage to make the fax go through. Things went on like this with more call and people involved for the next two hours while I sat and waited in the lobby.
Eventually, the hotel staff gave up and said if I wanted to continue calling Hotwire, I could do that but they never offered me a room. To make matters worse, the hotel later listed me as a no-show so I couldn't get a refund. Neither Hotwire nor the hotel is willing to assist me in resolving the matter.

For years I have booked trips with Hotwire, with great success. BUT This last experience was enough for me to never use them again. Tried booking a hotel room through their website, transaction kept hitting our credit cards but booking could not go through (used PayPal as well as individual credit cards). Called customer service, after 30 min on the phone with them they booked the room for us, except when we got the confirmation we saw the hotel was miles away from the area we supposedly booked in (doesn't really work to be miles away from your desired downtown location with no car). Called customer service back, and after another 45 minutes on the phone with them they agreed to refund the booking - but if I still wanted a room in the specific area I would have to pay a higher rate than the rate they advertised online. I told them I wanted the rate they were currently showing at Hotwire.com for the specific area I, but all I got was the runaround- no help no solution, wasted hours. Very difficult to understand every customer service person I spoke to. In the end... If you can't trust that they will right their wrongs, and that the booking you make on Hotwire.com is actually within the area indicated on their website, that eliminates the entire benefit of Hotwire to us.

First they promised if I canceled the hotel reservation I can get my refund by sending a doctors note. Which I asked, is it ok I can send one from Mexico since I dont have insurance, even though is in spanish i can always translate it. Well the customer service representative agreed. I send the note, and guess what? It wasnt approved because its in spanish! I called multiple times explaining what one of their reps said, and yet no answers yet. They dont want to accept the doctors note, and now they are asking for another one (yet they said Mexico's note was Okey) Im totally mad at this! Bunch of lies, multiple emails and calls yet they cant get the what so called RECORDINGS from previous calls to investigate? CHEATERS! SCams! Get away from this site! I was only treated with respect from one of their reps, which seem not to be happy how they had me doing this hassle. Props to JHEL she did tried multiple times to fix this issue but RESEARCH team is in absolute deniel!

PLEASE DONT USE THIS SITE! Nothing like priceline (and hey i dont work for them at all, or get paid for this, but never had an issue with them even on express deals or bidding deals to be canceled)