HotwireReviews 770

I booked with hotwire once a few months ago and I had no complaints. We got a good hotel, we got a decent price. I tried booking a hotel recently for my parents anniversary and it was the worst experience I ever ever had. First I used the same card as last time and it told me my address was wrong (I double checked it, it wasn't wrong). Hotwire still took my money as an "authorization hold" and blocked my card so I couldn't make another reservation. I called them and told me it was a problem with my bank. I called my bank and they said it was the site. I called hotwire back and asked for a manager and they wouldn't transfer me to one. The customer service agent was so rude and disrespectful. I spent 3 hours of my evening trying to work this out. The agent convinced me to book over the phone with him and the exact same thing happened. His computer told him there was an issue with the address and it still took my money. BE WARE!

Since when is it a hotels policy to go into a guests room when they are not there. Especially when you inform the hotel that you do not want your room disturbed. I just wrote a review on hotwire and this hotel and hotwire. Here's the update, mind you this is the same day I wrote the previous review. Hotwire after much cursing and screaming finally sent a fax to the hotel confirming my reservation. It took all of ten minutes. So I go back up to my room and again my key cards don't work. Twice in two days? Now my wife is upset and sick. She calls the front desk, they send Maintenance to check on the problem. The keys we programmed wrong. Are you kidding! I just used them this morning. Right before house keeping told me that we were on the checkout list again. Again! Did I mention yesterday when we went to the beach house keeping went into our room? They said we were on the check out list then too. They changed the towel and supposedly moped the floors. Now my wife has a stomach virus. I don't believe in coincidence. This hotel is from hell and so is hotwire. The front desk was informed that if anyone else enters our room we would be calling the police and telling them that everything was stolen. Don't stay at this hotel. Save your sanity and your money. Book a more notable hotel because you literally get what you pay for.

Rented a car for 4 days in Portland Oregon. When I initially wrote myself in as the primary driver, I then added my wife as secondary driver. The reservation somehow only went to my wife's email ONLY and when I got to Portland I had to add myself and pay additional $100. I could've just kept my wife as only authorize driver but I didn't want risk it since I would be doing most of the driving.
Overall I paid $335 for 4 days which I considered ok for a 2016 Toyota corrola.

BEWARE: do NOT be scammed by Hotwire.com!
I prepaid for my hotel room and received confirmation emails from Hotwire.com. However, when I went to check-in, I was told by the hotel that my Hotwire reservation did NOT exist. When I called Hotwire.com, 2 reps kept me on the phone for two hours and kept yelling and talking over me even after they admitted that they messed up. They offer no reasonable explanation for why they messed up. They asked for my credit card number to charge me again for another hotel room miles away from the initial hotel that I already paid for. They were SO rude! They are just stealing your money and lying! Do NOT book with Hotwire.com. You may end up traveling far to the hotel that you prepaid for and received confirmations for does NOT exist! Hotwire.com basically overbooks and just says oops, TOO BAD for you!

Yes, hotwire has many great deals on hotels, especially in large cities. However, when you get the secret hotel rate, their idea of 4-5 stars is not what you might think. Another thing is that, be prepared to be discarded in value to the hotel booking desk, never helped via phone for issues with your room and the hotel, and be prepared to be given the crappiest hotel room possible if not the broom closet.
If you don't mind staying in the broken air conditioner room, have the hotel desk tell you "sorry, you booked with hotwire and you will need them to help you" or the room that is under construction, then go right ahead, you will save 25-50 dollars on average compared to other sites that offer a discount.
We learned our lesson many times and do not use them anymore because of how you are treated as a hotwire customer at a major hotel and the types of rooms they give you for saving 35.00

I created this account just to leave this review for Hotwire.

Several weeks before travel we reserved a car for a great price. We were getting the great price because it was a Hotwire opaque Hot Deal- where the exact rental company is not revealed until after the booking, but you are aware of the general location of potential companies. Immediately after booking, you are informed of the rental company, in our case it was Alamo. This is not a poor review against Alamo.
My husband made the reservation in his name and paid Hotwire in full immediately. When we arrived to Alamo to pick up our car we were informed there was an additional $90 charge because the reservation is in my husband's name and he is under 25 years old. We asked Alamo to just switch the reservation to my name (I am 25) and make me the only driver, so we could avoid the unexpected $90 fee. Alamo couldn't do that because the reservation was through Hotwire. We did not have time to call Hotwire immediately at that time.
We decided to just cancel our Hotwire reservation and create a new reservation in my name. The new rental through Alamo went fine. We did NOT pick up our Hotwire reserved car.

We called Hotwire, to cancel our reservation, who was unable to do ANYTHING for us. They refused to refund our rental costs, give us future travel credit, partial refund... NOTHING. Even though we did NOT ultimately rent a car through them. We are not talking about a lot of money, $50. But their lack of customer service and customer-centered business model has caused us to NEVER be customers again. I would rather pay twice as much to a decent company than use Hotwire again.

I'm in Canada, got a quote from Hotwire for car rental in Florida for $212 CDN. Rented car, was charged $212 in Florida but in US funds, made a difference of almost $90 with conversion. Neither the car rental nor Hotwire would refund me. Hotwire says their quotes even though guaranteed in just an estimate and can change. Car rental says they are US company and does charge CDN funds. I get that but then Hotwire should not be quoting me in CDN dollars for a US rental. Will never use Hotwire again.

They charged me more for car rental and were not able to provide the midsize car they agreed upon. I pacified myself that mistakes happen, and asked them to refund the money for the services they could not provide. They refused to refund the money as its their policy, and also refused to provide service. They don't have cars on the lot. And provided me only option of taking VAN. $#*! your policy if its only meant for customer. Policy also means holding your side of contract..

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE company! I booked an international trip with a great price, received a confirmation email, my credit card online showed a "pending" charge, called the airline the following day to confirm and was told all looks good and they were able to assign seats for us. A few days later I received an email confirming my cancellation as if I cancelled. I've been on the phone with them for hours, spoke with so many supervisors, and it seems like no one understands anything except for the script they have in front of them. Apparently the airline didn't honor that price and so they cancelled our flight! There is nothing they can do except constantly offer me to go ahead and book it again. If a company gives a quote, shouldn't they honor it? HORRIBLE HORRIBLE company! I never write really write bad reviews but I am beyond mad and frustrated at this right now.

I tried to book a hotel on Hotwire, filed my information with a valid credit card, and was told there was "an error" and I should try again. I repeated this with 2 credit cards and received the same information. I then tried to call their customer service, and the recorded voice said they were busy but would call me back "in 36 minutes." When the phone rang in 5 minutes, I thought it was a break. However, when I pressed "1" to speak with a representative as prompted, I was told it was an "invalid choice," and after 3 tries the recorded message indicated I had "reached the maximum" number of attempts and then it disconnected the call. So much for Hotwire.