HotwireReviews 770

I will never use Hotwire again. They state that the hotel is a certain rating. I went with the rating they provided (4 star) and after paying, the hotel that I got was subpar. Not a 4 star hotel at all. Old, dingy, cracks in ceiling, dirty, floors peeling, and cockroaches (and who knows what else). I tried to receive a partial refund or at least credit and was denied because it was a hot rate. It was not even that cheap! Over $200 for a couple of nights. In addition, the price posted is not inclusive of Hotwire's recovery fees. Buyer Beware.

We booked a car rental through Hotwire using KAYAK. We got an email confirmation. They charged our card. When we arrived at Hertz to pick the car up, they said it was canceled and told us to call Hotwire because it's a third party issue. We called Hotwire, spent 45 min, and all they could say was that our rental was canceled and gave us a fake number to call to get the reason for why it got canceled. Then they added that our card will be refunded and if we want to rent a car, we would have to go online to book again! We looked and the price we got was for an additional $10 /day. We need it for 10 days so they scammed us into paying $100 more!

I decided to try for a hot deal with Hotwire for a stay in NYC for 4 ppl. Thought I was told by Hotwire that I was confirmed. I spent many more hours of my life than I wanted to going back and forth between the hotel and hotwire in actually confirming my stay and though the dates have passed, I'm still not sure if I had a confirmed room. The worst part is other friends of mine were relying on me for this booking and coming from out of town and I couldn't get a confirmation. Actually, scratch that, worse yet is that Hotwire will not give me a refund. I wonder if the strategy here (since Expedia owns them) is to just help tank Hotwire so that Expedia as a brand can come out shining and take on those unique services hotwire provided. Not a bad one but too bad its transparent that Expedia owns this company so I'll probably avoid them too.

I used to love hotwire. I have done business with them for years and have only had one bad experience. Most of the time, the hotels were great deals for the price.

But this week I went to book a hotel for Miami, FL. The hotels there are very expensive, so I decided to go for a 2-star. Per their site, 2-star hotels include: Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Ramada, Comfort Inn, Candlewood, Baymont, Best Western, Quality, Econolodge, Microtel, La Quinta, Rodeway Inn, Red Roof Inn. OK - basic, generally decent lodging. What I got? Wishes Motel. A motel where literally 73% reviews on Trip Advisor are 1-star (aka TERRIBLE). Also where the review comments contain such glowing descriptions as: "sheets were dirty and had cigarette burns", "everything was broken", "we would not use the shower", and (most importantly), "cracked door frame moulding so could see right through to room" and "plug outlet with exposed wires".

A room in this condition is no value at any price. Shame on you hotwire for even including this property. And much worse for rating it any more than 1-star. Sorry, but that's fraud.

I've given hotwire a lot of money over the years. I won't be using it any more. You shouldn't either.

My experience with this was very bad as they i rented a car on 22 of dec till 2 of jan then i had a problems that i cant pick my car on time so i called the car rental company which i directed to and said that no problem they will held my car for 24h and that they will refund back this delayed day but hotwire disagree and said that its non-refundable and they will not refund it back even that the rented company will not charge them, so am not advising any one to use this very bad website even i cant took a bill from the company i used in canada because they didnt allow me, please dont think to use it there are hundered of website which were more respectable for there customers, i try expedia which was the best in all service which i used

Be careful using Hotwire, if your plans change they are unwilling to assist you in any way, shape or form. All they want is your money, if your plans change, that's just too bad.

All the reviews that say the customer service is horrible are right along with my experiences. I never got them to answer the phone once- ever. One thing I found using them with the secret rates hotels each and every time (unless you just hit a jackpot) is that you will be placed in the poorest rooms the hotel has to offer. I don't mind getting the lower rate rooms but some of the rooms we were given needed to be out of service. I felt as if we were a nuisance to the hotel or second class citizens checking in and given the cold shoulder compared to other guests, I guess because they paid the regular rate? Anyhow, we stopped using the secret hotel deal after being placed in a room we rented that had blood all over a couch and a bathroom that flooded all the way out to the bed almost and the hotel did not move us citing that there were no more rooms left with our special rate even though the hotel was half empty and did not refund. They also told us that customer service was through hotwire and to take it up with them? Learned the hard way these years that grandpa was right when he said you get what you pay for.

In general, Hotwire provides a good service. I've used Hotwire probably 12 times.
BUT on 2 different occasions, I have tried to place an order and I've gotten an error message saying the hotel room was not available, and that my account has not been charged.
In reality, the money is taken out of your account and held for days. I don't know if the money is held by Hotwire, or by the card company or by whom, but if the transaction failure happens on a Friday evening, it will be Tues or Wed before the money goes back into your account.
It can be a real pain when you try to book a room, the transaction is bungled by the system, then you try again, and its bungled again, and you get charged TWICE for a nice hotel room...
I'm really frustrated by this. Hotwire's approach to it to say unequivocally, "It's not our fault."
Maybe it's not. But it definitely makes me afraid to use their service because if the transaction is bungled, I know I'll be out my cash for days and days...