Hotwire Issues: The Final Verdict
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In the wake of my first article on Hotwire , I began to suspect there may be a bigger issue beneath the surface. Sometimes complaining is just that complaining. Sometimes people put unfair expectations on companies. When the company does not live up to those expectations, then the customer is angry. Does that mean the company is doing something wrong? Maybe not. After having my own issues with Hotwire, I began to hear about other people's complaints. They weren't as rampant or close to home as Expedia's blunders, but it still caught my attention.
Like I said, Hotwire had been a great resource for me over the years. I did find great deals on flights and hotels, and I encouraged others to do so as well. I did begin to see a decline in deals on the site. However, I contributed that to the hotels getting more competitive on their own sites. I had not found the best deal on Hotwire in a while, but I was still using it as a travel tool. I guess it is another one of those things where as long as it all goes to plan, you are fine. If an issue arises, then there are problems. If there is an issue, well good luck to you.
In my first article I referenced the experience I had with a hotel reservation. I booked the reservation. I was charged for the reservation, but when I called the hotel weeks later, my reservation was nowhere to be found. I called Hotwire, and a quite rude rep played the blame game, but he did fix my problem. When I sent an e-mail asking what would have happened I was impressed with the speedy response of the customer service team in regards to e-mail. However, the e-mail I received never really answered my question on what would happen if I had never called. What would have happened if we arrived at a booked hotel and my reservation was never on file? Another e-mail was sent, no response ever came and over time I all but forgot about it. If figured I had a run in with the bad luck fairy, and left it at that. Then I started reading other complaints.
It made me wonder if maybe Hotwire was starting to downward spiral. With that in mind, I started taking a serious look at complaints made by Hotwire customers.
I read through pages and pages of complaints and rave reviews on sites like Epinions. I began to notice a trend. The reviews from 2004/2005 and earlier tended to be more positive. From that point to the present, things are not as nice. People have become unhappy with the way things are going with Hotwire. I was actually surprised to find that most of the claims seemed to be valid and consistent. The more serious complaints all seemed to center around three areas: Misleading Listings, Hotwire Policies, Customer Service.
Of course, there are the whiners. Yes, the people who say they were wronged, but have yet to do anything about it. Okay, I am all for what is the best interest of the traveler. I will be first to speak up on an injustice. However, if you feel slighted by a company, at least give said company the chance to make it right. Please do not just whine about it. People are human, mistakes are made, and let them try to make amends. If they fail to do so, then complain away.
The first major complaint was that the hotel descriptions given did not meet the quality if the actual hotel. The way Hotwire works is that you do not see the hotel name when you do a search. You see a price, a location and a start rating. When you click on the star rating, a basic overview of the hotel level is listed. The complaint is hotels listed as three star hotels are really more like a two star quality. I have never had this issue myself, but it seems to be a growing problem in the Hotwire world. The complaints usually go on to state that they called Hotwire to complain, but that the company stood by their ratings. A suggestion I read from another traveler urged customers to take pictures of the substandard amenities. Submit them to Hotwire as proof of the discrepancy. He claims that Hotwire will do right by you every time.
The next targets are Hotwire's policies. I did see a lot of customers who were scorned by the non transferable or refundable small print. Yes, this is a stated policy in the terms of agreement you should read at the time of purchase. Yes it is awful that you had to buy a new ticket because your plans changed, but based on the conditions you bought the ticket under, they are well with in their right to do so. The other issue (especially with flights) is to make sure that you realize that Hotwire actually states that there is a window of possible times for flights. If you ask for a flight on 9/12 with a return of 9/14 they can fly you out at 11:00 at night and you return flight could be at 6:00 am. If your flight is cancelled, Hotwire is under no obligation to help you find a new one. That is all in the hands of the airline. Yes, it isn't fair that the airline might treat you like a second class passenger since you did book through Hotwire. Yes I have been there. I have listened to the counter person be totally accommodating to everyone before me. Then I get to the counter and I'm told I will need to transfer three times and spend the night in the Detroit Airport. It happens, and it isn't Hotwire's problem. Are all of these fair? No, but unless legal action is taken, you have little recourse.
The Terms of Use are rather extensive. The list is accessible by a link on the Hotwire homepage. As extensive as it is, there are a few things that are not listed. I scoured the Hotwire site looking for a listing of their policies (outside of the Terms link) , but I found nothing. I was looking for their guarantee to the customer if Hotwire or the provider screwed up. Since I narrowly escaped that issue myself, I wanted to know what would have happened if I had not called to confirm my reservation. The policies were no where to be found. You would think a simple e-mail to Customer Service would be enough, but again I was wrong.
That leads me to the final portion: Customer Service. On the phone guess it is hit and miss. I have personally had run ins with rude reps. Others have had the same issue, and the overall opinion is that even if they are nice, the reps are rarely helpful. They do not know the answers, and it is probably safe to say they use scripts. E-mail wise, Hotwire is great about getting back to you well within the two hour window they promise. The e-mails are nice and polite, but they are often canned and rarely answer your question. It is the same issue the phone people have, but at least now you have a paper trail.
I contacted Customer Service to inquire about my issue with the hotel reservation. The rep sent me canned message, but did not answer my question. I replied again, this time I told the rep I needed to look at the said policy. She replied again and referred me to the press page. This is a little confusing since I have not told her I am writing an article. I go to the press page nothing is there, but there is an e-mail address for additional questions. I send of another e-mail the new address. This time I told them I was writing an article. By the end of the day, Channing Barringer, Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard International Communications (the company that does PR for Hotwire), had contacted me. He asked me for more information of the incident I was referring to, and by the end of the week I had this statement:
"Under circumstances similar to what you describe below, we advise customers to contact Hotwire customer service at 1-866-HOTWIRE (468-9473). Hotwire will review each matter on a case-by-case and try to help resolve the problem as expeditiously as possible so that our customer can get back to enjoying his or her trip. "
Great answer. My question is why did it take four days and multiple departments to get me this answer? You would think Customer Service could have just told me this from the beginning.
What is my final Verdict? I think that Hotwire has obviously lost some of the luster it once had. When you can find lower prices by going through the hotel, AND the reservation is refundable, why would you choose Hotwire? It is becoming harder and harder to find a deal using the site. That being said, I do not think it has deteriorated like it's sister company Expedia. Yes, both companies need an extensive overhaul of Customer Service reps. Reps need to be able to answer basic questions in a nice and courteous matter. Their policies need to be readily available to the potential customer. Unlike Expedia, I was able to get in touch with some one higher up via their page. Expedia doesn't allow that, so that is another plus. Maybe they need to read their reviews on their sister sites (Expedia and Trip Advisor) to get a more accurate view of the hotels they are booking. Trip Advisor would actually be great for that. Those reviews are not paid for. They are by people just like you and me. Hotwire isn't a lost cause, it just needs some work.
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Just booked a room that was suppose to be 3 star. We chose 3 star as DH is having surgery the next morning and needs a good night's sleep. Now we find out it is a Holiday Inn with attached water park. This means screaming kids, etc. All reviews I've read about this Holiday Inn are negative, not a 3 Star Hotel. No way!Feel I've been mislead, cheated, and lied to.
I asked for a hotel in American Canyon, CA. I was specifically even 'watching this trip' (this is a Hotwire feature) for over 3 weeks. I was getting consistent results of hotels in American Canyon. On the time of booking, the hotel I got was outside of American Canyon.
Hotwire claims the hotel is rated as 'Vallejo/American Canyon' which is not true. Their hotel is in Vallejo. Plus, the site claims it is 2 stars ... but when I checked with other sites, it is only 1.5 stars!
This is mirepresentation.
I will take my business to Expedia next time.
We recently had to leave our city in Louisiana because of a hurricane. We had seven of us in my family plus my sister and her terminally ill husbanc. We evacuated up to another city in Louisiana but then found out that the hurricane was supposed to cause a lot of bad weather and rain there so we decided to leave and drive on to somewhere else to a hotel. After hours of travel we decided the best place would be Dallas, Tx so we booked 4 rooms through hotwire for 2 nights. We found out the next morning that they had lifted the mandatory evacuation for our city and we could go back home. We talked to the hotel about cancelling our room for the second night and they said that we would have to do it through hotwire. My husband called them and told them the whole situation and they refused to refund us any of our money. It is very important after these hurricanes for us to return home as soon as possible to check on our homes and we have a business to get re-opened. My brother-in-law had just gotten out of the hospital two days before we left so we wanted to get him home as soon as possible as well. Can you believe that they would not refund us any money under these circumstances? Obviously they have never been through a hurricane or any situation like this or they would have some sympathy. It ended up costing us $700 for hotel rooms and we did not even stay the second night. It already costs so much for the gas to travel that far and we paid for all of it because our children cannot afford to. I will never do business with them again.
I have just returned from a business trip and I had a horrible experience both departing and arriving as a result of inaccurate information provided by Hotwire. I made reservations for a conference at which I was presenting and needed to be timely, etc. I printed my confirmation information and my paperwork clearly stated that I was to fly out of Phiadelphia Airport on United. However, I get to the airport stand in line for 45 minutes and find out that the information provided to me was incorrect and I was actually suposed to be at the Delta Airlines counter; the Delta which was 10 minutes away. My wife and I sprinted through the airport o try and check-in. Luckily, we were able to make it to the proper check-in counter 10 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave. On my return leaving from Miami back to Philadelphia my information stated that I was to leave via United. Again, after standing in line this time for almost an hour we were informed that the paperwork should actually read US Air. Again, we made it in time because they held the plane for us. Even the people at the airport check-in were perplexed with how this could happen and confirmed that the information we received was inaccurate. My wife and I travel frequently for business and pleasure and spend approximately $2,500-$3,500 per year in airfare. I have used Hotwire before and had a good experience. However, this time I am extremely disappointed and very angry with this most recent experience. Please advise
In reading some of the post on this and other sites I've come to realize just how devious Hotwire is. They make it as difficult as possible for you to reach any resolution that means refunding, crediting, or changing the reservation. They shield their vendors regardless of circumstances. Like others before me, I was provided with a different star rating for a hotel that actually had prostitution activities. (I was traveling with wife and child). When I contacted Hotwire to notify them, they gave every excuse possible to discredit me. They notified the hotel manager of my statements who later lied. When I disputed the charges with my credit card co. they send back a ten bullet misstating the reason for denial of refund. They are the most unscrupulous company out there. I will not do business with them again, and would discourage anyone regardless of whatever savings they promise. The one time that you will be disappointed will be more costly then any savings promised!!!
I just booked a rental car and needed it to be one way from the airport to another location to get home. The website did not make it clear that the rental car had to be picked up and returned to the same location until AFTER booking and taking my money. In speaking with Hotwire and the rental company, absolutely no refunds or cancelations. The car company won't cancel nor will Hotwire. I even asked if they could cancel and just rebook to make it right, and I offered to pay more money but to no avail. The bottom line...I asked the Hotwire supervisor "so you are just in the market to take peoples money and not ensure customer satisfaction?" He gave me several canned responses and then finally admitted YES we will just be keeping your money! so I have no reservation or way to get home and they have my money. What a ripoff and scam and I would caution everyone not to ever use Hotwire.
We booked a room with Hotwire on January 2009 in Las Vegas and we received a confirmation for Palaca Station Tower. When we arrived at the hotel, they wanted to give us a courtyard room wich is much more cheap. We refused and the manager at Palace Station said they don't have agreement with Hotwire for Tower Rooms and called Hotwire in front of us and then put me thru. Hotwire just told me that they don't guaranty the room they confirmes and refused to refund me. Finally, the desk's manager at Palace Station call back Hotwire to tell them that they won't charge the room and ask them to refund me. I received a refund for the room but not for the administration fees. Palace Station dind't offer any solution and just let us go. On a Friday night we had to find another place and of course pay much more to find another place. I send a complain to Hotwire two weeks ago and I am still waiting for some apologize, at least....
While booking my trips from Lafayette,La to Las Vegas, Hotwire rejected both my Visa and Master Card for failed verification but they did charge my Visa for the trip they rejected. I immediately rebooked with my old preferred company Orbitz with no problem just to find out that Hotwire system has charged my visa and booked me for the same flight. When asked to cancel the dobled flight, Hotwire agents refused to refund and argued I should have read my email first. I had to ask Orbitz who gracefully refunded my doubled tickets for four passengers within 24 hours. Their price were even cheaper. I do not think we will ever talk to Hotwire again. Beware before you type in you credit card number into their websites. They might reject your card and charge it later. Just wonder if this is legal?
I wish so much that I had read up on Hotwire before booking a "hotel" reservation thru them. I was mislead hook, line, and sinker. Of course, no refund-- I was not asking for one. I wanted to stay at a 4-star hotel they'd promised. They instead put me at a company lodge on a preserve--- who the heck wants to stay in the woods when traveling on vacation to CHICAGO?????
False promises. Misrepresentation. That's Hotwire.
I went online to book a room throught Hotine. I found a room and went to book it. Once I clicked the purchase buttion a moving bar appeared and it said "processing " or something to that effect. I waited and waited but nothing ever appeared to tell me that it had finished the process. I closed my laptop and when I opened it in the morning it was still processing. I figured there was a glitch and turned it off. The next day I scheduled a room throught a different company. Then I noticed on my bank statement two different charges for rooms. I called holine and they were "HOT" and rude and any other unpleasent adjective you can think. The Manager on the phone said it was not his problem as it had been confirmed and they had sent an email. Email I thought, sure enough, there was an email that had been sent while the computer was still processing. I had not checked it amongs 30 others i had received because I never received any confirmation at the end of the process. What a poor company Hotwire is. The people are not there to help at all just to tell you what you should have done. I hope that this company looses their license and the guy I talked to should be place in an empty room and talk to himslef for a few years then he might realize that he is full of hot air. I have not given up I am going to call his manager on Monday.
Upon checking into a London hotel, I was informed that Expedia's card "had been declined." Despite assurances that they had made good, a month later the hotel had billed my Amex as they were unable to collect from Hotwire. Customer service with these people is a disaster. One wonders if they're going bankrupt. . .
I recently booked a hotel on Hotwire which stated before booking that it had a suite. I was contacted a few weeks later by Hotwire saying the suite would no longer be available. I inquired to what room I would get instead and they told me to contact the hotel myself to find that out. Hotwire has terrible customer service so if you ever encounter a problem, watch out. They will not do anything for you. With several emails and pushing, Hotwire finally asked the hotel and they were giving us the most basic room. There was no effort to give us the next best room in the hotel or the suite which we were promised. We contacted the hotel personally to see if a suite was available for our dates and sure enough it was. It is hotwires duty to the customer to sort out the issue with the hotel, although Hotwire doesn't seem to think so. If Hotwire must incuur a cost to get me what they promised in the first place then so be it. We essentially had a contract and Hotwire breached it. That's the consequence of false advertising. The add was fraudulent and I don't recommend booking on hotwire. if you do be very wary. We are still dealing with the issue for our upcoming trip but so far they have not done anything to accommodate us what so ever.
I too have been screwed by Hotwire. 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 robot-like 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.
Brothers and Sisters my name is Iyke. I am an RN student in a college here in Connecticut. This is my case cum story with hotwire.com. The time now is 11.15pm, Friday August 2009. Unfortunately this day happened to be the worst day of my life. Thank you so much Hotwire.com for this day!
I have used hotwire on two different occasions to book for the following hotels, a night in Hotel Indigo Newton Riverside MA and two nights in Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel Canada. On these two occasions I used my debit card to make the booking and payment. I did appreciate the deal and my stays in these two hotels were great.
This August, I’m on vacation from my job, also my school had closed from the summer section hence this is an ideal time to travel. My sister lives in Germany and she invited me to come over. My wife (Victoria) did promise to pay for my trip but shortage of recourses hindered her good willing (she just bought a new car).She then asked her best friend (Maureen) for assistance. Due to the fact that Maureen was so busy with work, she gave my wife all her credit card information to go on and make the reservation. Hotwire called Maureen's house phone (which is the right thing to do) to confirm if she authorized her credit card. Maureen was not at home, she was at work. Hotwire agent talked to Maureen's mother who is about 75 years old and the poor woman answered that she did not give such order.
Hotwire stopped right there. Hotwire did not talk to Maureen. They cancelled my flight, called Maureen’s credit card company and her credit card got blocked. My wife and I did not know all this, Maureen had no idea about all these either. I only found out when I left my Connecticut home to JFK for departure to Germany, the airliner told me that my ticket was deactivated, this information was given to me just 1:30 mins before departure. I was stunned. I called Hotwire, they referred me to their fraud department number which I also called but it went to voicemail. I left a message. After 20 minutes a lady called me from hotwire telling me that my flight was cancelled because the “owner” of the credit card said it was stolen, that no permission was given to use the card. I was baffled, I replied how that can be true. Remember it is only some one who know you and trust you, can release credit card information to the third party. I called Maureen and she said nobody ever contacted her. She called home and the mother said yes that hotwire did call. At this point I was not mad at all with Hotwire because I felt they were doing their job. Unfortunately it was short lived, the problem began.
Maureen now official told her mom about the incident incase if they call again. I missed my flight for that day. Maureen told my wife to go on and make another booking. Now we checked for Friday, the 21st flight and found Airbelin.com which we booked only to find out that Maureen's credit account has been closed courtesy of Hotwire.
Maureen apologized to us and told us that she will resolve the situation as soon as she can. Time was ticking my vacation time going by too. My wife Victoria talked to her unofficial adopted mom (Barb) who we are living with to help us with the reservation. She accepted. She was also following the whole development. We went through hotwire again since the owner of the card is making the booking herself for me this time. The card did not go through, Hotwire probably have listed my name in high security alert. Few seconds later I got a call from hotwire and the Gentleman from hotwire threatened me that if I ever got to the airport that I will be arrested and he hung up. Minutes later Hotwire called Barb on the house phone and asked her if she made a booking with my name and she said yes. then they told her if she knew that the person she was making booking for, just stole someone’s credit card two days back, Barb said NO that was not true, I stole no credit card and she tried to explain to hotwire agent, but he was so abusive and yelling which he has no right considering he has no credible evidence to support his notion but he was yelling saying that Barb is an accomplice to the fraud and she will be arrested with me. Well, Barb will be contacting her lawyer tomorrow.
Brothers and sisters, Have you ever been accused wrongly? Have you ever been called a criminal when you are innocent? If you have not been in this circumstance then you probably have no idea what it feels like. I have never had any crash with the law, never ever! Please judge this scenario and tell me what illegal thing I have done. Where did I go wrong? Because of hotwire ill and handicapped investigation, people I love are been harassed and accused unjustly. I was wrongly accused. No proper investigation was done and now they are saying I will be arrested if ever I book another airline and go to the airport. Meaning by the time this is resolved my vacation time is over, my vacation time which did not come easy. They verbally abused both I and Barb. They falsely accused me and Barb. This is painful. This isn't right. Where is Justice because I will definitely get to the root. Sure I can forfeit my vacation but I can not give up my right and Justice. I will be back later to let you all know how it ended
This is the email about my eUp until this evening, I have had no complaints about Hotwire. I have been happy with the services that I have paid for through Hotwire and have received what I have requested and paid for until today. After making a hotel reservation for near the Detroit Airport by selecting DTW, but being placed in downtown Detroit, I called customer service, not to receive a refund, but to be relocated to a hotel near the airport as I had selected because I do not have the transportation to get downtown. I had 2 customer service reps suggest that I take a taxi. When I told them that not only was the issue one of transportation to the downtown hotel, but also financially I could not afford to pay a cab to the hotel 18 miles from the airport which is why I selected DTW, their response was that my circumstances did not merit your company to honor my request for a change in hotel. I believe that not honoring what I requested is having no merit. I again was not asking for a refund, but to simply honor what I had requested. I know you have rules, regulations, and policies to abide by and I respect that, but I also know that sometimes there can be extenuating circumstances that allows for those policies to be over ruled as in with most businesses. This was a situation that your management could have made a judgment call that allowed a family impacted by the economy an opportunity to have one less stressor, not by refunding any money, but by simply providing what I paid for which is a hotel closer to the Detroit Airport so that I would not have to spend extra money taking a taxi 18 miles further which will cost me about what I will pay for the hotel you routed me. Thank you for the forum to voice my comments not that I am looking for anything to come of it, but that when your representatives and management speak of merit, they should talk from a place from which they show it. I will post this comment on every website that I found that has launched other complaints about your service and email, face book, and twitter everyone I know and ask them to pass along my story. I hate that I had this experience, but I will not make the mistake of using your services again.xperience with Hotwire:
I paid for a three star hotel and got a two star room at a La Quinta (most travel sites I have since gone to gave it 2 stars, priceline even gave it 1 star). Some travel reviews complained that the hotel felt unsafe. I called and complained to two different customer service agents and was given the canned response that there was absolutely no way they could change my hotel. They rudely told me that star ratings are based on personal opinions. Then why have them? I stayed at the 'hotel' anyway. It was definitely not 3 stars. Stains on the floors...musty smell...bare minimum breakfast options. I will never, EVER use hotwire again.
James says:
2 years ago
Hotwire definitely has slipped dramatically in customer service. I recently purchased a weekend car rental from them. Due to a medical emergency I had, I had to cancel the trip. They told me over the phone that in cases of a medical emergency they would refund everything but a $25 fee. I provided them with a doctors note along with blue cross reimbursements to my doctor with services rendered on that specific date. They continue to want another note specifying that my doctor said I couldnt travel on that specific date, despite his note saying I had had the medical emergency and they can see the bills paying him for services rendered on that specific travel day. Will never use Hotwire again just because i am sick of their runaround when trying to get them to honor their own policy.