The room I booked hadn't been reserved by Hotwire

Complaint

Review by lauragsmith on 2013-03-02

Rating:

ONLINE, NEW YORK -- I booked a 2-night stay in a small town in southern Chile through Hotwire, during their peak summer travel season. When my boyfriend and I arrived to the hotel at night after a 12 hour bus ride, we were told they had never received anything from Hotwire, and there were no rooms available for me. We were stuck in a foreign country, barely speaking the language, and with no place to stay. We had to work with the hotel (with no rooms) to find somewhere else in town to stay since Hotwire was only able to find a room for us over an hour away (by now it was 10pm, and we had no car). We were able to find another place to stay in town, no thanks to Hotwire, and all Hotwire was able to do was refund the reservation for which there was no room, and pay the difference. At least they did that. But I would expect a company that depends on incredible trust from its customers to be willing to comp us at least a night in the new hotel, given the intense stress and aggravation.

My calls with customer service were classic "we're sorry for the inconvenience" but there was never any real acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation we were put in, nor the stress they caused us. I don't trust them, and will never use them again.