Hotwire Consumer Reviews - Page 2

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA -- I have never in my life been treated so badly. The gentlemen, and I use that term very loosely, at the front desk are truly rude. Tonight, my family traveled from Fayetteville, NC for 3 1/2 hours to spend Thanksgiving with our loved ones, only to have our trip ruined. I booked through Hotwire as we normally do. Maybe this is what makes Jameson Suites feel that we can be treated as second-rate citizens, but as an active military family, we utilize the site to accommodate our budget.

Online, I booked a reservation for 2 adults and 1 child as I normally do, as I was instructed to do to ensure double beds. I checked in and was given the hardest time about the booking last name being different from my military ID, but DID match the billing name on the reservation. I was finally able to check in by showing my child's insurance card. Make sense?? It didn't to me either. I was given a king-size with a pull out. A pull out that when unfolded, popped out a dirty Q-tip and a flimsy mattress - something that my child does not even sleep on at home.

When I called the front desk, the FIRST thing I was told was HOTWIRE, HOTWIRE, HOTWIRE!!! "We have no control over what Hotwire does and we have nothing that we can offer to accommodate you." I proceeded to explain that in this room, once you pull out the "bed", move the end chair to the sofa, and the table, there is zero room to move about freely in the room. Again, I was given HOTWIRE, HOTWIRE, HOTWIRE!!

I hung up the phone after being yelled at to the tune of "MA'AM!!!", not Mrs. **, at least four times. My husband went downstairs to try to address the situation and come to a resolution, and again was treated as scum because we booked via Hotwire. When he mentioned not being able to maneuver freely throughout the room, he was offered to option of having someone come to move the table and extra things out of the room. Make sense??? It didn't to us either!!

I can't begin to explain how frustrated we are. We had a similar situation previously this past summer at the Jameson Inn on Park W Dr. in Grovetown, GA and was advised that we should book with the Claussen Rd location as the other is independently owned and we would be treated much better. I beg to differ. It appears that all of the customer service "professionals" skipped the customer service part of training.

I've never felt such blatant discrimination and treated in a "you get what you pay for" manner in my entire life and will ensure that this is known throughout my hometown of Augusta, GA as well as via reviews on the site. I called Hotwire and of course they were NO help. The representative barely spoke English. Thanksgiving ruined!!

I booked a car rental through Hotwire.com that cost $307.20. My wife called me 2 days later and states that we were charged twice, once on February 27th and again on March 2nd of 2015. I call Hotwire, someone from the Philippines answers and tells me that "I'm one of those customers whose been charged twice" and that'll I'll be refunded within 24 hours. As of writing this review still no refund of my money.

A few minutes later I email Hotwire and tell them I want some form of compensation since I paid for this reservation with a debit card aka cash from my bank and not a credit card. (Unlike other vacation booking sites Hotwire ALWAYS requires immediate payment with no cancellation whatsoever with no option of cancellation which is shady) So that's an additional $307 that could be in my account but isn't available to me.

They email me back assuring me my account wasn't debited twice, while I'm literally looking at my bank of America account seeing it was, without any mention of compensating me for the inconvenience. They told me this is how they authorize a credit card charge. So basically if I'd of booked a $3000 trip, I'd have been charged $6000 to authorized. I emailed them that info that I clearly see it was and I was never email back. The Chicago Sun-Times back in 2008 wrote that this is something Hotwire does, Google Hotwire charges twice to read article, and obviously they still up to it. SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM. (transcript below)

"Thank you for contacting Hotwire Customer Care regarding your reservation with Hertz at the Austin–Bergstrom International Airport, scheduled for pick up on itinerary ********98. I understand you were charged twice on your reservation. I would be willing to check and provide details regarding this matter.

I can assure you that you were only charged once for this reservation. What you are seeing is an authorization on the card or account. These authorizations occur when we validate your card at the time of booking. Most financial institutions remove authorizations routinely within a few days. For more information about your specific financial institution's policies and your credit card or account, please contact your bank or credit card company. If you have any questions, please reply to this message or call Customer Care at 1-866-HOTWIRE (468-9473). Thank you for choosing Hotwire."

I used to have good deals with Hotwire. Reserved more than 30 times with them over the years and was generally satisfied. I have now changed my opinion as this seems to be a different company. In my last 5-6 bookings with Hotwire, I find that the amount you pay is very close to what you would have paid with another site or directly from the hotel. You even sometimes pay more as they will remove breakfast and charge you a little more than you would have paid with breakfast with a regular site.

You get screwed twice: pay more and do not know where you are going before you commit. You systematically get the worst room in the hotel (e.g. basement room with mold in a 4.5 star hotel, B&B in a pub when you booked a 4.5 star hotel) even if you pay more than $300 a night. If you want to complain for a specific issue, they will let you wait for very long so you are better off to forget about it. In my case, I finally found the magic (and easy) solution to these problems -- just bring your business elsewhere.

MR., FLORIDA -- I live in Florida, and make a yearly April trip back to Ohio, to go over things with my accountant, and to file my income taxes. I always book my travel arrangements through Hotwire. I have been doing this for the past 10 years. I booked a 7 day car rental through Hotwire for my planned travel starting on April 7th, 2020. I was contacted by my accountant, and told that their office was closed due to the Corona Virus, and that I should plan on rescheduling my appointment, and trip for sometime in May? The Governor of Ohio, has issued a stay at home order because of the virus, and everything is pretty much locked down. I contacted Hotwire hoping to get a refund on the $231.00 I paid in advance for my car rental, as I had to cancel this planned trip to Ohio.

I was told due to the terms of my rental contract, no refunds would be given, and no credits would be issued for my future car rental this May! Under normal circumstances, I understand Hotwire's policy when it comes to car rentals. These are not normal times these days, when dealing with a national pandemic. One would think that Hot wire would flex their policies, and want to work with their loyal customers during these trying times! I guess their corporate greed is more important than keeping their customer base? I will be booking my travel, hopefully for this May, when we get past this. I will never book anything through Hotwire again! Warning do not book anything through Hotwire!

MINNETONKA, MINNESOTA -- I rented car with Hot Wire. It was little cheaper compare to other rental service. I was very happy while getting good price deal. Issue started while landing at airport. No idea how to reach rental car company. I called customer service lots of time but no one was replying. I booked Uber and reached there. They said they would give SUV car but got compact car. After returning car, I need to reimburse car expenses to my employer. So I called 10-20 times no reply. Emailed 10 times but keep on saying they will email soon. Almost week passed. No reply, so I strongly suggest not to use this service. Finally, I paid almost 1.5 times greater than other standard rental service car. Really disappointing and frustrating situations, very poor customer service.

I booked through Hotwire the other day not really caring where I stayed but simply because it would save me some money. While some of the "Hot Deals" warned of extra charges with regards to Resort Fees, there was no warning at all that the hotel I was assigned was a Valet Parking only hotel and that I would have to pay an additional $33 to park Valet, not to mention the tip for the valet guys. When I called Hotwire they said it was my fault because I didn't select "Free Parking". I told them that I didn't want to limit my selection in a city where there are a lot of hotels that charge for parking. My argument was that when the hotel is "Valet ONLY", that should be disclosed just like they disclose resort fees. Now, I am paying more to stay at this hotel than if I had just booked the one right next door that does have free parking and is just as nice.

POOR CUSTOMER Service!!!!! POOR Policies!!!!! POOR admitting when you are wrong!!!! PLEASE!!!!!JUST PAY THE EXTRA $ AND USE SOMEONE ELSE....

NOT EXPEDIA or HOTELS.com as they are all affiliated with each other.

I WILL NEVER GO BACK!!!!

Andy
Las Vegas

SHERMAN OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- I have been a loyal customer of Hotwire…
I have been a loyal customer of Hotwire for at least 10 years. They have always had the best rates. That has changed. I booked a hotel stay this evening and was not familiar with the hotel, so I went to the hotel web site. I found that I could have booked the same room for $25.29 less for a two day stay by booking direct. Hotwire would not honor their low price guarantee even though I sent them a screen shot of the checkout page on the hotel site. Close to 40 minutes without a resolution. Not worth the trouble fighting with them anymore. I will just take my business and loyal recommendations of HotWire elsewhere. One other thing by booking direct with the hotel, I could cancel the reservation within 7 days of my stay. Not sure why I would ever use Hotwire again

OREGON -- NEVER EVER EVER IN YOUR LIFE USE HOTWIRE AGAIN. They dupe you of so much money. Their filters are inaccurate. DOnt mean anything. I selected only 1 filter - Free parking. it showed me only 10 hotels that have free parking. I booked and when I reached hotel they said we don't care about Hotwire. I had to pay extra $100 for parking. And the customer service was horrible. They said we don't care you didn't pay us you paid them so we can't do anything. Our website cares about location not filters. Such cheaters Hotwire is!. Never use it again

CALIFORNIA -- I investigated and booked a car reservation last night on Hotwire.com. The reservation was for a pickup of a car at Buffalo Airport, and a drop off at Albany Airport a week later. I entered all the information, dates and times. Entered the credit card information. When the reservation confirmed, it was to return the car to the same location! Not what I booked!

I called "customer service", in India, which was no help at all. I talked to a "supervisor" who was also no help at all. The best they could do was to rebook a new reservation, at $200 more, then I am supposed to wait for a refund on the first reservation, which they changed. VERY bad business practice! Now I will have to contact my credit card company to dispute and cancel the charge, and post negative reviews on multiple website review companies like Google, Yelp, Hotwire site, JD Powers, and social media. Rip Off!

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- Terrible Customer Service. I was on hold for 4 hours one day. Had to call back the next day to try again. I booked a car for Friday-Sunday. My plans changed and I had to be there Thursday so I need to add a day... More money for Hotwire you would think. They tell me there is nothing they can do. I can make a separate reservation for Thursday. But, if I do this, I will pick a car up Thursday, drive 100 miles to where I'm going to stay, have to drive back to the rental car company the next day, sign papers and get an identical car, then drive back to where I'm staying. They are absolutely terrible. I will never use them again!!!