HotwireReviews 770

On January 28, I had booked my special birthday vacation to go to Las Vegas from April 1 to April 8. I had booked it through Expedia.com. It included my airfare and hotel to fly with Frontier Airline and stay at the Circus Circus Hotel on the strip. Also, I booked a car rental through Hotwire.com. As you can deduce, my airfare and hotel would be automatically canceled due to what's happening in Nevada and around the world. Expedia.com and Frontier Airline did the right thing by issuing me a 100% refund. Conversely, Hotwire.com (car rental) stated two weeks ago that "they would give me a 100% refund." They even gave me a case# to support that. However, they failed to send me an email confirmation. Therefore, I called hotwire.com last night. Now, they said they cannot refund me. I called and gave my credit card company a heads up on all of the nonsense, and they said "don't worry. We will fight for you, because it's the right thing to do under circumstances like this."

On hold for over two hours, probably would have been 2 days if I had the time.
I was recently in the middle of a stay in Laughlin when the hotel shut down and left me stranded. I scurried to get a room about 45 minutes away. The hotel promptly refunded my deposits, but nothing from Hotwire. I would assume this to be automatic, but after 10 days, I decided to call customer service to get a refund. After a 2 hour hold, I gave up. I book rooms usually on a weekly basis, but thats the last time I'll be using them.

For days their phones were down. I tried to call them to reschedule or cancel my reservations. I knew I had a non-refundable reservation, but everything went wrong with this virus. Other companies were staying on top of this but not Hotwire. Their phone lines were down for 3 days then the guy on the phone says he can't help me. I told him he could because Hertz car rental said they would if I got Hotwire on the 3 way line. This Hotwire guy was telling me I was wrong. I was not! Hertz honored my request but HOTWIRE refused to help me with the hotel and said I had to call a different phone number and after an hour and half waiting I had to go. It never happened. No matter what the discounted price is from now on, Stay away from HOTWIRE. Their customer welfare and concerns don't matter. It's the bottom line $$ for them. In the crisis of the US, they did not stand up for it's customers. No way to address this issue on their web site. I have used them often in the past but this time, it was a disaster.

Published review 3/16/20
I been on hold for 4 days and hanged up on 100 times and still was unable to speak to a person never the less resolve the situation of my trip cancelation or refund due to valid medical conditions, they lied saying in emails and site that they are refunding due to covid19 pandemic world crisis but yet they are unable to even pick up a phone call in 3 days or send a email in 5 days, when I did get a hold of someone after all this time he said he will talk to Air Canada and put me on hold but instead he hung up and never called me back, I'm going to call consumer of Ontario and let them know how they deal with you after they get your money, they are their and lairs. World is having a crisis and they are using it an excuse to ignore you so they don't have to give you back the money. Even air Canada's website said they are refunding clients yet both of this company Hotwire and air Canada can't seem to get their $#*! together to get me my refund or even pick up my call to hear me out

Hotwire.com,
You should be ashame of yourself for not cancelling flights and refunding people's money or at least let the person book later. I booked with you for a flight and it was a basic economy ticket. Yes, I know the rules of that kind of ticket, but during a time like this, you would think you would assist and be more heartful and accommodate. Instead when a person calls you have a message stating you are having technical problems at this time. You are a terrible company, rude and gutless. I will never, ever book with YOU again. I will definitely spread these words to other people! Thank goodness for Delta Airlines. They are classy, not like you!
Hotwire I hope you can sleep at night!

I have been trying to call to cancel my reservation because of National emergency in the Country concerning coronavirus. Hotwire cowardly TURNS OFF THEIR PHONE SERVICE. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You are BULLYING the country and taking advantage of a crisis. YOU NEED TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND REFUND. It's about having PRINCIPLES and it is now evident that you do not care about the customer just their money. HOT WIRE IS STEALING $477.00 FROM ME AND MY FAMILY! My itinerary # is *******110.

If you read a majority of the complaints filed with the bbb, most of them are about the "Hot Rate" deals... A majority of people complain of being misled, and when asking for help or guidance, are told "Our Hot Rate rentals are deeply discounted, and as such, are booked as final and non-refundable... We obtain deeply discounted rates in exchange for guaranteed reservations. If our partners can be absolutely confident reservations will be used as sold, they are willing to offer reduced rates." - this is a direct quote from a complaint written 2/14/20. The reply was written 2/24/20 by Bianca V. Customer Care Relations, Hotwire Corporate Office

Now I will explain how they are misleading guests and hiding behind that fact that we as consumers are so excited for a deal, and that we are naive in trusting a "reputable" company...
I travel often and usually use other sites to book. In fact, I had already booked a car rental on another site for $29/day. I am renting for a week and their price was $231.60 + tax of $65.66 for a total of $297.26.

Upon finishing this booking, a pop-up from hotwire.com shows up claiming that they could rent me the same car at $19/day... WOW, I thought! This is amazing... given that the taxes I paid already were 28.35%, this should have put the car rental at roughly $196...
Honestly, I was so excited, I didn't even look at the final price or read the terms and conditions... which I am sure they bank on...

I clicked through everything, and paid for my reservation... final cost...$277.55($149.10 as base rate + $128.45 tax). $20 cheaper than my initial reservation through company B... Then I went to sleep and thought about this... How did my tax rate become 86.15%? If hotwire.com is getting these rates from the rental companies "in exchange for guaranteed reservations," shouldn't the paying customer benefit from the "rates?"

Answer is. We as paying customers do not... hotwire.com keeps it! THERE IS NO BENEFIT FOR THE PAYING CUSTOMER... BEWARE!

I tried to call and ask why I was paying more in taxes... the answer I got was that there different regulations... blah blah blah,... taxes are GOVERNED by the GOVERNMENT. They do not change by almost 60%. The service agent on the phone said there was nothing that can be done because sales are final... I wanted an answer, so I asked to speak to her supervisor... who also told me that there was nothing that can be done. I am in the business of customer service... there is always something that can be done to make your PAYING CUSTOMERS happy and want to return and do more business.

Further... to prove this again... I looked up the same car, from the same rental agency for the same dates on their retail version... ready for this...
Car = $234.88 Tax = $66.22 for a total of $301.10... again the tax is 28%

You have to book the hotel before they even tell you where you're staying. They will put customers of their site in hotels even after they've received numerous unsanitary conditions and bad reviews for the hotel. Huge red flag when the website can't even tell you where you're staying until you pay. After we saw our room, I saw on the site that over 30 customers had reviewed this hotel negatively for its unsanitary conditions... our room actually had feces on the bathroom door handle, and blood splattered on the wall. Totally disgusting and unacceptable. Stay away from using this website, and go to a credible one.

I traveled from Iowa to Cincinnati Ohio on Dec 26th 2019 I used Hotwire service to purchase a hotel and when I arrived at the hotel there were 2 guys fighting I immediately got back into my SUV and called the Hotel no answer I called Hotwire and advised the situation and Hotwire called the Hotel and they answered and advised they aren't responsible for the people outside the hotel and their actions I advised Hotwire that due too me and my family safety I won't be checking into the hotel. Hotwire refused to give my money back. I never complained about a company because I don't believe in hurting a company business but Hotwire will Rob you knowing that they won't give you your money back knowing that safety isn't a their concern. I lossed $86.37