Hotwire

After 4 hours chatting, because no one would answer the phone, I finally was promised a refund. I was passed from representative to representative, having to re-explain my situation each time. Even after speaking Tina manager, I still could not get resolution. Hotwire is worse than a medical insurance company. They say they will work with flight cancellations, but do not trust them. I will never use them again. Not worth the discount.

Every time I contacted customer service after my nightmare of a stay, that cost me so much money after missing a crucial meeting, I was met with not only indifference but only what I can describe as mentally disabled customer service workers. I sent 9 e-mails and made 2 phone calls. At no point could anyone even understand what the problem was nor were they willing to do a thing about it. The hotel rooms were disgusting. I wanted 2.5 stars rooms and they were less than 1 star if that. I've stayed in shady prostitute ridden motels that were cleaner. I was looking for a place in Culver City and they put me in Burbank. It took me 3 hours to get to Culver City in LA traffic. I trusted Hotwire to put me at least within an hour of Culver City. They are the absolute worst travel company to deal with. Run. Run away as fast as you can. Get a lawyer, quickly, if you use them. They are slippery and full of themselves. They completely believe they are above the law and consumer affairs.

I have been booking on hotwire since they started and I loved the deals I used to get but those days are long gone. I just booked my last room on Hotwire. It is such a disappointment and I actually think I over paid for this dump rather than get a deal. Since Expedia acquired them they ruined this site. Now you can book directly with the hotel and get within a couple of bucks of the rate hotwire is offering. They may save you $5-10 off the hotel rate but once you add in their fees then you are back at the hotels retail price. Disappointing for sure. Not using them anymore. It's the end of an era for travelers.

Terrible service! As a third-party provider, you should have some control or how many customers you sent to a particular car rental agency I've been standing in line I wanna say for now about 20 minutes I talk to the person at the front of the line they said they've been waiting an hour and instead of hot wire, you're trying to take a deeper dive and find out from the writer how long this was going to be they wanted me to do their work for them I am pissed off because I have very little time and I don't have time to stand in line for hour hour and a half when I have other things to do. I asked them to switch me to a separate provider. I didn't even want to refund but choose another provider that you're working with to accommodate me as a customer so I don't stand in this line. I've been a hotwire customer for I don't know almost 20 years and I don't appreciate being treated this way and so as of today this would be my last and final booking with them ever.

I booked a Hot Rate hotel through the website. I understand you take your chances when booking these rates. But the site said "You're guaranteed to stay at one of these regional or national chains:" and showed Sheraton, Radisson, Holiday Inn, and Wingate. It further offered a photo from the hotel I was booking. I was booked into the Sonesta Select.
I have talked to multiple people, all of whom continued the lie. How can they legally use the term "guarantee" and then not follow through?

Total fraud! Customer service is a farce. Hotwire booked two rental cars and I had no clue what rental was supposed to be the correct one. Customer service agents cannot help you resolve anything... 3 hours on hold, 3 transfers and not one could tell me what was the correct rental car. Making matters worse after making a formal complaint I received message after message on my work phone where they leave an inoperative toll free number telling me to call them back. The number they call from is for outgoing calls only. The number they leave... inoperative. Nothing but condescension from the two people leaving messages... they repeat the behavior when called out on twitter.

This was a great company about 3 years ago. Now you get routed to an overseas customer support center that cannot help you at all. They will not refund any money at any time for any reason. This is now a bottom feeder company.

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.

Be Aware of the following fraud perpetrated by Hotwire:
I purchased a hotel stay with hotwire based upon the hotel's location as promised by Hotwire's map. After I committed to their promise, they sold me a hotel outside of their mapped region.
Then, I was told absolutely no refunds.

I initially had some great experiences with nice hotels at great prices, and cheap rental cars. However, I have recently had several negative experiences which have made me decide to avoid using this site ever again:
-cancelled flight - was unable to change my car reservation
-booked a rental car only to discover that I could have gotten a much better price on several other sites
-booked a room when stranded at the airport, only to find out that it was a smoking room; because it did not say 'non-smoking' in the description! I could have booked at a similar price at booking.com (which I subsequently did) with total flexibility and ability to cancel. As it was, Hotwire got my $100 and I had to find another room for myself

In summary: there are cheaper, better, more flexible options than Hotwire. I will no longer use this site.

Beware: Agents will mislead you on location of hotel. Specifically asked via a chat session if the "secret" hotel was less than a mile from the Smithsonian museum area in Washington DC. The target area is so large the hotel could be any where including on the very edge of the area, thus making the hotel a mile or more from the museum area. Assured me that it was 0. 51. 7 miles straight line. The hotel is actually 1.3 miles a way; a healthy walking distance. Agent was misleading and unethical. I was specific in my request for information and the agent should have said that she did not know. Instead she purposely mislead me. When I tried to fix the problem after I became aware of the situation, the various people I spoke with refused a refund or to find a solution. Be very careful dealing with this company. You would do better booking the hotel on your own.

First time I've used Hotwire. I've used Expedia, Trip Adviser and other sites with reasonable results. NOT Hotwire! I clicked on the 50% off button (sales speak was that big hotels didn't want people to know they rented so cheap) I selected the deal when it said the reviews were 4.5 approval from customers. Then they give you your hotel's name once you pay. Not only did I not save 50% - it cost me more to go through Hotwire than to go through the hotel's website. AND only a 3.5 approval rating from customers. SO BAD! Save yourself the frustration and run, don't walk away from Hotwire.