Meng Y.

I finally resolved a rental car issue with Hotwire today and wanted to give a review so potential customers know what to expect. I've used Hotwire several times before. One thing I noticed is that the deals are not nearly as good as advertised (you'll see more at the end of the review). On some previous bookings, after I booked on Hotwire and learned about the name of the hotel, I went to the hotel's website and looked up the rates, and they were actually cheaper than Hotwire after taking the Hotwire fees into account. What prompted me to write this review is not the questionable deals, it's the customer service when something goes wrong. I booked a rental car for 2 days through Hotwire, and the rental car company said they were paid for only one day by Hotwire, so the rental car company made me pay for the second day of the rental. I contacted Hotwire by phone, by email many times, and even though Hotwire says the response time is 5 business days, I usually got no response after 5 business days and had to call them, and then they would tell me to wait for another 5 business days. Then at some point they told me to contact the rental car company directly, and when I called the rental car company, they said it had to go through Hotwire because I booked through them. After numerous emails and calls, I finally got a three-way call with Hotwire and the rental car company, and Hotwire agreed to refund me for the one day the rental company charged me for. Guess what, the rate the rental company charged me is $20 cheaper than Hotwire's rate. With such horrible service and bad deals, I would never use Hotwire again.