Hotwire

Hotwire is not trustworthy.

According to their website, Holiday Inn hotels fall into the 3 starts category. However, they rate some Holiday Inn as 5 stars hotel!!!! The rating they use is their OWN rating.

Once a reservation is made, it is not cancellable. I've spent hours calling, waiting, aking for a supervisor... no way to get anything: "This is a final reservation".

In short, buying on Hotwire is like going to a blind date. Their rating system is a joke.

That's unfortunately something I've learned after being fooled by Hotwire. I hope this review will help others avoid this trap.

The worst system I've ever used. I will make sure I report this to every travel website I use. I found a car two classes better and 25% lower after I booked with Hotwire. Horrible set up that you can't back out or renegotiate your price after booking 3 months in advance thinking you're getting a good deal. NEVER USE HOTWIRE AGAIN and I'll be sure to let EVERYONE know what a rip off it can be. I will copy this note and post it anywhere I can.

Used hotwire to book hotel and car rental and saved substantial money. Cross-checked prices on biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com. Some of the hotel reviews can be found on tripvisor.com. It did take a bit of homework to determine if I was getting a good deal but was worth it. Will use hotwire again.

I booked a 3 star hotel in Houston, TX that was comparable to a Holiday Inn express. I figured, what the heck? For $65, I could gamble on the particular hotel. I then found out it was a less than 1 star ECONO LODGE. How can you claim to give me a 3 star hotel and then bait and switch me to a 1 star. Secondly, I asked for a non smoking room since I had kids with me. They gave me a smoking room. The hotel was very rude and inconsiderate, basically telling me I was SOL and to call Hotwire. I am a travel agent myself with 2 travel websites. I called Hotwire and told them I would be willing to put my travel credentials on the line that the hotel I was staying at was NOT a 3 star hotel. This place was totally nasty. I will NEVER use these folks ever again. It is a gamble when you book with them and you are always going to get screwed.

I have Used Hotwire 4 times in the last year. The best deal was a 4 star hotel in indy last year at this time. I gave 66.00 plus taxes and stayed at the Omni. The next time i used them i stayed in st louis at the Sheridan suites for two nights and gave 152.00 for two nights. Great hotel and was rated 3.5 stars. We also stayed at the holiday inn holidome in lexington, ky for 49.00 a night. That was rated a 3 star. Avg room with great ammenities for kids. Our next hotel is the Gault house in louisville, ky this weekend rated a 4 star. I'm not sure about the rating on this hotel yet but its for a convention and everybody else is staying there for 149.00. we got it for 210.00 for both nights. Just use common maps and search any hotel site to see what hotels are in the area where ur gonna stay and u can get within a hotel or two of where your prolly gonna stay, as long as it's a four star or above. at least that has been my experience. Good luck and go HOTWIRE.............

Used it several times and had decent luck.....however I've noticed that the rooms I've gotten through this discount house aren't the hotels greatest rooms......even for higher star hotels. For example, I find that rooms are often near ice machines or other noisy areas. One other problem I had recently is that they advertised for a 2.5 star hotel IN Hoboken....and after I booked I found out it was in a lousy section of N. Bergen.....a $20 cab ride from Hoboken NJ. When I got to this hotel I found no internet in the rooms!

I'll never use hotwire again because they flatly refused to refund my money right after I booked and found out that they had MISADVERTISED the location.

Before reserving hotels from hotwire.com make sure that you check comparable hotels (using similar star-rating) on hotels.com. I was fooled into reserving a hotel in Las Vegas, NV that ended up being the Falmingo hotel. I checked the same hotel on Hotels.com and it was $3 more than the rate I got from hotwire.com (so far so good.) But here's the issue: hotwire.com charged my more than $10 for 'tax and recovery fees' while hotels.com charges around $5 only. This made the total for hotwire more than that for hotels.com.
As usual, hotwire was hiding behind their 'fine print' and said that their 'double the difference' policy applies only to pre-tax rate.

My flight got cancelled.  Hotwire did not call or inform me about the cancellation.  Nonone was not willing to assist with rebooking - just kept sending to the aircompany.  The aircompany said that Hotwire was supposed to take care of that since I booked a flight and paid through Hotwire.  Disappointing and irritating.

I booked a flight and hotel to Minneapolis. When I travel I always stay at a Holiday Inn Express and that is what I booked through Hotwire because this hotel was within waling distance to Mall of America. When I arrived in Minneapolis I called the hotel and they came to pick me up. The problem was that Hotwire pulled the old BAIT AND SWITCH and booked me at a Holiday Inn about 5 miles from the mall. When I called Hotwire they said that is what I booked and I told them no that I had booked the Holiday Inn Express near the mall. I was on the phone with them for two hours and they would not budge and admit that is was their mistake. DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM HOTWIRE. THEY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR CUSTOMERS. THEY RUINED MY FAMILY VACATION.

HOTWIRE SUCKS! We paid $700 for a 2.5 star hotel . When we arrived it smelled like pee and was nasty. We left within an hour & used hotels.com to find a better room. Hotwire looked into it and said they still felt it was a 2.5 star and there are no refunds. The hotel was under MAJOR construction as well. DO NOT BOOK WITH HOTWIRE!!!!

A truly horrible experience.   First time Hotwire user- I will never, ever use it again, and want to make sure I share my experience with any other potential customers.  I booked a rental car through Hotwire for "Houston".  There was never any mention in a pop-up or a warning that there are apparently two airports in Houston, approximately 45 minutes away from each other.  My flight was booked into one airport, and when I got my confirmation, I realized that the "Houston" option Hotwire gave me was in the wrong airport.  I contacted Hotwire three days before the scheduled pick-up to switch to the correct airport and after three transfers and two disconnects (one from a supervisor in India) I was told that it was my responsibility and that they could not help me.  National was equally unhelpful because it was a "Hotwire" reservation.  I am disputing the charge on my credit card.   A miserable experience.

I was just ripped off by hotwire - WATCH OUT - they overcharged my $30 per night for my hotel - when I found out - within 10 minutes I sent a 'double the difference' request to them - now they are saying they never received it, and since it's passed 48 hours they can't do anything about it. - what a rip off

I was supposed to get a 3 star hotel in Fort Worth, TX. What I got is a room that was a dump. Water on the bathroom floor, cockroach in the shower, dirty sink, wallpaper coming apart on the wall, nasty carpet, and at 1am I had a surprise visitor, Micky Mouse running around on the floor.

[IMG]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/shahabi/by_door_entrance.jpg[/IMG]

I complained and they did an official hotel review which took about 8 days. In an email they offered me $50 Hotwire dollars when my hotel cost me $85. So I called back asking to speak with a supervisor and she told me the same thing, our prices are not refundable and $50 credit is the best we can do.

I asked her after having this experience what makes you think I will do business with hotwire again to use that $50 credit??

What I will do is call my credit card company and dispute the charge because I was supposed to get a 3 star hotel and they gave me a 1 star at best.

NEVER HOTWIRE AGAIN!

I use to use them all the time, but not anymore.  Was just a victim of bait and switch.  They advertise a 4 star hotel after paying the hotel received was a 3 star holiday inn.  Could have book the same hotel on expedia for around the same price.  Call customer service to ask for a refund and they said they needed 10 business days to research this claim when tripadvisor.com, expedia.com, hotels.com, priceline.com all has it as a 3.5 - 3 star hotel.  Now my family has to book another hotel prior to knowing whether the refund has been approved.  Horrible customer service.