False advertising; sketchy star rating; horrible customer service!
Written: Jun 27 '03 (Updated Jul 08 '03)
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Booked on Hotwire only to find better deals elsewhere!
I was researching some hotels in Napa. Found some great hotels at great prices on Expedia, Orbitz, etc.. but Hotwire had a 4 star hotel at the same price as some of the 3 stars I was looking at on the other sites. Figured..well you can't go wrong with a 4 star for the same price!
WRONG.
Booked only to find that their '4 star hotel' was really considered a 3 star on any other travel site (expedia, travelocity, tripadvisor.com) once they revealed the hotel name; and that it was the same hotel I'd been looking at elsewhere--and the other rates were CHEAPER than Hotwire for an ugpraded room!
I called the hotel only to be told that the Hotwire room was a 'standard' and on their website (and on expedia's site and orbitz's site) there was an 'executive' room for $179. We paid $180 for our standard through Hotwire.
Hotwire has a 'double the difference' program so if you find something somewhere for cheaper, they will double the return, but it takes them up to 10 days to get around to reviewing it and/or letting you know. What if your reservation is in 4 days as is ours? Too late to help us! Plus it doesn't work for upgrades...and the hotel doesn't list standards for this timeframe. So we are basically unable to use this program!
I called Hotwire to appeal to them, hoping they could upgrade us for the same $, or drop the rate or something. Nothing. I asked them to cancel so that I could get the better room at the hotel (even though I know their policy is no cancellations). Nothing. Talked to two customer service people, one a supervisor. Nothing. He agreed that my situation was a miserable one and yes that I was in the right, but he couldn't help. Well thanks for nothing.
Supposedly a supervisor of the supervisor is supposed to return my call now. I wonder how long that will take. We can't dispute the charge with AMEX until it posts though they said they will try to help.
I understand the no cancellation policy, but what about exceptions made for false advertising? What about advertising a 3 star as a 4 star? What about guaranteed lowest prices (with about twenty asteriks behind it to show limitations to this guarantee)?
Something that should have been easy was anything but. I've wasted about 2 hours of my time today trying to resolve this issue to no avail.
So next time you are looking at Hotwire's *great* fares and *4 star hotels* that they talk so much about, realize that the rates posted on Orbitz, or Expedia or even the own hotel's website may be cheaper. Oh and 4 star? Be careful with that one. Hotwire can call any hotel a 4 star apparently..as they told me they 'have their own rating system' that is not connected to 'competitor sites'.
Not to mention horrible customer service. They treat you like you don't matter once they have your $$ and give no refunds.
UPDATE: I emailed PR and the CEO of Hotwire, but only got a response from customer service. They were not able to help me and sent me a 2 page email on what their policies are. I also spoke to the head of CS and was told the same thing again.
Bottom line is that it seems as though once you have paid your funds to them, they don't care to help you! Customer satisfaction? What's that! I was very disappointed in the service and will definitely NEVER use them again. Why do they even have a customer service department if they can't do anything to help? They couldn't upgrade me, couldn't cancel my reserv.
Why use HotWire when you can just book with the hotel for the SAME price and get a better room? That doesn't sound like unbeatable deals to me.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Room for one night in Napa
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Epinions.com ID:
maguilar
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Location: Bayarea...California
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 0 members
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