Hotwire

most USELESS service I have yet to encounter: deceitful at the very least; refusing any useful response, or decent rates.

My husband and I decided to go for a weekend away without the kids. A rare opportunity. It was our anniversary. Being unfamiliar with the area we were going to and trying to save some money in these tough economic times, I thought I would give Hotwire.com a try. I looked at the examples of hotels in each star category. I selected a moderate price hotel and not the economy.

Hotwire.com put us in an economy hotel. It was even one that they had advertised as an economy hotel. Then had the audacity to tell me it was a moderate price hotel when it was listed under economy. They did not acknowledge what they did nor were they apologetic about it.

I recently found out they have a class action lawsuit against them for false advertising. I wish I had found this out before.

This was my first, my last, and my only time to use hotwire.com

We feel we were misled when we purchased travel insurance through Hotwire's 'Access America'. Make sure you read the fine print! Even though our airline canceled our flight, and Hotwire verified it by making contact with the airline, they wouldn't offer a refund of the $600 reservation we booked through Hotwire.
The reason for the flight cancellation didn't fit their ridiculously stringent criteria, so we were out of luck. The front page of the 21 page document specifies coverage for trip cancellation 'before you get started' . . . but upon further reading one learns that the only way one is covered is if the airline has monetary problems . . . when you read the exclusions it is clear that the insurance really doesn't cover anything at all!
WE WILL NEVER USE HOTWIRE. COM AGAIN!

I had the misfortune of purchasing a hotel reservation from Hotwire. The comparable hotels and star rating given on the site did not match other sites evaluation of the hotels. To make matters worse the name of the city areas were appended with a hyphen connecting a very desirable area to a less desirable one. Being unfamiliar with the details of the city I was about to visit, as travelers often are, I was thereby led to believe that it was the better area rather than the adjacent much less desirable one. The map given did not show the actual area and seemed to be constructed to mislead. When I called hotwire about the misrepresentation, I got the worst, least responsive customer service I have ever encountered-the basic attitude was we've charged your card so tough luck. Regardless of the cost I believe consumers would be much better served getting their hotel reservations at a site with better business practices and standards.

Our experience with Hotwire on a car rental was great and at a great price.  There is nothing negative we can say about it.

Read the terms and conditions on Hotwire, There is no going back after finalizing. I called them minutes after scheduling a vacation...they couldn't do anything to help me. I meant to schedule a vacation for 4 adults and accidentally scheduled a vacation for two adults. I had to find a vacation package on another website and now I have to travel on different plane flights with different arrival and departure times.

Be very careful...not really sure why they have a customer service.

You can not cancel your reservation and the reservation is not guaranteed. I have a very bad experience, booked a noon smoking room, checked in as a smoking room. I was told nothing was guaranteed.

I booked a hotel room through Hotwire. The location was somewhat laughable, which was OK since we were only staying one night, but we were stuck with a smoking room when we requested non-smoking and it was located right beside the exit to the pool. There was NO WAY the hotel would have been able to book that room other than with Hotwire's "no refund" policy. When I asked what the normal rate for that room is, the hotel employee refused to tell me, saying it was confidential and that he could be fired for telling me. I find it very hard to believe I got any kind of bargain given the quality of the location and where the room was situated.

I am so pleased with their customer service! I accidentally booked a ticket with the wrong last name (due to recent marriage). Although it clearly states no name changes on ticket and no refunds, I took a chance and called customer service. The woman who helped me was friendly and explained that she could change the name only by booking another ticket in the correct name, then refunding the wrong named ticket. This was fine with me since I had already called the airline and they stated that under no circumstances would they change or refund a third party ticket. Hotwire now has a new fan!

I am very disappointed in Hotwire. I found a cheaper rate on the hotel's own website. It beat their lowest price guarantee. Also, the hotel's own web site also beat their overall price.

When I booked on Hotwire's website it did not mention Best Western hotel even in the Star 3 hotels. It did mention a possible Radisson, Doubletree... (Which were available for $144.00 on different websites.) Also, it said the original price was $144.00. The only room I could find at the Best Western that came close to that price was a Premium room suite. I feel I was mislead into going through hotwire.

I did apply for their price guarantee with double your difference back, but it still does not even come close to the price that was available to every person on Best Western's own website.

I will never use Hotwire again. I will write a bad review of them in every web site out there. Here is why

I had a terrible experience with hotwire. I booked tickets with them to Maui. Unfortunately, our airline, ATA, went bankrupt while we were in Maui. Even though I contacted Hotwire via email imeediately finding out of the bankruptcy, Hotwire did not return my email nor did they provide us with an contingency travel plan. Well after we purchased full-fare tickets to return home, Hotwire had posted their policy regarding the ATA bankruptcy. This was well after we returned home. I then called customer support. They refused to refund me even though their policy states the following:

"Hotwire will reimburse you for the airline service fees up to $100 per flight segment if incurred by your alternative travel plans. Airline fees exceeding $100 per flight segment,
are the responsibility of the passenger."

It goes on further. When we had Visa disbute my charge with hotwire, they said that it was my responsibility to contact the airline if the flight reservation was unability. Again, they would not refund the charge.

I am extremely dissatisfied with a recent purchase on Hotwire. I was subjected to the old "Bait & Switch" scam. Once the room was booked the charges jumped by 1/3 due to a non-disclosed fee. I don't buy for a minute that they don't know about the fees. They know everything else about the hotel and have long-standing relationships with these hotels.

I believe Hotwire employs the bait & switch scam and deceptive business practices. I will NEVER use them again and have contacted my credit card company to "stop payment", made complaints to Hotwire, the AG's office and plan to contact the hotel as well.

Just recently got a two night stay at the Sheraton Safari Hotel Lake Buena Vista, Orlando FL. The deal was for $49.00 per night (not including taxes). The Hotel treated us super. The place was just as it was billed in the initial sign up page for a 3 star. No let downs. No hitches. Every expectation was at or above our expectation. Due to reviews, we were prepared for the worst but were delivered the best. Thank you HotWire.

Get what you pay for and often get less than you paid for.
Hotwire is the garage sale,scratch and dent,imperfect garment,factory second,day old doughnut of the travel industry.
Capitalizing on cheap people who think they can get something great cheap is hotwires game and the hotels and airlines are all to happy to use hotwire as thier dumping grounds.

I have ordered two hotel rooms through Hotwire. In 2004 we got a great deal on a hotel in NYC. On July 14, 2006, I specified a room in Seattle. Once I completed the transaction and found out the hotel's name, I went straight to their web site to confirm that I had paid less than advertised. The price on the web site was $10 less than the Hotwire price. No problem I thought--I'll get the double the money back guarantee. I copied the web address and also pasted in the text that contained the price and sent it to the email address listed. After a couple days, I got back the response that this wasn't enough. I needed to fax a screen shot of the page. I wondered what that would prove, since I could make a screen shot say whatever price I wanted. I tried just sending the screen shot as a BMP file attachment, but no, the email was rejected. So I faxed the shot to them. By then the price had changed to about what I was charged. So I'm done with Hotwire and will never use them again.