Hotwire: Last Minute Hotels

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So I’ve never had problems with other sites booking a hotel and didn’t expect to have such a headache of a time with these scum. I have had two bad incidents now within two days. First I pick the hotel and the bed and go to book and pay I click pay and it says oops the deal is gone select another room and book now. All the while my card was charged the full amount for the room that was never booked. Now when I contacted them they said they didn’t charge my car that it is a hold placed but not by them so says the rep I’m talking to they can only release the funds and then I have to wait 5-7 days for my money to be put back into my account. So I figured alright I’ll wait. Then couple days later going to book another room what do you know same thing happens again charged my card full price and didn’t book the room at all. Now I’m out a couple hundred dollars until this “release” goes through and I get my money credited back to my account. DO NOT ISE HOTWIRE AT ALL FOR ANY REASON THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER AND NOT TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY ON THEIR END AND BLAME YOUR BANK AND THAT YOU NEED TO CONTACT THEM INSTEAD OF HOTWIRE IM FILING A COMPLAINT WITH BBB AND MY BANK IS OPENING A FRAUD CLAIM AGAINST THEM FOR THEM SAYING THEY NEVER CHARGED MY CARD YET IT STATES CLEARLY IN MY STATEMENT HOTWIRE SO OF THEY DIDNT AUTHORIZE THE CHARGE THEN ITS FRAUD AND NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED SO IT WILL BE!!!

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Booked a hot deal and my card was charged. I was then brought to a screen that said an error occurred and that deal was no longer available. So I had a full trip charged to my card and Hotwire customer care refused to do anything except lay the blame on my credit card company and me. Took 4 days for the credit to be available on my card again. Their customer care department is a third party company out of Malaysia that refuses to give you information on how to contact Hotwire corporate offices after they ultimately refuse to help you. Stay away from Hotwire. They’ll cause your money to be caught in limbo while you watch hotel prices get higher by the day waiting for it to be freed back to available credit. I booked my room directly through Hampton Inn, the hotel Hotwire suggested I’d get with the hot deal and they were more sympathetic to my problem than Hotwire was and provided the same rate. Do yourself a favor and book directly through the hotel. Many times they’ll honor prices found on apps like Hotwire. Avoid Hotwire, Expedia and Priceline. They’re all the same company who doesn’t care about you. Just a middleman trying to carve a slice of something they don’t deserve.

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Worst app ever. For most hotels it only shows 1 picture, even when there are dozens on the Hotwire Website. I tried to book a trip on the app anyway, but it kept saying my credit card wasn’t recognized. So I called my credit card company and they said They authorized the transaction, but Hotwire canceled it. So I called Hotwire and they said it’s because I was trying to book a deal that wasn’t available. After hearing this, I looked again, and the deal still showed up on the app. I also had $15 of “HotDollars” credit, which an email said I could use to book, but couldn’t use it on the app. This app is so much worse than the website. As an aside, the Hotdeals, you know, the deal where it’s cheaper because you don’t know which hotel it is? Yeah, that’s terrible because they tack on higher fees. I booked a Hotdeal that was $10 per day cheaper than if I knew which hotel I was booking. Great deal! Except after I checked out, the Hotdeal wound up being about a dollar per day more than the normal booking after taxes and fees were added. TLDR: Hotwire has good deals, just stay away from the app or the Hotdeals.

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Hotwire car rental is such a scam!!! I booked car online on September 30th and I got HOT RATE for it. When I went to rent a car agency ( Ace ) they told me that there is mile limitation for my reservation ( 150 miles a day ) and that I should cancel reservation because if I go further that 450 miles in 3 days I will pay 25 cents per extra mile. These conditions WERE NOT in terms and conditions when I accepted reservation. I called hot wire after agent in ACE told me to call them and cancel. Hot wire did not wanted to cancel my reservation because they told me it was a blind reservation and it is not refundable?! I told them that even if it is blind reservation they SHOULD put all the conditions when you book it, otherwise I got stuck with the car I cannot use. They said they will put those information in the future 😡 I told them I don't care about the future, I want my money back now because it's crazy to scam people like that and do not put all the conditions when you book a car. I ended up being charged for a car I did not use. PEOPLE SAVE YOUR MONEY, do not use HOTWIRE! Their customer service is rude and their supervisors not doing their job.

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Our company is removing Hotwire as an option for future travel needs. Due to human error (or perhaps a manipulation by the app) the incorrect date was selected on a reservation. I did make the mistake of confirming that purchase without rechecking the date. Once the error was determined we contacted Hotwire 24+ hours before reservation and they would not cancel and credit. After reaching a supervisor on phone I brought up the fact confirmation email does specify it is prepaid and can’t be cancelled. She wanted to resend confirmation email so I would have the right polices. She sent the email and well it was the exact same. So now I question if I made a human error in date selection or if app moved date. See the hotel was actually sold out for the dates I believe selected and the Hotwire reservation was a night following when the hotel had availability. In any case, Hotwire was unwilling to offer a credit or refund and chooses to loose out on future business. Poorly run and a shame human error is being taken advantage of. Fool me once but not twice!!!