Hi Friends!
I recently had a horrible experience with Hotwire .com, which I thought I will share with you all. I had to recently move to Minnesota from New Jersey and had to drive 1200 miles. I decided to take a break after driving half of the distance and planned well ahead. I booked a hotel using Hotwire.com and it was supposed to be a 4 star hotel, for $94+taxes. First when I stepped in to the hotel, I was in shock! it was a cheap motel, all the furniture were old, beds were squeaky, and the TV was a 1990's big-CRT TV!. Then I checked the rate on hotels.com for the same hotel, it was listed at $62+taxes, total=$72. Curious, I searched in HotWire.com again. It was still offering the "Best Value", for the same hotel for $94!. When I got to my destination, I called up their customer service. First their customer service was rude (I have called them many times before, I thought those were isolated incidents, but behold, no matter what time I call, I get a rude CSR!). Then they started giving excuses that they cannot lower the star ratings for a hotel, they calculate the ratings from Hotels.com and other sites!! Anyway finally she told the price match guarantee is not valid since I am calling after 48 hr window (It was 48hrs from the date of booking, not the date of staying). I thought that was wired, and decided to write them an email, but there was no response whatsoever. Then I decided to let it go, and thought that it was again an isolated incident.
Last week, I had to travel to SD, and decided to use hotels.com this time. Sure enough, I could get a booking at Super8 for a decent price of $75+approx 7 in taxes=$82. Curious, I compared the rates at hotwire.com. They were listing only the area as usual, but I could find out which hotel that was, since it was a small town and it was the only motel in that area. Hotwire's price was $68 + $14 in taxes and fees!!! the total was again same $82, disguised as a lower price. Note that hotels.com has lot of rewards program and hotwire has none. So, I realized, I had been scammed all these years when I had been using hotwire.com for my bookings. Sure enough their prices might be $2 or so less after the final calculation, but in the end, their customer service is useless and they don't honor their own statements in AD (price match etc.,), they won't let you cancel or change the dates and they don't have any rewards program.
I would suggest everyone to please take a moment to compare the final price before booking at hotwire.com in future to avoid being scammed by their lower price on the front page. I also would never ever use hotwire.com in future.
Let me know your experience as well in the comments area and some tips you use while booking hotels.
I recently had a horrible experience with Hotwire .com, which I thought I will share with you all. I had to recently move to Minnesota from New Jersey and had to drive 1200 miles. I decided to take a break after driving half of the distance and planned well ahead. I booked a hotel using Hotwire.com and it was supposed to be a 4 star hotel, for $94+taxes. First when I stepped in to the hotel, I was in shock! it was a cheap motel, all the furniture were old, beds were squeaky, and the TV was a 1990's big-CRT TV!. Then I checked the rate on hotels.com for the same hotel, it was listed at $62+taxes, total=$72. Curious, I searched in HotWire.com again. It was still offering the "Best Value", for the same hotel for $94!. When I got to my destination, I called up their customer service. First their customer service was rude (I have called them many times before, I thought those were isolated incidents, but behold, no matter what time I call, I get a rude CSR!). Then they started giving excuses that they cannot lower the star ratings for a hotel, they calculate the ratings from Hotels.com and other sites!! Anyway finally she told the price match guarantee is not valid since I am calling after 48 hr window (It was 48hrs from the date of booking, not the date of staying). I thought that was wired, and decided to write them an email, but there was no response whatsoever. Then I decided to let it go, and thought that it was again an isolated incident.
Last week, I had to travel to SD, and decided to use hotels.com this time. Sure enough, I could get a booking at Super8 for a decent price of $75+approx 7 in taxes=$82. Curious, I compared the rates at hotwire.com. They were listing only the area as usual, but I could find out which hotel that was, since it was a small town and it was the only motel in that area. Hotwire's price was $68 + $14 in taxes and fees!!! the total was again same $82, disguised as a lower price. Note that hotels.com has lot of rewards program and hotwire has none. So, I realized, I had been scammed all these years when I had been using hotwire.com for my bookings. Sure enough their prices might be $2 or so less after the final calculation, but in the end, their customer service is useless and they don't honor their own statements in AD (price match etc.,), they won't let you cancel or change the dates and they don't have any rewards program.
I would suggest everyone to please take a moment to compare the final price before booking at hotwire.com in future to avoid being scammed by their lower price on the front page. I also would never ever use hotwire.com in future.
Let me know your experience as well in the comments area and some tips you use while booking hotels.
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