Hotwire
reviews and complaints

Last night after a faulty booking that was a glitch from Hotwire, my husband and I spoke to two supervisors online and they were extremely disrespectful and the first man hung up on us. When we called back and spoke to the second supervisor, and explained everything that we went through ( after being on hold for another hour to speak to her at 12:30 am) we were told that this is a policy and that employees of Hotwire are allowed to do that. We are so shocked and so offended by the lies and threats that were made to us on that phone call. We were benign reasonable about what could be done on their end and we got no resolution from two separate supervisors who decided to threaten us and say we can take away anything that we have offered you which is nothing compared to the mistake that was done by the site itself. We are now stuck in a random city in Italy in the mountains. All we wanted was to use the same days and money we spent to be closer to the area we initially selected to book and the so called "supervisors" did not manage to do anything for us but to waste our time and hang up and then the second time raise their voice and threaten to take away what they have offered us already. I can not believe this is a kind of customer service we were faced with and I am shocked. If there is anyone who is in a higher position then the supervisors on call. We need some resolution and we will not let this go. Our confirmation number for the faulty booking which happened because of a site glitch and no one wants to admit to is: [protected]

The names of the supervisors we spoke to who were in the same building and took their sweet time to be vindictive and not show us any respect or even come up with a resolution are:

Fred A first supervisor

Haizeo H second supervisor

They were both not doing anything to solve the situation and they were offering us deals that we were looking online at the same time for the same area and hotel for three times the price. When we asked to get a price matched because we were on the same website and all the prices should be honored. We were threatened, laughed at for being "dumb" and hung up on.

This is unacceptable and I need an authority figure to get these two individuals trained properly and I need resolution. Or else you have lost a loyal customer and I will not stop until this is resolved. I will make sure everyone I know and all the review sights on Hotwire knows about this horrific customer service and experience I had.

Tina Talebi and James Brown

Do not book through them because there is a chance you will end up with nowhere to stay and out of the money you paid to them.

I booked a hotel through them for new year's weekend 2019. When I arrived at the address on my itinerary, there was a vacant building. I looked for signs showing they had moved and saw nothing. I called the number for the hotel and got no answer. I had to stay in a motel 45 minutes outside of miami. When I contacted them they said they could not give me a refund. I even had pictures of the place with the "for lease" sign in the window. The rep told me they contacted the hotel so I tried the number again myself. I did get through to somebody at the hotel that day and they informed me that they did have a different address and they share a building so another name was on the outside. Without speaking to someone, there was no way for me to know this! The credit card company (citi) took their side because of hotwire's "no cancellation, no refunds" policy (even though I didn't cancel or stay there). They robbed me of my $515. No services were rendered because they provided me with inaccurate information and did not care enough for their customer to admit or fix their mistake.

Just had a conversation with Hotwire customer support - Joseph (Work ID 391) on 5/25/2019 @ 8:44AM at Hotwire. Hotwire made below mistake and unwilling to work for resolution. 1) the $25 hot dollar mentioned in below email does not show on my account (also not sure how long it is valid for); 2) there is no refund of $20 (coupon was not applied even though it shoed applied during booking) back to my account still after 7 business days of booking and not sure when it will be refunded. 3) No cancellation allowed when I talked to Joseph (Work ID 391 at Hotwire).

See below email from Hotwire apologizing for this error...

Thank you for your attention and your time.

From: Hotwire Customer Support
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2019 4:28 PM
To: [protected]@gmail.com
Subject: 'HW=[protected]' You Are Getting A Refund - We Found An Error

Dear Yuehua Gu,

We are contacting you about an error which happened on the Hotwire booking you made a few days ago when using a coupon code.

You received an email advertising $20.00 off of a Hot Rate Hotel. You clicked through the email and applied the coupon during the booking process. The coupon code applied correctly during the booking path, but when the booking was finalized the $20.00 discount was removed. This, of course, was not how the coupon code should have worked.

When we discovered this error, we immediately removed the link - but your booking had already gone through. Please accept our apology for this not working correctly.

This week we will issue a refund for $20.00 back to the original credit/debit card you used when you made the purchase. We would also like to add an additional $25.00 Hot Dollars to your Hotwire account as a way of apologizing for the inconvenience. You should see the refund post back to your credit card in the next 7-10 business days. Hot Dollars will be applied and available for use in the next few days.

Hot Dollars can be used to book any Hot Rate hotel or Hot Rate car and are valid for one year from the date of posting. Each Hot Dollar is equivalent to one U.S. dollar. You will receive a separate email confirmation of the Hot Dollar credit being posted to your account.

Your itinerary still remains as originally booked and we've made no changes to it. Also, there is no need for you to do anything on your end - we'll be working behind the scenes on your behalf to make this right. However, should you want to speak with us, please call us toll-free, at 1-866-468-9473 or message us through the Hotwire app (messaging is only available on iOS devices).

Again, we apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for choosing Hotwire.

Sincerely,

Camille C.
Hotwire Customer Care
1-866-468-9473
Message Us (via the Hotwire app on iOS devices)
Hotwire.com

I have an ongoing case under itinerary # [protected]. Phone # associated with the booking is [protected]. Keith Lavoie and Monica Thomas are the customers involved. Last meaningful contact was with Hotwire supervisor Sheryl on 5/17/19.
We bought a round-trip ticket to Sri Lanka 4/13-4/27. We were to fly JFK-Dubai-Sri Lanka and Maldives-Sri Lanka-Dubai-JFK on the way back. Due to the bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019, we could not make our Maldives flight and tried to call to pay a change fee and get on the flight home in Colombo International Airport, Sri Lanka. We worked with an agent (I believe her name was Daniela but I am not 100% sure) . I believe the date of the call was the 25th, but due to the time difference between Sri Lanka and the US the date may be one day before or after. The agent was trying her best but could not seem to grasp what we were trying to accomplish, whenever she repeated our information back to us it was often incorrect. We wanted to get on our connecting flight since we were not in the Maldives, we had stayed in Sri Lanka because both US and Sri Lankan government advised against going to the airport. We had tickets for the flight already (Colombo-Dubai) from the initial purchase of the return tickets. We were told we could not get on that flight because it was already booked, even though we had tickets already for that very flight. The Hotwire agent then told us that the other option is to cancel the flight, receive a full refund for the return flight, and book a new one. She never specified the amount of the return flight refund. She did say ‘full refund". When we asked how much were the flights back that we were cancelling, she said "$2700" and when we asked how much the flights we were about to purchase to get home, she said "$2700" leading us to believe we would not lose money on this change, which I believe to be ridiculous to begin with since 1) we already had tickets to be on the flights home and 2) we didn't change cities on a whim, there was a bombing. Only after the cancellation was finalized, did she finally tell us our ultimate refund- ~$250 each. That, to me, is unacceptable. We were mislead in the amount we were going to get back, that is a completely unreasonable refund for a return flight. We did not have the time then to contest it though as we had to race to catch this new flight and service was spotty in the jungle.
We called Hotwire upon return to complain. I have been placed on multiple holds, the longest of which was over an hour and 20 mins (I wound up hanging up) and have gotten hung up on by Hotwire about 4 times now. I was told by the supervisor, Sheryl (or Cheryl) that she would review the audio and get back to me within 48 hours. This was at approximately 6 PM on Wednesday, May 15th, 2019. I heard nothing back. On Tuesday, May 21 2019 at about 12 pm I called Hotwire again, was placed on a hold while the agent went to find a supervisor, and was hung up on after about 10 minutes of holding. This is unreasonable avoidance. The customer service and poor quality of help and information given to us in a time of crisis is deeply upsetting and cost my partner and I a large sum of money that puts financial strain on our household. I would like full compensation for the return flights I had to purchase, totaling 2702.06. We would have been happy to pay a change fee at the time of flight change, but due to the incompetence of the Hotwire team this turned into something much more expensive and stressful than it needs to be, and the blatant disregard for our complaints during the followup is insulting and wrong. All was verbal over the phone and I was told by Sheryl that I could not receive a copy of the phone audio.

I booked a flight on May 15 from Miami to Jinan, and it cost me nearly 900 dollars.
When I come to the counter, they told me there was no reservation.
I called hotwire for 6 times, they told me my reservation was canceled. But I received no notification and refund before it. And the status of my reservation online changed after I called them.
I wrote an email to them but no response.
It is 900 dollars! And all my broken schedule.
I booked this flight one month ahead, there seem no excuses for it.
it is indeed not an imprudent mistake but an intentional robbery!
6 clients told me they would find an alternative flight but no responses in 24 hours. Hence I had to booked flight by myself at a much higher price.
In summary, I need hotwire to take this responsibility and give me a refund, or another form of commercial compensation which is mathematically equal to my lost.

Hello, I expected to have a car at Toronto International Airport. The guy at Ace simply said "there is no car". No apology, just that my VISA would be refunded (I need to check that). I wrote to Hotwire, but of course not to your department.

I ended up paying nearly $100 CDN more at Hertz so that I would have car for two days. Of course, my client should not have to pay the additional amount.

Can you do something? I also think that Ace should apologise (or else, you should discpline them if that is possible.

Here is the notice from Hotwire about the reservation (by the way, I usually LOVE your service; this experience was quite a shock):

Everything is set for your car rental in
Toronto

Your Hotwire confirmation number is [protected]

Pick up

May 1, 2019
8:00PM

ACE
Toronto Lester B Pearson Intl., YYZ
655 Dixon Rd
International Plaza Hotel
Toronto, ON

Thank you for looking into this for me. Paul

I booked a hotel through hotwire. The hotel was irrevocable, so it was paid right away, and I received a confirmed mail. But when I arrived at the hotel with my family during the spring vacation, the hotel said there was no reservation. After five hours of talking to Hotwire, they failed to make a reservation, and there was no other choice but to cancel it. We had nowhere to go at night, so we had to find a place to sleep at that time, and the family, including the children, had to have a hard time without having a meal. Hotwire ruined our spring vacation. Hotwire later admitted his mistake and said they didn't keep the manual. But he said he would find a way to compensate and did not contact him again. And it was not connected even if I contacted you.

I've been a big fan of hotwire in the past but just got ripped off by then & then had to endure the worst level of customer service i've ever encountered.

The price was NOT amazing- freely available everywhere . I tried calling but got such non service that I gave up.

I would love to take the complaint further but it's a company with no transparency & I cannot find email addresses for anyone in a senior position - also disgraceful.

ByBye Hotwire i won't use you ever again or ever recommend you.

We bought our air fare, hotel and car rental package through Hotwire, 2 months before the travel date. We paid the extra for the trip insurance for each of these - car - hotel - and air. BEWARE - all the people involved, from Hotwire to the hotels, to the airlines, and Travel Guard Ticket Insurance, will make it as difficult as they possibly can to NOT get you your money back, and to actively discorage you from being able to file a claim. You can eventually work your way through hours of phone calls, then on hold, then calls dropped, and starting over, dealing with overly complicated web sites, forms, and emails, numerous forms from your medical team, your bank records and having to give them full access to your health records - and you will (maybe) get some of your money back. You will get transferred from person, to person to person. You will find forms online that you cannot download or print. Be prepared to devote several hours of your life, when you are already dealing with a family emergency. We will NEVER use Hotwire again.

On February 24th I received an email from Hotwire, stating that my refund was on its way, and it could take up to five working days.
Today December 9th I have not received the refund, nor any news from Hotwire
The printout of your email is on the bottom of this mail,

Your $282.12 refund is on its way

We've processed your refund and it will be posted to your original payment method in about five business days.

Refund summary

Booking confirmation # [protected]

Refund total (USD) $282.12

After purchasing a hotel room at the glenn inn and suites in glendale, ca for $117.80 via hotwire online I spent a long day and night working over 16 hours. I was looking forward to being able to pass out in my hotel room and finally get rest. Instead, when I arrive, i'm told that my room was given to someone else. What. The. [censored]. So, no room for me. I was so pissed that I ended up driving the 2 hours back home while tired. The next day I check my bank account and I was charged for a room I never received! It's been months of back and forth with hotwire and the hotel and I still haven't received a cent of my $117.80! Give. Me. My. [censored]ing. Money. Back. You. Scumbags.

Booked a car rental through Hotwire for pick up at Fort Lauderdale airport. Even received reminder and confirmation the day before and when I got to the car rental agency, I was informed there were no more cars available and there was nothing they could do for me to call Hotwire. Hotwire could not help me either and all they could do was give me a refund. I needed to get to Miami and that was the reason for the car rental, how is a refund going to help at that point and it was 2am. I could not believe what I was hearing and I still can't believe that is how they operate. I was left stranded and they had no regards towards the situation nor willing to accommodate me. I had to pay a pretty penny for Lyft to drive me to my destination. Horrible way to do business. There is no customer care nor anything is guaranteed, as they portrait. The only importance is profit to themselves.

Hotwire is an unethical company. Companies should be evaluated on how they treat their customers. There was an illness in our family and we could not travel; Hotwire stated to us to secure a doctor's note for a refund. This was done. They never replied after receiving the letter and they played the game of "we did not receive anything". When we asked they stay on the line until they receive the email with the attachment, the answer was "we cannot receive emails directly; only next day internally are they distributed based on content". Supervisors do not care and do not help the customer. Hotwire takes your money but has no compassion or ethics. We are never using this company again. Buyer beware.

After hours of searching for the cheapest 4-star Mall of America (MOA) hotel rate, I finally settled on the "hot rate" listed by Hotwire.com of $103 nightly. This special rate was stated as a whopping 57% savings over the standard room rate for this hotel of $207. I was thrilled to lock in this Fri - Sat night rate at a MOA hotel, especially since it's the first time in a decade that I get to celebrate my birthday alone with my husband all night - without children! Sadly, my thrill quickly turned to disgust.

The first of many Hotwire lies was immediately revealed when the "Hyatt Regency" Bloomington hotel appeared as my overnight destination. This hotel is not near the Hotwire map pin that displayed this hotel's location as being within the MOA campus. The hotel is actually over 1.2 miles away from MOA, and not within walking distance due to several busy freeways and highways in-between. But, this wasn't the only surprise lie that Hotwire had up their sleeve.

After discovering the falsified distance, I immediately navigated to Hyatt's official website and found the standard average weekend room rate of $129 - which is EXTREMELY cheaper than the falsified listed standard rate of $237 by Hotwire. In fact, I only saved $26 over Hyatt's given rate - and ended up paying more overall by using Hotwire after fees were included.

I contacted customer support within 10 minutes after this purchase and clearly stated my disappointment and disgust with their sales ploy that used exaggerated rates and a falsified location to scam me as an unsuspecting buyer, into purchasing something that I did not want. The brash representative not only refused to refund this purchase, but she also would not even let me pay more to stay at a desired hotel like the one they promised and failed to deliver. She also (in a rude demeanor) refused to compromise, and firmly stated that the sale is final, could not be refunded or exchanged, and there is nothing that can be done to resolve this matter. A non-specific, not verbatim policy was loosely repeated by the foreign speaking representative (with poor English skills) as the reason for not fixing this problem, and after asking - no site or disclosure location containing such a policy was ever provided.

I have used Priceline and Expedia in the past to great satisfaction - I wish I would have stuck with what works, because Hotwire certainly does not!

Hotwire itinerary: [protected]
Hotwire confirmation: HY0016096547
Booking date: October 26, 2018
Check-in: Fri, Oct 26 - 03:00pm
Check-out: Sat, Oct 27 - 11:00am

Just wondering why I receive email alerts with special prices then when I click book now it takes me to the site but the deal promoted is not there? Below is an example. I click book now and then this deal disappears and is not available at all? This to me makes hotwire look a little shady and underhanded don't you think?

Regards
Darrell Koepke

koepke.[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

On September 18 I made a reservation with Hotwire [protected]) for a car rental in
Fredericton NB for a vehicle with Enterprise for September 26 to October 11
the charge on my credit card was $766.33 CDN

I phoned Hotwire on September 24 to inform that my flight was going to arrive 2 hours later than I had first indicated.

Rather than update my file, Hotwire created a new file still the same file [protected]) and charged my credit card $678.18 CDN.

I received a call while en route from Enterprise asking whether I wanted 2 cars.
I informed them that I only wanted one, and I was simply informing them of a change in arrival time.

Please help with this billing error.

Regards.
Rae Purvis
403.399.0733
[protected]@shaw.ca

I tried to book 7 rooms in O'Fallon IL at Home Towne Suites. Instead of giving me the rooms that I was looking for the company gave me Motel 6 and told me that I could get all of the people to stay at this hotel. When I talked to Home Towne Suites they told me that they were no longer doing business with Hotwire and that they had 19 rooms available. Hotwire did not tell the truth and Now I'm stuck in a bad hotel

I booked a room on Sept 28 in Pulaski, TN at Motel 6. I then continued and booked a room on Sept 29 in Gulfport MS. However when we arrived at hotel in Gulfport on 29, we were told that we did not have a reservation. Come to find out the reservation was the 28. I did not purposely book for the 28th as we could not be in two states at one time. I think the computer messed up and did not change the date as I stated the 29th to begin with. My phone number associated with my account is [protected]. I do not know the number. Yes I believe emails were sent but in the rush for us on vacation I just knew when it was confirmed the first time we were good. Hotwire and the hotel are both stating that they will not refund HOWEVER no service was given at Gulfport Wyndham hotel. I believe this should have been caught by Hotwire as something should have triggered to state that 2 hotels were booked for different states - cities by 1 person for same night. I am now out the $132 and will NEVER use HOTWIRE again. I do not have this issue with other booking sites, I receive a warning. I also had to find another hotel that night which was much higher as well.
I am asking to be refunded the cost of the hotel room that was incorrectly booked and nothing was brought forward to me. I typed in the 29th to begin with so I am truly not sure how it booked for the 28th. And yes if emails were sent, I did not look at those details as it confirmed when I booked.

I reserved Comfort Inn in Monterey for the night of October 6th. The hotel clerk there was very rude to me. Upon arrival my child needed to use the bathroom, since our room wasn't ready because it was a little early she said we had to wait in the lobby til the room was ready since there were no toilets around. I asked her for the internet password while waiting in the lobby. After struggling with the code I saw it didn't work. When I asked her why she said it was only for the room then she had to give me another password for the lobby internet connection. She finally said the room was ready. When I opened the door I noticed the room was tiny and smelt of mildew. I went back to the reception and told her, she said all the rooms in the hotel are the same size. I showed her the spacious rooms that they advertise on the internet according to the information Hotwire gave to me. She then gave me another key with a more spacious room. She blatantly lied to me. She made no effort whatsoever. I just wanted to relax on a weekend away. Instead I was very upset. In addition the very good breakfast that the hotel advertises happened to be the most disgusting breakfast that I ever ate in a hotel. The eggs had black on them from the frying pan! The minimal fruit that they put out was rotten. It was not edible. Not only that, the breakfast room was so tiny with people waiting that one became stressed out trying to finish eating so that other people can have a turn sitting down.