Hotwire can be a great travel tool. However, there are some thing you need to be aware of a few things BEFORE you book.
Always read the Terms of Agreement. Yes those pesky terms they want you to agree to before you book online. Make sure you read these carefully. These will tell you exactly what the company guarantees you, and that is expect from you. Basically, Hotwire is under no obligation to refund your money because, death, illness, or natural disaster. However, if you ask nicely, they may extend a gesture of goodwill. Yes, it isn’t fair, it is what you agreed to at the time of purchase.
Remember that your idea of a four star hotel, and Hotwire’s standards may not match up. Hotwire is usually dependant on the hotel to provide their own review. I doubt the company goes out and checks each hotel individually. If the hotel is below the stated quality, or worse unacceptable, you do have every right to report that to Hotwire. Once again, Hotwire is not under ANY obligation to reimburse you, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I’ve read several complaints about how Hotwire ignored and blew off customer complaints. One, they really have no reason to do otherwise. Two, many of these claims do not have and documentation or proof to back u the accusation. If you are going to submit a complaint, be sure to have clear pictures of the room, and the condition you found it in. This will help you plead your case, and usually Hotwire is more willing to make things right.
Always call to confirm your reservation. Yes, you were given a confirmation number, sent and e-mail, and it clearly says you have ordered and paid for the service. However, if Hotwire has not actually booked the service, this could be an issue. There is nothing worse than showing up and discovering you do not have a flight, hotel room, rental car…yeah you get the picture. I once booked two hotel rooms for a family trip to Chicago. After I booked the rooms I called to make sure we were down for non-smoking rooms and to request a rollaway bed (my sister decided she was also coming). When I called, the hotel staff had no record my reservation on file. Mind you, this was almost a month later. They had reservations from Hotwire from as late as the previous day, but my reservation was nowhere to be found. They told me to call Hotwire. I called and of course this is the one time I get a rude rep. She told me that the hotel screwed up (PET PEEVE: Don’t play the blame game. I don’t care whose fault it is as long as you fix it and fix it right and quickly.). She made a big deal about how she would fax it to the hotel again. After calling the hotel two hours later, calling Hotwire again to harass them, and then calling the hotel again I was able to confirm both rooms were booked. No one took the blame, and no one apologized. It was very frustrating. However, confirming with the hotel saved my family some major stress! The problem was solved, and really that was all that mattered to me. I wasn’t going to make a stink over it, but the whole process made me a little nervous. Apparently this is an issue Hotwire (and other online booking sites…so I’m not just picking on Hotwire) has frequently enough to be alarming.
Expect the worst from customer service. Yes this is such a glass half empty idea. It isn’t that the employees are rude like their brethren at Expedia (or at least all the Expedia reps I, my family and my friends have ever dealt with…maybe we are just lucky and get the bad eggs?), it is that they seem to know very little. They seem to be good at parroting lines off a script (although, management insists they do not use scripts), but if the answer isn’t on their cheat sheet good luck to you. When they failed to actually book my rooms, I asked a simple question of if I had not caught their mistake in time, what would have happened? Before I made a fool of myself by writing something not true, I figured having my fact straight would be a good idea. No one could answer my question. It took months of e-mails, and eventually talking to the guy who handled their media relations to get a straight answer. That is a little frightening. Yes the media person told me that Hotwire would have gotten my family taken care of, my concern would be if the hotel was totally booked ( as it was that weekend) where would they have put us? I never really got an answer there. I was only assured that Hotwire would have worked with the hotel to get us in.
A closer look at Hotwire:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/384513/hotwater_for_hotwire.html?cat=16
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/384518/hotwire_issues_final_verdict.html?cat=16
