Hotwire Hotel: 3* Sacramento (West) Ramada Inn and Plaza Harbor Conference Center

[joeschmeaux]

I saw a 3* listed in West Sacramento saying it was recommended by 100% of guests. So I searched the standard side for hotels in West Sac which had 100% or close to it and found the only one which fit the bill is the relatively new 2.5* Hampton Inn, with 97% recommending it. Even the well liked Holiday Inn Express is well below 100%. So I booked it, knowing that star levels may differ between the two sides of hotwire and figuring that any hotel that is truly 100% recommended would be fine for my purposes.

 

I ended up getting the Ramada Plaza Inn, which, apparently charitably, is 79% recommended on the standard side and has mostly terrible reviews on tripadvisor and also on hotwire. I was angry, so I called hotwire to complain, but my call got dumped right when the agent picked up -- after 15+ minutes on hold. So I sent a web form email, explaining that a hotel which is so widely hated on the standard side could not possibly be liked by 100% of people on the hotwire side (which hotwire calls the, "hot rate," side).

 

A few minutes later, I realized that time was likely of the essence, so I called hotwire again. This time, after about 10 minutes on hold, I was connected and I told the rep what happened. She explained that hotwire is all sales final, etc. etc. I explained that I'm a seasoned hotwire user and I understand its policies, but this is different, as hotwire either made a mistake in its description, or intended to commit fraud with its description, and that the hotel offered clearly does not live up to the way hotwire advertised it. Finally, I said that the only hotel in West Sac which could possibly be 100% rercommended was the Hapmton Inn.

 

She put me on hold, then came back and said she could offer a credit which she could use to rebook me in West Sac and she could book the Hampton for me on the standard side, but at standard rates. I said, "I just want a refund."

 

Then she said I should call the hotel and get a cancellation number, then call hotwire back and they would refund me!

 

Seriously?!?!? Was she kidding?!?!?

 

I said that hotwire sold me the room based on incorrect information and it was hotwire's responsibility to fix it, as I have no busines relationship with the hotel yet. I also said that if I didn't have a legitimate complaint, she would not be trying to help me in the first place. Then I mentioned that I was going to post about this online, and it would be in hotwire's best interest for it to work out favorably for me. She then said she would call the hotel, and put me on hold while she did so.

 

A few minutes later, she told me that she had called the hotel and obtained a cancellation number, so she would be able to refund my money. She explained that some hotels have a 24-hour cancellation period on the hotwire side, which is news to me and possibly to others -- I don't know if it can be exploited in situations in which one simply doesn't like the hotel, but it certainly seems that final isn't necessarily final when hotwire screws up. She said she would email me a confirmation of my cancellation and refund, so I quickly checked my email and found it. Then I thanked her for doing the right thing and said goodbye.

 

Then, incredulously, rather than saying something like, thanks for your business, I hope you'll try us again, her script (I presume and hope it was her script) told her to ask me if I would like to try the hotwire app! I said I would not be installing the hotwire app as it is too intrusive, and that the end of a long call from a dissatisfied customer was an inappropriate time to try to pimp it. She apologized, said goodbye and hung up.

 

So I don't know if this is useful info for anybody, but if hotwire says 100% recommended for a despised dump, you can get a refund before the fact.

 

FWIW, I just checked hotwire in West Sac, and it seems all recommendation percentages have been removed.

 

 

 

[joeschmeaux]

Caveat Emptor!

 

3* Sacramento (West) Ramada Plaza Harbor Inn $68 -- Refunded!

 

Parking

Breakfast

Internet

Pet Friendly

Fitness

Pool

Restaurant

Business

Laundry

Internet Access (it appears twice in the amenity list on the confirmation page)

 

I booked this because it said the hotel was 100% recommended by guests. I was shocked and angry to find it was the Ramada Plaza Inn, which is only 79% recommended on the standard side and has mostly terrible reviews. The good reviews are almost all from people who have posted only one review (i. e. -- likely sham reviews posted by the owner of the hotel or his or her agents). Long story shortened: I called hotwire and after quite a bit of hemming and hawing on its part, hotwire cancelled the reservation and refunded me the money.

 

Hot.wire has since removed recommendation percentages from its hotels in West Sac.

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your win and purchase experience with the board.

HOTWIRE is indeed now giving a refund option for some hotels but it is not consistent on all searches, even for the same hotel. I therefore can't comment if you were given a refund based upon this option being available for the offer you purchased, or if the customer service rep saw some inconsistency (or logic based upon your argument), but you can't make a blanket statement 'if hotwire says 100% recommended for a despised dump, you can get a refund before the fact' as these situations are handled on a case-by-case basis and they may not be so willing to offer a refund the next time around.

For the future, note that the percent recommendations shown by HOTWIRE on the 'opaque' listing side have no correlation to each other... so you shouldn't use this information in trying to take a guess as to the hotel being offered.

I explained that I'm a seasoned hotwire user...

We hope that you will share more of your future wins with the board.

We have added this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know if you need help with, or if you make a replacement purchase, for this nite.

[joeschmeaux]

For the future, note that the percent recommendations shown by HOTWIRE on the 'opaque' listing side have no correlation to each other... so you shouldn't use this information in trying to take a guess as to the hotel being offered.

 

 

I realize that there are two sets of ratings, but when the hotwire side says 100% recommended, it's reasonable to expect that the standard side won't be too far off and the hotel will have mostly great reviews on every site. Any hotel that is truly 100% recommended would have been great! The fact that the Ramada was only 79% on the standard side was just an example of how the 100% rating was flawed, which I brought to hotwire's attention in support of my complaint. The real issue is that hotwire sold me a hotel as 100% recommended, which is impossible when there are tons of reviews on tripadvisor, collected in conjunction with Ramada, with titles like, "I expected better," "Not Happy With My Stay," "Extremely Dirty!!" and, "HORRIBLE." Hotwire realized it had misrepresented the hotel, so it refunded my money and has since removed percentages from listings in West Sacramento. I don't think they would have refunded my money had I simply not liked the hotel I got.