Hotwire Hotel: 2.5* Toronto (North York-Vaughan) Days Inn Airport East

[sandybeaches]

I booked a hotel in Toronto based on it's 95% recommendation by hotwire customers. It was in the location and had the amenities I was looking for. When I learned the name of the hotel, I went to other sites, ie trip advisor, hotels.ca, Expedia, etc and discovered that it was nowhere near a 95% recommendation rating. The closest was www.Hotels.com with only a 64% recommendation rating. I checked all of these sites and the reviews varied from 46% to 64%. Some of the reviews were awful - bed bugs, scabies, unsafe, dirty, bad location, etc etc. As a result, I attempted to get a refund from Hotwire, which was immediately refused. (This was a non-refundable purchase.)

I called the hotel and advised I was cancelling the reservation, and they told me to call Hotwire. I explained that I was calling as a courtesy so they could rent out the room if required and not hold it for me. I have also filed a dispute with my credit card company. Am I crazy or is this not a misrepresentation and a solid reason to get a refund? I would not have booked it had the reviews been accurate.

Thanks so much, all advice is appreciated!

[thereuare]

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[sandybeaches]

Days Inn & Conference Centre - Toronto Airport East

$57 per night, for 3 nights in March 2011, total of $201.66.

Amenities include airport shuttle & pool. 95% recommendation by hotwire customers, 2.5*.

Sandy

[sandybeaches]

Done, sorry about that:)

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your results with the board and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

How far in advance did you book this and at what point did you call HOTWIRE with your concerns?

Usually HOTWIRE's stance is that you at least need to 'give it a try' and show up at the hotel, then if you have an issue that you can't resolve to call them and see if they can work it out with the property. While i understand this isn't how most people want to start a trip, it's understandable, especially given how many times we hear on the board "i'm nervous after reading the reviews" and then hear back that the hotel was fine and the user had a great stay.

While i see the reviews of this property are 'love it our hate it' imagine the following scenario:

A hotel charges $200/nite when users book direct, but discounts deeply for purchases thru the opaque providers and only charges $50/nite... assuming the hotel is nothing special but acceptable, could you see how 'regular' retail purchasers paying $200 might have very negative reviews whereas those only paying $50/nite would think the hotel was a good bargain and willing to stay again? I'm not saying that this is the scenario here, but just that it's one example where a hotel could have somewhat negative reviews by most customers but a very high recommendation by HOTWIRE (and other discounted rate) customers.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[sandybeaches]

Thank you very much for your reply - and,yes, I do understand what you are saying. Unfortunately, I had booked this for my daughter and a friend and was totally uncomfortable sending them there to check it out due to what I read. I didn't want to have them in a position where they had to move and deal with booking somewhere else, etc. I telephoned Hotwire immediately the same day after booking the hotel, learning the name and reading the various negative reviews. I was told that it was Hotwire's customers that had rated the hotel that way and that they were not concerned with outside reviews.

Since my complaint, Hotwire has now changed the recommendation rating to 50% which is more in line with the other travel website reviewers. Unfortunately, at the time I booked it was 95% which is why I originally made the decision to choose this hotel. Not sure what to do at this point?