Hotwire Hotel: warning; bad experience

[zen]

We booked a hotel though hotwire. I made my decision based on the price that was quoted. I assumed that it could not be a specific hotel, because the price hotwire was quoting was more than the prices I had seen that hotel advertised at on other sites. After booking through hotwire, I of course was disapointed. We waited until that evening to check in. After arriving, we were told that the hotel did not have a reservation for us from hotwire. I thought GREAT!! we won't have to stay here. We called hotwire and asked them to cancel our reservation, and they would not!!! They said they would lose money. I got the manager of the hotel on the phone with Hotwire to assure them that they had not even received a reservation request, and therfore would not bill them. Hotwire still would not let us out of our nonexistant reservation and even made us sit in the lobby of that hotel for 2 hours while they figured out how to book us in the hotel that we didn't want!!!! We were stuck!!! Hotwire was not willing to bend even when the mistake was theirs, and we even got charged more for this hotel, than we would have had we walked in off the street.

[thereuare]

Could you please post the name of the hotel OR ask me to move this to the "General Hotwire Tips" forum.

Three comments:

1) Did you apply for Hotwire's Double the Difference Guarantee?

2) I always bring my confirmation page with me in order to avoid any problems. If you really didn't want that hotel and there was no reservation for you upon showing up, i would have asked for something in writing on the hotel's letterhead (dated and signed by the manager) and left... then just dispute the charge with your credit card company.

3) Call the hotel before arrival to make sure they have your reservation. It's always easier to straighten things out from home than to do so in the hotel lobby when you don't have complete phone and internet access, and their is a time constraint.

[Skipper2108]

IS it me or does Hotwire/Priceline customer service reps need to tone down the rude treating of their customers. I called both and asked simple questions only to get Rude people.

It seems to me that the only reason these company's have customer service is to turn people down.

With their no refund policy Why would they need customer service.

Both their websites hide facts like you might get a smoking room. This is hidden on the back pages and only after you search for it. Seems to me something like cancer causing rooms should be on main page.

First thing I do is call my credit card company and fight it. No way would I wait two hours for them to figure out who droped the ball. Then I would of used the hotels computer to book a priceline hotel or use Orbitz.

Why should you wait two hours after a airline flight?

Years ago Priceline used to guarntee a NON- SMOKING room with a king bed now you get nothing. Of course does their website state you no-longer get this? Nope only on the back pages. :)