Hotwire Hotel: 2.5* Austin (Arboretum - Mopac) Extended Stay America (WHICH ONE??)

[mtbscott]

I'm more of a Priceline NYOP bidder, but have used Hotwire a few times when I wanted to be in a specific area and they had something in the right price range. Last Monday I looked for a room in Austin TX Arboretum zone for the coming Saturday (Oct 25) and found what looked like a real bargain, $38 for 2.5*. Booked it and it was an Extended Stay America. There are actually two of them in the Arboretum zone about a mile apart, this wasn't one I'd stayed at before (and preferred) but it was close enough to where I needed to be Sunday morning. ESA hotels aren't fancy, but both of these are pretty new and more than adequate for my one night solo business stay. 

I drove up to Austin from Houston early and went mountainbike riding in one of the lakeside parks. Then headed to the hotel only to be told, "sorry, we've overbooked and don't have a room for you." They told me they were going to send me to another of their facilities, but it was way across town and I told them that would not be acceptable. They told me it was then a Hotwire problem.

I called Hotwire and explained the situation. The woman couldn't understand why I wouldn't just move to the other hotel but I told her I asked for that zone and wanted to stay there for my business reasons. She said she'd look to see what else was available but the only two she came up with were in bedroom communities of Austin some 30 miles out. I then asked for a refund but she told me she could only give me a Hotwire credit. I asked for a supervisor and he agreed to refund me.

So now I'm online on my phone trying to find somewhere else to stay and finding only a handful of hotels period in Austin, and they're all 5*s in the $800 a night range. After trying multiple search engines, I resign myself to the fact that something in Austin is taking up all the hotel rooms. I decide to call the other Extended Stay location they tried to send me to only to be told they were fully booked too and had no idea how/why their sister hotel was planning on sending me there.

I ended up booking literally the last room in Bastrop 25 miles out, a double room at a Quality Inn. Found out from some locals that although the Formula One race is not until next week, many of the teams and fans are already coming into town and that's most likely the reason for the congestion.

Moral of story. I don't know what the hotel could have done different, they screwed up, but Hotwire not being able to remedy the problem and then attempting to charge me anyway is not acceptable. I can't see myself ever using Hotwire again.

[thereuare]

Sorry to hear of the issue you had with this stay.

Can you please add the details of your win to the board in a reply to THIS TOPIC so that others will be aware of your win when searching the topic titles on the board and in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

In your post please include the star rating, city, zone, hotel name (and address since you mention more than one property from this chain in the zone), room rate per nite, dates of your stay and amenities shown before your purchase... you can still view all of this information by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

Thanks!