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Hotwire bait and switch


Travelchik
By Travelchik,
in

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I bought a 4* Orlando on August 10, 2008 (for 5 nights 12/23 - 12/28/08). I received the Rosen Centre Hotel. Given that I love lots of information, I excitedly researched this hotel only to find out that 90% of the sites I visited (over 30) rated this hotel 3*. 10 % gave it a 3.5* and NOBODY gave it 4*.

The following well known sites rate it a 3*: AAA, tripadvisor, yahoo, Travelocity, travelpost, and many others. There was a small number that gave it 3.5 * - Expedia being one. Hotwire & Expedia are owned by the same company, yet different rating scale? I could not find a single site rating this hotel 4*.

I was disappointed. I could have bid on a 3* property for a lot less. For a 4* property, it was a great price and I booked this early because of the price. Otherwise, I would have waited until closer to my travel date.

I immediately contacted Hotwire. The customer service rep told me to print out the pages from other websites and fax it to them. I did just that. I received an e-mail notification, a canned response from Hotwire saying they visited the hotel and are confident it deserves the 4* rating. I countered back about no other reputable sites giving this hotel a 4* and an overwhelming majority rating it with 3*. They postured that they use AAA, Fodors, Zagats, and Mobile to rate their properties. Well, AAA & Fodors give it 3* and Zagat does not rate it and I couldn't find Mobile's rating. After several back and forth attempts to resolve this, they finally found ONE site that rates this hotel 4* - Orbitz. They are saying because one site rates it 4*, so be it.....regardless of the umpteenth others that don't. Also, I found out Hotwire recently changed the rating on this hotel from 3.5* to 4*.

I have used Hotwire several times over the past year. Mostly with good results. I did have one hotel stay in Sioux Falls that in no way qualified for Hotwire's star rating but I decided to give Hotwire the benefit of the doubt given the limited number of better hotels in that area. Well, fool me once....shame on you......fool me twice.....shame on, well, you know.

This is poor business practice.

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Welcome to BetterBidding!

From Our Rules and Policies:

If you have a complaint, problem, or question with a recent or upcoming Priceline/Hotwire stay, we will be happy to do what we can to help, but please be considerate of the board's primary goal of helping others and first post the details of your 'win.'

It is important for everyone to know when problems and customer service issues arise, but the majority of the users come here to see winning bid information... so please oblige them with this information before asking for them for help.

Please start a NEW TOPIC to share the details of your purchase: star rating, city, zone, hotel, price per nite, dates, and amenities shown before your purchase (all of this info is still viewable by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page)... then bump this thread and we'll comment regarding the above.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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4* Hotel Orlando, FL (Sea World, I-Drive South)

12/23 - 12/28/2008 (5 nights)

Price Per Night:$66.00

Amenities: Fitness Center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s),Business Center, Laundry Facilities, High-speed Internet Access, Golf Nearby

Rosen Centre Hotel

Parking extra: $5 per night self, $10 per night Valet

(which is fine with me)

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Thanks for the post for this property.

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with the results.

Unfortunately star ratings are subjective and there is no standard in the industry... each company can, and does, use different criteria for their star ratings. (yes, even Expedia and HOTWIRE can use different ratings even though they have the same parent company) Maybe this property has improved and by the time your stay comes around others will rate this property 4* too. If not, perhaps the opposite will be true and you'll HOTWIRE will lower this star rating between now and your stay and you'll be able to cancel.

Either way keeps tabs here and see if there is a star rating change in the next few months, and now that you know of BetterBidding, use it to your advantage and ask for help here before using PRICELINE or HOTWIRE for your next hotel stay.

Assuming things remain the same, hope your stay goes better than you expect (the reviews don't seem that bad, imo)

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thank you for your advice.

I'm not worried that I will have a bad stay. I'm sure we will have a fabulous time. No worries there. Initially, I was fine with the hotel until I saw 90% of the other sites rated it 3*. Had some rated it 4*, I would have been pleased.

What concerns me is Hotwire's rating of this hotel and I feel a bait and switch. I would not have booked so early on if I knew I was getting a 3* hotel. $66 is not that great of a deal. I would have paid more for a true 4* hotel. But given what looked like a 4* for a great price, I booked and took on the risk of it being non-refundable months out.

BTW, I could have booked this hotel directly with Rosen Centre for $76 night.

The reason I was surprised about getting this hotel is partly because of an error on my part. We went to Disney a couple of weeks ago. I was watching both HOTWIRE and PRICELINE. I bid Priceline of $81 on a resort and got the Hyatt Cypress. Which we loved.

For this trip, I had adjusted my Hotwire "fare watch" but did not adjust the number of people (from 3 down to 2) and when I checked packages it did not list Rosen Centre as a possible hotel. (It's not available for 3) When I made my booking, I made it for 2 adults and that's why the Rosen Centre came back. I just wasn't paying close enough attention during research and unintentionally searched for 3 guests instead of 2.

Anyway, this site was very helpful in booking my trip. Thank you.

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  • 1 month later...

I won a hotel in San Diego once, and they downgraded it by half a star a month later. Then I got an email from Hotwire giving me $25 in credit for a future purpose due to the inconvenience.

I always the PRICELINE and [url="http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click.php?afsrc=1&id=33"]HOTWIRE[/url] links from this board for my purchase!

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  • 4 months later...

In the previous post it was written that "Unfortunately star ratings are subjective and there is no standard in the industry".. Hotwire is not even living up to their own star ratings!

I have another Hotwire "bait and switch" story that happened this week.

I have used Hotwire for the past two or three years and never had an issue with them up until recently. Just in the last week alone, they have been practicing what looks suspiciously like bait and switch. In one instance, they had a logo on a listing identifying it as having guest rooms that are always non-smoking. That turned out not to be true. Then, as customer service was of little help I had to file with the Better Business Bureau before they booked me in a real non-smoking hotel.

As an apology, they credited me a few bucks which I used to book another room thinking that this was an isolated incident.

So, I book what is advertised as a "Midscale" hotel--a category they define as a "Holiday Inn Express, Amerisuites or Country Inn and Suites" type of property. What I GOT was a lower class of property they called an "Economy" property (a 2 star LaQuinta). They say directly on their site that LaQuinta (they mention LaQuinta specifically by name) is an "Economy" 2 star property. So, they shorted me (again) and it doesn't seem to bother them (customer service) that Hotwire did it again. I've complained twice already.

What makes this particularly irritating is that I recently got an email from Hotwire saying that I was some kind of frequent-user preferred customer who could expect a higher standard of service. Obviously not.

Also, this comes not that long after they tried to pawn a bad South Beach Hotel off as a three star hotel when the Trip advisor reviews complained of all sorts of crime and general filth going on there. (It took months but they finally did downgrade that hotel, although they probably still list them).

When I went to the Better Business Bureau site I saw that they have had some other complaints about false advertising and bait and switch.

I used to have a much better experience with them but I'd try Priceline (or some other similar service) first from now on. I'm sorry to see this happen. I used to really like using this service. : (

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