Hotwire offer ultimatily unavailable error 111

[Torero]

Thanks to the Forum I have been able to pinpoint a hotel in Madrid and I've been trying to purchase a stay in October for the past month. The Hotel has been showing up on the search, at different prices, from day to day. I keep thinking the offer has been updated. But in fact every time I go through the purchase procedure I end up getting an error message saying the Itinerary is no longer available with an error #111. If this happened once or twice I would think I have been unlucky. But more than ten times, I am now convinced there are decoy offers on Hotwire.

Does any one have input and insight regarding this matter? Any info would be much appreciated.

I just tried again and got another message:

"We're sorry, but the itinerary you selected is no longer available. Your card has not been charged. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You may retry your search by modifying your date, neighborhood or select another hotel within a different star category and we will search all other hotels to find the best available hot-RateSM.

Note that this price is not guaranteed until the purchase is complete. Hotwire Customer Care Associates will not be able to assist you with this problem. Error #405"

[Colfax]

Despite that "Hotwire Customer Care Associates will not be able to assist you with this problem" message, I would call the 800 number anyhow. Tell them you want to book the trip and are having trouble. Hotwire Customer Service is usually pretty accomodating. If they can't book it for you maybe they can tell us what the problem is.

If you call them please get back to us with the response you got. (And also the name of the hotel.)

[Torero]

I followed your advice Colfax. This is what happened. At first it sounded like they were going to be able to reserve the Hotel I have been trying to book. Then suddenly they gave me a run around, asking me what other choice I had. I insisted that I wanted my firts choice. They responded I needed to change that choice. I asked if my choice would become available. They restated I had to change. I asked why my choice kept showing up in the search. No response to my question, just that I could make another choice. Conclusion: No help and no insight from customer service. Just for your info this is the choice that keeps coming up and that cannot be booked.

5-star hotel in El Centro - Old Madrid $ 199.

[Colfax]

Hmmm. That's an odd situation. There's no way you can force Hotwire to sell you the hotel but they ought to be able to delete it if it's not available. Thanks for the update, Torero, and good luck finding something else.

[Torero]

:) Guess what! I checked today for the same Itinerary. Madrid 5 star El Centro - Old Madrid. Got an offer with a different price $ 203. It looked like an update. Bingo! UNAVAILABLE. By the way, that's a match for the Westin Palace in Madrid. It's a great choice and if that price was for real it would be a fantastic offer at this time of the year. I can't understand why Hotwire would keep offering something they don't have available.

[Torero]

OK. Going further into the option COLFAX suggested I decided to send Hotwire a Customer care question. I'll post the answer when I get it.

"Hello. I've been in touch with Hotwire by email and phone regarding a problem with the purchase of 5 Star El Centro - Old Madrid Hotel. For the past month I've been renewing my search and everytime that offer comes up, I've been trying to purchase it ( I've tried about 15 times ). I've seen that offer at different prices ranging from $199 to $225. I consistently received error messages 111 or 405. This matter has been discussed on travel Forums and I am puzzled as to why Hotwire would repeatedly propose a Hotel they actually have no real offer for. I really hope you won't give me the same answers you have given me previously about being able to make another choice from the list. That's not my question. The question is, does hotwire in its search results show choices that are actually and knowingly unavailable. Indeed, after trying 15 times for the same hotel I can't believe it's just a matter of bad luck. Thank you.

PS: I will be posting your answer on the travel forums where this matter has been discussed"

[Torero]

HERE IS THE RESPONSE:

Thank you for contacting Hotwire regarding your inquiry.

I recognize you would like to confirm if we offer hotel bookings that

are guaranteed available. I regret the frustration this caused you.

The Hotwire Web site is designed to show you the best possible rates

available through our partners at the time of your search.

Hotel rates change all the time, generally based on availability and

demand. Our rooms do move fast, so it's important you act quickly when

you see a rate you like - or risk losing it. We guarantee the rates

Hotwire presents at the time of booking are currently the lowest

available based on your specific search criteria.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to reply to this

email or contact us directly at 1-866-HOTWIRE (468-9473). Thank you for

choosing Hotwire.

Sincerely,

Raine M

Hotwire Customer Care

www.hotwire.com

[thereuare]

How about reply to the message we sent you?? :)

[Torero]

Follow UP:

I pursued my investigation in the matter. I opened a TRIP WATCHER on HOTWIRE and noticed that when the hotel shows up in the search it doesn't show in the TRIP WATCH. I'm not sure what to think of this.

Hope U got my Message thereuare.

[thereuare]

HOTWIRE caches their inventory and sometimes a hotel will not get refreshed... what is the actual date of your stay?

[Torero]

Hi thereuare. Got your message. Dates are 10/02 to 10/06. Just tried again. The Hotel showed up at a different price today. $209 instead of $199 yesterday. Same results. Not available. Used the forum link HOTWIRE to get to the Hotwire website.

[thereuare]

Usually this is a caching issue (on HOTWIRE's side, nothing you can do about it) but just remembered we saw this once also where it was a problem with HOTWIRE and the hotel communicating with the booking software to update things... any transaction for the chain didn't go thru and received a similar message.

With your stay just a week away i would be considering contingent plans (hopefully something cancellable in case the above is resolved favorably but this hotel may not ultimately be available for booking).

One other thing you can try, if you're now searching for 2adults/0children, is to try searching for 2adults/1child as you may have different hotels appear and/or perhaps the same hotel might appear and be bookable (although i'd onlyl give the latter a 5-10% chance at working... but nothing to lose by trying)

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

[llggbb]

I had a similar situation when I was trying to reserve a suite in miami airport area, I was considering the options when suddenly appear a good one, 3 stars and $64, I decided to book it, I couldn't, after giving my credit card information, hotwire was having trouble with the comunication to the hotel, suggested to try again, I tried again and the system told me that the hotel wasn't available for the dates. Searching again and the hotel was in the list, when I tried to book it again the problem was with the credit card, I tried 3 credit cards with the same error, (the number doesn't match with the security code). I couldn't get the hotel. I think maybe someone else booked it seconds before me, and hotwire had only one suite, don't you?

[Torero]

Thank you llggbb and thereuare for your insight. Yes the situations are similar. The cache explanation seems like the right one to me. However, in that case I don't understand why the price shows up different from day to day. If the offer from Hotwire is sincere it would mean that the room was available for a very short time and was grabbed by another client leaving the cache for the rest of us. I finally opted for another Hotel. Hope everyone keeps sharing their experience because this website is a great info source, and don't forget to use the support page links from this website.