Hotwire Hotel: Can't book Toronto 4* Downtown West

[marief]

Over the past 2 days I have been trying to book Toronto 4* Downtown West 01/07/09-01/11/09 $73 ... it looks like its the Sheraton based on amenities and 480* reviews ... whenever I try to buy the trip, I get all the way through the credit card purchase to have it say the trip is no longer available--yet when I search again, it sometimes still returns that hotel; other times that hotel is not available, so I return a few hours later or next day, and when it comes up as one of the hotels on offer, I try again with same result.

I thought it might be my problem, have tried different credit cards to no avail. Just tried again for about the 4th time in several days.

Anyone else have this problem?

thanks for any advice ....

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Sometimes an offering gets caught in HOTWIRE's cache, or there is a problem communication with the hotel to complete the transaction, which can create the error you're encountering.

If you are searching for 2adults/0children, and you change your search to 2adults/1child, does the same offering appear? (if so, is it approximately the same price)

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

[sweptaway]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Sometimes an offering gets caught in HOTWIRE's cache, or there is a problem communication with the hotel to complete the transaction, which can create the error you're encountering.

If you are searching for 2adults/0children, and you change your search to 2adults/1child, does the same offering appear? (if so, is it approximately the same price)

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

The Sheraton id the host hotel for the Boat show which starts this w/e and that hotel is no doubt sold out or very close to it- they offer a boat show rate of $80.00 I waited to long and they sold that rate out so they put me at the Harbour Castle for the $80 boat rate.

[marief]

As per your suggestion, i tried the query with the change to 2 adults/1 child ... same offering appears, and the price is the same.

What does this indicate? Is there a way to contact HotWire support?

I'm using a Mac--I thought it might be a browser issue so have tried both Safari and now firefox with the same result. Its odd, because even though it says the offering is no longer available--it still shows up--I just can't buy it! Odd, as I've used my mac to book other hotels with Hotwire in the past ....

Thanks,

Marie

[marief]

I tried purchasing the offer again, with the same result: "offer no longer available". I then entered a new search, and the same offer is still there--again, I just can't purchase it.

I tried with a Visa credit card, then again with a Mastercard, then I thought a new additional security screen step that comes up with both credit cards might be the source of the problem, so I tried PayPal--still itinerary no longer available error, yet when I immediately search again, the hotel is still showing as available for purchase.

I could try an alternate hotel, but the Sheraton is best proximity for me, so have been persevering ...

I've now also sent an e-mail to HotWire support about this.

[thereuare]

It's cached in their system and won't likely get 'flushed out' until another upgraded internally in their system (few hours)... i believe the error message you receive mentions that HOTWIRE customer service will not be able to assist.