Hotwire Hotel: 5* Madrid (El Centro-Old Madrid) Hotel Melia Princesa

[3aw7]

I recently booked a four night stay in Madrid at a 4 1/2 star hotel. I was pleased with the hotel offered and it turned out to be 5* on other sites. Before booking hotwire stated i would be given a suite and i was quite satisfied with this amenity.

A few weeks later I was contacted by hotwire saying the suite was unavailable. I responded asking what room we would be given in its place and hotwire just told me to call and find out myself. They have terrible customer service and do not try to help the customer in any way what so ever. Finally after several emails Hotwire asked the hotel our room and it was the most basic one available. Imagine being downgraded from a suite to a basic teeny room. Hotwire advertised as giving a suite so that is what I expect to receive. They need to sort out the issue wih the hotel and make sure I, as the customer am happy and accomodated for. We still have not had any sort of amends to this and the only responses are generic scripts read out or emailed by customer service. I just want to receive what i paid for and was promised by hotwire. The suite is available for our dates as I contacted the hotel personally to enquire after hotwires stated it was unavailable. Hotwire needs to incuur the cost with the hotel to get us in that suite if they no longer want to give the deal. The site is fraudulent and i would be very wary to book on there. Our trip is coming up and the issue still hasn't been resolved. I sure won't be using it again if this cannot be resolved.

Any advise on how this issue can be fixed?

[thereuare]

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[georgevancouver]

If you're talking about the Melia Princesa, I was in the same situation and Hotwire informed me on July 11 that the 5star suite is no longer available. It is now a 4 star regular room. Based on the website pics, it looked too small. I was offered to keep the now regular room and receive 50% of the cost in "Hotdollars" valid for 1 year or get a full refund plus 50 "Hotdollars". I took the refund and found a better hotel on my own. In my situation, I lost $80 CAN on the refund due to currency changes. Hotwire was useless in solving the problem, they didn't answer my email and I got the same canned response from the helpline. My bank (CIBC) fixed my problem as they have a policy of refunding the exact amount when getting refunds in foreign exchange. Check out the HUSA PASEO DEL ARTE.

[3aw7]

Yes thats exactly what they offered us as well. I finally managed to make them call the hotel to find out what room we were being down graded to which was the standard room. We have decided to keep the stay at the hotel though and hopefully when we get there we will get some sort of ammends from the hotel itself. Hotels tend to have reasonable customer service so we will see. We managed as well to get hotwire to give us the 50% discount in cash directly back onto my credit card. It took a lot of pushing though which was not pleasant. they also lied several times telling us the suite wasn't available and it was b/c we personally contacted the hotel to see for ourselves what hotwire was up to. From pictures at least i feel the hotel is quite nice but the standard room does look fairly small but for the price we ended up paying, about $250 USD for 4 nights it is a great deal.

[thereuare]

So that others can benefit the most from your post and experience, as per my post above, can you please add a reply to this thread with the star rating, city, zone, hotel name, dates of your stay, price paid per nite (before fees and taxes), and the 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.

Thank you.

[3aw7]

The hotel we booked was a 4 1/2* in Madrid Central with a suite, a pool, restaurant etc. for $116 a night. The hotel ended up being Melia Madrid Princessa. We did get a 50% refund on this so will end up paying $58 a night which is very good although I could have done without the hassle and would really have liked the suite i was booking or at least a more reasonable alternative to the most basic room they have. We are going to be staying there September 10 - 14.

[thereuare]

The hotel we booked was a 4 1/2* in Madrid Central with a suite, a pool, restaurant etc.

Can you please list the complete amenities that are curerntly being shown when going to the MY ACCOUNT link on the top right of HOTWIRE's home page... and what is the star rating that is currently shown there?

Thank you.