Hot Wire, www.hotwire.com

I booked my hotel and had a conformation for a hotel near the phoenix airport with an airport shuttle, with the airport shuttle being the most important feature of the hotel to me, because my car rental did not start till the following morning.  I later received a call from hotwire stating that my hotel was overbooked and that my reservation was cancelled.  I was then presented with two options.  The first was that I could get a refund, or my second option was that I could have hotwire book a new hotel for me.  I chose to have hotwire book a new hotel for me because I was driving to the airport, so I couldn't do it myself, and still needed a hotel when I got to Phoenix. I explained to the Hotwire customer service agent that I needed a hotel with an airport shuttle because my car rental was not scheduled till the next morning.  She then asked me if the Four Points Sheraton at 6850 E. Williams Rd.  in Mesa would be ok, to which I responded, "As long as they have an Airport shuttle, and can pick me up."  She then indicated that they did, and proceeded to book my room.  I am not familiar at all with Phoenix, and I didn't have any access to the internet while driving, so telling me the address of a hotel has no meaning to me.  My only concern was that the hotel could pick me up at the airport. Much to my surprise, after picking up my luggage and calling the hotel, they informed me that they were located in an entirely different area, and serviced an entirely different airport.  I then called hotwire to have this situation  resolved.  After waiting on the phone for 30-40 minutes while the hotwire representative pleaded unsuccessfully  with the hotel to pick me up, I was told that I needed to catch a taxi to the hotel and back the next morning (a 30 minute drive each way), and that it would  be refunded by hotwire.  I asked why I could not simply be changed to a new hotel, and was given the excuse that it was already the next day, and if my hotel was changed, I would not be able to check in till 3 p.m. the next day. This however did not really make sense, because it was still before midnight in phoenix at the time. I was instructed by hotwire to submit my taxi receipt by email, and I would be refunded in 7-10 days. Instead of being refunded however, hotwire changed their tune and emailed me back saying they would not be able to provide any compensation.

If I had realised they are owned by Experia (a company I detest) I would have avoided but too late now. Same 'bait and switch' sales techniques, dishonest & incomplete small print that may result in you paying over 500% more than the quoted price for international car hire! A complete scandal and I suspect operated in collusion with their partners (in this case Europcar in the UK) who do not want to honour the low price during busy times and will do anything to avoid doing so.

I tried to book a hotel at Excel London where I am attending a conference, which will finish late and start early. After selecting an onsite hotel, I then fell for the very tempting 'same star rating nearby for much less' advert. What a mistake - I feel like I've been well and truly conned. The hotel was supposed to be between 0.0 & 5.6km from the hotel I originally planned to book but turned out to be 9.35 km away. This doesn't sound like that much but it is a very complicated commute of almost 1 hour involving an intermittent ferry crossing, walking tube and DLR. Even by taxi it would take at least half an hour and end up costing me far more than the supposed discount saved me in the first place. Hotwire have predictably refused to change or cancel my booking. I am now trying to retrieve my money through my bank. Do not trust this company. Just look at all of the bad reviews - I wish I had.

Do not trust this site. They promise a Hilton, Ramada etc etc and then you end up with a b&b which is very disappointing.

Booked an unamed ' 4star hotel'in Kent. Was described as like Hilton etc or other similar.

Turned out to be a local pub with 6 rooms. Room v small couldn't be changed as all rest overlooked very noisy busy road. No air conditioning.

Staff lovely but breakfast homely, no yoghurt or fresh fruit,croissants. Feel tricked as although pleasant hardly similar to 4star hotel, local pub no reception.

Beware hotwire!

Just like the most common reviewers , my experience was the bait and swicth practice with the false HINTS and the horrible customer service . So You Got me this time Hotwire but You will never get another cent from me or my family or friends. I will take the time to let as many people as possible know about your poor business practices and poor customer service. Why don't you listen to your customers and make some type of attempt to satisfy customers with legitimate complaints. I don't understand You could make more money and have satisfied customers. Basically It appears that your company just doesn't care!

So I booked a hotel that they had a 3.5 stars normally priced at $137 per night available for $57. The "HINT p" hotels ended up being twice as nice and not shown on the hint section. IF its not going to be on the hint section put an asterisk!!!! * I saw nothing saying *these hotels might not be your actual hotel. Or if its there its not on the hint section for easy disclosure. So I book and get a much lesser place but 3.5 Stars, ok Then the hotel has an extra charge of $25 per night just for occupancy not parking or anything. So the deal is blown right there. When I call to complain they said "yeah well you still save %50 etc" BS not when you get hit with an extra charge that half the price of the room" also that same place was available at 10 other sites for the same price where you didnt even have to take a crapshoot, Booking.com, hotels .com etc etc!!!

There was no savings at all at Hotwire and they show Hotels that are much nicer on the "hint section" that had no extra charges from those hotels! Bait and switch worked perfectly!!! Thanks for nothing..

I did a search for a hotel in Zurich and twice it came up with secret options where the price and and location were perfect but when selecting both of them, when I went through to confirm and pay, it came up saying that no rooms were available! Dont show things on your search results that arent available to purchase is a simple premise of any site otherwise you are just conning people!

Read the fine print. The car rentals are not refundable and cannot be changed. If your flight gets cancelled or your flight gets changed, you are going to be left holding the bag. Also, if you try to call Hotwire to ask them about changing anything, the representatives are incredibly rude.

I would not recommend Hotwire to anyone. The occasionally discounted price does not justify that hassle associated with dealing their customer service (or lack thereof).

I have found better services from Orbitz or just going directly to the providers of travel services (i.e. airlines, car rental agencies, hotels, etc.).

middle aged couple,frequent fliers,ontario, canada. may 2012.

we booked overseas round trip with hotwire on the internet. hotwire provided us with flight confirmation with wrong departure time-proper flight confirmation was emailed to us day after scheduled departure.hey, hotwire why even bother sending flight confirmations. this caused us to miss the plane. purchased ticket with other airline to catch connecting flight + cost of taxi from airport to airport. upon arrival when accessed our email we discovered that hotwire cancelled our return flights without contacting us or our approval. hotwire will not reimburse us for the cost of ticket. hotwire reps. n. and j. declined to provide us with company address to which we can write. hotwire reps. declined to provide their second names. considering they knew all our info this will be fair to know to whom you speak to.if somebody serious from hotwire wishes to respond we may be contacted at [email protected] first name, second name, address and ph# are required.

good luck to all canadians with booking with hotwire.com.