Hotwire Concerns: Are they Valid?

Hotwire has been a great travel site for the budget traveler. I scored my first dirt cheap airfare from Indianapolis to San Francisco. It was my first "grown up" vacation, and my first venture into budget travel. I booked countless three and four star hotels in Chicago for weekend trips. I used the site to compare and contrast prices. It was a priceless tool for many years. Then I had an issue with one of my bookings. That is when I began to question my dedication to Hotwire.

I have little to no trust of Hotwire's sister company Expedia. Things are great with Expedia until you run into a few issues. Then the customer service headache begins. I had hoped that maybe Hotwire escaped this same flaw. Sadly, I discovered the two were more alike than I had anticipated.

I had been using Hotwire for four years, and the only issue I ever had was one that wasn't really Hotwire's fault. My flight from San Francisco to Indianapolis had a layover in Memphis. The Memphis airport was without power, so they had to reroute me. There was some code that places like Hotwire and Priceline put on their tickets that make the ticket nonrefundable. The Northwest agent didn't know how to get the code off. It took her forever to switch my tickets and as a result I almost missed my new flight. Considering how much I used Hotwire, this was a minor instance.

Then Hotwire dropped the ball. I was looking for two hotel rooms to accommodate my family on a weekend trip to Chicago. I knew my family wanted to stay in the loop, and they had a few more requirements than I do. I found a great deal on a three star hotel in the Loop. I booked the rooms, and it told me it was the Club Quarters. I booked the rooms on 05/03/06. After I booked, I found out my sister would be joining us. I needed to call the hotel to ask for roll-a-way bed in one of the rooms. I called on 05/21 to make the request and to make sure we were down for non smoking rooms. That is when it all hit the fan.

When they tried to look up my reservation, it wasn't there. Reservations made through Hotwire after I booked my rooms were there, but mine was no where to be found. They looked through their paper transactions to see if it was somehow just missed. They found nothing. I ended up calling Hotwire. I gave the disgruntled sounding rep my confirmation number. He said that they had sent the info to the hotel, so they must have it. Then he went on this speech about blaming the hotel. At this point in the game, I don't care who's fault it is. I just want assurance that Hotwire will take care of it. The proper response to the customer is not to shift blame to the other party. If an error has been made (whether it is your fault or not), you apologize and make it right. Make me a happy customer, so you won't have to deal with me again.

I call back the hotel, and after some more confusion my confirmation is faxed to them. I put in my requests and all is good in the world. Well that is until a few days later. I start to think about it, and I wonder what would have happened if I never called to make my requests. When I book through I travel site, I blindly go with the notion that they will take care of things. What would have happened if we would have arrived that Friday and the place was totally booked up? May I add, this hotel was totally booked the weekend we stayed there. If they were booked, and our reservation was never received, what would happen?

I sent an e-mail to customer service with this exact question. What is their policy if this were to happen? About two hours later I get a response from a rep. I am impressed with their quick turn around, but that is where it stops. The e-mail is nice, but it doesn't actually answer my question. She assures me that all they would have to do is fax the confirmation over and the hotel to honor the reservation. However, my actual question is never answered. I put in another e-mail to clarify their policy, but the e-mail is not returned. I guess if all I am asking for is clarification on a policy, that wouldn't be a huge issue. I am beginning to see parallels between it and its sister company, and I do not like it at all.

Since then, I have heard about lawsuits in regards to their refund policy. People were beginning to say the hotel descriptions give were inflated. Even people who work with travel agencies were saying the site was going downhill. There are reports that the prices on the site are usually more than if you booked through the hotel directly. This does not bode well for Hotwire. Even on epionions.com the recent reviews have gone from stellar to dismal. The site was once a blessing for the budget traveler. The question is what is really going on? Are these complaint and accuasations valid, or is it just ranting?