Lisa Deason thought she’d booked a hotel room in New York for four guests through Hotwire. But her confirmation told her otherwise: the room could only accommodate two people, at most.
And yeah, you guessed it — Hotwire wouldn’t refund her money or let her switch hotels.
Let’s go straight to the fine print on this one. From Hotwire’s rules and restrictions:
Room type will be determined by the hotel based on the number of guests provided at time of booking. All reservations are booked for stays in non-smoking rooms (subject to availability). Hotel room assignments are determined at check-in and upgrades are not available.
Got that? Hotwire just takes your money; the hotel gets to pick your room. (Remember, Hotwire doesn’t tell you the name of your hotel until you’ve paid.)
But if she indicated there were four guests, shouldn’t the hotel have offered her a room that would fit four guests? Of course.
Here’s Deason’s story:
I made a reservation for a hotel in New York with Hotwire for May. I always knew that I’d have myself and three others for a total of four.
Since I had used Hotwire before and was familiar with their booking for two I checked their limitations and exclusions first. I went ahead and booked for four, since I saw no indication of the two only rule and the drop down box allowed me to book for four.
When the confirmation came for one king bed I began to freak out.
I contacted Hotwire, and they assured me that I had booked for two. A later email (which I copied) came from a girl who said that she saw that I had requested lodging for four. Hotwire said that since the reservations are non-cancelable, which I knew, that I should call the hotel.
The hotel said that I could change the room for $100 a night. There are several emails back and forth with both Hotwire and the hotel, neither making any concession. I told Hotwire to give me another hotel.
Hotwire refused, so she initiated a credit card dispute and contacted me.
After reviewing her correspondence, I thought Hotwire should have another chance to review her case. So I contacted the company and asked it to take a second look at Deason’s reservation.
A few days later, I got the following note from her:
Well, Mr. Elliott, you are a genius and a force to be reckoned with! Apparently you made heads roll at Hotwire, and I bow to you.
I received a call today on my cell phone and Hotwire was willing to refund my original fee at the Park Central Hotel and give me the same star rating hotel in the area we agreed on, Midtown East, for a better price. It has the appropriate accommodations for we four and I would do business with them again since they tried to fix the situation (unless you think that’s a bad idea.) Anyway, I think the hotel could have tried harder too but someone came through.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Frankly, I didn’t know how it got resolved until I listened to the message on my home phone and Hotwire mentioned your name, sort of like Don Corleone.
I called Citibank and told them the issue was resolved so they could stop whatever they were doing on my behalf. They’ll wait until the Hotwire credit comes through before they drop it altogether.
Again, I thank you and I’ll try to be more careful when booking to make certain that I do everything correctly.
I love a happy ending.
(Hmm, Don Corleone? My kids will like that.)
I’m not sure if Deason could have done anything different. Hotwire leaves the final room assignment to the hotel, and if you don’t like it, your options seem to be very limited.
(Photo: kw~ny/Flickr Creative Commons)
✓ Get the latest travel news, tips and commentary from Elliott’s E-Mail, the subversive newsletter from industry gadfly Christopher Elliott. You’ll travel like a pro. Sign up here. It’s free.
Sign up for my 
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I know that people think they are getting a better deal by going through a site like Hotwire or Priceline, but from all of the horror stories on here about messed up reservations, is that “deal” really worth it? Or is the thrill of “spinning the wheel” just so invigorating?
This is the reason I would never do a hotel with hotwire or priceline. The only time I use Priceline is for rental cars, cause they only book with the major companys, and they really can’t screw you
Now only if the TSA knew they were screwing with the Corleone family they might have thought better of ruining your holidays.
Hey Chris–I would love to know how you letters break out in terms of booking source…direct with vendor online, direct with vendor on phone, transparent website, opaque website, travel agent, etc.
As a travel professional, I can;t hep but notice that the majority of ANY ombudsman letter typically begin with “I booked by ______ on _____.com”
I know…. STOP USING these SCAM SITES that take your money but OFFER NOTHING in return. Is saving a LITTLE MONEY worth that much of a headache? What can you save at best 10-20 dollars? If you toss in AAA or look for promotions at some good hotels, you can end up with a nice price with a DIRECT BOOKING. Why do people insist on keeping these opaque sites alive? I mean at leave in Travelocity’s case, you know what you get when you book, which is at least a drop better. However, I STICK to booking with the
A) Hotel
B) Airline
That way the money trail is easy to follow if there’s a problem. No back and forth about WHO HAS to issue a credit and why nothing can be done.
Apparently, Chris, you made Hotwire an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Nice work, and may your next child be a masculine child.
@John someone just called me the Godfather of Travel on Twitter. Kiss the ring.
In terms of booking methods, it’s almost all online these days. The DIY thing is a real problem, no doubt about it.
I find it interesting that Lisa Deason will use Hotwire again because “they tried to fix the situation.” No, they didn’t. Chris got the situation resolved. Does this mean that Ms. Deason will write to Chris every time that Hotwire doesn’t deliver? How many times should one use a company that doesn’t provide the product they promise and stands behind rules and conditions that it wrote to protect it from as much liability as possible? If Hotwire left her hanging this time until Chris stepped in, then it is a pretty good bet Hotwire will do it again, and again, and again. I really don’t understand why people use Hotwire when it provides such limited customer service.
I do use Priceline when booking last minute hotels for people at work. I’ve got it down to a science though. I look up hotel costs for different star levels so that I have an idea how much to bid. I always bid the highest star level and go from there. Using this method, I have gotten some excellent deals. If the prices that I am willing to bid are too low to go through or the area does not look decent enough, I find a direct hotel for a decent price. If you go about it the right way, you can narrow down what hotels you will get to just a few and get a better hotel for a better price than you would get booking directly through the hotel. It is a gamble, but it’s paid off for me more than once. However, I do not book using priceline if I am booking for more than two people in the room and I do my research on cost and availability before I bid. I also don’t use it for air travel because I need too much control over flight times. I get better prices on rental cars with my discount codes booking directly.
I have used expedia for booking air, especially when it is a trip that I will need to use different airlines to get the times I need. If it’s a trip that I can do all on one airline, I book direct, but a multi-stop can be so much easier to deal with using a travel website.
These types of websites aren’t totally evil. You just need to have some information beforehand to maximize your experience and savings.
@Justin
I respectfully disagree. Priceline/hotwire are just one more resource for obtaining travel. Chris receives a miniscule portion of the millions of bookings made through these sites. They work for some. Not me, but they work for tons of people.
@Chris/John
I respectfully disagree that DIY is a problem. Millions of folks successfully book hotels, airlines, and cars without incident.
The only value that Hotwire etc. offer right now for hotels is when you need a hotel room in a certain area, you don’t have a particular preference for a hotel, and you don’t want to spend all day calling around to hotels, surfing websites and trying to negotiate deals.
But, due to the state of the economy and the travel industry right now, you can most likely get the same or better deal by contacting the hotel directly if you want to spend the time negotiating.
That will change when the economy gets back on track, travel increases and hotels adjust their prices upward. Then sites like Hotwire will start to be a value service again.
if you need a specific type of room why would you take your chances with someone ELSE determining if you need that type of room? Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice would have liked a single kind bed perfectly well . . . .
When will folks understand, you get what you pay for. You want a guaranteed choice you need to pay for it – at least now. What did Hotwire save you? $20? Was it worth the hassle?
@ Chris,
Many people are not aware of Chris’s service. Hell, I WISH I would have known about him when Airtran kept me in an airport for around 8 hours and couldn’t find a crew to fly the flight. We had “Missed” the connection due to weather. IE it had parted and taken off LONG before we arrived. Hell, we had gotten to the gate with 10 minutes to spare and that plane had flown away! Sold our seats and left us hanging. Why I will NEVER fly that crap airline again.
Anyway, I didn’t know about his service in 2008 when that happened. How many others get screwed in the same manner. Sure, maybe 80 percent of all bookings go without a hitch. They must have a greater amount of “Happy” Customers than “Pissed” or they would not remain in business.
Yet, here is where these places fail. .
If sending payment and everything in booking goes correct, proceed to next step. If travel goes fine and no delays, proceed to completed trip. Hotwire or opaque site simply collected money and had to do nothing.
Scenario 2:
If Booking or payment fails, proceed to contact customer support at Hotwire or Opaque. If customer support fails, proceed to ask for supervisor. If supervisor unwilling to help, try to escalate. If escalation does not work, write and send certified letter and email. If email does not work, contact state attorney general or Chris Elliott. If process above fails for booking, travel, etc, please repeat as needed.
Don’t expect these places to stand behind you. Sure they “WORK. Most travel probably happens without them needing to do a damn thing than to collect your money.
Sorry @ Carver. MY FAULT CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Justin
Though I agree with your that direct booking is always a better idea – I think you’re underestimating the discounts that hotwire and priceline can get you. We’re talking 20 to 40% above and beyond promotions or AAA rates – and this is just based on my own experience.
@ Jesse,
Well is it worth the risk? Lets say you have booked a trip. Airline and Hotel booked using AAA and whatever else. Lets assume total price for a week is 1200. Let’s assume the average savings is about 5 percent on Expedia or Hotwire. 60 Dolllars. Let’s be honest, I often compare the individual prices, via direct booking and find them to be very similar….
Is that really worth the headache knowing you have ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL to argue with in the chain of getting reimbursed or remedied? No thanks. I’ll stick to direct booking.
Not everyone has AAA or a way to get a discount booking directly either. And if it’s a casual traveler who only books a hotel once or twice a year, it might not be worth it for them to get the membership for travel discounts.
I have often saved at least 50% on hotel rooms. Once, I got a hotel room for 50 dollars that I could have booked directly for 150 dollars. That makes a big difference.
I prefer booking directly as well, but for some travelers and in some situations, it makes sense to use a third party site, whether transparent or opaque.
All these stories about Hotwire reinforce my own experience with them a few years ago. so I NEVER book thru them, period, they are not reputable IMHO. Why does it take intervention by Elliott to do what should have been done in the first place? Thus I don’t use anyone that does not serve their customers!
To borrow a phrase, “stuff happens”. Every company will have a small portion of customers who have a bad experience, and the bigger the company, the more off-beat and obscure the situation can become. You get crossed wires, you get company employees who are having a bad day, who think they are doing the right thing when they are not, who stick tight to company policies, and sometimes they just flat-out don’t like to work with the public.
Stuff happens. It’s a fact of life. And, as a result, it is for THAT reason that Chris does what he does.
Just because Chris finds plenty of business doing what he does doesn’t mean that the whole industry is corrupt. If sites like Hotwire and Priceline gave horrible service across the board, they wouldn’t be in business. Companies don’t operate in bad faith for long under a cloud of secrecy. Even without the Internet, people talk amongst themselves and, when they’re done wrong, they seek out help. Others begin to connect the dots and before you know it, you have your next Enron or Bernie Madoff. Companies that ultimately do not serve their customers and provide no value will starve to death. But every time Chris has to step in doesn’t mean that the company has a foot in the grave. For every one person Chris has to help, there are probably thousands of people who use that same company’s services every day, who find what they need, consume their purchase and couldn’t have had a better experience about it. It’s perfectly fine for you to observe these errors and decide that you are personally better off not to use these companies and their services, but that doesn’t mean that they are not providing a service that people want and that we should all declare that they’re worthless scams. If it truly was an illegitimate scam, they wouldn’t have lasted this long.
I don’t know about Hotwire since I used them once several years ago, paid for a four star room and got on that was barely three stars. In contrast to that, my experience with Priceline has been outstanding. I began using their hotel service when they first started, probably about 10 years ago. On the average, I book about 5 priceline hotel stays a year. That’s 50 times that I’ve been a happy customer. Sometime, you get more than you expect, This past Christmas weekend, I bid $55 for a three star hotel in Boca Raton. FL. I quickly received a reply that there was no three star hotel available and that they were giving me the Boca Renaissance, a 4 star property.
Also, in September of 2008, I tried using Orbitz, Travelocity and others to book a hotel in downtown Chicago for a weekend. The best price for a three star hotel that I could find was $175. I tried a Priceline bid of $75 which was accepted and was given a room a the Marriott Hotel on Wacker Drive just east of Michigan Ave. When my wife and I checked in, the clerk ask me if we were members of Marriott Rewards. I gave her my number and we were upgraded to a room on an upper floor with an outstanding view.
I plan to continue to use Priceline for my hotel reservations.
@Kevin
Excellent analysis. Priceline and Hotwire stay in business because the serve a market. Personally, I almost never use these services because they do not meet my needs. however, other folks use them with excellent results.
As Kevin so succintly stated, “stuff happens” When things go well, no one contacts Chris.
Hotwire does serve a specific need. I have never had a problem with them. I have been slightly disappointed in a room at times, and I feel that they bump up star levels half a star, but when compared to the rate on any other travel site they do run an average of 30%-50% cheaper, worth the trade off for me. I usually recommend them a lot of times if I just need a room and I am not specific on what I want.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I consider myself to be part of the market that Hotwire services. I often travel alone and on my own dollar. If I know the area I’m traveling to well enough I can get a general idea of what hotel I’m booking at for a fraction of the cost. I’ve manged to successfully book the same Hampton Inn in Orlando for less than $50 on three separate occasions just by paying close attention to location and amenities.I’m also laid back enough that as long as the room is a minimum of clean and safe I don’t really care where I end up. I’ve booked with Hotwire 6-8 time a year since 2004 with no problems.
Count me in as another generally satisfied Hotwire customer. I got the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco for $75/night on Valentine’s day 2 years ago.
With that kind of experience, Lianne, you’re a hot wire! :)
I use Hotwire several times a month for my business travel and can testify they have saved me between 30 and 40% over other sites deals. If you have a problem as I have had from time to time, a quick phone call to the hotel or to the Hotwire customer support people have fixed them. I read the conformation VERY carefully before I agree to buy the room, rental car or airfare. In fact this month alone they got me three nights in Irvine’s, Crowne Plaza for $53 bucks a night (plus tax). This week I’m in Portland OR at a really nice Comfort Inn for $35 a night (plus tax), so please knock it as much as you can, that makes it so much better for me and my employees.
As a long time reader of Elliott and Consumer Traveler, it seems like the majority of the problems that Chris is attempting to resolve\fix\etc. are from three sources: 1) Discounted website (i.e. Priceline, Hotwire, etc.) 2) online website (i.e. Expedia) and 3. consumers that didn’t dealt with a travel agent from a traditional brick & mortar travel agency in their community.
I am sure that they are people that are happy with Priceline, Hotwire and etc. One of my preferences is to know the hotel before I book. Another of my preferences is to stay with specific hotel chains (Marriott and Hilton).
Given that the hotel industry is hurting now and there are tons of empty of rooms especially at the high-end hotels, I am sure that you can get a nice room at a great rate from these websites. Once the market turns around, I am sure that these bargins will be less to find.
Deason sent her thank you to the wrong person. Christopher Elliott is the only one who deserves a very big thank you. If I were her, I would not consider booking through Hotwire again because you can’t always be expected to come to her rescue.
Well Done!
I see. many comments including the one by Mr. Frenaye
“I booked by ______ on _____.com”
Well, John…”I booked by ____ on ____.com because the travel agent who originally did the booking had the hotel and flight not match up so I would have been on the street for a night!”
“I booked by ____ on ____.com because when I went to a travel agent, they didn’t know what a London Pass was, and took a long time to look it up – then their price was more. How can they give me such great advice if they don’t know what these things are?”
“I booked by ____ on ____.com because when I went to a travel agency and said I wanted a non smoking room in London, she laughed at me and said they could not book non smoking rooms”.
“I booked by ____ on ____.com because the travel agent didn’t book my wife’s e-ticket properly and they said I had no ticket when I checked later”
“I booked by____ on ____.com because although I screw up, I screw up less than the travel agents.”
John, I’m going to hit 25,000 status miles in a week, as will my wife – and I’ll have 35 hotel nights under my belt. I’ve also booked several weeks worth of car rentals this week – and none of it was from a travel agent. That’s a total of 50,000 status miles, 35 hotel nights and 4 car rentals…all with no agent.
Sorry..but I get a lot of trouble with travel agents.
@ Bill: “I’ve also booked several weeks worth of car rentals this week – and none of it was from a travel agent. That’s a total of 50,000 status miles, 35 hotel nights and 4 car rentals…all with no agent.”
I book all of my flights (100+ flights), hotels (100+ nights) and etc. by myself because they are simple. I have been booking my travel for business for over 12+ years. However, when I take a vacation (i.e. a month in Europe), I use the services of a travel agent.
It is hard to find a good travel agent and it takes time (as well as trial & error) to find a good travel agent. There are some very good travel agents on this forum. I only wish that one or two of them was located in the PHX area.
That’s alright, Bill. YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary.