happychic

I'm looking for advice.

I booked a hotel reservation from Hotwire a couple of months ago. I've used Hotwire many times before. They had always been trustworthy in my experience so I didn't hesitate when I saw a good rate popped up. Booked, credit card charged, done.

Fast forward to a couple of months later. I just called up the hotel to confirm arrival date and bed type in preparation of my trip. Front desk informed me they have no record of my reservation. I gave them the Hotwire itinerary number, confirmation number, my name, check-in and check-out dates... they could not find anything. Furthermore, the front desk lady told me that this has happened with Hotwire before. She thinks what happened was Hotwire booked the reservation in another city with the same name but _in a different state_. I did not know that this was possible.

Hotel rates in the area have gone up 3x on my travel dates since I made the reservation. Furthermore, availability at this hotel does not show up on any OTA or even on their own website (you have to call them up).

What can I expect Hotwire to do for me? I just want to be able to stay at a hotel in the vicinity on the exact same dates without paying the now inflated 3x price. I'm thinking Hotwire at this point will just refund my money, if that. I already called Hotwire support and the offshore support person was friendly but very unhelpful. He said I will have to call back during business hours "for them to find the reservation". I'm worried that the price will go up even higher while I'm being jerked around.

Thanks for reading.

Often1

Did you call the property in the other state to see if Hotwire did book at the other place?

Doc Savage

Make a refundable Res now as backup.

I assume you have a screenshot of the Res or an e-mail confirmation or can find it in your Hotwire account online? Email this to the property then call Hotwire again and insist they get on the ball. There's no reason they can't look up your Res during non-business hours; that's a load of crap. Hotwire needs to fix this for you by paying the property whatever is necessary to get you your room.

tatterdema

Depending on the property, very likely the reservation just never made it into their system for some reason. Most time the front desk is not able to access the management end of OTA websites. I would keep calling until you can speak with management. They are usually easier to deal with than Hotwire. If they cant help you, THEN call Hotwire.

I do not think Hotwire made the reservation in a different city. The process is usually all automated, so not really possible, or likely that would happen. I have seen it before, but it has always been user error.

erik123

I've had this happen. Call hotwire and ask them to confirm the reservation with the hotel + provide you with the hotels res no. They often can do that while you are on the phone on hold.

happychic

Thank you to everybody who responded! I spent hours on the phone with Hotwire last night and this morning. It was apparent that it was not going anywhere. Hotwire support kept transferring me to the next representative. When I finally reached what I thought was the right person, he assured me my reservation is confirmed with the hotel, and the supplier had called up "Daniel" at the hotel and confirmed with my reservation is valid. Of course, when I called up the hotel (again) myself, there was no "Daniel" who works there, and they still do not see my reservation. I got really fed up finally and told Hotwire support person how I felt and insisted on a full refund. The Indian offshore support person read through a script to explain how Hotwire reservations are not refundable. I almost chewed him out on the phone because it was Hotwire that did not uphold the agreement.

There are actually quite a few hotels by the same name in other Jackson, xx cities. So I didn't know which one to call. That would have been helpful, I think, if I knew exactly where my reservation went.

Doc Savage, I took your suggestion and made a refundable reservation at the local Motel 6 as backup. Meanwhile, I'll contact Citi Prestige to get a reservation at a boutique hotel. The price difference between a boutique hotel and the Motel 6 isn't that big after the 4th night free benefit.

Edited to add: We are talking about $63 a night for my too-good-to-be-true original reservation, to $133 a night at Motel 6 after Orbitz discount, to $175 at a boutique hotel with continental breakfast included booked with Citi Prestige. I'd rather be paying $63 a night but I think that has always been a phantom option.

tom911

I remember a discussion about some third-party booking site a few years ago. In that case, they had space blocked at the hotel, but didn't provide the actual name of the person booked until 24 hours out. I wonder if you could be caught up in something like that.

happychic

I heard about that and I wonder about that too. Except that multiple front desk people (from different shifts) told me this has been an ongoing problem with Hotwire. And I don't want to be left with fewer options 24 hours before I'm supposed to check into the hotel.

tatterdema

If your confirmation lists this hotel specifically, they could not have booked a different hotel in a different city. Your confirmation email should list the exact name and address of hotel. Call the hotel and ask for management. Like I said, the reservation probably never made it into their system. A front desk clerk will most likely not have the capability of going into Expedia Extranet to find it.

Lol, just to add... If you have facebook, post on Expedia's page your complaint. They reply from the US much quicker, and have people that actually know what they are doing there.

happychic

I had reached out to Hotwire on Twitter. Crickets.

I already had asked for and granted a full refund. There's no more availability at this hotel for my dates. There's obviously some kind of ongoing process or training issue between Hotwire bookings and this hotel. I'm cutting my losses and moving on. You win some, you lose some.

erik123

When calling hotwire insist on a supervisor immediately. Front line staff are powerless to do anything.

warakorn

Did you forward the confirmation email of Hotwire to the hotel? If yes, what was the hotels' response?

Well, I am confused now. Did Hotwire also admitted to you that there was no reservation?

Doc Savage

From this, I'd be wondering if the hotel didn't sell rooms on Hotwire for a lower rate than they can now get (perhaps listed their usual rate rather than a "high volume day" rate) and now have conveniently "not received" the reservation.

Anyway, OP, you're reasonable to accept the refund and not waste any more time on it.

Safe travels!

Doc

TravelingNomads

We had a similar issue recently with Amoma. Called the hotel and they couldn't find us. Amoma only provided us with a pdf of our "reservation #", but that is their number, not the wholesaler's. The supposedly use 40+ different wholesalers and the wholesaler is the one paying the hotel, so the hotel can only search by that number. Called Amoma and after what seemed like ages we were told that they'd email it to us 2-3 days later. We actually received the email about 6-8 hours and were able to finally confirm with the hotel. We saved almost 50% by using Amoma, but 3rd party booking can definitely be a hassle.

ikeaikeaikea

I have hotwire hotel reservations booked for an all inclusive resort in Mexico in 1.5 weeks. I called the hotel directly to see how much it would cost to add an additional guest, and found out my reservation was DENIED!!!! Yes, the hotel did have my name and confirmation number in their system but it was rejected. I was told to contact Hotwire. I called Hotwire, asked to confirm if my reservation went through, they said YES. Everything is good to go. I told them that the hotel said my reservation has been rejected. They put me on hold for 45 minutes so they can contact the hotel directly. Hotwire says that the hotel has a computer error (like seriously, are we dumb????), and that the Hotwire reservation team are sorting it out and will get back to me before the departure date.

I've looked on the hotel website and found out the hotel is completely SOLD OUT for the days I'm going.

What if I didn't call the hotel? I would have been in Mexico with nowhere to go. There are 8 of us with the same confirmation from Hotwire, all staying at the same hotel. What a nightmare this would have been if I didn't call 1.5 weeks before my checkin.

Nonrefundable flights have been booked, vacation time from work booked. Not sure what the resolution will be. Ughhh. Why is their customer service so bad.