Rental car with base rate of $62.42 for 2 days

Hotwire taxes/fees = $17.70



Go to www.hertz.com and get a base rate of $87 for 2 days

Hertz taxes = $8.64 (8% base, $1.56 license fee)



The Hertz base rate is higher, so we would expect the taxes to be higher.



The correct taxes on the Hotwire rental car should be $6.55, so they are charging $11.15 in service fees.


Hotel example. 3* Fishermans Wharf. $78 base rate, $16.95 in taxes/fees

Since the tax rate is San Francisco is 14%,
Hotwire taxes should be $10.92, so they are charging $6.03 in service fees.

Comments? How can they get away with such nonsense?

They have to make money somehow.

Come on!

They can make all the money they want by marking up the base prices.

And I am not convinced they don't mark up the base prices, despite what the rep at 1-877-HOTWIRE told me.

Burying phantom service charges in taxes to make money is fraud.

It is bait and switch. If a car is $21 per day, it should be equivalent to paying a rental car company $21 per day.

Simplest solution I can think of is not to use Hotwire...

Then do not use them. If other consumers respond similarly, they will not remain in business.

Their pricing may not be as competitive as going directly to the vendors by way of your examples.

But I don't see how that makes Hotwire fraudulent?

Of course I will not use Hotwire, and the point of this post is to encourage all of you to do the same.

BTW, it has been documented time and time again that Priceline will beat any Hotwire price.

And Priceline is upfront with its service fee: $5.95 for any accepted bid, whether it is car rental, airfare, or hotel.

No surprises. And, no, I don't work for Priceline (I may own 5 to 10 shares), but I have to say they are far more ethical than Hotwire.

Also, am I the only person who thinks the purchase path is misleading? If they clearly told me they were charging $11 in service fees on the car, it would be no big deal, but to bury it in taxes once the customer is paying for the transaction is what is bugging me.

Go and try the purchase path and see.

This is a story Jane Costello should get onto.

I agree. Some companies will do whatever they can get away with. I think someone could do an interesting story on this.

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Middle_Seat

das,

Check-out the article in this Sunday's Seattle Times in the travel section. A story of one journalists experience with Hotwire. Basically the article is about a very good rate on a less than 14 day advance purchase ticket and some poor customer service on Hotwire's part. Very interesting article about the pitfalls of buying tickets through on-line consolidators.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...scounts11.html

Thanks for the article link and the info about Hotwire. Next time I'm booking, I'll be sure to check out the fees that might be tacked on.

d

I have scanned the Hotwire site after plugging in a couple hotel dates but never saw what or if fees are added. Where do I look? Ditto for car rates.

MisterNice

Very interesting article indeed, especially this quote:

"...who owns Hotwire? A consortium that includes six major U.S. airlines. One of them is United."

Kathy

The point is Hotwire includes their 'phantom fees' in the taxes calculation. You'll never know they charge fees unless you find out the tax rate and other surcharges directly from a rental car company or hotel.

That's what makes what they are doing so fraudulent.

When I called them, they didn't admit that service fees were buried in there until I told them that the sales tax in LAX for rental cars is 8% and the vehicle license fee is ~ $0.75 per day.

I told them to do the math, and then they fessed up. They told me the fees are based "on all sorts of factors" and couldn't tell me the formula for the fee computation.

But note that on airline tickets, fees are all bundled into the price. My complaint applies only to rental cars and hotels.

I thought in a free market they could charge whatever they want and we could choose whether or not to buy from them.

I don't see how them telling you exactly what the taxes and fees are before you make the purchase is fraudulent, regardless of whether or not you agree with the amount of fees.

I certainly don't see how their fees are any worse than the rental car companies' own myriad of taxes, fees, and surcharges.