lo2e

"Is it a guarantee though?"

Unfortunately not. From their "Help Center":

That said, I think a hotel choosing to have guests reserve a certain bed type (when others do not make that choice available) would have a hard time ignoring that request without a certain amount of disappointment from the guest. It would seem to me that unless you can be almost 100% sure you can provide the type of bed the customer is looking for, don't offer it as an option on Hotwire. Not that all hotel managers think logically like that, but one would hope...

Sheryl

Just as I suspected...marketing.

No different than Priceline sending out those emails with accepted bid amounts which are totally meaningless for different dates regardless of B1's experience.

B1

? My meaningless experience? In "deal preference" Priceline asks for the location, zone, star level and whether it is for a weekend or weekday. Since Priceline has tiered rates and rooms are subject to availabily, nothing is guaranteed with respect to the bid. You have to be logged in to a Priceline account. Then they send emails of successful bids at or below a point you set, nothing else. This is obviously current information, which can be of some value - or you can ignore it and go lower and see what happens. In my case, it led me to make succesful bids that were lower than what appeared on bid-reporting sites as well as in zones where there were no reports (and where Hotwire had nothing useful either). The point - again - is that Priceline will report successful bids that may be lower than one might have considered trying. If that gets someone to bid, that is indeed a form of marketing - but so what? I see no deceit or secret plots here.

Sheryl

B1, you know I didn't say your experience is meaningless. I said Priceline's emails are meaningless which I stand by 100%. I have read far too many examples to support my comments. Please be careful when you accuse someone of saying something they did not say. You totally took my words out of context.

BEAV

I received a full refund (no fees) from Hotwire when a hotel they described as non-smoking ("all rooms at this hotel are 100% non-smoking") had both smoking & non-smoking rooms. In fact it was a hotel/casino in Reno, NV ... not exactly the place you'd expect to see a 100% non-smoking hotel!

After the purchase, I called the hotel to inquire if I would be placed in a non-smoking room. They said they could request it, however no guarantees, Next I contacted Hotwire, who then called the hotel and they were told the same thing - no guarantees. In a matter of days, Hotwire dropped the non-smoking icon from their display at that property.

B1

The exact quote was given and I thought by doing so that it was clearly showing the context - but apologies to anyone offended. And it was clear that it was my interpretation of the response that was what I posted. In fact, there is a difference between random emails that we get from marketing and those we request based on criteria we set up. Many other travel booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire) offer to keep watch on certain fares or hotel prices and send notices when there is a change. And all of the ones I know of can be stopped by going back to the site and indicating as much.

Sheryl

B1, I've had many reports that both types of emails are erroneous as they are based on specific dates. I know this is different than your experience but I still stand by my opinion that those emails are useless. Too many of my users have been very misled.

trix8

Just thought I'd let people know that Hotwire refunded my rental car fees due to a medical emergency that cancelled my trip. I sent them an email, they responded asking for me to send them medical documentation/proof of my injury on Dr. letterhead....which I did. I had broken my wrist the day before my trip causing trip cancellation and emergency surgery the day I had intended to travel.

jennib715

I did the same thing, Hotwire authorized my refund but its been 60 days and I still havent seen the money yet. My bank looked at Visa's logs n says the money hasn't even been sent from their bank yet even though they assure me it's on its way. How long did it take for you to actually recieve your money??

jennib715

how long did it take you to recieve your refund though? Ive waited patiently for the 60 days they said it would take but it still hasn't shown up and Im at a run around between my bank saying according to Visa, they haven't sent the money yet and Hotwire saying they can only authorize the refund, the rest is just sit and wait...I don't know what to do now.

ranman1973

I got "Hotwire Hotbucks" for my refund. I was okay with this. I used it soon afterward.

Katie Ambrosier

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lo2e

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Katie Ambrosier.

I'd say you got very, very lucky. My understanding (which could very well be incorrect) is that hotels are not supposed to be able to cancel bookings made by any third party website without consent of that third party and only in extreme circumstances (such as the hotel needing to close for repairs, etc.). Something tells me when this transaction gets reconciled, the hotel is going to owe Hotwire some sort of penalty or fee for doing this, I doubt they (Hotwire) are going to take kindly to it.

Katie Ambrosier

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