Hotwire - Reviews and experiences

I just booked a place with a Hot Rate hotel online, thinking I'd get one of the big hotel chains like Sheraton or Radisson. But, surprise surprise, I ended up with a Sonesta Select instead. I've been trying to sort this out with a bunch of different reps, but all they keep giving me are these robotic answers that don't really solve my problem. It's frustrating, and it's got me wondering if Hotwire's guarantees are even worth anything if they can't stick to their word.

This website is just awful, like seriously the worst. Every time I tried to book something, I never got an email or saw it in my plans. Then when I checked my bank account, the money was gone! I spoke to the folks at the website and they only refunded some of my money. And they couldn't even change the date for the other transaction! Like, what the heck? Totally not fair. I'm never using this website again, total rip-off!

I was told by Hotwire that I'd be staying at a specific hotel, but when I got there, it was something totally different. When I tried to get help from customer service, they were pretty uncaring and didn't give me any useful answers. I had to talk to three different people and they all just gave me the same standard responses that didn't fix my problem. And on top of that, they had the nerve to say that the guarantee I was counting on was more of a suggestion than a real promise. The whole situation really annoyed me, and I'll definitely be going somewhere else next time.

I was checking out rental cars online and out of nowhere, a booking got sorted for me without asking me first. I tried reaching out to Hotwire, Hertz, and Expedia (who own the site) to fix it but all they did was tell me to email them and contact my bank. It's frustrating that I have to jump through all these hoops just to get my $632 back. So just a heads up, watch out when using this website cause they might go ahead and book stuff for you without even checking with you first.