I have booked a trip to Vegas and had to cancel. The trip cost was $177. I called Hotwire and they told me that the ticket is non-refundable. That is o.k and I completely understand, but when I asked them if I can use the credit for a future trip they said: "Yes, you can! You need to pay $150 upfront and we'll give you the $177 credit!" That is the most RIDICULOUS thing I have ever heard! I've traveled overseas so many times and I've NEVER EVER ran into something like this! Horrible experience...I won't even access them from now on and if I have to pay more somewhere else, at least I'll know the service is worth it! I will gladly throw a couple of hundred extra somewhere else than use Hotwire.

I just arrived in San Diego to attend my daughters College graduation from UCSD. I booked a room at the St. James Hotel.RAMADA Hotwire called this a 3 ½ star hotel. That’s a real joke. They should be embarrasssed. Doesn’t anyone go out and look at these ratings. I don’t mind older well maintained hotels, but this one doesn’t even have a newer elevator. Getting in the elevator with my suitcase was even hard . The elevator is about 6 foot long and 3 feet wide and has a metal gate that you have to hold open while you try and wrestle with your bag and then shut thoroughly. That’s a real joke. The stairs were no better, two people could not walk up the stairs together. I get in after traveling from JFK to San Diego and it’s now 2:00 a.m EST (okay only 11:00 p.m PT.) My daughters are with me. I booked a room with 2 beds, only one bed available and then I go and look at the room. Three of us couldn't even stand in the room. (Room 818) This was a 10 x 10 room with a bathroom that was 3 feet wide by 8 foot long. Three of us couldn't even stand in the room. While two of us were in the room, my other daughter had to stand out in the hallway, from the entrance door to the bed was less then 4 feet. From the end of the bed to the bathroom is 2-3 feet. And lets give you the bathroom the sink is at one end and the shower at the other with a door entrance in-between. If you leave the bathroom door open, you don’t know there’s a shower there. (BTW, thanks to cells phones, I took pictures) There were noisy parties going on in the rooms on both sides of me. Heard from the valet that this is a party hotel frequented by the Marines. BTW, parking is $10.00 if you park in the lot next door, but if the hotel parks you in the same lot it's $20.00. I had no place to even put my suitcase in the room (couldn't even lie it down and open it up). I’ve had Master Bedroom closets bigger then this room. I guess they expected me to share a bed with my adult children. The hotel staff don't care. They tell you that it’s each persons preference in hotels. Why not, they use Hotwire as a way to shake down their guests traveling to San Diego They had no other room (according to them). I wound up leaving and going to my other daughters condo. Now the kids got to sleep on the couch and I’m out $352.00 dollars. I had booked for two nights and I didn’t even stay for one. They also make you sign a waiver before you even check in saying that you are aware that this is in a party district and it could be noisy. I expected noise from the street not from the guestrooms with all night parties. When they handed me the note, I asked if I could cancel my reservation then, and they told me since I had booked through Hotwire, they wouldn't refund me anything. Hotwire setting me up in a hotel that should be down on their list as a 1 star. I trusted their ratings, and this should not be rated the way it is. So here's to three strikes and an out.. Didn't get the room I booked, wound up in a closet with a queen bed, wound up with noisy parties on both sides of me. Wound up not even staying in the hotel and out $352.00.

And no one answers the phone at hotwire so they'll be no satisfaction there either. This is only the second time I've been in CA but this will keep me away longer.

Made a Hotel reservation thru hotwire. Checked out a day early due to personal circumstances.
Hotwire would not refund me the one day or give me a credit for a future stay. Will never use this service again. Will book directly with the hotel. Also this was listed a 3.5 out of 4 star property. It was not. It is a regular median level hotel. Almost a residence Inn. Actually the 2nd word is INN. And the rooms are small. It seems they inflated the prices and what I paid was the actual value.

the hotwire 'scam' works like this (and this is also the reason they will not honor their low price guarnatee as I found out)

They have a ridiculous low pre tax rate of say $40 then they add say $16 of 'tax and recovery' (what that consists of is anyones guess but it definitely includes their booking fee) bringing it to a $56 total

The actual hotel will have a pre tax rate of say $48 and actual real 'sales tax' of $6 bringing it to $54

So, when anyone says 'You charged me more than the actual hotel' they can say 'No. Our pre tax rate was $8 lower' because they've added a load of non existent made up 'tax' to the actual total price.

It's insane, and they're *still* mailing me stuff today like 'I can assure you, you were not overcharged' which is barking mad. The basic facts of my booking with them are this


Hotwire - $56.25
Actual hotel - $54

Let them advertise that on TV and say at the end 'we can assure you we are not overcharging you'

My stay at Holiday Inn was very upsetting that I'm leaving after two days of stay. The maid didn't even give clean wash towels not enough bath towels only two towels were given when the room was for three people. There was a sign of the door the please reused towels. The iron was broken water spilled out on our clothing. Called to hotel desk to recieve another iron, they said someone would bring it up. Never happened. Trash was left in the room right by the door. How could you miss it. Hotwire need to stop making you pay for your hotel before you know exactly what hotel you are getting. They list three hotels and you have the expectancy that all the hotels listed will be similiar but they are not. They listed Doubletree, Holiday Inn and one more . I know what to expect at the Dobletree but of course I didn't get that one I recieved the Holiday Inn. Not even a comparison. It sad that Hotwire will not even refund you the money if you don't want that hotel and let you continue on selecting. So, the old saying is you get what you pay for. I went online with the address of the hotel they had chosen for me, the rooms are nothing like it says. No sofa, no microwave, no refrigerator, only one microwave in the hall on the first floor on top of the washer and dryer.