Hotwire.com is a deceiving and manipulative operation.
I booked a San Diego, CA hotel they presented as their save up to 45% Non Cancelable Secret Hot Rate of $91,12 ($72 19.12 tax & fees) which turned out to be a Travelodge.
BIG DEAL! The rate for this Reservation directly from the hotel is $92.39 ($82 8.39 tax) Cancelable.
So I saved $1.27 and lost my cancel privilege and points. Also, Travelodge is hardly in the class of the Comfort Inn, Best Western and Ramada you used in your comparisons.
When I called the Company service line several times I got a run around and transferred to another department which didn't answer or disconnected me.
Finally when I got through to the customer service representative, she tried to justify my savings by comparing the base rates which were $10 less with them $74 verses $84. However, when I pointed out they were charging $17.12 tax & charges versus the $8.39 from Travelodge which wiped out her savings, she refused to acknowledge the validity of this final effect. When I proposed to her the absurdity of not counting all charges to arrive at a valid comparison, she hung up on me.
Latter, 2 separate Hotwire representatives sent me Email’s asking me to call back their Customer Service to resolve my complaint. This turned out to be another nonsense attempt to justify a unjustifiable position.
Actually, they paid Travelodge $63 6.30 tax and I suspect they may be pocketing some of the state tax they charge me.in any case, they took a 33% profit on this reservation which I believe is 3X the industry standard.
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