Hello. I went onto Hotwire.com's site for the first time to book a hotel near or at the site of a conference. They guarantee such low rates that they will not reveal the name of the hotel until paid for, BUT there is a Googlemap address so one can localize none the less.
I matched the hotel address to the site of one of their offers with the same star rating and clicked to finish the order. The site blocked, I couldn't finish, so I called, long distance from Europe, to finalize the transaction, which took some time, answering all the questions. The rep asked me for the exact address I wanted, said that my hotel was incorrect but she would look up the hotel closest. I gave address, with zipcode, and when she assured me several times that the one she had found, more expensive of course, was much closer, I said ok and paid up. Except that it was about THREE miles away. The zipcode was COMPLETELY different, so obviously NOT next door.
I am slightly handicapped from an accident and a woman alone without a car at a conference that may last late into the evening. I need to be right there or across the road, not three miles away, obiously NOT nearer.
FIVE emails later, there has been no answer resolving the problem, despite my asking simply to put me into the original hotel I asked for and refund the cost difference.
So I would assume that this is standard modus operandi for them, saying that they will "help" to locate a hotel close to the address wanted and then putting people into a hotel that is more expensive, no matter WHERE it may actually be located. Ie. Lying. Because a customer cannot refer specifially to a name of a hotel—though there IS a Google locator on each offer, but I bet most people don't see it, it's quite small—after they say, oh! You didn't understand the rules that we can't tell you the name. Except that this had nothing to do with that.
So stay away from these people.
Sido
douarnenez
France
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