DebitNM

I booked my DH a room tonight for Indianapolis using Hotwire. He is heading home on his motorcycle and had just done 700 miles in very hot weather and was beat beyond belief.

He gets to the hotel and is told that the hotel was struck by lightening last night and they have no A/C as a result! He is not about to take a room under those conditions. They give him a cancellation number and tell him [me] to call Hotwire to get a refund.

I think, yeah right, like that is ever going to happen.

I call { I get through after about 8 minutes of holding} and explain the situation and they put me on hold while they call the hotel to verify my story.

The hotwire agent gets back on the phone and tells me that they will issue a credit through my credit card company! I was really prepared for a battle, but nada!

The agent offered to try and find him a room, but since I had waited an hour to call, he had already gotten a room. And what a difference in price - $52 on Hotwire and $119 for a Hampton Inn. Most places were sold out, apparently it is State Fair time.

Now, we'll see how long it takes to get the credit issued. I already got an email confirming the refund, so that's a step in right direction.

KatieR

Thanks for posting this, DebitNM. Good to know.

yk

I think Hotwire, generally speaking, have better customer service than PL, and is more willing to give refund and/or compensation.

My one and only contact w/HW's customer's service was several years ago when I booked a hotel in London. The hotel was fine except for a 7am fire alarm one morning, followed by no hot water for the entire morning. I had to take a cold shower, and that was after standing outside in the cold rain for 15-20 mins during the fire alarm.

I know it was not HW's fault, but I did write to them about the event, but I didn't demand anything from them. HW ended up refunding one night's hotel rate to my CC. I was pleasantly surprised.

DebitNM

Update -- the credit was processed on my credit card THE SAME DAY!!

I am more than pleased and impressed!

Dayenu

It's like they knew you will be posting on a travel website

panecott

When I saw the thread title, I thought you were going to say you got a refund because someone else booked your same hotel/airfare at a lower price. I've always wondered if that ever really happens.

Anyway, glad things worked out well.

Andrew

Debi, why WOULDN'T Hotwire issue you a refund? If the hotel they booked for you was not available due to a power outage, then they should be REQUIRED to give you another hotel or refund your money. I'm not sure on what basis they would be able to deny you a refund.

FYI, I've had excellent luck with Priceline customer service when I've needed it - only twice. Once, a hotel I booked through Priceline gave me perhaps the noisiest room in the whole place - with sliding doors that opened to the pool area(!). The noise was incredible. Hotel was completely booked and could not move me. Long story short...I wrote a polite but firm complaint letter to Priceline, with lots of detail, simply asking for a partial refund. Instead, they simply gave me a full refund.

Another time, I had booked an airport hotel vie Priceline at a city where I was to travel, but the flight was canceled due to weather, so I obviously could not use the hotel. Not expecting to get any sort of compensation (hotel was open, after all, I just couldn't get there), I called Priceline. All they needed was my flight number to verify that it had indeed been canceled. Then they promptly issued me a fully refund.

I'd say your husband had a much stronger case with Hotwire since of course there WAS no hotel room he could practically use. That's the kind of thing where, even if Hotwire had said no, if booked recently with a credit card I'd just dispute it anyway.

Zebra1

Saw this thread and wanted to post that I just received a refund directly from Hotwire. I am visually impaired and explained this to the representative and indicated that I needed a different location than what was offered to me. I called immediately with no help at 1am, but called again the next morning. A representative by the name of Rania placed me on hold three times and assisted me and told me that they would issue a one time credit due to me being a new customer. I was thrilled and got my money back! Whew!