I've been a hotwire customer for couple of years, booked many hotels, and cars via the hotwire website.
It works like priceline if you want to get a deal.
You are guaranteed a price and they will provide the hotel/car info only after you paid. So, basically, you have no way to know in advance for the hot rate product.
Sometimes, you are surprised with the final product they booked for you, but sometimes, you will be very disappointed with their final product.
There is one trick and it sucks with the hot rate. You are unable to change/cancel/refund any service you booked with hot rate!!
I've recently booked a car for 7 days 3-4 weeks before my trip. However, my trip was changed a bit and I need the car for 3 days earlier. I called Hotwire and they basically denied to do anything for the extension of my car booking, even though I'd like to pay extra or standard rate for the extra 3 days. They told me that I can book another car for 3 days, but I have to go back to airport, return the car and pick up the same car again. There is no way to just extend my previous booking.
I called the car rental company, Hertz, as well and explained my needs. They also said that the hotwire hot rate contract cannot be changed. I have to do the return and pickup in the middle of my trip, which is impossible for me.
I am so mad and sad about their service. The hot rate offiered by Hotwire is actually not very cheap compare to the rate you can get from the car rental company directly. They just play some trick, advertising a looks-very-low price, but you have to pay extra fee/tax. And in total, it is not much a good deal anyway.
And what sucks is you can't do any change with this booking and you paid in advance before your trip!!
Hotwire's business model sucks because they tricked their customer into thinking their rate is good. Once you realized that, you no longer want to be a hotwire customer. You don't want to be abducted by their ridiculous terms and tricky price. Also, the customer service guy is very rude, just tell you, "that's our policy, we are very strict about our policy, byebye". They hung up the phone before I want to hung up.
Okay, Hotwire, good luck with your stupid strict policy. In this business world, lucky we have so many choices. I am leaving this tricky and strict policy and we are free to choice our services now.
One last comments, it is better to book the trip/flight/car through the company's website or phone directly, as you are their real customer and they will take care for you. To book the trip through the agency, you are abducted by the agency and no one will take care of you in case of any help you needed.
