Anyone used Hotwire for Car Rentals?

[Mara]

Having previously had a bad hotel experience with Hotwire, I swore off them forever...

However, now we have to rent a car last minute for our trip next week, we''re driving to Palm Springs and the A/C is fritzy in Greg''s car...since he''s ''auto boy'' he wants to fix it himself, but needs to order the parts which will take a bit to source etc.

So now we want to rent a car, we like to rent big luxury cars like the Buick LeSabre or Cadillac DeVille for long trips (nice and cushy and easy for sleeping on the way over...hee hee), but Orbitz''s prices are ranging at about $300-400 for these cars with our trip timeline.

Hotwire has a luxury car for $197 total costs including all taxes and fees etc and unlimited mileage from Avis, Hertz or Budget, three companies we would be fine with using. This seems like a fab deal.

So anyone done a car rental with Hotwire before? Any red flags? This deal sounds perfect, but I''m wary of Hotwire thanks to the last fiasco (which was related to how they ''rate'' hotels with stars and that I found a lower price after the fact on the actual hotel''s website and they would not honor it).

I found an MSN type article that listed how to save while renting and Hotwire was mentioned as a way to go and good because they incorporated all fees so there were no surprises...but just wondered if any PS''ers had experience..good or bad!

Thanks!!

 

[noobie]

I have never used Hotwire. Is it the same concept as Priceline? What was the bad hotel experience? I use Priceline all the time for hotels, though one time, I got a room at a corporate training center.

I used an independent once close to the airport becasue it was way cheaper. Got an older car that was a piece of junk. It had such a bad alignment that it shook like crazy at highway speed. Unfortunately didn''t notice it until well into rental. When I took it back, I told them for the next guy that rented it, and they basically didn''t care. Back out it was going. Never again.

I usually use expedia or the car rental sites. Last time I used Priceline and got a good deal on an Avis full size. They even upgraded me for free at the counter. Let us know how Hotwire goes if you use them.

 

[belle]

what kind of companies do they represent? the only caveat i can think of would be a rental place that was difficult to drive to/find.

 

[rms]

my husband and I use Priceline and Hotwire pretty frequently. We''ve booked package deals with Hotwire more than once, including a trip to Maui. Everything worked out just fine. No problems with the rental car. They use only the major companies I think.

We did have a problem with Expedia about a month ago. We booked a hotel in downtown Seattle about 3 weeks ahead of time, got our reservation confirmed no problem. I walked into the hotel around noon our date of arrival with the confimation info in my hand and came to find out that we actually did NOT have a reservation. The hotel had replied to Expedia that same day I booked and said they could not honor the reservation. They showed me the FAX with the date to prove it. The guy at the hotel was super nice though and got Expedia on the phone for me. I told them to get me a room in downtown of equal or better quality, and they did, just up the road from the original hotel. Fortunately we arrived early enough to have this luck. Rooms are hard to find in Seattle so if we had arrived later in the day, I''m not so sure it would have turned out as well. I wrote a letter to Expedia and they gave me a $25 gift certificate. Pretty much covered our extra parking expenses...not much else though.

That experience pretty much taught me to always confirm our reservations directly with the hotel. Sooooooo I dare say I would probably do the same with cars, just to be sure, whether Hotwire, Priceline, Expedia, or any booking service.

 

[Mara]

they use Avis, Hertz or Budget. It would be an airport pickup, which is 10 min from our house, which we prefer.

yep noobie, they are like a Priceline, where you don't see who you are buying from until you book and buy...

in the past i had a problem with their rating system for hotels, aka they rated a 3 star a 4 star hotel and when i found out, they said that their ratings are 'subjective' and not aligned with anyone else's..so a 3 star at expedia could be a 4 or 5 star at hotwire...which was what i objected to.

anyway for cars, it seems a little less of an 'up in the air' than a hotel or flight, because at least i know it's from a major car rental company, at an airport and it's not Joe's Rental Car on some side road 40 minutes from here...heehe.

I think we are going to do it. I will let you know how it turns out!

we usually use Expedia or Orbitz depending on deals and I shy away from these Hotwire/Priceline things because I am more of a planner where I have to know when and where etc. but it seems like with cars, it's a bit more flexible.

 

[jorman]

We have not used Orbitz or Hotwire, but we have used Travelocity a lot. We have never ever had a problem and we found their rating system to be pretty true.
I recommend trying it.
Good luck finding a car for the week.

Janna

 

[codex57]

I've used Hotwire and Priceline a lot. Even for rentals. If you don't like Hotwire, try Priceline then. There's even a forum out there where people list their winning bids for Priceline so you get an idea of what you can get away with.

Your "bad" experience with Hotwire isn't a sign of horrible service. It's how Hotwire and many of these internet travel agencies work. They buy the room/car rental/whatever from the company. You're basically going through that internet travel agency, not the hotel/car rental place/etc. Hotwire got a discount from the hotel place and then tacked on their profit. You're buying from Hotwire, not the hotel/car rental place. From what I remember, both Hotwire and Priceline are pretty clear that there are no refunds or whatever so you gotta be sure about the price when you click that final submit. Just chalk it up to a learning experience and do more price research next time.

I agree that the "stars" they give out don't seem to match with other ratings, but Priceline is the same. You basically have to check out other websites or read reviews to get an idea of how the hotel actually is. Basically check several websites to get an idea of what you're risking. For example, some cities only have 2 or 3 hotels that are say 4 stars. Others have several that could qualify as 4 stars. You risk getting one you don't like in the city with more hotels so you have to do more price research to see if your bid price migth be more than that not so great "4" star hotel's website price.

 

[Mara]

codex..my main problem with Hotwire was that they don't list that their rating system is not compatible with other rating systems, aka Expedia 4 stars is not Hotwire 4 stars.

So I was checking out a hotel that was Expedia 3 stars that I really liked...but Hotwire had a 4 star one for a few bucks more. I figured well 4 is better than 3. So I bought the hotwire one and found out it was the SAME 3 star EXPEDIA one that I could have gotten for less by using Expedia or the hotel's own website. I asked Hotwire re: 4 vs 3 stars and they said they have their 'own' rating system.

That was a learning experience that would not have happened without actually living it I guess. Hotwire doesn't advertise that their rating system is not compatible with others...until you ask. Hard to compare apples to apples if the rating systems aren't the same as other well-used ones. But now I know!!!

But with cars, I would be fine with Avis, Budget or Hertz so we are good. I just would never do hotels through them again. And I would never do airfare regardless as I can't stand not knowing when you are leaving..aka anytime from 6am-9pm is not a reasonable time frame for me...hehee.

 

[FireGoddess]

Along the lines of what RMS said I just want to post a big fat GOOSE EGG about hotels.com....I booked a 1 night stay for DH who had an overnight layover...and specifically booked a hotel that said they had an airport shuttle (it was a Marriott)...he gets to the airport only to find out that there IS NO airport shuttle...hotels.com claimed they write "airport shuttle" under a hotel listing if ANY of the hotels (ie. any Marriott) has a shuttle, not if the particular location you want to stay at has a shuttle. Neither side would take the blame (Marriott said they are not responsible for hotels.com website content, and hotels.com used the lame excuse I quoted above.) Needless to say, I feel the error was clearly on the part of hotels.com, and they would not rectify the situation. For the cost of the taxi both to and from the airport...he could have stayed in a LUXURY suite. That's my rant about hotels.com.....they are EVIL.

I have used hotwire.com for a car rental before and it was fine...though I ususally use expedia or travelocity.

 

[codex57]

Date: 6/20/2005 4:12:07 PM
Author: Mara
codex..my main problem with Hotwire was that they don''t list that their rating system is not compatible with other rating systems, aka Expedia 4 stars is not Hotwire 4 stars.

Yup, and Priceline is the same way. However, as I was doing my research on hotels in Hawaii and a few other trips, I''ve basically come to the conclusion that all rating systems are basically incompatible. There''s a loose consensus, but many hotels fall into the grey areas. Plus, how many stars a hotel gets is dependent on how it ranks with other hotels in the area. A Sheraton in Timbuktu is prolly the nicest one in the area whereas a Sheraton in Beverly Hills isn''t.

You basically have to find all hotels in that area, and try and guess what they''d be ranked as. Using many other sites that also rank can give you an idea. This takes a LOT of time, but if you''re picky about hotels, you''re basically stuck with websites that clearly list which exact hotel it is and how much it will be for that nite. Hotwire, Priceline, and those kinds of sites are basically gambling.