Hotwire not such a great deal at check-in

Booking with Hotwire can give deep discounts but there can be pitfalls.

If you’re looking for a great deal on travel it may be tempting to use some of those online discount travel sites. They can save you money but when something goes wrong, it may not seem like such a good deal after all.

Gordon Mathews and Nicole Batistic of Maple Ridge were thrilled to get a deal on Hotwire for an all-inclusive hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, until they checked in for their March stay.

They had paid Hotwire $2,400 for the week for the entire family but the hotel forced them to pay an extra $800.

“They said you declared your kids wrong, you need to come and pay, one is an adult,” Campbell explained.

The hotel had a policy to treat any child over 12 as an adult. They had two children with them, a girl aged 12 and a boy aged 15.

They were upset because when they booked the trip with Hotwire, the only online option was to list how many children they were bringing between the ages of 2 and 17. However, the hotel told them that Hotwire made the booking listing both kids as aged 11. Batistic has a theory why that happened.

“So that they’ll qualify for a lower rate at the hotels,” Batistic said.

Here’s how it works. Hotwire will reveal a list of prices for hotels fitting various criteria but doesn’t reveal the name of the property until after you’ve booked and paid your money. There are no refunds.

The couple made several calls to Hotwire and spent hours on the phone trying to get the situation resolved and to get their $800 back but without success, until CTV News got involved.

Hotwire responded to CTV stating, “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and since we did not know the ages of the children traveling, we were unable to let Ms. Batistic know of the fees associated with this property.”

However, Batistic says Hotwire never followed up to check the kids ages after the booking was made.

Wedad Bishara with Marlin Travel has heard these horror stories before. She gets calls from consumers needing emergency travel help, when they feel abandoned by the online discount travel sites, after something goes wrong.

“They are in general very difficult to reach,” Bishara said.

You have protection if you book travel with a BC licensed travel agent and services aren’t delivered. Consumer Protection BC has a travel assurance fund to protect you but that wouldn’t necessarily apply to an online travel site, unless it was run by a BC licensed travel agent. In 2015 the fund paid more than $175,000 to 200 consumers who'd run into problems.

According to the agency, Hotwire is not licensed with Consumer Protection BC.

After CTV News started asking questions, Hotwire issued an $800 refund to the family and gave them $100 in Hotwire bucks to use for future travel. Hotwire is also taking another look at its online booking system to try to avoid a similar problem from happening in the future.