Would Hotwire be reliable in Israel? Let me share my rather disappointing experience with you, in case you want to use Hotwire for Jerusalem. The reason for my poor experience reason is probably different than what you think, it’s just weird. I think the experience can easily be improved by Hotwire, but until they fixed this rule, I would recommend using traditional booking sites like Booking.com, Airbnb etc.
What is Hotwire?
It’s a ‘blind booking’ website. The hotel rooms are offered at discounted price. You will have some information (the stars, reviews, conditions), but you will only know the exact name of the property until you pay.
The fun thing about Hotwire is getting a great hotel room at a surprisingly discount! Maybe 30-40% off. (Otherwise everybody can just use Booking.com) They keep the name of the hotel hidden, so that market price will not be destructed by this ‘game’. Yes, it’s like a lucky draw.
Hotwire In Israel? Nah…..
These were my options in Jerusalem. I went for the only one that says 40% off!
But my actual experience was that… there was no discount. I was paying the same price on Hotwire for this ‘blind booking game’ as I would pay directly to the hotel (refundable rate).
What seems to work in other countries (USA, Canada etc) doesn’t work in this part of the world. Not in Israel!
And because of this ‘hot rate’, I cannot get a refund, and I cannot even cancel the bidding. Hotwire would only reimburses me the ‘difference’ in prices. ($7)
I’ll explain what happened.
My Hotwire Experience in Jerusalem (2017)
1.Picking Zone an Hotel
There aren’t many hotels in Jerusaelm to begin with. I chose the zone to be in West Jerusalem. So the only option with 40% discount was this 4-star hotel, which was discounted from $181 to $109, and it’s $121 including taxes.
I was fine not knowing which hotel it was. $121 for a 4-star hotel in Jerusalem is a very good price!
2.Hotwire Result
And after I paid…. The system tells me I made a reservation at King hoolomon Hotel Jerusalem. My first question was, wait, is this a 4-star hotel?
And I went to King Solomon Hotel’s website. The same room type with the option for ‘free cancellation’ is….. $114！
Where is my 40% discount? Why is Hotwire saying the original price was $181? It’s not $181, it is $114….. Why am I using Hotwire?
So I tried to give this feedback to Hotwire’s customer support.
3.Low Price Guarantee
It’s disappointing how Hotwire protects the right of customer. You cannot get a refund after you made a reservation. And low price guarantee only means
For Hotwire Hot Rate hotel and car bookings, the refund will be equal to the difference between your Hotwire rate and the lower rate for the total days of your booking. If a refund is issued, your original reservation will not be cancelled
You have to find a cheaper offer within 24 hours, and then you… get the difference in rates!!
In my case, I wanted to know where was the 40% discount as advertised? If there’s no discount, then all hotels can get on Hotwire, and write 50%, 60%, 99% discount. And once customers make reservation and find out they are paying the same price with no discount, the hotels are guaranteed by Hotwire that these consumers cannot cancel the booking. Then hotels only need to refund some customers that make this claim within 24 hours.
Hotwire is making it easy for the hotels.
With $120, I found have more options at other hotels. Or I could at least book this same place at $114, having the information of which hotel, plus having the chance to cancel booking.
My feeling is that the 40% discount was falsely advertised.
4. Applying for Difference in Rates
You cannot cancel your reservation. What you can do is only to apply for getting a refund in rate difference. Click here for: Low Price Guarantee application form
You have to apply in 24 hours after your booking. First you need a screenshot that shows the same date, same room type of the same property. See, this hotel is $114 on Booking.com even. So I’m eligible for $7 refund.
And then this is the form.
Then write down how much you paid Hotwire, and what’s the lower price you found. Then upload your screenshot as evidence.
Then wait for 48 hours. Or 5-7 working days from terms of conditions.
5. Follow Up
I got my response in 5 working days. It looked like this:
And the second email was longer: It didn’t explain if Hotwire should be responsible for the advertising 40% off without confirming if the discount even exists. And even I made 2 phone calls and emails to explain how this is unfair to customers, I didn’t get a formal reply.
Then finally, I got an email that explains how they define ‘discount’
The crossed out rate is an example based on similar hotels in the same neighborhood.
Similar hotel in same neighborhood? Exactly! Hotwire uses the price of hotel A to tell you that you are staying at hotel B at 50% discount! I don’t understand the logic. How can you compare apples and oranges?
Maybe in some other countries, there’s a fixed standard on hotel standards. But in this part of the world, you cannot neglect that hotels are very different, and it’s unwise to claim you are offering ‘discounts’ to customers by comparing the rates of 2 hotels.
Maybe the hotel didn’t offer Hotwire a good rate in the first place, so that gives me doubt on how Hotwire partners with other hotels in Jerusalem, and if those hotels understand the business of Hotwire. But ultimately, when I gave feedback to Hotwire on my disappointing experience after multiple phone calls and emails, Hotwire didn’t seem to do anything to save its brand image. They left this issue as ‘there’s nothing we can do’.
Since I could not find similar information online previously, I hope after sharing my experience of using Hotwire in Jerusalem, others can be more prepared on whether Hotwire model works in Israel or not.
