{"id":1025,"date":"2013-08-18T11:08:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T18:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2013-08-18T11:09:30","modified_gmt":"2013-08-18T18:09:30","slug":"how-cancel-hotwire-reservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/how-cancel-hotwire-reservation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Cancel a Hotwire Reservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travellers in the Hotwire Discussion Forum<\/a> often ask how to cancel a Hotwire reservation. \u00a0Before booking a Hotwire hotel, travellers should be aware that Hotwire “Hot Rate” hotel reservations are non-refundable and cannot be changed. \u00a0This is according to the Hotwire website, “For all Hotwire Hot Rates<\/strong>, bookings are final and cannot be cancelled, refunded, exchanged, transferred, or changed, even for a fee.”<\/p>\n

Although this is clearly stated in the Hotwire common questions, I personally do not feel their policy is as obvious in during the hotel reservation process. \u00a0In fact, I could not see a statement that clearly says hotels cannot be cancelled or changed during the booking process before I gave my credit card. \u00a0it is worth noting that Priceline, on the other hand, makes it very loud, bold, and clear that their reservations are non-refundable. \u00a0Check out how obvious Priceline makes it.<\/p>\n

\"Cancel

Priceline – making their cancelation policy obvious.<\/p><\/div>\n

Why are Hotel reservations non-cancellable?<\/strong> \u00a0It’s fairly straight-forward. \u00a0The way Hotwire works is that they sell off rooms that hotels want to fill, but do not want their other guests knowing about. \u00a0Hotels, in turn, use Hotwire (and Priceline) to sell them through their system where the hotel name is not revealed until after a purchase is made. The system would not work if Hotwire allowed cancelations.<\/p>\n

Having used Hotwire well over 100 times for personal travel, I have been caught just once with a hotel reservation that I could not use and had to cancel. \u00a0My travel plans changed and I could not use the reservation. \u00a0Despite my effort, my hotel reservation went unused and I ate the cost.<\/p>\n

Personally, I believe that Hotwire should offer a cancelation policy whereby there is a heavy cancelation fee, of which a portion goes to the hotel and a portion goes to Hotwire. \u00a0Say, for example, on a $100 hotel reservation, the cancelation fee was $30 (30% or a flat fee of $30 per night). \u00a0This cancelation policy would be steep enough that people are only going to use it in extreme cases where they genuinely have to cancel their hotel reservation and are willing to absorb a significant fee.<\/p>\n

An ounce of prevention…<\/strong> \u00a0Quite simply, its best to avoid making a Hotwire hotel reservation if you think you might have to cancel for any reason. \u00a0It is worth spending a few minutes learning Hotwire policies and common questions<\/a> and how Hotwire works<\/a>. \u00a0 Things come up, plans change, life happens. \u00a0Its best to avoid booking unless you are 100% certain you won’t have to cancel. \u00a0Hotwire does offer trip cancellation insurance. \u00a0Quite honestly, I’ve never used it. \u00a0Having glanced at the insurance policy, it appears that the cancelation insurance applies only to certain situations. \u00a0In other words, you simply cannot cancel at whim.<\/p>\n

Additional Help<\/strong>: \u00a0I have heard of accounts where people have been able to cancel a Priceline reservation in extreme circumstances, such as a death in the family. \u00a0See this article on how to cancel a Priceline reservation<\/a>. \u00a0I do not recommend this approach, but some travellers have used it with success. \u00a0Other options for how to cancel a Hotwire reservation:<\/p>\n