{"id":953,"date":"2013-07-24T12:56:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T19:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/?p=953"},"modified":"2013-07-30T23:48:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T06:48:39","slug":"hotwire-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/hotwire-express\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotwire Express"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travelers who frequently use Hotwire will want to learn about their loyalty program called Hotwire Express. \u00a0The program is not new and has been around since 2009, but very few travelers actually know about it. \u00a0Here is how it works:<\/p>\n

Enrolling In The Hotwire Express Program<\/h3>\n
Travelers cannot sign up to become members of Hotwire Express. \u00a0The program is designed for frequent website users, and the only way to join the exclusive club is by invitation only. \u00a0This means booking more than some amount of hotels per year. \u00a0The exact threshold is unknown — when I called Hotwire, no specific number of bookings or dollar threshold was revealed, only that it was based on a “formula of nights booked and dollars spent on Hotwire.” \u00a0According to some in the Hotwire forum<\/a>, the threshold seems to be around $1,000 of hotel reservations or 10 night stay per year to be admitted into the program.<\/p>\n
The best way to ensure you get into the program is to book all your hotel reservations under the same Hotmail account (email address and password).<\/p>\n
Getting notified:<\/strong> \u00a0Oddly, I did not receive any email notification that I was now a member of the Hotwire Express Program. \u00a0I only noticed this when I saw the program logo top right hand side of the screen when booking a hotel on Hotwire. \u00a0To find out if you are a member, log in to your Hotwire account and look in the top right corner.<\/p>\n

$\"Hotwire$ Hotwire Express Benefits<\/h3>\n
The program offers the following benefits:<\/p>\n
\n
A direct phone number for customer support and issues resolution: \u00a0I have called Hotwire Express twice. \u00a0Both times, I was extremely satisfied with their customer service. \u00a0This was a very welcomed surprise considering many complaints travellers have about Hotwire<\/a>. \u00a0I give them an A+ for customer service to program members.<\/li>\n
Exclusive benefits such as hotel upgrades: \u00a0When I called Hotwire to enquire about this, the answer I received was vague. \u00a0Unlike other loyalty \/ frequent customer programs, there is no concreteness around the perk you will actually get. The best way to ensure you receive such offers is to ensure you are signed up for their 2 newsletters: \u00a0“Persoanlized Hot Rate Alerts” and “Savings Notices”. \u00a0The benefits are too vague for me, I give them a D for perks.<\/li>\n
Ability to block unwanted hotels: \u00a0Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? \u00a0It is a little too goo to be true. \u00a0Here is how this one works. \u00a0Once you have booked and stayed at a hotel, you can avoid staying at this hotel in the future by blocking it. \u00a0Good for travellers who frequently visit the same location, but there is very little benefit to travellers who want to avoid the bad experience in the first place. \u00a0To be clear: \u00a0You cannot block a hotel unless you have stayed there and had a bad experience. \u00a0I give this perk a D.<\/li>\n
Bending the rules: \u00a0Hotwire doesn’t advertise it, but another perk of the Hotwire Express program is that they can bend the rules for you. \u00a0The example I was given was around their no-cancelation policy. \u00a0It sounds like if you’re a program member and complain hard enough, there is some latitude for them to cancel your booking and issue a refund. \u00a0Again, there is lack of concreteness, so I give this perk a C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hotwire Express Overall Rating<\/h3>\n
I have to give this program a mediocre C-. \u00a0My main complaint is that it lacks concreteness that I like to see in loyalty programs. \u00a0Some of the perks are nice if I ever have to use them (such as calling their support team), but these benefits are rare. \u00a0In the 100+ bookings I’ve made on Hotwire, I’ve had to call customer service just 3 or 4 times. \u00a0Other perks are too vague, and there is never any guarantee that I will derive a single benefit from them.<\/p>\n
I would not recommend that travellers use Hotwire just because of their program. \u00a0Instead, I always recommend travellers consider Hotwire in these circumstances:<\/p>\n
\n
After you have exhausted your\u00a0 free rebids on Priceline<\/a> and cannot find a hotel cheaper than what Hotwire is offering.<\/li>\n
When you need to avoid Priceline because of the Name Your Own Price restrictions<\/a> such as need certain hotel amenities or need a room for more than 3 people.<\/li>\n
If you can reveal your Hotwire hotel before bidding<\/a>, thus taking the risk out of buying a mystery hotel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hotwire Express is a loyalty program for frequently customers. In this article, I review the program and determine whether travellers should bother with this program or not. Some of the benefits purported by Hotwire are: a dedicated phone number for customer support; free upgrades; and a way to block unwanted hotels. In the article, I explore these beneifts and rate the Hotwire Express program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[124,154,50],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotwire","tag-hotwire-forum","tag-hotwire","tag-identify-hotel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":958,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}