Beware Last Minute Car Rentals on Hotwire
Just a quick head’s up for fellow travelers — Hotwire doesn’t always reflect real-time car rental inventory, so you might wind up with a reservation and no cars available.
When I reached my destination this morning my original transportation options from the airport didn’t work out so I hopped on Hotwire, picked their special rate for $10 less, and had a last minute rental car booked in under 5 minutes.
Then I moseyed up to the Alamo counter, presented my ID, and mentioned I had just made the booking.
Turns out that location was sold out and couldn’t honor reservations made less than 24 hours in advance.
“But I already paid Hotwire.”
“Ah, it’s a Hotwire booking? They have no idea what inventory we actually have.”
The agent was awesome though and figured out a solution that had me in a car just a few minutes later. One of the fastest pick ups I’ve actually ever had at that location.
On this trip it didn’t really matter if I had had to wait or find a different option (provided they gave me a refund), but I’ve been in other situations where it would have made a big difference. So now I know if its important and I need a car last minute, Hotwire might not be my best bet.
———————-
Don’t miss out on any of Jeanne & Keri’s adventures and tips. Follow us:
 
 
 
The location was wrong to blame Hotwire, the rental company simply failed to turn off Hotwire’s inventory… Glad you got things sorted!
That’s helpful! Good to know that Hotwire isn’t to blame.
I have had a similiar thing happen to me with a priceline prepaid reservation. The only good thing with prepaid is they already have your money so if they want to cancel someone has to figure out who owes you a refund (and no one wants to do that). In my case I called Priceline and it took a while but eventually they gave me a much nicer car than I had booked.
Hotwire also usually doesn’t have the lowest price either.