How Hotwire Saved Our Weekend (And Possibly Our Virtue) From the Se San Diego

July 6, 2010 at 3:35 PM | by juliab | Comments (9)

The Se may have separate chairs in its lobby, but separate beds are a different story

We�ve told you over and over again how much we adore Hotwire here at HotelChatter, but while we�ve raved over the big discounts and free upgrades it�s scored us, we were always under the impression that once you book it, there�s no going back. Turns out, we were kind of wrong.

The saga: we took a last minute trip to California for our Fourth of July weekend and, on Thursday afternoon, used Hotwire to book ourselves a 4.5 star hotel in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter for Thursday and Friday night. It came up with the Se San Diego. Excellent, we thought � it may be in danger of closing, but that�s hardly a concern when we�re staying that same night, plus the rooms look lush on the website.

The only thing was, we would be arriving late, and we were traveling with a friend who we weren�t that buzzed about sharing a bed with. So we called up the hotel to ask whether it�d be possible to request a room with two beds. And we were told in no uncertain terms: no.

The woman in reservations told us several things. First, that all rooms booked through Hotwire were automatically assigned a king room, so it was impossible to change the room. Period.

Second, when we begged her to take pity on our plight of having to share a bed with a sleazy man, she told us that there was nothing she could do, because their double rooms were all sold out, what with it being the holiday weekend.

Third, after we asked if there was anyone else we could speak to, she suggested we jettison our (non-refundable) Hotwire booking and make a fresh reservation through her, because she could then give us a double room � odd, seeing as she had literally just said they were all sold out.

We pointed this conundrum out to her. How could she assign us a double if we made a fresh booking, when she'd told us that the doubles were all sold out? Her response? �Do you want to book a double room through me or not?� Um, no thanks love.

So we called Hotwire and explained the situation. And a lovely lady in customer services called Gigi in Florida took pity on us and called the Se herself. The woman she spoke to (possibly the same one) told her to go swivel, just as she had us. But Gigi felt sorry for us and our threatened virtue, and offered to cancel the booking and make a new one at another hotel.

Yup, we thought this was impossible, but apparently, if there are extenuating circumstances (and especially if, like us, you�re a regular customer � we�ve probably done about 10 stays through them in the past year), Hotwire can cancel a reservation � although it has to be done through their customer services, you have to book a different hotel through them for the same dates, and they have to book it for you, over the phone, rather than you doing it yourself. Also, your card will be charged in full for the new booking, and it will take about 10 days for the first booking to be refunded.

Because the agents can�t see the hotel names any more than you can, we selected a four star hotel to avoid getting landed with the Se again, and it turned out to be the Hotel Indigo. We called the Indigo to request a double, and were told they would put a request on our booking. When we arrived at the hotel, it turned out there had been no request marked, but we got a double with no problem anyway. And thus, thanks to Hotel Indigo and Gigi from Hotwire, we had a lovely Fourth of July weekend.

The moral of the tale? Hotwire really does seem to care about its customers. The Se? Not so much (so they'll forgive us for not really caring if they shut down after all). Lastly, we can reconfirm that Hotel Indigo is a pretty nice base for your trip to San Diego. Romantic or otherwise.

Comments (9)

Return to » How Hotwire Saved Our Weekend (And Possibly Our Virtue) From the Se San Diego

i always wonder about that bc ive never gotten 2 beds from hotwire. usually it's ok bc i travel by myself or with a man that i like a lot but what if you did want 2 beds? i am guessing you would have to select an option like 4 adults in 1 room in order to get 2 beds. ok, that's a lot of numbers for me there but hotwire should really allow you to clarify this. then you wouldnt have to deal with this at check-in.

no hotwire doesn't offer the option (although selecting 4 people is an ace idea) but every time i've done it before this weekend i've just called the hotel and it hasn't been a prob. i always assume on weekends that they'll be crying to get rid of the double rooms anyway

I'm in the hotel business and the story above is exactly what drives hotels crazy and quite frankly, gives people who book on "transparent" sites a bad name. What part of "room type guaranteed" do you not understand? If you want to guarantee a bed type, book on the hotel's site and pony up the extra money instead of being cheap and whining about it.

PS: Correction to the above perception - hotels are not trying to get rid of doubles on weekends. The reality is just the opposite. In just about every market, in every type of hotel, doubles are in higher demand on weekends. During the midweek, when business or convention travelers are in house, doubles are not in demand.

I booked with Hotwire and got the Westin Grand Frankfurt recently, and when I checked in, they gave me a two-bed room. I went back down and requested a single bed, because I just feel weird when it's only me and these two beds. They gave me a king room then, no problem.

point taken, if you want something guaranteed then pay the extra money but a) i've never had a problem before and b) my real issue is that first the hotel said that there were no double rooms left, and then tried to get me to pay an extra $150 to get a double room which was in fact available. i call that sneaky, and also pretty shitty customer service. i may have booked through hotwire, but my stay is wtih the hotel, i've paid for a room so they should take me as seriously as their other paying customers

i actually asked if i could pay to upgrade to a double room, and she said no, i would have to forfeit my hotwire reservation and make a brand new one with them. which is absurd, by any measure

juliab-- you are quite right, it IS strange that if you were willing to upgrade and they had doubles available, why not let you do that? (Although I will say that some hotels have so many "rules" for handling the different booking sites that some "less than bright" reservation agents just get confused about what the right procedure is....and sadly, procedure can trump service for some people).

But otherwise, as each hotel's room makeup is different (for some, double beds are more numerous than kings....but NOT the case in places like NYC) and daily demands differ (if they have groups in house, all the doubles will be taken up), no one should ever assume that getting two beds is easy.

AND as the hotels get very little revenue from those Hotwire reservations, DO expect them to be reticent about giving something more for nothing.

Honestly, if you NEED two beds, booking with Hotwire is a risk.

I find this odd... on Hotel Chatter the site for hotel industry people that you would discuss a matter like this and make it seem as though it is the hotels fault...

First, you book through a discount site that gives no guarantee on your room type and provide you with a King... and then when you call the hotel you have an issue with that??? Yes, if they had a double you would think that they may offer it to you for an up-charge, but if they have a solid policy then it is not the hotel's fault... there is a reason why they provide rooms at a discount because they are not guaranteed a room type, king or 2 queens, smoking or non-smoking...

Second, you should also be aware that Hotwire probably still paid for one night of your reservation... as is the agreement with Hotwire and most of its hotels that there is a one night charge...

I guess overall I am baffled for the fact that you are praising Hotwire rather then belittling yourself as the typical guest that hotels have to deal with... book at a discount and then expect full services...

I also find the fact that none of the editors or anyone at Hotel Chatter said anything about posting an article like this... I would have thought that most of the staff there would have hotel experience and at least some with hotel management/back office experience....

One word... confounding...

JuliaB - Our customers are our number one priority, and we're truly sorry about your experience in booking a reservation via HotWire.

When booking reservations through online travel agencies it is difficult to guarantee bed types. As with most hotel companies, bed types are on a request basis when booking through e-channels. While we cannot guarantee that requests for bed types will be accommodated (depending on availability), we do our best to make sure your stay is as comfortable as possible.

We are taking into your consideration your feedback as we continuously work to refine our customer service policy to ensure top-notch service. Thanks for thinking of us this Fourth of July weekend.

Joe Velasquez
Director of Sales and Marketing
Sè San Diego Hotel

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