Like anything else on the web, you have to be careful with what you are doing and what you are spending your money on.
I have used Hotwire very very successfully for auto rentals, all by themself, in places like LaGuardia, Minneapolis and Toronto. The lack of specific information about whose car I am renting is not an issue because the rate, all charges, is shown before I book. I don’t care if I am using Avis or Budget or Hertz.
With airfares, you never used to know the airline or the departure times until you gave them your credit card and that can make a big difference, whether you leave at 7am as opposed to 7 pm.
With hotels, you have to be careful if they don’t tell you where you are staying up front. In a town like my home town it’s 20 minutes ocean to river. In Los Angeles, that uncertaintly can make a big difference in how much time you spend traveling to customers or to tourist attractions.
I recently read that in booking hotels the best way to to do it is to call the location directly or the chain’s actual 800
number because the fewer layers you have between you and the service provider will make solving a potential problem easier.’
I don’t travel on business all that much anymore, say the last 18 months, but this is my experience with hotwire…
SRM