I used to love Hotwire. I always felt like I was getting a good deal, until recently when I started doing a little bit more in-depth research when booking hotels. I am currently searching for a hotel in February in a smaller town. The first hot rate hotel and the standard rate hotel that popped up were the same hotel. There are ways to tell which is which, especially in a town where there aren’t many options. The hot rate hotel was MORE EXPENSIVE after taxes and fees than the STANDARD COST. The standard hotel was totaled at $201, the hot rate totaled at $203. This is because the taxes and fees for the hot rate option were over DOUBLE the taxes and fees for the standard option. Oh, and if the app realizes you’ve caught on, it will make the hotels vanish from the options and you will get a pop up that says the deal is no longer available. However, if you exit the app, reopen it and perform the same search, the hotel pops back up and is clearly still available. This website is a scam, you are better off booking directly through the hotel, or with another travel site. I am spreading this to everyone I know because it is absolutely ridiculous and false advertisement.