Booked/paid for room, not available upon arrival

TL;DR: Booked and paid for a room, room was not available, the hotel clerk said there was a room but that he chose not to give it to us, we ended up sleeping in the car. What is the best course of action?

My partner and I booked a room in northern Georgia state near Chattanooga, TN for the long drive back from Florida to Michigan. The room was reserved and paid for through 3rd-party, Hotwire, the hotel chain was ChoiceHotels. (I've never before stayed there.)

We arrived in the mountain town and quickly learned that the hotel was overbooked and that the previous clerk had given our room to someone else. I asked for a manager as I assumed a manager would be able to do something such as offer up a not-so-great room that they don't normally rent out (maybe the air conditioner is in-service or something, I don't know.)

I stepped aside to contact Hotwire while my partner tried to come up with ideas with the clerk. As the clerk had not given out contact info for the manager, my partner asked him again to contact the manager. The clerk then said that he was going to give us a room, but now he's not and said something about being a man and not a little boy. He never contacted the manager nor gave us details to contact the manager.

Knowing I would likely receive a refund (I did), I looked for hotels in the area but there appeared to be some sports events and with spring break, absolutely nothing was available. The gentleman at Quality Inn did not offer any help. We continued to drive north hoping we could find a place to stay as we got further from Chattanooga but this was fruitless. We ended up sleeping in our car at a truck stop (note that my partner is in his 60s, so days later he is still hurting.)

What should the hotel chain have done in this case? What recourse should I expect?