Nervous about Priceline...

[ThePedersonFamily]

We are considering booking a hotel in California near the port through priceline. I've read on the boards that lots of people have done this and gotten great deals. I am worried because we have 2 children and Priceline only guarantees a room for 2 adults and that can be a king size bed. That won't work for us, am I better off just booking what we need? Thanks for the help!!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

This is a big risk with Priceline. Generally in Orlando you can get the "two bed" room, but that's because they have more then the normal number of two bed rooms due to the family demographic.

You might try Hotwire. You can put in 2 adults/2 kids which means only hotels that will sleep you are returned. And I often can figure out what I am getting by looking at the information on www.betterbidding.com

 

[lmhall2000]

Hey,

I've done Priceline 3x now...London and Barcelona (notorious for slamming you with the one bed rule) and now Crowne Plaza at the LA port ($65)... www.biddingfortravel.com is a great site as well...they post the most recent rates taken...

It does say on Priceline to call the hotel to confirm any requests...when I did call Crowne Plaza they specifically told me ALL Priceline paid rooms get king size and SMOKING...I politely and considerately explained that we had two asthmatics and there were 8 of us...she then asked if double beds would work better for us...she really acted reluctant to make the change..but she said she would...time will only tell (we travel in March)...but to be honest, we're traveling with 6 teens...they would sleep on the floor gladly to know we'll be on a cruise for 7 nights...and really only two would sleep on the floor b/c with a king I know I'd end up in a bed with two of my girls and my nieces would gladly sleep together!

The same thing for Barcelona and London...London we ended up with 2 doubles and Barcelona had a HUGE king bed, and a large sofa..they brought up a cot at no extra cost (which many hotels in Barcelona won't)...it was beautiful and the kids still talk about the bathroom (said it was a 5 star..had remote controlled draperies and the bathroom had about 5 jets spraying you in the shower from all sides....for $60 a night, we slept well! The rooms normally went for $280 a night!

Maybe I've been lucky, but the bottom dollar has me by a choke chain right now, I'll take my chances!
Tara

 

[ThePedersonFamily]

Thanks for the help!! We weighed our options and decided to risk it and got the Crowne Plaza for $75 a night. Not bad!! I'm going to directly call the hotel and see if they will put us in a nonsmoking room, but if not, we will live and since we are staying for 3 nights we basically got a night free!!