Nikki Bird Disaster!

[Blueberry]

We had a good stay there, and left the 16th of May..I am so glad we did and I am sorry for the people who were there when it changed over. With the new management change over we certainly will never be returning again.

 

[Tiff54]

FYI---- I have a Priceline Reservation for the Nikki Bird on 6/11. I received an email yesterday from Priceline stating the change, and offering to cancel the reservation if I wanted to. I immediately called and canceled with no problems. !!!

 

[LakeAriel]

FYI---- I have a Priceline Reservation for the Nikki Bird on 6/11. I received an email yesterday from Priceline stating the change, and offering to cancel the reservation if I wanted to. I immediately called and canceled with no problems. !!!

You're lucky! I have yet to hear back from them with a solution and I contacted them Monday!

 

[Kay1]

Good for anyone who's getting their money back. Kathy, I understand how you read the list wrong. The person who posted on Sheryl's site said, though, that soap was one of the items missing from the room. When you think about it, I wonder what clientele they're catering to? Someone who has to be warned away from ruining mattresses and breaking windows, I guess!

 

[chuckbarr21]

We also got caught in the Nikki Bird disaster.I have contacted Priceline and they say that dump meets the 2 1/2* rating, so I went on the Priceline site and it says a 2 1/2* is a National name brand, Home Suite Home is not, tasteful accommodations, Home Suite home does not, 24 hour front desk, Home Suite Home does not, daily hosekeeping, Home Suite home does not.Based on this I am demanding a full refund!!!!

 

[Tiff54]

You guys that have a reservation with the Nikki Bird, look for an email that says "important information regarding your Priceline request"

Here is what my email says:

Dear Priceline Customer,

We have received word that the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird has changed ownership and
is now called the Home Sweet Home. Due to the change in management, the Home
Sweet Home is now offering housekeeping services on a weekly basis only, as
opposed to daily.

If you would prefer to cancel this reservation, please call us at 1-800-340-0575
prior to your check-in date of 6/11/2006 and we will issue a complete refund.

We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to serving your future
travel needs.

Sincerely,

Priceline Customer Service




If I were you, I'd just call and say you got an email saying that you could cancel this reservation because the hotel has changed names. I don't think they really verified whether I'd gotten an email or not... Actually, I didn't even know until I got the email yesterday, and I canceled immediately because I was disappointed that I'd gotten the hotel in the first place. Thank GOD I landed the Amerisuites for the other 6 nights of my stay...

 

[cyjmhill]

Wow!!!! What a mess for all of you guys.

I really hope that this doesn't wreck your vacation plans.

 

[LakeAriel]

You guys that have a reservation with the Nikki Bird, look for an email that says "important information regarding your Priceline request"

Here is what my email says:

Dear Priceline Customer,

We have received word that the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird has changed ownership and
is now called the Home Sweet Home. Due to the change in management, the Home
Sweet Home is now offering housekeeping services on a weekly basis only, as
opposed to daily.

If you would prefer to cancel this reservation, please call us at 1-800-340-0575
prior to your check-in date of 6/11/2006 and we will issue a complete refund.

We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to serving your future
travel needs.

Sincerely,

Priceline Customer Service




If I were you, I'd just call and say you got an email saying that you could cancel this reservation because the hotel has changed names. I don't think they really verified whether I'd gotten an email or not... Actually, I didn't even know until I got the email yesterday, and I canceled immediately because I was disappointed that I'd gotten the hotel in the first place. Thank GOD I landed the Amerisuites for the other 6 nights of my stay...

Thanks. I will give them till tomorrow to respond and then will do this. As it turns out my SIL has travel agent status and got a Disney value at $55 compared to $47 at Nikki on Priceline. This turns out to be beneficial to them since Priceline wouldn't refund unless they are at fault and I wouldn't renege on my end either. I feel bad for those that don't have alternatives now though!

 

[LakeAriel]

After four contacts with Priceline and asking for a manager I got a refund for the economy long term stay hotel Holiday Inn Nikki bird turned into!
They were to Email me within 48 hours after I spoke to them. When they didn't I called and the rep told me I had a reservation at "Home Sweet Home." Just like that. When I opened the confirmation Email they had sent me a few weeks ago miraculously it said "Home Sweet Home." I couldn't believe it. As I told the manager the idea they never called and told me that my hotel was switched to a boarding house with weekly cleaning is what burns me up. I have never used Priceline before and never will again. Fool me once shame on you.....
Thanks to this board and those that informed us or my DD and DSIL would have been looking for a Nikki bird with 2 children in the car next August!

 

[CPM]

so, if you bid on Priceline now. do you still have a chance to get HSH?

 

[tinaluis]

CPM,
There is a chance HSH will come up but it would be a 2* (or lower) because of the lack of daily maid service.

 

[MyGoofy26]

After four contacts with Priceline and asking for a manager I got a refund for the economy long term stay hotel Holiday Inn Nikki bird turned into!
They were to Email me within 48 hours after I spoke to them. When they didn't I called and the rep told me I had a reservation at "Home Sweet Home." Just like that. When I opened the confirmation Email they had sent me a few weeks ago miraculously it said "Home Sweet Home." I couldn't believe it. As I told the manager the idea they never called and told me that my hotel was switched to a boarding house with weekly cleaning is what burns me up. I have never used Priceline before and never will again. Fool me once shame on you.....
Thanks to this board and those that informed us or my DD and DSIL would have been looking for a Nikki bird with 2 children in the car next August!

So glad you got it worked out!

I use Priceline quite a bit (my friends and I travel a good bit for concerts) and never had a problem (I usually bid 3 or 4* though) - this is the biggest mess I've ever seen. I think the 2 1/2 * rating was rather generous to begin with even if it was a Holiday Inn, but with this change. . . absolute mess!

 

[MyGoofy26]

so, if you bid on Priceline now. do you still have a chance to get HSH?

I don't think so. I haven't seen anyone come up with it. Like a previous poster said, if they DO use Priceline it'll be in a different category. . . most likely it'll be an "economy" so I would be willing to bet that one could safely bid a 2 1/2* and NOT get this place.

 

[Tiff54]

I have never used Priceline before and never will again. Fool me once shame on you.....

I wouldn't take it that far. Obviously Priceline is trying to correct the problem. I've been using Priceline for about 3 years now, and have yet to be disappointed about a room I've gotten. I do a lot of research before I bid and try to have all the information I need. I think this is a circumstance that no one could have known was going to happen.

 

[CarolA]

I have used PL a lot. I know there is a risk something like this could happen, but overall my savings have more then made up for it....

However, if you are risk adverse or view something like this as one of the worst things ever... don't use them. (I am not trying to sound mean, but there are lots of folks for whom PL is just too risky....)

 

[LakeAriel]

I wouldn't take it that far. Obviously Priceline is trying to correct the problem. I've been using Priceline for about 3 years now, and have yet to be disappointed about a room I've gotten. I do a lot of research before I bid and try to have all the information I need. I think this is a circumstance that no one could have known was going to happen.

First of all Holiday Inn and Priceline should have known ownership was about to be transferred.
Second of all
Priceline is NOT trying to correct it. I found out here on a message board! I emailed them twice and got a response for me to call them after I stated I wanted a refund. After I called I was told I would hear back within 48 hours. I had to call them back. The rep said I had a reservation at Home Suite Home. Period. Realizing this was not her fault I asked for a manager. When I checked the record online of my reservation it had changed from Holiday Inn to an economy hotel. Yet NO ONE contacted me! Still I had to push my point to finally get a refund. That is not trying to correct the problem.

 

[LakeAriel]

I have used PL a lot. I know there is a risk something like this could happen, but overall my savings have more then made up for it....

However, if you are risk adverse or view something like this as one of the worst things ever... don't use them. (I am not trying to sound mean, but there are lots of folks for whom PL is just too risky....)

I took the risk when I bid that I would not get All Stars but Nikki bird. I read the pro's and con's about Nikki bird and figured for one night it couldn't be too bad. That said, the bait and switch, is not acceptable. I am sure the vast majority of people have good results with Priceline. It is the fact that I never used them before then had this debacle happen will make me steer clear of them..At least for a long while..

 

[chuckbarr21]

We were at WDW May 13-23,our first night tried to get All Star bid $35 and got Amerisuites, not too bad.Our next 7 nights, won a two bed two bath condo from Skyauction for $216 at Orbit one, loved that place and hated to leave.The last two nights bid 2 1/2* from Priceline got Nikki Bird or so we thought,I knew about where this place was but after 15 hours at MK we were really tired and looking forward to some sleep and got to 192 to look for Holiday Inn sign, could not find it, turns out Home Suite Home covered them with banners that were not lighted at night good thing I asked someone at 7-11 where hotel was because the guy at hotel was getting ready to leave at midnight and then we would have no room at all.I can go into all of the problems with this dump but other posts have covered them pretty well.When we Got home to L.A. I sent a e-mail to priceline stating the problems and they replied that the Nikki bird meets there requirements. The next thing I did was go to Priceline's own website to see how they define 2 1/2* and it turns out Home Suite home does not meet any of there own standards for a 2 1/2* hotel, and point by point I detailed how it did not meet there own standards.The next e-mail I recieved from Priceline was a conformation of my refund.I have used priceline for years and will continue to use it, the pro's outway the con's as a matter of fact this was my one and only hotel I have ever complained about in 5 years of bidding on Priceline.

 

[CarolA]

A couple of points.

If you want customer service don't use PL. I am serious here. They aren't doing customer service and make no bones about it... they are wholeselling hotel rooms and that's ALL... So the fact that you got a refund at all is probably good for PL. If you want service book with a more full service TA. PL just isn't staffed to do service. That's one of the risks of dealing with them. (For the prices you pay what do you expect?)

Also, NO PL had NO way of knowing that the hotel was NOT going to be a Holiday Inn. (THe employees who worked there didn't know, do you really think the owners called them and said "we are dropping our HI affliation"??? )

Remember that Holiday Inn owns VERY few of the Holiday Inns. The hotels are owned by local owners, real estate investment firms etc. They then "affliate" with HI. Some hotel chains do a better job then others of "policing" thier affliates. My experience has been that once a hotel gets a HI affliate it seems to be in as long as they are willing to pay....

Holiday Inn did NOT list the hotel on PL. The Nikki Bird management team did. A PL participation decision is made by the local management based on yields vs. profit. Some hotels within a chain will not participate at all while others will. Management just decides if they would rather have "low return" or hope for a late selll....

 

[Chuck S]

I agree With CarolA. Holiday Inn does a horrible job of verifying that their franchisees/affiliates meet HI "standards". There are some nice HIs out there, but there are also a lot of junky ones.