Priceline Hotel Stories

[CheapMom]

I think it is so funny that you drove by the rejected hotel! I have to agree that it is a gamble and not worth possible screwing up your vacation.
I also say you can't get all worked up about reviews you read online because in 2 posts on this thread people bash 2 hotels that I thought were very nice for the price- Nikki Bird and Grosvenor and there is another thread on this board about the Hilton at DD where people rave about this 4* resort- I stayed there last week and I wouldn't give you two nickels for the place.

 

[inkkognito]

I am a major Priceline fan. I use biddingfortravel.com as my guideline, and I've never been unhappy with resort level Lake Buena Vista hotels. We've been at a lot...in the Downtown Disney area, it's been the Hyatt, Hilton, and Wyndham. We also once got the Gaylord, and they upgraded us to a Key West view room. Very cool! But I hate the stupid resort fee they add sometimes...to me, that's a tourist rip-off. I try to figure it in when bidding.
When we cruise, we bid MCO airport hotels and we always do the highest star level (Marriott, Renaissance, and Holiday Inn Select have all been good). We used to bid one level lower and got some nice suite hotels, but we stopped that after being at the SLUM La Quinta twice. Not the La Quinta Suites, but the one on Daetwyler Drive. On one trip, there was no free breakfast as advertised. My husband figured out why when he saw all the workers carrying the food out to their cars! We and another person waited 30 mins. for a desk clerk to come check us out. She said, "Sorry, I had to go feed my kids." The time before that, we were in a "non-smoking" room that connected to a smoking room. The towels absolutely reeking, and I had an allergy attack that lasted all the next day.
Other than that, Bill Shatner has been good to us.
Barb

 

[vhoffman]

So I'm not the only one who has had bad experiences staying at La Quintas. We've had the same things happen--non-smoking rooms that reeked of smoke, rooms in disrepair, and non-existent breakfasts. The breakfast consisted of just coffee and a few stale pastries. The other advertised items, such as yogurt, fresh fruit, etc., just weren't there. On the way out my kids noticed a lot of fruit in the sewer drain outside the hotel (?). I figured the employees were eating all they could and taking home the rest. But how does that explain the fruit in the drain? Well, I complained to La Quinta corporate headquarters about a particularly bad stay, and got back a coupon for a free night at a La Quinta. Just what I wanted--another night at the dump! Then I found it wasn't accepted at most of their hotels. I should have sold it on EBay, but I didn't know about EBay then. Its expired now. Well, all the more reason to stay away from Priceline--you might get a La Quinta!

 

[jann1033]

we have had good and bad rooms nationwide with priceline...my biggest gripe was we paid more to priceline than the room should have been according to the hotel ( in additon to the extra priceline fee)and when i told priceline they said "too bad for you, the hotel shouldn't have told you their cost" ... so much for the priceline guarantee! and should you have a problem the customer service reps are horrendous..another time i tried to get a room their website was messed up and the little csr witch refused to talk to me, saying the site was fine ( it wasn't and i had been polite) strike 2, forget them im my book.

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by jgates
Just remember - you are never guaranteed a room with 2 beds, although I believe most hotels will provide one if available. That's why I have had a reluctance to use it when all 4 of us are travelling. If only 3, then DD could sleep in a sleeping bag.

NOT A PROBLEM IN ORLANDO, but PL only guarantees a room that will sleep 2. BFT identifies some cities (like NYC) in wich you might have a problem sleeping more than 2. I got 2 different hotels in NYC with just a double bed. In both cases there wasn't room on the floor for a cot and a single sleeping bag would be a tight fit.

 

[KLAIT]

I have used Priceline dozens of times and never been disappointed. I have done my research (mostly using www.biddingfortravel.com) and have been able to pinpoint what hotels that I have a chance to get if not exactly what hotels I am going to get.

The whole key to successful Priceline experience is research! My family has been able to stay in some very nice places and a lot more often with Priceline than if we did not use them..

 

[kilee]

I'm going to second the research. Without it, it really is a bad choice. I looked into it for almost a month daily before I placed my first ever bid. It really works for some people and for others it just doesn't.

 

[bearzabout]

I've stayed 133 nights in hotels using Priceline and have never been disappointed. For me, everything is relative. I am much less critical of a hotel when I am paying a fraction of the going rate. I expect less from a $40/night room than a $100/night room and am less likely to be disappointed.

In Orlando, I switched to Skyauction for stays of 1 week or longer. Condo stays of $37/night are a much better deal than what you can get for Priceline for the same amount of money.

I am so glad my days of staying at low end hotels like Super 8, Econolodges, etc. have come to an end thanks to Priceline. The rooms I get through Priceline are always better than if I paid regular price at a budget hotel.

My last stay with Priceline was at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort in New Mexico. $75/night for a resort rated among the best in the country is a deal. Good research is the key.

 

[CJK]

Another big thumbs up for priceline! We like to travel a lot and priceline has made it possible. We've gotten 4* hotels right down to 2* hotels and have never been disappointed (in Orlando and parts of Canada). When we book a 2* hotel, we're obviously just looking for a place to sleep and we've had wonderful luck. As others have mentioned, research is the key!!

 

[bartleby1]

We used priceline for our last two Orlando trips and were very pleased. We stayed at the Rosen Centre and the Hyatt last summer for roughly $38 per night. My parents decided to join us and got stuck paying $89 for the Rosen Centre and $69 for the Hyatt. In the summer of 2001, we stayed at the Amerisuites for $28 per night (I had $10 bonus money per night). The hotel was only about a year old and was fine for what we needed.

As others have said, doing research is VERY important. Also, it depends on what you will be doing in your hotel. When we take our Florida trips, we do a week in Orlando doing the parks and don't spend much time in our room so it doesn't really matter too much to us what the room is like. However, our second week we head over to the beach and spend alot of time in our room. I don't think I would chance it at the beach, especially since beach hotels can be pretty yucky sometimes.

 

[vhoffman]

Insofar as research goes, well, I did my research, on Biddingfor travel and bettertraveling. I followed my research closely, and still wound up with a hotel that looked like a homeless shelter. I, for one, will NEVER trust my hard-earned vacation dollars to an opaque travel reservation agent, such as Priceline. If I wanted to gamble, I'd go to Las Vegas! (but be sure of my hotel!)

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

We just returned from a 7 night stay at the Walt Disney World Dolphin that we won on Priceline for $70 a night - it was AWESOME!! I almost felt guilty for staying at this wonderful hotel for such a small price! ALMOST - LOL

I've also used it for New Orleans and had a very pleasant stay at the Convention Center Hilton for $49 a night!!

I wouldn't hesitate to use Priceline again - As of now I am checking out 4 * hotels in the Houston area on Priceline

 

[BonnieA]

vhoffman: If you didn't even go inside the hotel, how can you really say what kind of a place it was? Do you judge a book by it's cover? It might have been as bad as you say but if you didn't even go inside I don't see how you can make that determination.
And research also involves going to the biddingfortravel site and seeing what hotels could possibly come up, reading the reviews, going to each hotel's website and if you couldn't live with any of the possibilities, then don't bid in that area.

 

[vhoffman]

BonnieA,

Oh, geez! Is this thread going to take a nasty turn? I wasn't reading a book, I was picking out a hotel for my family's vacation. Read my post--I said it looked like a welfare hotel from the outside. Plus, it was in a rundown area of town. Its unrealistic to think its going to trun into a palace inside if they can't even keep up the outside. Perhaps that would be ok for you, but for me and my family, it was below our standards. If you're satisfied with whatever you get from Priceline, go for it. The point I was trying to make is that sometimes you can get burned using PL. I believe the OP was trying to find out some others experiences using PL. I shared one of mine. Take it or leave it. Its not necessary to attack anyone who doesn't think like you do!

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by vhoffman
BonnieA,

Oh, geez! Is this thread going to take a nasty turn? I wasn't reading a book, I was picking out a hotel for my family's vacation. Read my post--I said it looked like a welfare hotel from the outside. Plus, it was in a rundown area of town. Its unrealistic to think its going to trun into a palace inside if they can't even keep up the outside. Perhaps that would be ok for you, but for me and my family, it was below our standards. If you're satisfied with whatever you get from Priceline, go for it. The point I was trying to make is that sometimes you can get burned using PL. I believe the OP was trying to find out some others experiences using PL. I shared one of mine. Take it or leave it. Its not necessary to attack anyone who doesn't think like you do!

PL charges you cc before they even give you a confirmation. Not sure how you got a reservation without being charged.

I think the point is if you checked in and took pictures you might have had grounds to try for a refund on the basis of a mis rating.

I've had good luck using PL when I was looking for a decent room, NYC or room near an airport for example. I don't think I'd use PL if the focus of my vacation was a resort stay and resort amenities (beach location for example) is going to be a major part of my vacation.

The same people who tell prospective PL customers not to worry about 4 in a room are the same people who will quote PL rules if the customer is one of the (very) few, unlucky guests who wind up being stuck with a King, handicap accessible room in a sold out hotel.

 

[vhoffman]

Yes, I understand that PL charges your credit card at time of booking. However, for some reason, the charge never showed up on our statements. That was about 6 months ago. I look at
it as a lucky break. However, it usually doesn't happen that way. I wouldn't want anyone here to think that they aren't charged unless and until they show up. Breaks like that happen once in a blue moon. But its just another indication of why I wouldn't deal with PL. They are so inept they can't even keep their own accounts straight. I've heard stories the opposite, as well. That is, people are sometimes charged twice (or more) for the same reservation. Its not easy getting it taken off your credit card. Their customer service is not noted for its niceness.

 

[jgates]

vhoffman - what do you bet, if you actually had stopped at the hotel, your ressie probably would have been missing anyway!!!

 

[tar heel]

We've used priceline five times and got wonderful places and been treated great at four of them. Our disappointing stay was at a *** Hilton in Raleigh, NC. We were given a rundown, smoking room and told that there were no nonsmoking rooms to move us to. Conversation with the checkout desk person made it clear that there had been nonsmoking rooms available.

 

[vhoffman]

Actually, I never thought of that--that our reservation was probably missing, that's why we weren't charged. None of the paperwork went through. We joked about how the room was ours since we'd paid for it (it wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't on our cc statements). So we could use it to store our dirty laundry! From the look of the place, I wouldn't even want my dirty laundry there!

 

[CheapMom]

As far as juding a book by its cover- yes, of course I do. Do you let the outside of your house fall into disrepair and shambles because as long as it is clean on the inside- that is all that matters?
I doubt it.