Originally Posted by
fatfrog
Actually, you can sometimes change it with priceline. They won't do it if your plans change and you just want a new date, but if you bid on the wrong dates because you just had it wrong in your head or something, what they will do is allow you to cancel the original reservation for $25/night (or something like that), provided that you rebid for the new dates. Then, if you win on the right dates, you can get some portion of that cancellation fee back. I can't remember the exact figures and there are a number of restrictions to make sure people can't cancel just for fun, and it's probably harder to do if you catch your mistake several weeks after your booking rather than immediately, but priceline does have some limited means of dealing with this sort of situation.
Thanks, fatfrog -- your strategy was the winner.
I first tried calling the hotel to see if I could move my stay up by one day but got nowhere (the agent was nice, she just couldn't do anything for me).
So I called priceline and said I made a mistake -- could I change the date? Sure enough, they offered to cancel my 1-night reservation and apply the proceeds (less a $25 charge) to a new reservation. I then had to rebid for the correct night (they give you as many tries as you need, provided you meet all the rebidding rules) and then call back to get the partial refund.
I wound up with exactly the same hotel on my new arrival date.
It was worth the $25 change fee to me.
Not sure what the fee would have been on a multi-night stay. But this is a good trick to know if you need to change the date on a reservation.