Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - PL Hotel Minimum Age - Why, and Isn't it Illegal?

A friend of mine was about to book a PL room for her 18 yo adult daughter on PL, and saw there was a minimum age of 21.

Anyone know why they do this? Certainly in most, if not all, US states, 18 year olds are adults for all purposes except alcohol.

So, why the prohibition? Strikes me as illegal age discrimination in accommodation.

If it was illegal I would think some car rental company would be sued by now. I know Hertz has a minimum of 21, don't know about others.

It makes sense to me, teenagers are way more likely to tear the place up or end up running down the hall half naked screaming.

A large number of hotels have policy that requires guests to be 21. I would presume that PL has such a policy to allign itself with the properties which participate in the program.

Wirelessly posted (HTC-P4600/1.2 Opera/9.50 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.0)

i would guess since there is the possibility the room could have a minibar and thus require 21+

At least in California, there is a rental car statute that allows that. There is no such statute for hotels.


If it was illegal I would think some car rental company would be sued by now. I know Hertz has a minimum of 21, don't know about others.

It makes sense to me, teenagers are way more likely to tear the place up or end up running down the hall half naked screaming.

Hotels can and do lock the minibar when they have guests under 21.


Wirelessly posted (HTC-P4600/1.2 Opera/9.50 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.0)

i would guess since there is the possibility the room could have a minibar and thus require 21+

I too, have under 21's (but over 18) that I have to sometime make hotel reservations for.

I do a LOT of legwork and research beforehand. Lets say on PL there is a only one 4* in a catagory in Jacksonville. I see what it is, go to the official hotel web site, and low and behold, check in age is 18. Well, I bid on that. IF there are 3, 4, 5 hotels in a catagory that have varying ages, I go on to betterbidding.com and try to use the elimination game on Hotwire, and get one who I KNOW has a 18 year old check in age.

Last resort, other booking sites. Hotels.com very often lists on the info page the check in age so I can scroll through hotels pretty fast.

Its all different. I know one of my daughters favorite hotels is the Westin Atlanta Perimeter. Its check in age is 18. The Westins in Chicago are 21. I had to find one in Chicago recently for her upcoming trip.

I would have loved to bid on PL for one for her, but too many in the catagory for a "guarentee". The LAST thing I want is for her to be "denied" her ressie when she shows up.

Hope this helps.

I too, have under 21's (but over 18) that I have to sometime make hotel reservations for.



I would have loved to bid on PL for one for her, but too many in the catagory for a "guarentee". The LAST thing I want is for her to be "denied" her ressie when she shows up.

Hope this helps.

I looked into this a while back and found out this interesting anomaly

PL.com T&C's (http://www.priceline.com/customerservice/faq/showsolution.asp?session_key=5C0011AC5D0011AC20090 716112900302ac0562980&plf=pcln&FAQ=ext(AIRPOP_TERMS)#section23) state the guest must be 21
Must be 21 Years of Age: The guest on the reservation must be 21 years or older to check into the hotel.

PL .CO.UK T&C's state the guest must be 18 (http://partners.priceline.com/customerservice/faq/browsesolution.asp?session_key=400011AC410011AC200 90716115735297420541838&plf=pcln)

Priceline Hotel Rules

Before you make a hotel Request there are a few rules you need to agree to:

Hotel Requests must be guaranteed in advance with a major credit or debit card.
Priceline hotel reservations are non-refundable and non-changeable.
Once you submit your Request, it cannot be modified.
If your Request is accepted, Priceline will immediately book the room and charge your credit card.
When submitting a Request, you identify the geographic area(s) in which you agree to stay and the quality level of hotel you require. You do not select the hotel and you will not be presented with a list of available hotels or rates.
You must be 18 years of age or older to make a hotel Request.



As you can bid on exactly the same hotels from both sites then an 18 year old could win a hotel in the US that has a "no under 21 rule"

As I am way past the 18-21 year mark :o I haven't tested this and haven't heard of any one else having problems. Though most probably due to the fact that 18-20's don't usually book 4* hotels!

I just checked the www.priceline.co.uk and it states that anyone 18 yo & older can make the request but further down in the T&C, it states that one has to be 21 or older to check in at the hotel.

I just checked the www.priceline.co.uk and it states that anyone 18 yo & older can make the request but further down in the T&C, it states that one has to be 21 or older to check in at the hotel.

Any chance of a link to that part of the T&C's 'cos I can't find it. :confused:

Seems a bit daft to have a lower age to actually bid and win a hotel than one that is allowed to check in!

Strangely, priceline.com.sg has the following rule:


Minimum age requirements

North America/Mexico/Caribbean: You must be at least 21 years old to book a hotel room North American, Mexican & Caribbean hotels. *

Asia/Europe: You must be at least 18 years old to book hotel rooms in Asia/Pacific & European hotels.*
* Priceline will assume no responsibility for hotels denying check-in if minimum age requirements are not met.


This seems to imply you may still be at the mercy of the hotel's rules, even if Priceline allows you to book?

My case was at the Marriott in Singapore in 2003, the days of SARS. Got a room at the JW Marriott on Priceline.com.sg when it stated an age of 18, whereas the US site stated 21 (I was 20 at the time). Won the bid and when I checked in the front desk staff at the hotel said there was an age requirement to which I stated the above adding with a grin "not like I'll misbehave or anything."

Their smiling response was "don't worry sir, we're not going to take away or cancel your registration." One minute later, I got my room keys...

Except at resort-type areas popular with partying students, I haven't seen many hotels actually enforce a minimum age requirement on bookings as long as the person had a credit card with sufficient funds available -- that's even where there is an age restriction.

With PCLN bookings, that the hotels often ask for photo ID (which most likely may include a date of birth) doesn't help however.

In Florida there is no law regulating this. The hotels are free to set their own policies.

Get them an ID without a D.O.B. on it...

This seems to imply you may still be at the mercy of the hotel's rules, even if Priceline allows you to book?

I would expect that you would always be at the mercy of the hotel's rules, not only for age, but check in time, check out time, not bringing glass into the pool area, etc.

To the OP, it seems to boil down to the fact that some hotels have 21 yo requirement, so PL goes with the least common denominator, over 21, since there would be no way to cleanly handle various age limits.

I understand why Priceline does it, but, just because it has a common sense reason, does not mean it is legal.

I am in California, where I believe that state anti-discrimination statutes would not allow discrimination against 18-21 year olds. There are specific statutes allowing age discrimination in some instances - senior housing and car rental come to mind, which the courts have said are exceptions to the general "no discrimination" rule. But, as far as I know, there is no statutory exemption in California that allows hotels to discriminate based on age.

If discrimination by hotels is illegal, then Priceline can't legally aid hotels in discriminating (and I suppose in some cases Priceline is causing discrimination where the hotel itself has an 18 minimum age.).



To the OP, it seems to boil down to the fact that some hotels have 21 yo requirement, so PL goes with the least common denominator, over 21, since there would be no way to cleanly handle various age limits.

I was staying at a 21 proprety (2* La Quinta) and bid on priceline.co.uk because back then everywhere the terms said 18, and wasn't confronted. But I imagine there are a few properties that do care that their guests are 21. So far, I've been lucky and haven't had an issue.