Peterpack

This is always my biggest fear when booking through Priceline. You get a great deal but i always feel the hotels look down on me because i got such a cheap price relative to other guests and want to put me in the worst room in the hotel.

Does anyone else feel this ?

from my point of view, no one forces hotels to give room inventory to priceline, if they want to be snobby about things, don't offer your rooms on priceline !

i got a really great deal on a 5 star hotel in central london. You know how elitest they are in England, 5 star hotels in London being the worst. I don't want to be seen as the 'riff raff' who booked through priceline.

Am i being a bit too paranoid ?

or is there truth to priceliners getting the worst rooms/service at hotels ?

heraclitus

Of all the times I've used PL and Hotwire, I think there were maybe one or two instances where I received a room that seemed like it was probably set aside for PL/HW users... once was a Holiday Inn in MSP where I got a handicapped room on the ground floor with no view (but it was extra spacious so there was at least that), and once at a Westin in YEG where I got a room with no view.

The others were all standard rooms so far as I could tell, and there were never any issues with service, etc. I even got upgraded once or twice as well, which offsets the "Priceline rooms" I was given before.

Frankly I've saved so much over the years with PL/HW (I don't use it that much anymore because now with a child my needs are a bit different) that I really wouldn't care if someone gave me the gears over that - not that it's ever happened, though.

lo2e

Rooms, yes. Service, I'm not so sure. Almost any hotel, no matter how you book or how much you pay, can have service issues, and hotels are certainly not obligated to participate with PL.

100% agree - I'm willing to sacrifice a slightly subpar room or subpar service for the amount I've saved. Obviously major league room or service problems are a different issue and are always followed up with contact to the manager or corporate office.

wharvey

I have used Priceline/Hotwire hundreds of times (really) over the years.

I can honestly say I have never felt I received a subpar room as a Priceline/Hotwire guest.

At the end of the day, the hotel is a business and they cannot afford to offend their guests. Now, if the hotel is full, they have every right to prioritize their room assignments based on rate paid.

I can honestly say that I have no problem if I had to get a subpar room based on what I have saved on the room cost.

coolwulf

It really depends on the hotel and the timing.

Let me share one of my experience I had a while ago. Once I booked a 4* hotel (Imperial Palace) in Las Vegas several years ago. When I arrived the hotel, it was late almost midnight. And almost all rooms were sold out. According to Priceline's policy, the hotel had to accomodate the customer. So eventually they put me in a penthouse room!

Well this kind of incidence only happened once to me... But it did happen. So the experience through Priceline NYOP is really YMMV from my point of view.

B1

The instructions from Priceline are to give the customer the best possible room so that they will want to select that hotel the next time. A desk clerk told me that she is not told what price a guest has paid, just the type of room. I also found that if I don't like the room I am assigned, I can ask for a different one until I am okay with it, as long as there is availability,

davie355

Hotels treat Priceline guests the same as non-status guests, in my experience.

Peterpack

thanks guys, i guess it pays to be courteous and polite at check in

My golden rule is to always go to a female check in staff member. It's not about flirting or anything like that, i just think human beings in general prefer to deal with the opposite sex in circumstances like this.

lo2e

That's an interesting perspective, I'll honestly admit I've never noticed any discernible difference between checking in with a male staff member vs. a female one (and I am male). But while I haven't exactly kept score, I would say there were females checking me in at most of the hotels I've ever stayed at in my lifetime.

spainflyer

I have booked lots (probably 100+) Priceline rooms, and rarely thought I had been assigned a poor room because of where / how I booked.

One exception: The big Holiday Inn on Cromwell Road in London -- the hotel where no one pays rack rate. Full of airline crews, technician teams from around the world, travel groups.

Checking in one evening with a young German trainee (that's what her badge said). In almost a parody of a German accent she looked me in the eye and said "I zee you are coming viss Priceline..." I allowed as how I was. Got assigned a room at the back of the hotel opposite the linen and supplies room, where staff come and go all day and most of the night, and where they hang out and socialize.

I didn't complain or try to change. First because I figured it would do me no good, and second, because the booking was for one night.

That is the only instance I can remember of getting "The Priceline Reception."

davie355

At the former Intercontinental Chicago O'Hare, I once got "I see you booked on Hotwire," but I also got upgraded to a junior suite just by asking if they had Platinum upgrades available.

I was indeed Platinum, but I question whether they verified it.

On another occasion at the same hotel, when I was still Platinum but had booked direct on IHG.com, I was given a double bed standard room (despite booking king) that reeked of smoke (the hotel is fully nonsmoking).

heraclitus

Haha... I've had my rate/booking mode acknowledged a couple of times at reception, always along the lines of "your reservation is prepaid through Hotwire" or even "wow, I see you have a very good rate" but that's about it.

Ahh, the IC (now Loews) ORD... the place that can make IRROPS a happy time

That's a good story... just goes to show you can end up with a crappy room from time to time regardless of where you book.

3recondoc

I never had this happen. Not in the US and not in Europe. I have been upgraded now and then despite being on a PL NYOP stay.

A friend of mine on NYOP was upgraded to a full on suite.

Being treated like a non-status guest is the way it should be. Unless you have status. I don't have it but I do understand why those that do are treated better than I am.

The only hotel I knew for sure was giving NYOP guest inferior rooms (followed by an upsell) was the Park Hotel in Amsterdam. Before they renovated.

People complained about the second class treatment. PL responded and down graded the (almost 5 star ) 4 star Park to a 3 star and I have never seen it show up as a win since.

Kagehitokiri

deeply discounted rates are not limited to PL

if channel is high end travel agent/agency, can help

but even quality luxury hotels (where rates paid have little/no variation) can have "bad" rooms within room categories, and assignment can be based on time of arrival on check-in day and many other factors

N1120A

I tend to get better rooms with PL than I do with Hotwire. Apparently, Hotwire requests double rooms, and hotels won't hold kings.