FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Priceline guests get a bad rap? How to fix?
Old Feb 26, 2010, 10:19 am
  #8  
Colfax
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 85
Last month I won a 3* on Priceline that had never been reported to the bidding boards before. The hotel manager checked me in and I mentioned to him that I stay in the zone regularly, usually via Priceline, and that I'd never won his hotel before. He told me the hotel just started using Priceline two weeks ago.

I asked him how Priceline was working out for them. He said "We're getting a lot of business but we're getting some problem customers too". I didn't probe for details.

My winning 3* bid was $35. The Motel 6 up the street was $49.95. When you can get an almost new Hyatt Place, Courtyard, or Hilton Garden Inn on Priceline for less than the walkup rate at Motel 6 or Super 8 then word gets around, especially if the low rate is available for extended stays, and your hotel will attract some of the "cheapest place in town" crowd and the problems that can go with.

In LA and San Diego, and probably other cities, there are zones where you can live in Priceline hotels for less than a decent apartment costs, with no security deposit, utility or cable bills, and maybe free breakfast. Sometimes I see families of 6 or 7 staying in one suite at a Residence Inn and I wonder to myself if they're not there courtesy of Priceline.
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