Thanks William! I will print out your note above and see what happens next time. I think Starwood's policy on these reservations is most progressive I've seen in regards to Priceline with major hotel chains, other than Wyndham (which gives _full_ benefits to all reservations, including Priceline).
Wanted to add a note is that I've been trying to get Marriott to give me a similar letter (or tell me no) for months now -- I went as far as sending them a registered letter to their corporate office asking for clarification. No reply. This settles it -- from now on I'm booking all my business trips (those I won't use Priceline on) on Starwood hotels. William you can tell your boss your hard work has won another convert.
One last question... do Priceline stays at hotels count towards the 'stay/nights' count? I of course don't expect any points for the room rate, but do they count towards elite qualification, or is that completely up to the hotel? (Not to be greedy; just want to know what's the policy either way)
[This message has been edited by pitflyer (edited 10-09-2001).]