Originally Posted by
tatterdema
I would deal with it BEFORE staying, but that just me being pro-active. I never wait when I can do something in advance. I would call the hotel. If they are going to charge you, I would call priceline. Below is from their T & C's on Express Deals...
- For hotels that charge mandatory fees, you will be told both a) the Total Priceline Charges to your method of payment and b) the total cost, which includes the Total Priceline Charges and the Hotel Mandatory Fee which the hotel will charge at check out. Your Total Charges and the Room Rate may include compensation to priceline.com for our facilitation services.
Originally Posted by
Often1
Deal with it now. Either by asking the property to waive the fee or by PL covering it. Once you agree to pay the fee at check-in, you may find a lot of pushback from a card issuer regarding a chargeback. Whatever you do, keep screenshots of everything.
Dealing wiith this ahead of time has risks too. You may not get a timely answer and/or the answer may be a full refund, and you have to book something else last-minute. I'd be more likely to take this approach if I wanted out of the deal.
If you just want to avoid the destination fee, consider showing up and dealing with hotel management, priceline customer service and your CC issuer (in that order of escalation) to get the fee waived or refunded--if your confirmation (print it out) doesn't mention the fee, you have a pretty persuasive argument that it should not be charged. Personally, I'd take this gamble over getting a definite "no, would you like a refund?" ahead of time, but YMMV.