FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - For Express Deals: Must Priceline include resort fees in the "Total Charges" quoted?
Old Oct 7, 2019, 3:23 pm
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shopboxes
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 3
For Express Deals: Must Priceline include resort fees in the "Total Charges" quoted?

The answer seems to be yes, at least according to my interpretation of the Terms and Conditions, Section C (Hotels), Part 2 (Express DealsŪ Hotel Service), Paragraph d. The Terms document may be found here: www dot priceline dot com/static-pages/terms_en.html#section13. (I'm new and can't post clickable links yet)

However, I remain uncertain, and I would like others' opinion.

Description of the problem:

The "opaque" offering in an Express Deal all but guaranteed a certain hotel, which does collect resort fees. However, this resort fee is not listed under the summary of charges for the Express Deal, not even under the "Total Charges" field. So, would I or would I not be charged with resort fees under this offer? Will there be a recourse for me if I end up being charged with such undisclosed fees? (undisclosed only under the Express Deal. Priceline does make known this resort fee under the non Express Deal page for this hotel.)

Calls to their customer support were unhelpful. I could not be certain whether their indian agents were simply making things up to conclude a conversation that exceeded the domain of their scripts. In one instance, I was finally able to obtain a response that was at least somewhat concrete. In that instance, they claim their stance to be:

(1) Priceline figures depend on the self-reported figures that are reported by the hotels. If the hotel omits such reports altogether, priceline is not to be blamed
(2) Should there be a discrepancy between the reported resort fee and the actual resort fee, one may call priceline to see "what they can do about it" (I did not bother asking them to spell out what they would actually do about it).
(3) However, if Priceline gave no quotes at all for resort fees, then the customer is responsible for any resort fees charged. The rationale is that since (1) holds, Priceline is not to be blamed in this scenario, and the customers are held responsible
(4) At no time is any Express Deal refundable

I don't think their agents' response is self-consistent, nor do I think it comports with the Terms and Conditions. If anyone has experience with this, any thoughts are appreciated.

Other Notes:

(*) Under Standard Rates, Priceline does include a resort fee for this hotel under Total Charges. The resort fee is only absent under the Express Deal. My worries is that Priceline will say that, for this particular Express Deal, it's the hotel's fault for not indicating a resort fee, and therefore, I'm responsible for the resort fee.

(*) "hotelrevealer" confirms that there is a 91% chance that I will be assigned this hotel under the Express Deal. This hotel has resort fees, according to their official website.

Last edited by shopboxes; Oct 16, 2019 at 12:07 pm
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