Priceline Name Your Own Price with pets?
 

We are traveling with my dog, and although I have enough rewards points at some hotel chains for free rooms, the pet fees are ridiculously high and I want to save the points for real vacations. :D

Has anyone ever named your own price with a pet option? I chatted with one of their sales agents and they stated that the star rating would have a paw print if the hotels were all pet friendly...but I have never seen that for any city I have tried in the past.

Is my only option booking an Express deal or something like that? I thought with the new commercials that they may have changed things?

When you use NYOP the basis of the bid would not include any information other than star level and location since you are not bidding on a specific property. If Express Deals does have the information you need, that would seem to be the best solution and a reasonable outcome. On the other hand, you could consider inventing a site offering bidding for pet-friendly hotels and claiming a patent and starting something.

That would be nice! :D If there were more hours in the day, I would certainly consider inventing that option! ;)

I'm curious if the OP were to take a gamble on NYOP and receive a pet-friendly hotel - is it possible that the hotel could still charge their pet fee once the OP arrives at the hotel, kinda like a resort fee?

Priceline said that the pet fee would still be applicable and would have to be paid at the hotel directly. But, I wouldn't find out what it would be until after they have accepted my offer, assuming that it would be a pet friendly hotel. So, I was gambling not once but twice. Once with actually getting a pet friendly hotel, and then finding out what the pet fee would be. There are many hotels out there that charge upwards of $200 for a pet, and although the agent said that she had never seen that, she didn't guarantee that either. :rolleyes:

Would feel better gambling on this if the winning bid could be rescinded if they weren't pet friendly. It would be nice if they could figure in more preferences.

A number of the properties sold on Priceline Express specifically mention whether pets are allowed.

Express will show a pet icon if it's pet friendly like this example

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/1860/petsld.jpg

Name your own price shows no indication if it's pet friendly or not. If you need a place for your pet, I would not do Name Your Own Price, as you could end up with a place that does not allow pets or doesn't allow your pet if they have weight restrictions for example (no dogs over 50 lbs) or you could end up paying a fortune. Even with Express, you won't know the fee up front.

If however you know with certainty which hotel(s) you will get from NYOP, and know they are all pet friendly that's a different story, but that's not going to happen all that much.

Thanks for explaining that. That is my problem with a lot of hotels. They may be pet friendly, but they charge all over the place with fees. It definitely is a bit more risky with name your own price because the ratings they give hotels on that page tend to differ from those on the list view. Definitely out of luck when it comes to pets and bidding. :(

With careful cross-comparison to Priceline's NYOP, you can often figure out the hotel in Priceline Express. Then you can figure out the pet fee.

B1 and Cordelli, you guys are both Priceline experts, and I've picked up a few awesome tidbits from you here and there over the years. But am I missing something?

When you bid on NYOP, you do get to see amenities in Step 2 where you choose your star level. In fact, beneath step 2 it reads, "The minimum Guaranteed Amenities are shown for select star levels in your chosen area(s)." On mouse hover-over, it say this about Guaranteed Amenities: "You're guaranteed a hotel meeting these qualifications or higher."

The problem comes when you start rebidding and adding additional zones. If you're bidding on 4 stars in Zone A that has "Pets Allowed" and add Zone B which doesn't have "Pets Allowed", you'll see this guaranteed amenity go away.

Also note, "Pets Allowed" is not the same as "Pets Stay Free". On HotelDealsRevaled.com, we've had reports of people paying up to $30 per night for their pet. Also, you should be aware that some hotels have a size / weight restriction for dogs.

Not sure if the attached screenshot will work....

http://www.hoteldealsrevealed.com/pets.png

While that is true, it may only show an icon for pets if all the hotels in that zone at that star level take pets.

I stay in one area on a regular basis, bidding on a 3 1/2 star hotel. There are two hotels they use, one allows pets and one does not. They do not show the pet icon in that case because not every hotel you may get accepts pets.

And again, just because they accept pets doesn't mean it won't cost you more than you paid for the room or they will accept your pet.

I think it's just too risky to bid blindly on a hotel unless you are certain which one you will get and what their policy for pets is.

Agreed. So, we didn't risk it. I wish pet fees were only as much as $30, because that is pretty rare. The average tends to be in the $50 to $100 a day range and many charge per dog. So, in this case, I just booked with a hotel chain I knew allowed a pet for free. There are few, but there are some out there that aren't bottom of the barrel.

Yes, I totally agree. Thx for the clarification.

That's precisely the reason I'm a strong advocate for using Hotwire when you need a room to accommodate more than 2. I no longer use Priceline when travelling with my family of 5. We've taken a chance quite a few times. Been burned once, but that was enough for my wife to veto any further usage of PL for family trips.

Good call!

For posterity.. I once accidentally booked a NYOP without thinking it might end up a no-pet hotel.. which it of course was. I realized it the same day, called Priceline, who was kind enough to let me cancel the reservation if the hotel was willing to, which they kindly were. I don't think it's a gamble I would purposely take, but if you find yourself in the same position, it can be fixed.