Priceline hotel confirmation - Hotel sold out on arrival
 

Curious what my recourse is here as I doubt Priceline is going to pony up any money or credits with this situation.
I booked a hotel via Priceline at around 11:52pm (just before you can no longer book rooms for the night on ANY travel booking site). I arrive at the hotel shortly before 1am and am told they are sold out and I need to contact Priceline.

A few quick hold times and transfers later, I'm put in touch with a relocation specialist. She says that her systems are showing all of the hotels in the area are fully booked. It's now 1:30am, I Ubered to this location, have no transportation and am stuck with no room to stay and no transportation options to get back home (2 hours away). I'm supposed to be back here the next morning (in 10 hours for an event). The Priceline rep says she will continue to try and find hotels and call me back, alternatively, I could get a 120% refund of my charges. The hotel total charge was $116, there were a couple hotels in downtown PHL charging $450/nt (before tax).

While I was waiting for her to contact me back, I too called all the hotels in the area (15+) and all were sold out, I was finally able to find one about 20 miles away and confirmed I would be arriving around 2:15am, they agreed to hold it and did not ask my CC to confirm (this was good in case PL found something). This was in addition to calling about 10+ other hotels that I felt were within a reasonable price range (Hilton Garden quality). I could not find anything and the first place that said they had "one" room that just opened, I jumped on it.

The rep from Priceline contacted me back a few minutes later and said she couldn't find anything and the only option was to refund me. I asked if I'm supposed to sleep on the street and they just apologized and said they would open a case for me.

I ended up going to the hotel I found on my own, the total hotel charge was $262, the total transportation there and back the next day was $78. I should have only payed $116 for my original reservation, instead, I was out of pocket $340. I've now asked Priceline to either keep the original $116 charge and provide me a credit for $340, or to refund the $116 and provide me a credit of $224. Given this is a fairly large amount, I am expecting Priceline to just offer the original $116 + 20% given historical stories I've heard of their past business practices. The sad part is I have used them for over 15 stays this year and they probably care less about me as a customer since their service when functional is better than the rest.

Do I have any real recourse here? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and how did Priceline compensate. I'd be fine to have a credit on Priceline to use for future stays instead of them providing me cash, just expecting the worst here as their staff does not seem rational and logical.

You're probably only going to get the original cost plus 20%. Because Priceline sucks when it comes to customer service. You might try bad publicity via a complaint to a travel writer.

Thanks for response, just seeing this now and this is exactly where things have currently landed.
They did throw in a 15% coupon on an upcoming express stay, but nothing else. 17 hotel stays in 10 months this year all booked via PL, surprised they don't think that's a loyal customer and willing to do something a little outside the norm.

The response came from their executive offices team (after I forwarded the messages there). I responded back and included a few travel writers email addresses. Probably a fun story to write, "Stranded at 1am after Priceline confirmed reservation is denied at sold out hotel"

I'll update this thread if anything changes, but assumption is my $116 confirmed reservation turned into $300 in charges.

Have you talked to the hotel directly what compensation they'll be offering. Basically, you got "walked".

not really accurate - some apps now allow for this since it's relatively common.

Do I have any real recourse here? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and how did Priceline compensate. I'd be fine to have a credit on Priceline to use for future stays instead of them providing me cash, just expecting the worst here as their staff does not seem rational and logical.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Zamees;31626634]
Priceline CS is not known for being helpful/responsive, like many OTA's. I hope you are satisfied with the results.
It's not uncommon to show up at a hotel and have it be oversold. I have had status for years and was bumped even with status from a particular chain.

He didn't get walked if the hotel actually cut Priceline off from inventory before he actually booked, or the booking was never actually transferred to the hotel. Since Priceline tried to relocate him, it doesn't sound as if this was the hotel's fault.

Hotels HAVE walked Priceline guests, and that can be a PIA. Theoretically, the hotel should pay for one night, but they can't, since it's prepaid. So you have to get Priceline to refund you. Lots of time on the phone while standing at the desk.

It's not happened to me, but I use PL a lot, so I have a strategy. "Since you're unable to compensate me with one night free, please give me an amount of points equivalent to one night's stay here." Then I'd call PL and demand they refund me as well. Double refund.

[I should add that walking a prepaid reservation is ridiculous and theoretically should never happen, but sometimes hotels will do it because of massive revenue differences, or to accommodate a VIP.]