Thank for all of your thoughts reagarding this. The reason that I ask, is that I was able to get a great priceline deal on the Atlanta Sheraton Downtown for $59 on 3/2. This comes out to a $120 savings off of the spg site price. i have had wonderful priceline experiences in the past. (I always refer to biddingfortravel.com and I usually have a good idea as to what hotels are going for various prices) I will report on my experience when I return. Thanks all!

Nothing personal, but I wish they wouldn't do this - Starwood has a clear policy regarding reservations booked through such sites and it isn't proper these hotels arent following the terms and conditions to which you agreed and that is setfore by Starwood.

-Vincent

Hotels can ALWAYS treat you better than they're required to by Starwood. I don't see why you'd have a problem with this.

Technically you get nothing with Priceline. I'll take the cash saved any day of the week over some points.

My experience with gold benefits when booking with starwood directly is that it pretty much gives you that 'warm fuzzy loved feeling' and not much more....at least in terms of an upgrade.

I earned my status the old fashion way, butt in beds - with all my bookings at spg.com. When Starwood makes it clear, benefits of status are meant for those who booked through certain channels, its not fair to those of us who follow the rules and terms when such benefits are doled out to people who booked through places like priceline.

-Vincent

I have been using Priceline for years - if you know how to "work" their system, you can save hundreds. By using my SPG Amex to pay for the bid, I get SPG points for the cost of the stay. I get Gold status each year through one promotion or another, so I am not really concerned with stay credits, although I come pretty close to making it on stays anyway.

What I do is check spg.com for the lowest corporate rate I am eligible for...if the total cost of the stay is within 100-150 of my expected Priceline win and the hotel is nice, I will always book through spg.com and pay extra...if it's any more than that, I will go the PL route and accept whatever 4-5* hotel I win. Using a site like biddingfortravel.com is absolutely essential for dealing with PL.

Keep in mind that any hotel staff who treat PL customers any different than a regular off-the-street customer are in violation of their terms of service with PL. This includes the assigning of "Priceline" rooms - which are usually the smallest, least desirable rooms at the property. There are rare exceptions to this rule (the Manor Wing at the Sheraton Waikiki being one such example), but if you are assigned to a room you know is substandard, or you are treated rudely (including check-in staff making any derogatory comments about being a Priceline customer), you should call the PL customer service line right away and report it - they will call hotel management and 'clear things up'.

My PL experiences are as follows...in all these examples, my modus is to present my membership card along with my CC at check-in, and admit to the clerk I am ineligible for points during my stay for the room, but would like the number added to my folio to get credit for incidentals like food. In most cases, that gets things off on the right foot.

Hilton (when Gold) - when presenting Gold card at check-in...received room upgrades about 60% of the time (never to suite or special categories)...received breakfast voucher about 70% of the time.

Hyatt (as Gold) - when presenting Gold card at check-in...received room upgrade about 90% of the time. Usually Hyatt staff at many hotels will remind me that I can receive credit for my food and beverage purchases to encourage me to use their restaurant. Hyatt is definately the most friendly to PL and other-site bookings

SPG (as Gold) - when presenting Gold card at check-in...received room upgrade about 30% of the time. As far as other benefits like late checkout, I don't ask until the morning of my checkout date, then call the frontdesk and ask nicely (never mentioning PL). I have been turned down for late checkout because I was a PL customer just once - but I have been turned down because the hotel was fully booked, or a resort, which are legitimate reasons for the hotel to deny all Golds the late checkout benefit anyway

[QUOTE=vincom]You're right it's the Hotel Management companies or Hotel Owners/Managers (SOMTIMES) who teach such policies...

-Vincent[/QUOTE
Many of my colleagues from the university as well as some industry consultants agree that the policy set by Starwood isn't all a bad thought process. Let’s face it these programs are set up to reward their best customers first. However the negative culture it ends up inviting could and has certainly ended up damaging some guest experiences and the possibility of a future relationship in just one stay with the brand.
That is bad for the brand and the property. It is one of the reasons that Hyatt is the winner of much business these days from folks I know self included. The concerns don’t stop there on that issue alone.

I had an interesting conversation with a long time GM of one of the Hyatt’s out West this afternoon. She called it giving guests all available options and flexibility for the customer.They still have a concept that lifetime loyalty can exist.Admire that very much.Even with price sensetive customers

I rarely book out of preferred channels. Yet I like to know that all guests matter to a fair degree wherever I do business. It could be one day that I am without elite status or a family member of friend.I won't send my referals to a brand/hotel that looks down on ANY guests.

It may sound funny but I have received emails and letters from guests who were afraid to take a flight or go to a certain branded hotel simply because they had no elite status and they were told that they would be treated like the homeless. And for that matter I remember a thread on FT last year where we held the hand of poster taking their family on vacation on American convincing them the lions would not eat them for dinner at check in :D
I traveled to Atlanta on Delta last year no elite status and was treated just as poorly as if I was a Platinum Medallion ;) Or should I say equally :D

Because the program has folded I won't go into the mathematic formulas or long winded explanations I am known for.
Thanks to a well known figure of FT Fame I was tipped off at the time that folks were earning more miles then the top hotel loyalty programs using the Anything Points program. By converting these points to miles into one of the International partnership programs through Points.com they converted into business class tickets to Europe on a Premium carrier.
25,000 miles worth typically only a domestic coach ticket in the US would convert to the approx worth in some instances to a 100,000 mile business class award ticket to Europe.

I will call it slightly fuzzy math and because the program redemption was based on mileage flown not destination. The value would only extend to certain regions at the time for US departures.It worked brilliantly.
If one does a search they can bring up that information out of the FT archives.Should you be so inspired :)
It was a fantastic opportunity at the time........Now gone

I needed 3 rooms in Toronto in January. I searched for a 4* hotel in the Downtown area. My bid was for $60.00($72.00 after fees) and was awarded the Sheraton City Centre. Upon checkin I presented my gold card for incidentals. What happened next really surprised me. The clerk told me that since I was Gold, that he would upgrade us to rooms located on a higher floor and that everyone in the party would have access to the concierge lounge! I was also offered late checkout if needed. I was treated like royalty even though I was using Priceline, and Priceline was never mentioned during the entire checkin process. I saved $20.00 each on breakfast the next morning because of the lounge access. No I didn't receive stay credits or points but did receive my points plus bonus points for the incidentals. I also saved $70.00 U.S. per room. I can honestly say that in the 12 or so experiences I have had with Priceline, my only dissapointment would have been the Sheraton Ferncroft in Massachusetts and the famous no elevator, you lug your luggage up the stairs 2nd floor. That hotel made you pay the price for using Priceline. I paid $38.00 for that priveledge, but it was in one of the heavenly beds :)and the room was quiet. All my other stays I had at other hotels were excellent.

Fair enough. I'm sure SPG is happy to have you back as a customer. With the differential between a "regular" booking and a 3 to 5 star priceline booking running about 100 bucks now (I just had one almost $300 less), hotel loyalty sure is expensive though.

Lucky you.... :mad:

-Vincent

I have too in many programs. You know I used to feel the same way about priceline as you do. I would never have thought about using it. Than last year I needed to book a 3 rooms in Boston when returning from Europe. I searched the hotels. Everything came back minimum $139.00(weekday rate). I checked out www.biddingfortravel.com and noticed that folks were winning bids for $40.00 at the Hyatt Financial Center. Heck, people are winning bids right now for $60.00. The Hyatt website had a per room price of $200.00. I bid 3 rooms at $40.00 and got the bid. With taxes and parking I spent around $185.00 total. We received 3 N/S rooms and the clerk made sure we were all next to each other. :) If you want points, status recognition, smoking preference etc, stay away from Priceline, allthough I have occasionally not received the benefits I was entitled to when staying at full price booked through the hotels.

Exactly... I like feeling special and as a Platinum the upgrades make whatever I am paying well worht the cost...

-Vincent

I think that's a reasonable position. However, with almost perfect information available thanks to the internet, I would think that hotels/chains that give guests loyalty benefits on PL stays would see more business. If I'm bidding in a city with 4 star PL hotels in a few zones, I will usually adjust my bidding so that I get a particular hotel if I've heard that that hotel treats PL guests well. Though I'm usually not willing to spend $200/night more on that hotel by booking on the hotel site, I am always willing to spend a few dollars more if that what it takes to get that hotel over a 4 star in another zone on PL.

It's your money - spend as you wish! I enjoyed a drink at the Danieli last month, and I'm pretty sure most of the guests felt exactly as you do, even paying $700+ per night.

Personally I enjoy saving $100-300 per night over retail rates, which allows me to spend more on sushi, clothes and other luxuries. I don't really miss the bottled water, fruit, larger room or crappy lounge food, but YMMV.