RicoWrite

Hi, Great Thread!
Do you know or have any guesses as to how Priceline.com makes and receives responses to their "offers/bids"?
Is the response handled by res in general, the res mgr, or by the res system itself?
Any comments/suggestions on using Priceline for booking a luxury (or any for that matter) hotel?
Thanks again for all the useful insights.

Mike

aisleorwindow

Hi hhonorman, some good questions:
1) These plastic and logo items you speak of probably are up for grabs, they are cheap and hotels expect that you can take one if you want it. I was more referring to the metal or nice wooden shoe horns that people probably shouldn't take.

2) As far as upgrades go, every day is different. Its hard to say one time is better than another. Certainly NOT early in the morning. Most hotels won't let you check in at all until the afternoon anyways. Usually the evening is the best time to try and get an upgrade because the front desk has a good idea of what the upsell opportunities are and what rooms are going to end up being empty anyways.

3)Maybe giving a good reason of how the upgrade would be useful, maybe talk about how hard you've been working, etc. If that doesn't work, try introducing the agent to President Jackson

4) I would call the front desk manager or asst. manager the next day and politely see if an upgrade is available. Again, it couldn't hurt. I know that I did this several times for guests.

Thanks for the kind words and good questions.

aisleorwindow

Hi again obscure2k-
I never worked at a hotel with a breakfast buffet, but I would be very surprised if they used powdered eggs, ecccccch. I would not be surprised however if the complimentary "continental breakfast" is of a lower standard than the hotel restaurant.

If the waiter/ress is only pouring coffee/tea and clearing your plates, I would say a couple of bucks should suffice.

aisleorwindow

Sorry Mike, I'm afraid this is a subject I know nothing about. I never worked at a Priceline hotel, in fact I've never even used Priceline to be honest. I would be very interested to know the answer to this as well, maybe someone else knows?......

JerseyJoe

Again, thanks for sharing all this wonderful information. Ok, if YOU had a choice to stay at any hotel, which one would you choose and why in:
Chicago
New York City
San Francisco

------------------
JerseyJoe

obscure2k

Quote:"Ok, if YOU had a choice to stay at any hotel, which one would you choose and why in:
New York: The Carlyle--There's an undefinable something about it. I have had fantastic rooms and just-ok rooms. But on a night when I had the "just ok" room, my husband and I had the best table listening to & watching Bobby Short in the Cafe Carlyle. I was once stuck in the worst snowstorm in years at the Carlyle and was alone--felt safe, comfortable and knew that I would be cared for. Although, many are opting to go to Times Square, Soho and new and trendy hotels, there is a consistency and comfort level about the Carlyle. It's a true oasis of peace in NYC.
Re: Chicago: Never go there
Re: San Francisco: Looking for a small, elegant hotel with great service just off Union Square...I like Campton Place. Others I like are: Ritz Carlton (Club Level)(specificy room over-the street). It's a bit of a hike from Union Square, but just a fine hotel. The best Club level of all Ritz Carltons. I would be interested in returning to the Huntington (on Nob Hill). Have not been there for awhile, so would love to hear from others re: recent experiences. Hope g_leyser does not mind my answering a hotel question. Thanks for letting me weigh in.


[This message has been edited by obscure2k (edited 08-15-2002).]

Calliegirl

Great thread! Two questions:
It seems that every "how to get the best rate" guru advises calling the hotel directly, as opposed to the 800 number. I have never gotten a better rate by calling the hotel and many times their rate is higher than the 800 number. Am I doing something wrong? talking to the wrong person? asking the wrong question? not saying the buzz words?

Also, do hotels mind is I use their hospitality refrigerator for cooling something of mine (ie. my own bottled water, coke, candy bar,etc)? Thanks.

TrojanHorse

Heres one that happened to me on Tuesday: What is the general policy a hotel uses for disclosing resort fees?

I did a Priceline for a hotel in San Juan (El Condado) and was accepted for $90 plus the 5.95 fee and paid $18 in taxes (20%). I checked in and there was no disclosure of any other fees other than incidentals that I might run up.

Upon Checkout, there was a "Resort TARIFF" of $8.25. The tax rates in Puerto Rico are 11% (which should be 9.90 on my 90.00 PL rate, leaving 6.60 in unexplained taxes) if the hotel has a casino. My P/L folio is as follows:

Room 90.00
PL Fee 5.95
taxes 16.50 (equates to 18.33%)

total billed to CC $112.45

There are not any occupancy, or other taxes paid to the gov't based on my other stays at hotels in PR including hotels with casinos.

When I disputed this with the clerk and manager upon checkout, I was told it was a tariff that does not go to the gov't but the hotel for resort amenities (which included phones in the room, now I thought a base rate included phones, clerk provided a break out of the fees included in this tariff). I said it was never disclosed. The mgr said it was up to priceline to disclose. She said the hotel policy is to charge all guests this fee in addition to the other charges. I said shouldn't it be disclosed at check in. She said if you would have made your rez through our hotel or hotel website it would have been disclosed and our phone reps are all agents of our hotel who will disclose this. I said P/L is an auth agent as well. Well P/L charged me 18.33% in taxes so I felt it was paid for. They disagreed. I had to catch a plane so I had to leave. I will call the credit card to dispute the entire charge today and write to the BBB, FTC (or PR equivilant) and CC the manager and the Wyndham.

Shouldn't this fee have been disclosed at check in to me since it is an additional fee charged to all guests?

If you do not feel that it should be disclosed why not?

[This message has been edited by TrojanHorse (edited 08-15-2002).]

l etoile

You know g_leyser this has been so great and popular that you should have your own forum.

I have another question. Twice you've (jokingly?) made remarks about slipping the front desk clerk some cash when asking about an upgrade. I've heard people say they actually do this, but it's always seemed slimy to me and like something the front desk clerk would get fired for if they were taking cash personally in exchange for upgrades (afterall, wouldn't this be like lost revenue for the hotel when instead of charging the rate for the better room the front desk clerk pockets the cash). I'm sure guests do try to offer up bribes, but does it work? Is it an accepted practice?

Also good to see your comments on which guests are valuable to hotels. There's an attitude among some that business travelers subsidize everyone else's travel. Good to know that there are some cases where it's the leisure travelers who are likely bringing in more of the cash with all the additional charges for spa services, meals, activities, etc.

obscure2k

Quote: "You know g_leyser this has been so great and popular that you should have your own forum."

I completely agree !!

JohnnyP

Here's a link to a thread about how hotel's work with Priceline. Fascinating... I pulled out some extracts.

http://pub109.ezboard.com/fpriceline...icID=167.topic

aisleorwindow

Boy that's a tough call. Well if money were no object I would probably go for the 5 star hotels. In Chicago the Ritz Carlton and the Park Hyatt are very nice. In San Francisco I've heard the new Four Seasons is supposed to be outstanding, and really any of those hotels near Union Square are very nice. I always stay with friends in New York, so i really don't know. Even crappy hotels in New York are too expensive.

Now, if money was a concern, I've always had very good experiences with Marriott. It is a very solid, well run company from my observations. (I'm sure others will disagree).
Thats my two cents.

aisleorwindow

AAAAhhhhh. Excellent question.
I would agree with others who have told you to call the hotel and NOT the 800 number. If you aren't getting lower prices, then you ARE forgetting something. You have to ask specifically for the lowest rate. If you call and just ask for a room for XXXX date you will be quoted the highest rate (Rack) for that time. Always, always, always ask for the LOWEST rate.
Try it sometime, especially with a luxury hotel: call them and just ask for a room, then hang up call again and ask for the lowest rate for the same dates. Let me know if this holds true, this is how we sold rooms where I worked, and I'm sure other hotels do it as well.

As far as the refrigerator: go for it, as long as you put everything back that you took out, you can use it and no one in the hotel will care.

[This message has been edited by g_leyser (edited 08-15-2002).]

aisleorwindow

Hi Trojanhorse-
My first reaction is this is BS. I've never heard of a hotel having its own tax for amenities, that's what a room rate is. Because this is Puerto Rico, lets be honest, things work a little differently down there, and my guess is that legally they CAN do this, even though its ridiculous. We are talking about $6.60, which most people probably pay without even noticing the difference.
I agree with you that it should have been disclosed to you before you checked in, and it may have been in the fine print when you signed the check in card.
As far as Priceline goes, I'm sure they have a "price does not include any additional charges from the hotel" clause somewhere.
To be honest, I don't feel very confident that you will win this battle, but if you feel strongly about it, I would be VERY interested to see how this turns out. Keep us posted!

aisleorwindow

Thanks letiole and obscure2k!!! Does something like that pay well ?