# looking for advice about the priceline bid problem



## exyeh (May 30, 2009)

We bid a hotel at Vancouver airport area for two nights at the end of June. We chose a 2 1/2 star hotel on priceline.com. In that area, priceline only list one hotel which is holiday inn express, and its review is excellent. When our bid was accepted, we found out that the hotel assigned to us is another different one - Coast vancouver airport hotel, we checked that hotel's review, and it is horrible, "Halls dirty, need paint. Smelled bad. Room the size of a closet, featuring gray worn sheets and cheap worn towels.Hasn't been renovated except for a poor paint job in years. Door didn't lock properly. Scuffed old furniture and old mattress.....". etc. We contacted priceline trying to get some options, but was completely rejected. I think this is deliberately misrepresentation. Could someone suggest the idea about what I can do? Is there a place I can go to complain about this? Thank you in advance.


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## djs (May 30, 2009)

Priceline would never have said the hotel before booking, what you probably saw was something on their site that gave an example of hotels it could be (they use this in a more "generic" sense just to give you an idea of the type of quality you are looking at and in doing so will usually use chains).  If you saw a listing of possible hotels on another site (like betterbidding or biddingfortravel) then those lists aren't complete and also are no assurance of the hotel you will wind up with.  Those sites also aren't run by PL, so they have nothing to do with them.

Hopefully you got a good deal on the hotel, as PL makes it quite clear that once a bid is accepted it is non-refundable.  Your only recourse, if any, may be after you stay and you feel that the hotel you got didn't even qualify as a 2.5*.....then you could complain to PL.  This may be difficult though, and to be honest I don't know if it would even work.

Just searched on PL for random dates in June and if you go through with a "traditional" booking you are correct, the Holiday Inn Express is the only one in the airport area that comes up with 2.5 stars, however you placed a bid and all bets are off with that.  PL does provide a link that gives examples of 2.5* hotels which can be found here.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 30, 2009)

exyeh said:


> We bid a hotel at Vancouver airport area for two nights at the end of June. We chose a 2 1/2 star hotel on priceline.com. In that area, priceline only list one hotel which is holiday inn express, and its review is excellent. When our bid was accepted, we found out that the hotel assigned to us is another different one - Coast vancouver airport hotel, we checked that hotel's review, and it is horrible, "Halls dirty, need paint. Smelled bad. Room the size of a closet, featuring gray worn sheets and cheap worn towels.Hasn't been renovated except for a poor paint job in years. Door didn't lock properly. Scuffed old furniture and old mattress.....". etc. We contacted priceline trying to get some options, but was completely rejected. I think this is deliberately misrepresentation. Could someone suggest the idea about what I can do? Is there a place I can go to complain about this? Thank you in advance.


Since Priceline doesn't list hotels, I seriously question your statement that "priceline only list one hotel which is holiday inn express".  If you got that list from a site such as biddingfortravel.com, you should have seen the clear discliaimers that the listing is only based on winning bids that have been reported and there is no representation or guarantee that is what you might get.

At this point you are in the situation where you bid on a 2.5* rated hotel, and that is what you got.  If that is an outcome that is unacceptable then you shouldn't have used Priceline.  You're not going to get sympathy from me because you got exactly what you agreed you would accept when you placed the bid.  You're in the same situation as a person one time who dumped on Priceline because he used PL to purchase tickets for his elderly parents and he wound up with a 6 am outbound flight and a return flight that got in at midnight, despite the very clear statement on the site that the "no redeye" option can mean scheduled departures as early as 6 am or scheduled arrivals as late as midnight.

Your only recourse really is if you can legitimately claim that Priceline did not provide what they agreed to provide.  Merely citing some reviews by people who stayed there isn't going to work.  You would need to establish that the particular facility does not meet the criteria established by Priceline for a 2.5* rated facility. If you can do that you stand a reasonable chance of getting some compensation.  Otherwise, IMHO you don't really have a legitimate basis for a complaint.


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## exyeh (May 30, 2009)

*RE:*

Sorry, I probably did not state it correctly. I mean on Pl you can pay the list price (ex. that holiday inn express is $110 a night) or you can name your own price. On PL 's 2 1/2 star hotel, it says what kind of quality (ok, sort of) you will get, and from what I read about this coast hotel, it is far far from what a 2 1/2 star hotel on Pl, and the review is long and many, saying the terrible things about this hotel.


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## AwayWeGo (May 30, 2009)

*Our PriceLine Experience Has Been (Mostly) O. K.*

The exceptions are borderline Days Inn rooms in Orlando FL -- rated 1 Star by PriceLine but rated only ½ Star by us. 

We tend to learn from experience, so now we don't bid on anything rated lower than 2 PriceLine Stars or 2½ HotWire Stars. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## exyeh (May 30, 2009)

Our other Pl experience was: one time we bid on a 2 * at armorrilo, TX. there were only 2* and 3*, so we bid on 2*. but the 2* price range (full list price on PL) was about $50 - $99. We thought may be we bid more than the lowest price so we could get a better 2 *, No, our $55 dollars get us a La Qanta which if we pay directly on PL was only $51. That is not good!


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## AwayWeGo (May 30, 2009)

*Playing The PriceLine Game.*

Typically we scope out the HotWire offerings, then we try to beat those rates by naming our own price over at PriceLine. 

Via PriceLine, we got StayBridge Suites in Jacksonville FL (Jacksonville South) for $25 per night for 4 nights in March 2009.  That was 2½ Stars. 

After that, we got Madison Towers (NYC) in May 2009 -- $95 for a Saturday night.  That was 2 Stars. 

If we're not staying in PriceLine hotel rooms when we're out of town, we're apt to be staying at a timeshare or hanging out at our dinky 35-foot non-traveling travel trailer in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. 

Is this a great country or what ? 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## klynn (May 30, 2009)

Before using Priceline or Hotwire I always check out betterbidding.com to get a better idea of what I may get.  I just checked a 2.5 star for Vancouver airport and it only lists The Coast.  Here is the list for Vancouver airport:
Vancouver (Airport YVR)
3.5* Delta Airport
3.5* Hilton (previously 4*)
3.5* Marriott Airport
3* Best Western Richmond Convention Centre REVIEW
3* Holiday Inn
3* Park Plaza (closed) REVIEW
3* Radisson
3* Sandman Hotel
2.5* The Coast Vancouver Airport (previously 3*)
1* Accent Inn


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## philemer (May 30, 2009)

exyeh said:


> Our other Pl experience was: one time we bid on a 2 * at armorrilo, TX. there were only 2* and 3*, so we bid on 2*. but the 2* price range (full list price on PL) was about $50 - $99. We thought may be we bid more than the lowest price so we could get a better 2 *, No, our $55 dollars get us a La Qanta which if we pay directly on PL was only $51. That is not good!



You really should go to this site http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/forum/view/id/164 and get educated on how PL works. There is a wealth of info there.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 31, 2009)

exyeh said:


> We thought may be we bid more than the lowest price so we could get a better 2 *, No, our $55 dollars get us a La Qanta which if we pay directly on PL was only $51. That is not good!


To start, let me say that I am a long time and very happy Priceline user.  

Based on what you posted above and the other information in this thread, it's very clear that you don't really understand Priceline.  

First, Priceline has an inventory of rooms they have been given by hotels at a certain price point.  Putting in a higher bid in hopes of getting a different hotel makes *no sense* at all.  Priceline gets their inventory at a certain price from their vendors, and it's up to Priceline to move the inventory at whatever rates Priceline can manage.  If you bid higher than the minimum price PL is willing to accept, that is simply extra profit for PL.  In fact, PL tries to encourage people to bid higher than the minimum PL will accept because that is pure profit for them. Part of knowing how to use PL is figuring out what that minimum is.  BTW - a good rule of thumb is that if you are making your first bid and you don't get a screen telling you that your bid has little chance of being accepted, you are almost certainly bidding too high. 

Second, based on the info provided by klynn I estimate that you had at least a 90% chance of getting the hotel you got, and almost zero chance of getting that Holiday Inn Express.  If a particular Holiday Inn Express isn't showing up in the bid history reports at BFT, it's very likely that particular Holiday Inn Express is not re.easing *any* inventory into PL's "Name Your Own Price" program.

If you want to use Priceline, take the advice given to go to biddingfortravel.com and learn how to bid intelligently.  If you learn the system, Priceline is wonderful.  I estimate that l've saved at least $5000 using Priceline over the last ten or so years.  I love Priceline and use it regularly; I love the looks on my clients faces when I tell them how much I paid for the hotels and rental cars that show up on my bills.  I've converted a number of them to Priceline users; or they ask me to help them do their own bids when they need to travel.


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## DeniseM (May 31, 2009)

exyeh said:


> Sorry, I probably did not state it correctly. I mean on Pl you can pay the list price (ex. that holiday inn express is $110 a night) or you can name your own price. On PL 's 2 1/2 star hotel, it says what kind of quality (ok, sort of) you will get, and from what I read about this coast hotel, it is far far from what a 2 1/2 star hotel on Pl, and the review is long and many, saying the terrible things about this hotel.



This is the problem - there is no relationship between the hotels listed on their _conventional_ reservation area and the hotels available when you _bid_.  So the hotels can be, and often are, completely different in the 2 different areas. 

Also, I would never bid on a 2.5 Star hotel on Priceline unless I was very sure what hotel I was going to get.

How can you be sure?  You can't, but there are 2 websites that do a pretty good job of listing the hotels that you might get and they are www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com.  

I like Priceline, but to make sure I don't get an unpleasant surprise, I never bid on anything below a 3 Star, and if available, I prefer 4 Star or resort.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you have a leg to stand on because Priceline does not guarantee any certain hotel, and you picked the location and quality.  I'd suggest that you do some reading on the 2 websites that I listed above, before you bid again.

Good luck!


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## dougp26364 (May 31, 2009)

Any time you're bidding on Priceline, you're buying a hotel room blind. Over the years I've learned to NEVER bid on anything less than 3 stars and, for the most part, my rule of thumb is that it must be a 4 star hotel. The same holds true for Hotwire. I've had a few good stays in 2 or 2 1/2 star hotels but, I've also had some very bad experiences at that level. For the most part, all of the 3 star hotels have been acceptable although maybe a little marginal once or twice and anything we've recieved at the 4 star level has been fine.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 31, 2009)

dougp26364 said:


> Any time you're bidding on Priceline, you're buying a hotel room blind. Over the years I've learned to NEVER bid on anything less than 3 stars and, for the most part, my rule of thumb is that it must be a 4 star hotel. The same holds true for Hotwire. I've had a few good stays in 2 or 2 1/2 star hotels but, I've also had some very bad experiences at that level. For the most part, all of the 3 star hotels have been acceptable although maybe a little marginal once or twice and anything we've recieved at the 4 star level has been fine.



I don't think you need to be that restrictive, but I certainly concur that extra care is warranted when bidding less than 3*.  I've had great success bidding 2.5* when I could tell there was a good chance I would get a Courtyard by Marriott or Sheraton Four Points.  I've even done some 2* in smaller cities in the west where I was familiar with the hotels in town and knew that the hotels showing up in bids were acceptable.

****

With Hotwire you need to be even more careful because HW rates many hotels one notch higher than does PL.  So a 3* Hotwire is often comparable to a 2.5* Priceline.  But I've gotten some great properties on HW at that 3* rating, such as the Radisson in Waikiki and the Islander on the Beach in Kapa'a.  Again the key is knowing what hotels are showing.

Also, because HW does give lists of hotel amenities before you make your selection, with HW sometimes you can even be very sure of the facility you are being offered.


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## wauhob3 (May 31, 2009)

We were lucky once and had been placed in a hotel that people were rating poorly and that was the one vacation we had to cancel. I had called about the rating and they had just reclassified it lower and offered to give me my money back or place me in a different hotel. Because I already knew it was unlikely we would need the room I took my money back. So they will deal if they believe the rating system is off. I have had at least 50 hotel stays through the years through Priceline but I almost always do a 3* and above. Only in non urban areas would I consider a 2.5* I don't find much price difference between them. I also always check biddingfortravel.com first.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (May 31, 2009)

I was disappointed in a Hot Wire stay at 3 stars, I am interested to hear others say they evaluate differently. In fact, don't they go to 5 stars, while PL goes to 4?
Liz


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## AwayWeGo (May 31, 2009)

*Equalizing PriceLine & HotWire Star Level Ratings.*




Liz Wolf-Spada said:


> I was disappointed in a Hot Wire stay at 3 stars, I am interested to hear others say they evaluate differently. In fact, don't they go to 5 stars, while PL goes to 4?


I think 1 of the experienced travelers on TUG-BBS said you have to deduct ½ to 1 HotWire star level to roughly match the PriceLine star levels. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## sailingman22 (May 31, 2009)

Call the hotel manager and state that you have upcoming reservations for their hotel and want to be assurred that the room will be clean on arrival.  You have read some reviews on tripadvisor that were not very flattering on the cleaniness at the Coast Vancouver airport and require a clean room for your stay. They should put notes in the system about your call and housekeeping hopefully will do their job.

I do not use Priceline because they charge your credit card upfront and its hard to cancel unless you want to lose your money. There are plenty of hotel deals that beat PL and you know the brand and cancellation policy by making the reservation yourself. JMHO.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (May 31, 2009)

sailingman22 said:


> I do not use Priceline because they charge your credit card upfront and its hard to cancel unless you want to lose your money. There are plenty of hotel deals that beat PL and you know the brand and cancellation policy by making the reservation yourself. JMHO.



I've done a lot of PL and HW over the years, and the above statement is true only when your trying to book on PL and HW at a peak period.  If you're traveling during a time when the hotel doesn't think they need PL or HW to move excess inventory, they only release inventory to PL at rates that are *higher* than what they they think they can get for the room themselves.

You should never assume that PL or HW will be cheaper without first doing investigation.  There are beau coups examples of people who booked rooms through PL and HW thinking they were getting a good rate, only to find they could have paid less booki9ng directly from the vendor.

That being said, when you hit PL or HW during times when the vendors are trying to clear inventory the savings can be incredible.  I have often booked rooms using PL at rates that were less than half of the best available rate elsewhere on the internet.  I always do backgrounding to know what my maximum price will be to offer on PL or accept from HW, so I usually have a pretty good handle on what the best rates are for the units I'm seeking (or the cars I am renting.)

****

In my most recent activities I picked up a rental car in Kaua'i for this summer via PL at two-thrids the best rate I could get anywhere else.  I spent about a week checking various web sites, trying codes, etc.  I had a good handle on what I was available on the net.  I made a PL bid, not expecting it to get accepted and it was accepted. Left me wondering how much money I left on the table.

Right now I'm looking at HW to fill in a couple of days around weeks we have booked at two TS on Kaua'i.  I've looked at HW offers, which we've used before, and I'm about 95% certain on the unit offered by HW in which we are interested.  But I can book the same unit over the net for only $10 more.  Not enough to get me to use HW.  Right now I'm thinking that if I let it ride until the time gets closer the rates are going to drop.


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## exyeh (Jun 1, 2009)

Thank you very much for all the information, ideas and suggestions. I learned a lot from this thread, I visited two bidding sites for a while and will continue the study, too. Tug members are so kind and helpful, I really appreciate this!


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## sfwilshire (Jun 1, 2009)

If it's any consolation, we stayed at the Coast for one night last June and found it just fine. Nothing special, but no complaints either. The airline had lost all our luggage and we were sleeping in our clothes and calling the airport every little bit, so I was a bit distracted, but I think I would remember if it was terrible.

We stayed at (I think) a Hampton Inn for our last night which we liked a little better. It wasn't available on our arrival night.

Sheila


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## happymum (Jun 1, 2009)

I have used both Priceline and Hotwire for many years with mainly favorable results. The only exception was with Priceline for a one-night stay in Waikiki. I forget the exact details, but I believe that a hotel I "won" was classified as a "resort" but rated very poorly on TripAdvisor. (An Aston prior to renovations?) I contacted Priceline both prior to and after the trip to complain about the quality and to point out other websites where it was rated as a 3 star. Priceline apologized for my disappointment, but basically said "tough luck". I noticed that within the next 6 months PL's rating of that particular hotel was downgraded.  ,
but with no compensation to me. (And yes I had used the bidding help websites - this particular glitch was relatively new)


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## AKE (Jun 3, 2009)

I don't think that Priceline is any different than when you buy a hotel room via normal channels.  We have stayed in 2* (they were the only hotel in town) that I wouldn't give a half star to, and similarly we have stayed in 2* which had better service and facilities than 4*.  You need to know the area where you are bidding and what hotels are there so you won't be surprised.  As an example, in one area we stayed in there was a Hyatt, a Hilton, a Sheraton and a Marriott - all rated at 3 1/2 * on Priceline.  Using Priceline over a 4 year period (about 25 - 30 hotel reservations) we got the Marriott around 50% of the time, the Westin 30%, the Hilton 15% and the Hyatt 5% - we never got the Sheraton.  Statistically we should have got each hotel about 20% of the time but it would appear that the Marriott was aggressively marketing whereas the Sheraton had no interest  and the Hyatt only marginally for the price point.


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