Complaining To PriceLine About Added Resort Fees.

[T_R_Oglodyte]

For sure -- & why would they weaken the 1 feature that makes them unique in a crowded & competitive field ?

I think they keep the "Name Your Own Price" feature around because it is a differentiator that helps bring traffic to the site. But it's very much downplayed as compared with the prominence it originally had. You actually have to look around on the web page to find it - it's not at all featured anymore. And they are very quick to offer alternatives from the non-bidding part of their site.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Suspicions Confirmed: Customer Service Can't Help. (So It Goes.)

At least the PriceLine "customer service" people respond quickly & maintain courtesy.

Their latest reply tacitly acknowledges that "customer service" can't resolve the issue, that the appropriate forum is somewhere in the corporate labyrinth.

I guess I'll let the issue ferment in the recesses of my mind for a while, then take it up with the corporate suits, if only to get them on record in writing.

Meanwhile, the following is the latest from "customer service" . . .

Thank you for taking the time to send us an e-mail. We understand that you are unhappy with the disclosure of the mandatory fee that the hotel may charge and would like us to show all the fee that hotel charges before booking the hotel reservation on our website.

When you choose to Name Your Own Price, you do not have the option to select a specific hotel. You will be taken to a separate page where you will be able to choose the area where you would like your hotel to be, and the hotel star level. If your request is accepted, you will receive a reservation at one of our participating hotels. Please note that the hotel you receive may or may not be one of the listed hotels on our website, and any sorting or filtering you did prior to selecting the Name Your Own Price option will not apply.

However, your comments have been forwarded on to our Product Development team so they can make future improvements to our service.

We thank you for the opportunity to assist you and hope you find this information helpful.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Specialist

I'll thank the specialist for the courteous reply -- in truth, the problem does not reside with "customer service" -- then end the E-Mail dialog by saying I plan on taking the issue up with corporate headquarters.

So it goes.

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

 

[AwayWeGo]

Blending Customer Service With Public Relations.

Yesterday a pleasant guy from PriceLine called me from command central in response to the complaint I mailed in about non-disclosure of specific mandatory resort fees that are added to some Name Your Own Price hotel reservations. The complaint he got was a paper copy of the 1st of the complaints to "customer service" that I sent in via internet.

The guy was personable all the way, not defensive, no attitude -- even said he agreed with my point & would pass it along to Marketing.

Pretty smart. It costs PriceLine nothing to have somebody call me up & say he agrees with me. Plus, having somebody tell me that over the phone in no way commits the company to doing anything that I think the company should do to remedy the cause of my complaint.

But it leaves me feeling that I was not completely ignored, nor my point dismissed totally out of hand, even if nothing ever changes in the way PriceLine deals with mandatory resort fees that are added to customers' successful Name Your Own Price bids.

It even allows for some faint hope, however slight, that PriceLine might someday see the light & make a course correction -- not that I'm holding my breath while waiting for that to happen.

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