I am probably going to contact priceline directly, but we recently got back from a hotel stay obtained by using priceline's bidding service, and had the following experience: At check in, we requested a non-smoking room, but were told that we were being assigned to a smoking room. We balked, but were told that with priceline, there is no guarantee you are going to get a nonsmoking room. We got to the room, and it was awful. It smelled terrible. As non-smokers, we couldn't stay in that room. When we complained to the front desk, she initially refused to switch our room, but eventually gave in and gave us a non-smoking room. I guess I am a little worried going forward with priceline. In the past, I have never had any problems using priceline at 4 star hotels in Chicago. Nobody has ever mentioned that I was a priceline customer at any of those hotels, and I have always been able to secure a non-smoking room. I plan on using priceline again, but am worried that things have changed and hotels are now sticking customers with the worst rooms in the hotel - places others aren't willing to accept, and places that we can't argue about because we already paid for the room and there are no refunds. Yes, our hotel solved this problem, but had the hotel been closer to capacity, I am confident we would have been stuck with that room. Also, the fact that she stuck us in this room, despite the fact that we checked in very early, makes me believe that this was the worst room in the hotel, and she wasn't assigning based on availability, but the fact that she thought she could get more money if someone checked in later in the day and requested a nonsmoking room. Anyone else have any stories like this? Should I contact priceline and make them aware of this?
