I'm new to the board, but I've been using Priceline for a while. I haven't received any negative treatment for booking through Priceline, but I have noticed that hotels won't always extend you the same benefits as they might for full rate guests. Last July I was staying in Halifax for a wedding. A friend and I decided to share a room to cut down on costs. We were researching hotels a few months in advance. He had called around, and the lowest rate that he was quoted was $180 per night from the Westin Nova Scotian. On a whim, I used Priceline, and offered a low ball bid of $89 for a 4 star in the same area. I ended up getting accepted. That was also the first time that I realized that you could get great deals by booking so far in advance. In any event, we arrived at the hotel shortly after 1 pm. Check in wasn't until 3 pm. The front desk was pretty firm about not giving us early check in, although they were obviously checking in other guests at the time. They did store our luggage, and assure us of a room with two queen beds. The situation irked my friend a little, but I was more than happy to relax in the hotel bar until the room was ready. There were a couple of issues with the room, but the front desk was helpful in fixing them. Two of our friends were staying in the same hotel (and paying double what we did), and while their room was slightly bigger than ours we had a better view. Also, it's always in your best interests to be friendly and polite when you are dealing with the front desk staff. I think that a lot of people don't realize how rude, or inconsiderate, they may be acting when they ask for things at a hotel. In one of the posts in this thread, the author used the term, "the help" to describe hotel staff. That sort of mindset comes across when you deal with people, and they won't go out of their way to help you. As guests, we should expect good customer service, but their is no entitlement to treat hotel employees like indentured servants. Furthermore, it's often out of the front desk's authority to grant some of your requests, so getting frustrated will do you no good. For example, I was driving back from Florida and decided to stop in Princeton, West Virginia for the night. I pulled into one hotel, and asked the desk clerk what the best deal he could give me was. Even leveraging things like government rate, or a law enforcement discount, the best he said that he could do was $120 per night. I used the free wifi in the lobby to see if any priceline hotels were available in the area, and put in a bid of $59 or so. It was accepted, and it turned out to be for the same hotel that I was standing in. The guy at the front desk was a bit embarrassed, but he said that it was out of his control. I was understanding about it, and he was cool about giving us the best room that he could. Long story short, I think that in many cases "second class treatment" has less to do with the fact that someone booked through priceline, and more to do with how they treat the people that they are dealing with at the hotels. If the front desk staff is actually being rude, or difficult, always politely but firmly ask for a manager. If it's a chain hotel, make it clear to the manager that you are willing to follow up with the corporate head office if need be.
