Thank you for the welcome. Yes, during the slow season we do offer free upgrades, even into deluxe rooms, especially if it is during the week. But it's frustrating when you get those, not all, but enough to be discouraging, that will book a priceline or hotwire room, and just because they were given a "free upgrade" the last time they stayed with you then they expect and demand it again. Now if they came to the front desk and politely asked if there was a chance they could be upgraded, chances are very good it will happen. It's those individuals that come in with an attitude and bully my staff, throwing out comments that they travel all over the world and never get refused a free upgrade that makes us as hotel managers question why we are even participating with Hotwire/Priceline. Couple of other things. I think we are also talking about two different kinds of reservations with Priceline. The vast majority of reservations we get from Priceline are those that are blindly bidded by the guest. If they book those rooms that are not bidded, then yes, they will get the room they booked or even one nicer. If they are bidding on a room, not knowing what hotel, then they NEED to understand that with their low low price they are giving up some rights, such as a choice of where or what type of room. It is these type of reservations that Hotwire/Priceline only guarantees that it's one bed and sleeps 2 people, no guarantee whether it's smoking or non-smoking, etc. One other piece of advice. DO YOUR SHOPPING AHEAD OF TIME. I've seen Priceline/Hotwire guests come in who showed me what they paid for their room and they could have gotten the same room for less, with all the choices, if they had called the hotel direct. You have to read the fine print and add the service charges, etc. to your final room costs, then do your calling around. The city I'm from is very competitive on room rates and often if a guest calls and says they have such and such quoted down the street, we will do our best to match or beat that price for a comparable room, but also don't try to bull shit us either. At least my hotel does a daily call around to all other major name brands in our city to get their rates and occupancy so we know where we are positioned with our room rates. Another thing most guests don't realize or know, hotel room rates can fluctuate from one week to the next, even day to day, depending on the hotel manager. A great hotel manager knows that he/she has a limited number of rooms to sell on any given night and it is their responsibility as a manager to maximize the amount they can get for those rooms. Thusly, if a particular date looks like it is going to sell out, then the manager will raise the rates to try to capture more revenue, or if rooms are not selling as expected, they'll lower rates to speed up reservations. My advice to my friends is to book as far in advance as you can, then several times prior to your arrival to call the hotel and just check the rates for the room type you booked for the date you are staying. If the rates have dropped, then cancel the room and rebook it. Be sure you know the hotel's cancellation policy too, most hotels will give you up to 24 hrs prior to your arrival to cancel your room, but demand can also affect a hotels cancellation policy too. Well...gotta go see how the guests are enjoying the pool....
