In this day and age, I didn't realize there were still smoking rooms. When I arrived, the hotel claimed they were completely sold out, and that Priceline (not they) had booked me into a smoking room. I understand that hotels are sometimes unable to fulfill room requests like "type of view" or "type of bed" and that Priceline cannot offer those choices either, but smoking vs. non-smoking seems like a different matter altogether, particularly if Priceline knows it is deliberately booking you into a smoking room and does not explicitly alert the customer to this fact. It was clear that the hotel treated Priceline customers significantly worse than other customers, based on the comments of the front desk staff. When I called Priceline customer service, I got passed around among people who couldn't do anything, and finally, at the top, I got no help at all, just a scripted apology over and over and "we can't do anything, this is non-cancellable." The inventory that Priceline has is clearly inferior, but in this case, inferior to the point of unbearable. I ended up leaving and booking a room through Hotwire (since I'm done with Priceline) and paying twice for the stay. Hotel: Crowne Plaza Silver Spring. Dates 4/27-4/29.
