alphamusic

Booking sites fall within the Tour Operators Margin Scheme (TOMS), so there are no VAT receipts available. Occasionally hotels are nice and still provide a receipt, but it wont be for the full amount, only what they received from Priceline. 90% of hotels aren't willing to do this as it reveals what was actually paid for the room by the booking company. If you want to be sure to receive a VAT receipt you need to book directly with the hotel / hotel group. As previous posters have stated, it's still unlikely you could claim this tax back for a service.

Thanks for the info. I agree with the persistance required. It's a shame their first and second line customer service/ managers can't process refunds. It's certainly left a sour taste in my mouth. If they could have dealt with it in a timely manner, it wouldn't have bothered me, but I've already wasted an hour on the phone with no solutions, and I'm guessing I'll need to spend that much again before they will process a refund. In the meantime I would advise no one bids for 3 star hotels in the North East Heathrow zone until the King Solomon has been moved. It's a real dive compared to anything else in the area listed on the hotel list sticky.

Has anyone had an issue with getting a hotel well outside the mapped area? I seem to have been extremely unlucky and found a Priceline glitch. I was bidding in various Heathrow zones for both 3 and 4 star hotels based on the information posted in the hotel list sticky. I started at $50, in North Heathrow, then went to $60 including South Heathrow. I looked at the zone mapping for North East Heathrow and it seemed to primarily encompass good hotels, even though it wasn't specifically listed in the hotel list sticky. I went to $80 and won the King Solomon hotel. The only thing about this hotel is that it is 15 miles to the edge of the North East Heathrow zone. It took an hour on the phone with Priceline for the manager to find the correct location on the map. The manager admitted it was outside of the zone, but wasn't able to process a refund. She said I had to wait til the "hotline" opened on Monday. Shame as my booking is for Tuesday the 22nd and London hotel prices often seem to go up closer to the date rather than down. Worst case scenario, I should get my money back with a credit card chargeback, but has anyone else had an experience like this? Another thing about it, is that it has some of the worst tripadvisor ratings I've seen in ages, bed bugs etc.... I used to remember seeing Priceline guaranteeing certain standards, like branded hotels. Do I remember this wrong, or are standards slipping on Priceline? I have noticed in recent years there are quite a few more zones than what can be found in the hotel list stickys. Maybe it's to do with expansion?

Won Holiday Inn Edinburgh West for one night 10/27/11 at $80. It is marked as North on the hotel list guide, but west is much more accurate. Does clicking through from outside the US benefit better bidding yet? I'm liking the new look website!