Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Vancouver (Coquitlam-Burnaby) Hilton Metrotown

[zzricezz]

Err, for the past month I have been trying to bid for 4/3.5* downtown Vancouver hotel and I have been using my free bid zone. So tonight I picked Burnaby because there isn't a 3.5* hotel there and to my surprise my $70 bid won for the Hilton Metrotown. I check Hilton website and they rate this hotel as a 3* themselves.

I called Priceline about this and they open a ticket and will get back to me with-in 2 days. Is this normal? Do I have any grounds for cancel? I really want to be in downtown Vancouver and for $70 i'm pretty sure I over paid for it.

[thereuare]

Please read your messages and share the details of your purchase (star rating, city, zone, hotel name, dates, bid amount) with the board in a reply to this thread... we'll then move this thread to the Priceline Canada section of the board and answer your questions(s) above there.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Thanks.

[zzricezz]

Used PRICELINE link from this site for my booking.

Err, for the past month I have been trying to bid for 4/3.5* downtown Vancouver hotel and I have been using my free bid zone. So tonight I picked Burnaby because there isn't a 3.5* hotel there and to my surprise my $70 bid won for the Hilton Metrotown. I check Hilton website and they rate this hotel as a 3* themselves.

I called PRICELINE about this and they open a ticket and will get back to me with-in 2 days. Is this normal? Do I have any grounds for cancel? I really want to be in downtown Vancouver and for $70 i'm pretty sure I over paid for it.

I checked HOTWIRE and looks like they have this same hotel for $72 and the overall cost for my 5 night stay is cheaper than my Priceline bid :)..

[thereuare]

I think the only argument you could make in order to cancel is if the hotel does not merrit the 3.5* rating given to it by PRICELINE; and this will be a tough argument given that both Expedia and Travelocity (the only two online agents i checked) both rate this property 4*. It's unlikely, but possible, PRICELINE may do something for you in the name of goodwill, but they're under no obligation to do so.

I'm not sure when this property was upgraded to 3.5* but it's very important to check your re-bid zones before every bidding cycle. See Priceline Re-Bidding Explained for more info on the proper way to check your re-bid zones, as well as RE-Bidding.com as a way to quickly check that you have your re-bid zones correct and/or nothing has changed since you last checked.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[tilepusher]

Hilton does not have star ratings for its hotels; the 3 diamond rating you see is from AAA, and many 3.5* hotels on Priceline have this rating (AAA does not give half-diamonds).

This change must have been very recent. I think the only reason the Hilton wasn't rated higher than 3* before is that Priceline appears to have an agreement with Hilton that none of its hotels can be the only hotel available at the highest star-level in a given zone. Until the recent opening of the Delta Burnaby (which is also rated 3.5* by Priceline), there were no other hotels in the Coquitlam-Burnaby zone that could legitimately be rated higher than 3*.

I agree with thereuare that you have no real grounds for getting a cancellation of this booking; you'll have to hope for some goodwill from Priceline. Good luck, and be careful in the future.