Priceline Hotel: 3* Toronto (Airport East YYZ) Doubletree

[mlgood]

Spent about an hour and a half on various bidding combinations before getting a win. I started at the 4* level and bid all of the areas in the northern part of the city that actually had 4* (we didn't care where we were as long as it wasn't downtown) at $45 plus $10 bonus. Added them in one at a time leaving the price the same. Then using rebids I bumped the price up in $5 increments till I got to $65 plus $10. No wins so I started over and used the same strategy with 3.5* up to $55 plus $10. Again no wins.

Eventually I started over again at the 3* level (knowing this was likely where we'd end up for the $$ we wanted to spend) but we're a bit more particular about area at this level so started at Mississauga $40 plus $10 bonus cash. Rejected.

Added Toronto Airport East, bid $40 plus $10. Accepted.

Bonus Cash per Room per Night - $10.00

Your Offer Price Per Room/Night - $40.00

Total Offer Price Per Room/Night - $50.00

Total Charges to your Credit Card

Offer Price per Room/Night -$40.00

Subtotal $120.00

Taxes & Fees 28.89

Total Charges $148.89

Possibly could have snagged it for a few $ cheaper but a great deal none the less. Used the BB PRICELINE link. Thanks to the person on another Toronto thread that pointed out the IMISSU code for bonus cash. I had missed that.

[AaronJB]

Congratulations on your success. :)

Awesome deal, plus free cookies at check-in.

Thank you for sharing your result with the board and using the site's PRICELINE link.

Enjoy your stay.

[mlgood]

Just a quick report back on this hotel. The rooms are lovely; very nicely appointed with beautiful bedding. The halls to the guest areas look like they need some sprucing up but the public areas in the lobby (bars, restaurants etc) all look quite nice.

We were there for three nights. I can honestly say that I have never in all my years of using Priceline or just traveling period, been treated so rudely by front desk staff. I've been booking through Priceline for years now and I understand full well that the bottom line is, they can give us whatever they want. Usually though, if they're going to do it they're nice about it, lol.

When we arrived I asked if we could have a non-smoking room with a king bed. The girl told me I had booked through Priceline, I had booked a smoking room with two doubles and, if I wanted to make any changes whatsoever I would need to pay the full going rate for the room of my choice. I said, "hmm really? Well could you just add my HHonors number to my reservation for incidentals and let me think about this for a minute. I can really live without a king bed but I really need to have non-smoking. Are you sure I'd have to pay all over again just for a non-smoking room if you have some available? I might need to speak to a manager because I'm sure this is a policy you have to follow and I wouldn't want to get you in any trouble but I'm definitely going to need to try to get a non-smoking room." As soon as she put my rewards number in I was given the room type I wanted but she was seriously unhappy about it. (More proof that even though they don't award points for Priceline stays, it always pays to enroll and give them the number.) No smiles, no 'enjoy your stay', no simple common courtesy at all throughout our stay. I don't mean to imply that the general vibe was strictly because it was a PL reservation though, as we saw different staff members at the desk treat other patrons similarly. It was noticeable enough that I wouldn't ever willingly choose to stay there again.

I should mention that the housekeeping staff was very friendly and I had no complaints at all with them.

[AaronJB]

Glad to hear that the property was mostly nice, but sorry to hear that the customer service was disappointing. Hopefully you were still able to get Doubletree cookies at check-in. :)

[mlgood]

:) Lol, we each got a cookie and they were delish!

Honestly, for the price we paid, it was all fine, just, for anyone who's going to be staying there be forewarned, they have noticeably cranky employees, lol.