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Two beds? Non-smoking room?


johnql
By johnql,
in

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I just booked a room thru Hotwire and then contacted the hotel directly to place a request for a room with two beds and, if possible, a non-smoking room. I understand that it's not guaranteed and that the hotel will do its best to accommodate my request. What I wanted to know was, what was everybody else's experience with such a request? Has anybody had such a request denied? I'm just trying to get a feel for the odds on getting my requests granted.

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There usually only a problem in cities that are notorious for small rooms (like NYC as the best example i can think of, but there are others).

If you're refering to your recent wins in the California/Disney area, these are areas that i'm sure are used to large families sharing a room and i think you'll have a very good chance at your request being honored.

Other factors besides goegraphic location play a factor as well, most notably the occupancy level of the hotel. Along the same lines, checking-in earlier in the day (as opposed to late at nite when most rooms have already been asigned) in my opinion, has a better chance of yielding more favorable results. I wouldn't re-arrange my plans just so i could check-in early, but if i had plans to eat at a restaurant down the road from the hotel, i would certainly check-in first and then go out to eat.

Another suggestion has been to join the hotel's 'perks' program. There is usually no charge for this, and although a Priceline/Hotwire stay typically does not generate points, it occaisionally helps in order to get bed preference requests, free local calls, morning newspaper, and other perks that are often associated with the program. There's more on this subject here: Join Hotel Affinity Programs

After your own stay, we'd love to hear follow up as to your own experiences with these requests.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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  • 1 month later...

Do Hotwire customers have a problem with getting a no-smoking and bed request in cities other than in NYC? I usually use Priceline, but yesterday I booked two rooms in Toronto with Hotwire because the price was comparable and I could figure out the hotel, thanks to this site. When I called the Sheraton this morning, I was told I was booked in smoking rooms and could only get one double bed in each. I insisted on non-smoking and requested 1 King room and 1 two bed room, since the second room is to be occupied by a teen boy and girl. The hotel clerk gave me little hope of satisfying my request. She said the hotel had no rooms available that met my request.

I have proof that the hotel lied to me. I immediatley went to the hotel web site and was able to book 9 room of each type that I wanted - non-smoking king and non-smoking 2 double beds. I probably could have booked more, but the maximum the web site would book was 9. I printed the web booking info.

I am calling Hotwire to see what they can do, but I'm wondering if either:

1) Hotwire is not routinely requesting non-smoking. This has been a problem with Priceline.

2) This Sheraton, or other Sheratons, are putting PL and HW guests in their smallest rooms that will only accomodate one double bed. PL guests report that Hiltons are notorious for this.

I am also calling the hotel and asking to speak to the person who handles the Hotwire contract. If I get no satisfaction there, I'm calling Starwood and asking for the Hotwire contact there.

It has long been suspected that some hotels discriminate against HW and PL customers by giving them inferior rooms. Is this another case of that? Any suggestions on how to proceed with the complaint to Hotwire?

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I just returned from a trip to San Diego. We used PL to book two rooms. One at a Marriott for the first part of the week and the other at a Sheraton for the remainder of our vacation. We immediately called each hotel after booking to make sure we could get a king, non-smoking. The Marriott gave us our room request with no problems (very nice people there) and the Sheraton reps could not have been more rude. They were very nice and said that the room request should be no problem, right up until they discovered we made the reservation through PL. She then said there were no non-smoking rooms, much less a king available. We did the same thing betsybug and made sure there were king, non-smoking rooms available on their website. The phone rep's response to this was that we should have booked the room through her (at over 3x the price we paid). If they don't want to deal with HW/PL customers, why do they offer the rooms?

BTW, if you're ever in SD, don't stay at the Sheraton downtown. It's very old, needs major renovations, and smells like mold. The Marriott in Del Mar is amazing though!

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My opinion is that there are some hotels properties that don't treat their Priceline/Hotwire customers equally, and it's property specific and not chain-wide (sometimes you'll just get a manager that thinks, "they want to stay here dirt cheap, i'll show 'em". Along these same lines, i don't think it's a Priceline vs. Hotwire situation, and this hotel would likely treat guests who booked via either service the same (which in this case appears to be poor).

I think you're handling the situation correctly, but this is the path i would take.....

-call Hotwire first, as they have 'decent' telephone customer support and would have more clout with the hotel. However, you may have to take your call further than the first customer service rep that answers your call (ie- ask for a supervisor).

-if no satisfaction from above i would call the hotel, ask for the manager on duty and begin the phone call with asking for his name (which will put him somewhat on the defensive) and then ask who his contact person is at Starwood Corporate headquarters. He will then likely ask if you have a problem (and even if he doesn't) i would then explain the situation to him. Stay very calm and keep your story concise and rational (i wouldn't get into the 'lying' aspect with them unless he states that no rooms are available... start with him from the beginning and just tell him what you want (this is part of keeping the story concise... most managers don't really want to hear long stories about their subordinates 'following procedures' that were laid out for them to follow and just want to know what they can do to rectify the situation).

-if no satisfaction from the above, call the contact person the manager gave you and/or the Hotwire contact person at Starwood.

Although your experience is generally the exception and not the rule, it is unfortunate that some hotels make availability to Priceline/Hotwire when they make it apparent that perhaps they don't want that customer. If this is the case, both Priceline/Hotwire should terminate specific hotels as it gives both of their services a bad name OR the hotels should raise their rates enough to a level where they'd welcome the Priceline/Hotwire customer.

Let us know how it works out.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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I have resolved the problem with help from Hotwire and the hotel's reservation manager. The resolution took four phone calls to the hotel - two from Hotwire and two from me. Because the hotel is "oversold" supposedly, my NS rooms are just on request. But I did get the beds I wanted. No 1 double bed room for us, although hotel does have "a few of these". I would not likely have gotten this far had I got the evidence from the hotel web site and help from Hotwire. Here is what I learned, which has great relevance for other bookings.

The first step, as thereuare recommended, is call Hotwire. Their customer service is great. The first agent was told the same thing I was - 1 double bed in each smoking room. She got me to Andy, the supervisor. He told me, "One double bed is not a double-occupancy room. We guarantee double occupancy". He called the hotel and got results. The hotel told him that I had always been booked in king rooms. Not likely to be true.

The second step was to call the hotel to confirm the new room type. When asked about the NS rooms, the first agent said, when confronted with the web site availability evidence, "We don't give those rooms to Hotwire bookings. Those are more expensive rooms." I told her, "Do you charge more for non-smoking rooms?" "No", she replied. I asked to talk to the manager.

The third step was to talk to the reservations manager, who could not have been nicer. She asked me if the rooms showing no-smoking availibility were club floor rooms. Yes, some were, but at least one of each type was not a club floor rate. After I complimented Sheraton's reputation for not discriminating against HW and PL customers, she gave me the last NS King room, a handicapped room, and requested the NS 2-double bed. From her I learned this about how Hotwire and Sheraton work.

1. On the day the booking is made by Hotwire, Sheraton is paid. They know nothing about the room request and do not then assign the rooms as non-smoking. So it makes no difference to them that Hotwire requests NS.

2. Rooms are assigned closer to arrival. It's only then that the hotel looks at the requests made by HW for room type.

3. This Sheraton does not give the 1 double bed rooms to Hotwire or Priceline guests. She was adamant that they treat all their guests the same on room assignments.

4. Hotwire can sell you a room in an overbooked hotel. This risks being walked or not getting good rooms.

The upshot is that I think the hotel did try to assign us to the tiny 1 double bed smoking rooms, but Hotwire stopped this. The clerk who made this dicrimination decision probably was acting on her own and not pursuant to hotel policy. The bottom line is: you must call the hotel early and often to confirm your room requests because (1) the Hotwire NS room request may be ignored; and (2) at some hotels you may be assigned inferior rooms.

I will take your advice and check-in very early, since I am staying the night before at the Hilton around the corner.

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I'm glad this worked out to your satisfaction.

As somebody who usually tries to look at the bright side of things (admitedy, i often have trouble doing so) i think it's important to point out how great Hotwire's customer service was in this situation (and i think you did so by your Priceline vs. Hotwire Customer Service thread).

Kudos to you for also keeping a level and open mind during the ordeal. This isn't something you should have to deal with in order to get what you're entitled to, but let's face it, sometimes things do go wrong (no matter how you book). I've often said, "don't judge a company by what happens when things go right (as that's expected), but judge a company by how they handle situations when things go wrong."

I think Hotwire did a fine job in this situation.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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I'm glad betsybug went to the trouble of getting this problem resolved now, instead of waiting until checkin. That would not have been pleasant! I'm glad it worked out.

Theberg's experience with the Sheraton in San Diego seems to be quite typical if you look at the Tripadvisor reviews. Based on those, the staff tries to give the worst rooms to both Priceline and Expedia customers (and has the same attitude towards Expedia).

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