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Got japed by Hotwire


annie8485
By annie8485,
in

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Got a room at the Summerfield Suites in Downtown Seattle, WA. through Hotwire (first time and also last time) for $57/night for 3 nights between March 22-25. Hotel also charges an extra $20/night for parking. Called hotel couple weeks before arrival requesting 2 beds, but got one at check in. Check in around 2PM, got a SMALL corner room between two busy traffic intersection. Heard traffic noise the second I walk into the room. All the windows were close, but the traffic noise from outside was unbearable. Went down to the front desk, request to change to different room but was told that I have to pay an upgrade price of $47/night if I wanted other rooms. Call Hotwire about it at the time, Hotwire customer service rep puts me on-hold and calls the hotel, comes back and tries to talk me into upgrading my room for an extra $47/night. After getting the room from Hotwire.com I check the hotel

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From the rules of the board:

If you have a complaint, problem, or question with a recent or upcoming Priceline/Hotwire stay, we will be happy to do what we can to help, but please be considerate of the board's primary goal of helping others and first post the details of your 'win.'

So please post the details of your win: (date, price paid, zone, amenities listed before purchase (which can still be viewed by going back to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page)

I'll then comment/update my thoughts on your situation.

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

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Did you try speaking to a manager at the time or just the front desk clerk? Was the hotel crowded?

My personal feeling is that hotels such as this should not participate with the opaque services. If a hotel is full and they can't accomodate your request, then so be it; but if there is vacancy it costs them next to nothing to accomodate a user such as this and make them a happy customer (who just might book direct with a Summerfield Suite in the future when their plans allow... but instead the chain is likely to never get a chance to earn their business in the future).

With the above noted, the hotel did fufill the terms of the hotwire contract... a room that could accomodate 2 adults. You might have a legitimate complaint in that the property warrants 3 stars (maybe it doesn't, but bear with me on this) but that the accomodations that are given to opaque customers do not... and i would call HOTWIRE and let them know! Hotwire needs to re-iterate to hotels such as this that getting an opaque guest into their property is half their job... the other half is winning them over as a customer for future business.

I would call hotwire and let them know that you ended up not completing your stay and see if there is anything that they can do. They certainly have more leverage with the hotel than you do (although posting on this message board is a good start :) ).

If you pursue it and get anywhere please let us know.

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

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When we stayed at the Seattle Summerfield Suites with Priceline, we got what I assume is a full suite in a corner room. There was a bedroom with a queen bed, a bathroom, a kitchenette and living room. The living room had a pullout sofa bed (double).

Did they give you a suite with a sofa bed, or just a room?

We really liked our stay at that hotel and we had a really nice suite - but I have to agree the staff here weren't quite as friendly as at some other Seattle hotels. (We were given a 1 PM checkout, though, which was nice.)

Good luck with working out the ripoff.

One other thing I didn't like was that you are given a form to sign indicating you won't check out early - or will pay a fee if you do. Did they give you that form as well?

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  • 2 weeks later...

annie8485, it seems like the hotel screwed you over, not hotwire. If you feel like the hotel is doing a bad job of service that's the hotel's fault, it's not hotwire's, you could bookd the hotel directly and still be treated horribly, don't blame hotwire. But if you must blame hotwire, use priceline instead!

:)

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I think the hotel was luring customers in by using hotwire, and purposely give them a bad room so they can have more opportunities to offer upgrades $$$$$. I felt like I was being ripoff (cheated), and at that point they still think I was going to give them more of my money. I must look very stupid......

A lot of the people do have good experience with Hotwire Hotels. Maybe it was just me being bad luck.

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If they did it right, they would try to lure customers in via HOTWIRE and treat them with respect in order to turn them into repeat customers as well as encourage them to utilize high margin hotel services such as room service, restaurant, hi-speed internet, in-room movies, etc, etc.

Some hotels just don't get it... you've used an opaque service to get the customer in the door, now it's your job to get them to want to stay at the property in order to spend more money, not try to give them a bad experience right off the bat and try to drive them away.

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

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  • 1 year later...

Let me add my two cents from a hotel's perspective. First off, Hotwire & Priceline buy rooms from hotels that are "distressed" at special very low rates. These can be rooms that are either excess inventory, or because of hotel design, rooms that are next to a street, next to the elevator, next to the stairs, next to the lobby/kitchen, etc., you get the picture. These are rooms that a hotel would normally not put a guest that is paying rack in. Our rooms are sold to them around $30-$35, not sure what they mark them up to. These same rooms that are in a better location in the hotel go for twice that and more.

Now I'm putting on my hotel mgr. hat. I have two guests, one paying me rack rate and one that is a Priceline/Hotwire rate of $30. It's a busy weekend night, which guest do you think I'm going to put next to vending machines in the hallway?

During the slow season we often will give these guests free upgrades into deluxe rooms, if we have the availability, but rarely do we even get a thank you for doing that. Instead what we often hear is that they stayed with us before and got a free upgrade and now rebooked through Hotwire/Priceline and expect us to do it again and if are unable to then they bitch and file complaints, even to the point of fabricating things wrong with their room.

I've also read comments on here about cancelling Hotwire/Priceline reservations. The hotel gets paid in full from Hotwire/Priceline as soon as it is booked. Our contract with them is that the rooms sold are non-refundable, which is part of the reason why the rates are so low. If you have any possibility of your plans changing, these are not the booking agents for you. They are not under any obligation to refund your money, nor is the hotel. You entered into a contract and will be expected to live up to your end of it. And believe me, I've heard just about every excuse plausible for getting out of a reservation and if you think every person is honest and sincere about a "family emergency" to get out of paying for their hotel room, then I've got some swamp land in Nevada that I'll be glad to sell you.

And generally Thereuare I agree with you but it has not been my experience with guests using Hotwire/Priceline turning into regular customers. These are guests that are "lured" into thinking they can always get a luxurious suite for next to nothing, and when they don't they whine about how they felt cheated. Hotels are in business like anyone else, they are always going to give free upgrades to nicer rooms to those guests that are frequent and pay more dollars. This is just a fact of life and the traveling public needs to understand that if they book with Hotwire/Priceline that all they are guaranteed is that it is one bed and will sleep 2 people. They DON'T guarantee where it is, whether it's on the first floor or the 10th floor, whether it is smoking or non-smoking, whether it's quiet or near the elevator. If you get anything else, consider yourself fortunate. Ok...well, I can go on and on, but have a hotel to run...

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HotelMgr,

Welcome to the board... we always welcome those in the industry to share their expertise and perspective.

I think we are in more agreement than you think, as i did mention above:

the hotel did fufill the terms of the hotwire contract... a room that could accomodate 2 adults

I also did ask the above user if the hotel was crowded during their stay, because as you point out, there is a 'pecking order' and if the hotel is full then there is not much that can be done (or should be expected to be done). However, and where we may differ, is if the hotel was not near full occupancy, and if a room was available that would have made this user happy, what would it have cost to move them? (to a room that would have otherwise been empty)

Of course if a suite was the only type of room that would have made this customer happy then that is unreasonable, but to change from one standard room with one bed and traffic noise to a different standard room with two beds in a more quiet area of the hotel (if available) certainly seems reasonable. It seems in the example above that such a room was available, both were labeled as 'standard rooms' (although of course the staff knows they're not equal), but was told they could only move for an extra $47 charge. To me, this is within their right, but it is not acceptable from a company in the service industry (and thus i'd be sure not to dine in the hotel, not order hi-speed internet, or spend any additional money at their property... the opposite being true when i feel that a property has gone out of their way to make my stay enjoyable).

Even if not available, but enough other vacancies throughout the hotel, why not go ahead and give a user such as this the room they want, and upgrade the existing guest assigned to this room (but not yet checked-in) an upgrade to a suite or better room? By doing so you then take two users, one with a bad experience and one with an average experience, and turn them both into guests who are thrilled with their stay (and thus rave about the property to others... as well as be more likely to spend additional money on other services the hotel offers). Of coure this isn't required, but it does separate a 'good' hotel from a 'great' hotel, and could have turned one bad experience into two great ones.

Lastly, of course if the guest is being unreasonable from the start then why would anyone want to do anything to accomdoate them, which is why we always stress that it is important to reasonable in your requests and treat everyone at the hotel with respect (which is a good philosophy to have outside of hotels too :) )

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

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  • 2 weeks later...

I always thought the primary purpose of Hotwire/Priceline was to off-load excess inventory.

If we should expect to get a 1* room in a 3* hotel, then the opaque service provider should

be ADVERTISED as a 1* property to acurately reflect the type of room you should expect to

receive. Otherwise, that is false advertising or at a minimum, "Bait and Switch..."

Keoni :)

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I've had good luck with Hotwire customer service. I booked a room that was described as a resort/suite and it turned out to be a regular sized room. I complained to the hotel several times and even switched rooms, but there were NO suites. Hotwire gave me partial refund/credit towards future travel.

Just be persistant and cordual. They appear overwhelmed, but honest if you didn't get what was described.

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Thank you for the welcome. Yes, during the slow season we do offer free upgrades, even into deluxe rooms, especially if it is during the week. But it's frustrating when you get those, not all, but enough to be discouraging, that will book a priceline or hotwire room, and just because they were given a "free upgrade" the last time they stayed with you then they expect and demand it again. Now if they came to the front desk and politely asked if there was a chance they could be upgraded, chances are very good it will happen. It's those individuals that come in with an attitude and bully my staff, throwing out comments that they travel all over the world and never get refused a free upgrade that makes us as hotel managers question why we are even participating with Hotwire/Priceline.

Couple of other things. I think we are also talking about two different kinds of reservations with Priceline. The vast majority of reservations we get from Priceline are those that are blindly bidded by the guest. If they book those rooms that are not bidded, then yes, they will get the room they booked or even one nicer. If they are bidding on a room, not knowing what hotel, then they NEED to understand that with their low low price they are giving up some rights, such as a choice of where or what type of room. It is these type of reservations that Hotwire/Priceline only guarantees that it's one bed and sleeps 2 people, no guarantee whether it's smoking or non-smoking, etc.

One other piece of advice. DO YOUR SHOPPING AHEAD OF TIME. I've seen Priceline/Hotwire guests come in who showed me what they paid for their room and they could have gotten the same room for less, with all the choices, if they had called the hotel direct. You have to read the fine print and add the service charges, etc. to your final room costs, then do your calling around.

The city I'm from is very competitive on room rates and often if a guest calls and says they have such and such quoted down the street, we will do our best to match or beat that price for a comparable room, but also don't try to bull shit us either. At least my hotel does a daily call around to all other major name brands in our city to get their rates and occupancy so we know where we are positioned with our room rates.

Another thing most guests don't realize or know, hotel room rates can fluctuate from one week to the next, even day to day, depending on the hotel manager. A great hotel manager knows that he/she has a limited number of rooms to sell on any given night and it is their responsibility as a manager to maximize the amount they can get for those rooms. Thusly, if a particular date looks like it is going to sell out, then the manager will raise the rates to try to capture more revenue, or if rooms are not selling as expected, they'll lower rates to speed up reservations.

My advice to my friends is to book as far in advance as you can, then several times prior to your arrival to call the hotel and just check the rates for the room type you booked for the date you are staying. If the rates have dropped, then cancel the room and rebook it. Be sure you know the hotel's cancellation policy too, most hotels will give you up to 24 hrs prior to your arrival to cancel your room, but demand can also affect a hotels cancellation policy too.

Well...gotta go see how the guests are enjoying the pool....

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I say be happy they didn't clean out a broom closet, plop a bed in it and call it a Hotwire/Priceline room. Also a roof over your head is better than sleeping in the parking lot. :) HotelMGR, I'm sure thereyouare, could make a whole thread for you.

~JS

Jason's Storm- Making one killer deal after another. With something other than a machete to the head.

From the ashes of Friday the 13th Forum, rises Friday the 13th: The Community. A new beginning has arrived.

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  • 2 months later...

I use HOTWIRE for most of my personal travel, I travel with my children which one of them has asthma. If you want a room with 2 beds choose 3 adults or 2 adults and 1 child. Hotwire will not book you a room with 1 bed in it. This can solve a problem with 2 adults traveling that want their own bed. I have never been given a smoking with Hotwire. Their policy is a non smoking room.

The one time that I had a problem with a hotel, I called hotwire and they requested that I work it out with the hotel. Well the hotel was a dump (was listed as a 2.5*) and the door was falling off the hinges the furniture was falling apart and the beds had humps in the middle of them. The second room was about the same. I returned the call to Hotwire and they said I could cancle and rebook thru them to a nicer hotel. I ended up booking a 4* and HOTWIRE refunded the difference between the 2.5* and the 4* then gave me $25.00 Hotwire dollars for my inconvience.

I have been very pleased with HOTWIRE and the hotel partners they have used (with this one exception) and have booked over 35 rooms from them. I have not had a bad experence with any of the Hotel's accomodating my needs. Like was stated from HotelMgr, Be NICE to the front desk personell. I travel on business over 80 nights a year and even in the hotels that I am a Platnum member if your not nice they will not accomodate you.

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  • 11 months later...

HotelMgr,

First off, you must be thankful to HOTWIRE and PRICELINE (and the guests who use the products) for filling in rooms that otherwise would go empty and would lose you money so don't forget this.

I'm personally a platinum starwood, silver Marriott and a silver honors member and guess what I use Hotwire and Priceline for most of my personal stays too and I actually do go back to hotels that treat me good when I book opaque but I can see why most of your opaque guests complain about your service and do not return to your property, change your attitude and maybe you will earn more return business.

Although a "Thank You" would be nice when you upgrade a guest to a better room I have a reality check for ya, you're in the business to make EVERY guest a happy guest. If you were actually wiser you would know by treating people with dignity and respect you (and your staff) might actually win some compliments that would go on your personnel files.

I wish you would post your hotel name and location (or PM me if you're afraid your boss would find out) so I could happily avoid your pesky attitude and take my opaque/direct business to your competitor when in your area.

EDIT: I also was wondering would a $20 slipped under the credit card would make it more likely for you to "upgrade" your opaque guest over your rack paying guest or what?

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He hasn't been here since his last post, so I doubt he'll respond.

~JS

Jason's Storm- Making one killer deal after another. With something other than a machete to the head.

From the ashes of Friday the 13th Forum, rises Friday the 13th: The Community. A new beginning has arrived.

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