Loading...

Priceline Hotel: 4* San Jose Hotel De Anza


hxs02
By hxs02,
in

Recommended Posts

Hotel De Anza 4 Star

San Jose

233 West Santa Clara Street

San Jose, California 95113

408-286-1000

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $115.00

Subtotal: $115.00

Taxes & Fees: $23.39

Total Charges*: $138.39

I cannot believe that I used Priceline again for San Jose, California. I used the link through this page and came up with this piece of crap hotel again. I absolutely hate this Hotel. There is no way it is a 4* Hotel. Many of the reviews attest to that as well. I stayed here about a month ago and have to say that this is the WORST Hotel I have ever gotten on Priceline. I had hoped that they had fixed this problem after the last complaint. Does anyone know if it is possible to get your money back when before I go? I hate this place so much. It is dusty, dirty, and old. Sure it had a $12 million restoration, but they did not spend it on the rooms. This Hotel experience is so frustrating. I use Priceline about once a week for travel for work, but after this experience I am starting to think this is not the best idea. I could have gotten a much better deal at a nicer hotel in the area if I would have gone through Hotels.com. Why? Why? Why? :) :) :o

Link to comment

I'm just a member, but wanted to offer a few ideas and some sympathy.

I'm assuming work takes you to the San Jose area so you have to be there. You might look at Hotwire. Using the offered amenities, there is a pretty good success ratio of detecting which hotel is being offered.

With Priceline, you could bid at the 3* level - looks like Doubletree, Wyndham and a couple other potentially nice hotels are likely offerings. I've stayed in lots of Doubletrees I thought were even nicer than the 4* hotels. Although, if you bid at the 3* level, it is always possible to get a dreaded "upgrade" and get the de Anza anyway. In that case, maybe you wouldn't feel so bad though since you paid less? I did look, and at this time one can't bid at a 5* level in the area. That would have been a sure way to avoid the hotel.

If you have transportation, perhaps you could just bid one of the other Priceline areas in San Jose.

As to getting your money back, it rarely happens. If you can prove the hotel doesn't have one of the amenities that are part of the 4* rating, that can work. But the list is "softly worded" with phrases like "generally". People who slip on the date they meant to use sometimes are offered a $25 cancellation if they bid again.

If you post your comments about this hotel in the reviews area, it could help other bidders use similar avoidance tactics. I didn't see any reviews on betterbidding, so assume you are talking of reviews on other sites? (The reviews on Hotels.com were actually pretty positive?)

A letter to Priceline stating your issues sometimes, in concert with other similar letters, can get a hotel star level reduced. One letter of course won't do it, but yours might be the one that tips the scale and gets action.

On Hotels.com, the de Anza was $199 for your date. The low 4* was a $169 Sainte Claire. Dollar-wise, your bid result wasn't bad. You might ask to look at the room when you are checking in. Unusual to do in the US, but common in Europe. Within a hotel there are sometimes a whole gamut of differently appointed rooms.

A problem hotel can sometimes be referred to as a "category killer" since people avoid the whole star level and even the whole zone just to keep from getting the hotel.

Hope I've helped a bit.

Romelle

PS - I only see a few other postings from you, although you mention you use Priceline about once a week for work travel?

Link to comment

I often research Priceline's vacation package (air + hotel) even though I'm only looking to bid for a hotel under "name your own price". Viewing the vacation package can often give you insight to help you prepare for your hotel-only purchase. I did a SJC package search for your travel dates and out of the three 4-star hotels that came up in the display (Marriott, De Anza and Doubletree) the De Anza was FAR cheaper than the other two. That is a pretty blatent indication that a low "name your own price" bid will probably land you at the De Anza, which is exactly what happened in your case. If I were looking to avoid this hotel, I would never have bid that zone and that category based on the information provided in the vacation package.

Good luck the next time around, and I hope you begin using the various tools that can greatly assist in your bidding experiences.

Link to comment

We learn from each other!

There are times when the vacation package is nothing more than a simple combination of retail air fare (which many people are buying anyway) and the "name your own price" rate on the hotel side.

Since the retail air fare portion of the package is accessible to anyone to price out, the remaining amount goes for the hotel and is easy to break down on a per-night basis.

I've wished for a long time this site would promote the vacation package as a good research tool, or better yet, a viable option whenever people are flying to their destination. To be able to combine retail air fare with "name your own price" hotel rates with the added advantage of being able to select your hotel can be like having your cake and eating it, too!

Link to comment

I always check the regular "hotels" part of Priceline first. The zones are often a little bit different, but I can get an idea of what star levels Priceline works with in that city. Usually the cheapest for the star level in that retail "hotels" list is what I get - although I have been upgraded to a higher star level. Just another tool....I'll start looking at the vacation packages too.

If I were the OP, I would nicely ask the desk clerk for a newer room; hopefully he just got one of the oldies the first time. A few hotels give Priceline users the oldies, but I haven't experienced that lately. The rooms are probably being refurbished gradually.

Link to comment

Hi Romelle,

Thank you for taking the time to write and the suggestions. For this particular stay, I am just going to have to suck it up I guess. However, I will definitely ask for a nicer room on this trip. As far as the postings go, I honestly did not start posting my wins on the board until fairly recent, so I am still trying to get into the rythym of making the time to post my bids. I have used Priceline for years and in just about every city I have wonderful success. San Jose has been hit and miss for me. This will be the third time I have stayed there in the last six weeks or so. The first time I bid I won the Fairmont which is an AWESOME hotel, last time I won the de Anza and this time as well. I think bidding down a star level or paying full price may be the way to go when I need to stay in San Jose. Thank you again for taking the time to write.

With Much Appreciation,

hxs02

Link to comment

hxs02

Hope you are successful using soccermacmom's suggestion of nicely asking for a nicer/newer room. Do let us know how it turns out.

Really glad you've started posting, especially with regular travel to lots of different places. Every data point here helps. I think you will find, as I have, that you tend to gain more than you put into the process. Seems I frequently get some new tip or idea.

Romelle

Link to comment
I think bidding down a star level or paying full price may be the way to go when I need to stay in San Jose.

Keep in mind that if you bid a lower star level within the same zone as the De Anza, there'a always the possibilty you could be upgraded to 4 stars and still be assigned this hotel. For this to happen, the De Anza would have to have a lower Priceline rate than other hotels of a lower star category, which can very well happen. Priceline's computer always searches for lowest possible price match within the category you bid or higher. Looking at the vacation package can again be helpful in this area. If you see the De Anza has a lower package price than any of the lower category hotels within the zone, a 3 or 3.5 star bid could lead you to be upgraded to the 4* De Anza.

Continued good luck with you future bidding!

Link to comment

UPDATE:

So this experience was a little better than my last trip. I "upgraded" to a room with two double beds for twenty dollars per night because it was supposed to be a nicer room. The room itself was definitely cleaner than the last one and more spacious so that was nice. However, the decorating and feel is still a bit dated. I understand that the hotel is seeking to keep the 1930's or 1940's feel that it has and they have done a great job with this in the main lobby, the outdoor patio, and the club; however, the rooms feel more like something from the sixties that is caught somewhere in between an "update" that took place at one time and the present day. The Hotel experience was not bad, but still in no way do I feel this is a 4* Hotel. I stay at hotels all over the country and this is the "worst" 4* I have ever stayed in. It is simply not worth the money. It is much more of a boutique hotel. If you need to do business at Adobe or in San Jose at one of the technology companies it is fairly well located. You can get directly onto the 87 North and get to the 101 N in about two minutes, so again a nice convenience. Currently, I am working on getting a hotel in Manhattan for the week so I will post that in the New York section if I have my bid accepted. Thank you all again for the suggestions I will definitely continue to apply them.

Link to comment

Thanks for the update and feedback on your recent De Anza stay. I'm glad the second visit was better than the first, but I agree the hotel rating game can provide downsides such as those you've experienced. I think part of the "problem" is that Priceline assigns ratings based on amenities offered rather than cleanliness, decor, etc. So that's why you wind up with properties like De Anza that are rated 4* (because of the amenities offered) but certainly don't "feel" like 4 star hotels.

Good luck with your Manhattan bids. I just posted a winning Priceline Manhattan bid in the New York forum yesterday. I hope some of the strategies I put into practice in that bid may be of help to you.

Link to comment
Need help with your own trip?

Register now, we have a huge community of travel enthusiasts to answer any questions you might have.

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account
Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
EXCLUSIVELY at BetterBidding:
10% OFF

PRICELINE COUPON


(click here) and use

promo code

: EASTEREGG

(Hotel and Car Express Deals max $60 discount... expires 03/31/2024)
QUICKQUOTE [X]
PRICELINE & HOTWIRE on one screen!
NOTE: Priceline searches for
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY ONLY
Room %roomN%:
Age of child:
FINDFAST[X]
×
×
  • Create New...