Priceline Hotel: 4* Boston (Boston Common - Theater District) Omni Boston Parker House

[Carla_boots]

I have booked many rooms in US and Canadian cities via Priceline.com. Never had a problem until now.

While searching for a solution to the problem, I discovered this forum.

Anyway, let me begin. I made several bids over a 2-week period for a 4* Boston (Boston Common - Theater District) hotel.

Started with $90 and got rejected. My final bid of $155 was accepted. ($155 per night for a 3-day weekend stay, checking

in on Friday 1/20)

The hotel that I received was the 4-star Omni Boston Parker House which was in a very nice downtown location.

When my husband and I checked in around 7pm, the front desk clerk was extremely friendly. When she learned that we were in

Boston to celebrate our anniversary, she congratulated us and wished us a great time in Boston.

Then we went up to the room. As soon as the door opened, my first thought was "Houston, we have a problem up here"(Apollo 13). :(

The room was EXTREMELY small. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, since we rarely hang around the room and prefer to explore

the city instead. The hotel is just a nice place to sleep. Unfortunately, the bed was also extremely SMALL. It was so small that when

my husband and I lie on the bed, there was only 2 inches of space left on either side of us. My husband is slim 6-foot 180-pound guy

and I'm only 5-foot-4 130-pound. Out of curiosity, I measured the bed using my carry-on case, which I knew was exactly 22-inch x 8-inch.

The mattress was 52 inches wide and 72 inches long. (72 inches is exactly 6 feet, which is my husband's height... when he had his

up against the headboard, his feet were sticking out by about half inch) Needless to say, it was uncomfortably small. I'm sure only two

small adults, or two high school kids, can fit on the bed.

Edit: I just went to the my kids' room and measured the mattress on their bunk beds. The single mattress is 39 inches wide.

This means the mattress at the Omni hotel room was only 13 inches wider than a child-size bunk bed. :(

We went down stairs and asked if there was a larger room(or at least another room with a larger bed). The same front desk clerk who

was friendly 5 minutes early became very agitated. She started lecturing us about how the room was exactly what their contract with

Priceline specified: room for 2 people. She appeared to be 5-foot-6 and 150-pounds. I asked her politely if she would feel comfortable

in that room with her husband/boyfriend. She replied "probably not, but then I would not book through priceline" :(

She did offer to "upgrade" us to a room with a queen bed for $50 extra per night. I felt it was unreasonable and turned it down. The

manager(or night manager?) came over and said that we needed to book directly with the hotel next time if we want a room that two

people can sleep comfortably in. I do understand that Priceline makes no guarantee of bed size or type, but this was ridiculous.

We gave up and decided to go back to the room. At that moment, my husband got a call from his office so he went off to a corner to

talk business. I just walked around the front desk area. After a few seconds, I overheard the manager and the clerk saying "don't

worry about it, they are just another couple of cheapskates that wanted to cheat us by getting deals off Pricline..."

(exact quote which I will never forget) I was so tired at that point, I didn't feel like confronting them. When my husband was done

on the phone, we went back upstairs.

After tossing and turning for half an hour, my husband gave up and let me have the bed to myself. He called housekeeping and asked

for an extra blanket and sheets. The houskeeping was super fast and came over within 2 minutes. The lady asked if we needed to

have the bed made again or something. We told her that it was so that my husband could sleep on the floor by the foot of the bed.

She looked amused but said it wasn't the first time someone complained about the size of the bed.

To sum it up, my husband spent three nights on the floor thanks to Omini Parker House cheating Priceline and us. From now on, I

will avoid bidding for 4-star hotels in downtown Boston using Priceline because I do not want to end up at Omni Parker House again.

(on the other hand, if I was only staying by myself, then the room is fine.... or not... because it was still $155 a night on Priceline)

By the way, Bettebidding.com is a very nice website. I'm just sorry that I haven't heard of it until now. It was probably because I've

never had problems with hotels booked on priceline. In the last year alone, we've booked 14 stays on Priceline. (plus 9 or 10 stays

on Hotwire)

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding... we're glad you found us! :)

Sorry to hear of the issue you had with this property, but this does happen from time to time, alhtough fortunately it's more the exception then the rule. In part the hotel is correct in that their contract with PRICELINE states that they only need to supply a room that will accommodate double occupancy, but on the other hand i'm sure an amicable resolution could have been found. In the future if you're faced with a similar situation, i would call PRICELINE and get them involved on your behalf. Let them know that you're reasonable and you're not looking for a suite, or even for a bigger room, but that the bed does not accommodate double occupancy for you and your husband as promised. The other option would have been to contact Omni corporate directly and explain the situation to them... while the manager may not have cared too much about a third party booking service, s/he probably would have cared a bit more if the issue was getting raised "in house".

Lastly, keep in mind that upgrade fees are often negotiable, i perhaps would have counter offered $50 for an upgrade for the entire three nites... then when i got home tried to get Omni to credit the money back based upon the situation.

We look forward to hearing about, and helping with your future travel plans... which will hopefully go more smoothly then this one did.

[JSW999]

Hi

I had the same problem with the Parker House last month. I had called up in advance and found out about the room and was offered the same $50 upgrade option which I refused. The manager at the hotel said after I check in they could upgrade me for free if there is an available room. However, after talking to them I did not have any confidence that they would upgrade me for free. I called Price line customer service and they called the hotel manager who also would not budge on this. What I found interesting was that on the Parker House web site the rooms with the Queen bed were the same price as the smaller room. At my request Price line was able to get the Parker House to cancel my reservation and I was refunded (A miracle since they very rarely will cancel and refund a reservation). My suggestion for future reference is not to bid for the "Boston Common - Theater District. After Price Line canceled my Omni House reservation I bid and won a stay at The Ames Hotel (Quincy Market Financial District section). Unlike the Parker House, The Ames Hotel's customer service was great as is the hotel itself. They gave me a free upgrade.