Advice on canceling hotel reservation

[ufauxreal]

On January 28th I made a reservation at a Hampton Inn through Priceline's website... NOT the 'Name Your Own Price' section.... for a weekend in August. We attend a music festival in that town every year. Yesterday I received an email from the promoter of the festival saying they have moved the venue to a town about 35 miles away. I called the hotel first, but they told me I had to call Priceline, which I did. The representative told me the reservation was not cancelable. However, when I replicated the search on Priceline today it says right on top... "No Change or Cancel Fees". I honestly do not recall whether it said that when I made the reservation, but I know it didn't say anywhere that I could see that the reservation was not cancelable.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to proceed? I could try calling Priceline again and asking for a supervisor? I paid using a credit card... do you think the CC company would help? Any and all suggestions much appreciated.

JB

[AaronJB]

If you search for this Hampton Inn property on PRICELINE's regular rate side for your dates, are you seeing any note under the price point you booked at as to whether or not it's a non-refundable rate?

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[ufauxreal]

If you search for this Hampton Inn property on PRICELINE's regular rate side for your dates, are you seeing any note under the price point you booked at as to whether or not it's a non-refundable rate?

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

I did search for the property and the same dates, and it does say it is refundable (or, it says, no fees for cancellation... does that mean something different than you CAN cancel. I mean if you can't cancel... there wouldn't be a fee anyway... hopefully that's not what they mean. The price is higher now. And, they did bill my CC when I made the reservation.

JB

[AaronJB]

Options may have changed since your original booking, but I'm not seeing any non-refundable options when searching for this property for these dates.

Did they say why it couldn't be refunded specifically?

[ufauxreal]

They did send me a copy of the 'contract' they said I agreed to by initialing, and it DOES say it cannot be refunded, so maybe it was different then... I really do not remember. OK... after much searching I was able to find the 'contract' on their site, and, unfortunately, it does say it cannot be refunded, so I guess we're stuck with it. Unless someone thinks appealing to a supervisor may work??? I've booked a lot of rooms with Priceline over the years, always using the bidding process, and I've never complained to them about anything, or requested a refund.

The other option, which we will probably have to go with, is to drive the 35 miles round trip for the 3 days. Luckily it's in a rural part of our state so the driving should be relatively easy.

Thanks for your help.

JB

[thereuare]

PRICELINE's "retail" section offers both non-refundable and refundable rates, so it is all dependent upon what type you booked. You can see if you can reach anyone with a sympathetic ear, but it will likely be an uphill climb (especially with hotels in the area now 'missing out' on revenue that this event usually brings in)

Good luck!

[ufauxreal]

Thanks for the reply. I did look to see if we could possibly transfer this reservation to one nearer to the venue, but all the hotels, except for some 1*'s, were twice as much +, including the Knights Inn, Groton, a 1* hotel, which is $799!!! Go figure???

I guess we'll just have to make the best of it.

JB

[thereuare]

Probably a reflection of this 'event' changing locations... one cities loss is another's gain ;)