Priceline Hotel: 3* Charlotte (Downtown) Doubletree Hotel Charlotte-Gateway Village

[John and Tami]

I made this reservation, for tonight, a few minutes ago. I used the PRICELINE link from beterbidding.com

Bids:

3*, south park zone only $48

3* and 3.5* southpark and executive park zones, $53

3*, 3.5* and 4* south park, executive park and downtown $54 (Winning bid)

(I was kind of hoping for Aloft again, which was a great win last time, but I'm thrilled!) This is a quick sleep and go.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Hope you're pleased with the results for this last minute bid and that this property will work well for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[John and Tami]

Congratulations on your success!

Hope you're pleased with the results for this last minute bid and that this property will work well for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

Can you please remind me where I can write a review? Doubletree sold Priceline a room with NO BED, and I'd like to share that information with other readers. I think selling a room with a sofa bed (only) is plain wrong. Thank you.

[AaronJB]

Very sorry to hear that the stay was a letdown - if you got a room without a bed and only a sofabed, I'd definitely write and let PRICELINE know. You can provide a review in the review section, which is towards the bottom of the main page.

[John and Tami]

Thanks, Aaron. That is exactly what happened. I wrote PRICELINE already (too soon for a response), and Doubletree (all they said was they would contact the hotel for me), and I plan to write the NC Attorney General as well (not sure if that will help, but I'm doing it anyway). And I tweeted about it!! The front desk personnel said this is they type of room they (purposely) sell to PRICELINE. It's a shame... there is nothing wrong with the hotel per se - easy/inexpensive parking, quiet, nice people - but I think it is deceptive to sell a sofa bed to people expecting a bed. I won Aloft on PRICELINE two months ago - same zone, a few dollars less - and had a fabulous bed. If you can make a note on the hotel list, perhaps, that would help (I think). Thanks, again.

[AaronJB]

That's definitely a disappointment, and sorry to hear that it happened. No bed is definitely unusual (there have been some reports over the years or users getting repurposed meeting rooms with murphy beds, but only a few times) and please let us know what PRICELINE's response is.

[John and Tami]

Priceline's response - full refund. But read the whole story!!

I emailed Priceline's customer service. They emailed me with a number to call. I explained the situation (they obviously had not read my email) and their first response was "we do not guarantee bed types". I had their FAQ open to the part that guarantees a king, Queen, two twins, (etc) or any combo of the above". I said I do not consider a sofa bed to fall into any of those descriptions. Then he said that he would refer this to guest relations (I think - on from his department) and they would call the hotel to verify my room had a sofa only. They would then email me with a resolution. I did not accept that answer. I indicated I had receipts verifying I had a particular room type, and the DoubleTree even advertised that they sell that room type. I said I had a problem with "a resolution" being issued without my input. I said it also did not address my concern that this hotel had indicated to me they were intentionally selling those rooms to Priceline. At that point I was transferred to the "resolution making department". I was on hold while they called the hotel. While I was on hold I received a letter from the general manager of the property apologizing for putting us in the Parlor Room with no bed. The guy comes back on the phone. I tell him about the letter, and he said the hotel verified what I said and that they were issuing a full refund. He was finished with the call, but I was not. I said I wanted to know what they were going to do so this does not happen to other people. What were they going to say to the Doubletree, etc.? He repeatedly said they would take care of that. When I said I wanted to speak with a supervisor about it he said looking into that was "their" job. Again, I pressed. I said I wanted to speak with someone about the hotel's deceptive practices they were apparently using. Finally, after I said I was writing the North Carolina Attorney general about this, he gave up a name and address to contact the SVP Priceline Customer Relations. (Actually this seems like more of an operations issue!) I have not written her yet. Meanwhile....

The General Manager of the DoubleTree heard about my concerns through my tweets and the Doubletree's Twitter team. He spoke (wrote) at length about not having intent to sell those rooms to Priceline, so apparently mentioning I was writing the NC Attorney general about deceptive practices on Twitter struck a chord with someone. He apologized, said he's retraining his team, sell those rooms as last resort when oversold, etc. He was very nice and wishes to follow up by phone. I wrote a long letter stating why if it is not the practice to sell those rooms to Priceline that it happens so frequently the front desk thinks it is. Also we were told the reservation "came through as a parlor room (the room with only a sofa bed)". I said found it hard to believe they were oversold since I got that rate the same day I traveled and the front desk girl said a room with a bed is at least $100 more. I suggested he retrain the person communicating with Priceline.

I will be interested to see followup from both companies. I was least impressed with Priceline's "don't worry about how we do our job" approach. I do not expect other travelers to have further issues from this hotel as long as this general manager is there... especially after I write the Attorney General.

[John and Tami]

I just wanted to follow up and say the response from the General Manager at the DoubleTree Charlotte Gateway has been outstanding. He has been personally engaged in making sure this does not happen again.

[chaoticpink]

Very interesting situation, good of you to follow this through for the benefit of future guests of the hotel. Thanks!

[beachgurl]

Wow. Very good for you for following through with this. I would have been furious. Heck, at my recent 1* stay in the city, I had a brand new queen bed and there was a sofa bed too!

Thank you from a fellow traveler.