Priceline Hotel: 3* Buffalo - Niagara Falls (Airport BUF) Millennium Airport Hotel Buffalo

[Street22]

I made a winning bid for a hotel in the Buffalo Airport area that was supposed to be a 3-star upscale hotel. I bid $77 and "won" the Millennium Airport Hotel Buffalo - total price including tax $97. We arrived at the hotel today and it was anything but 3-star. I would have maybe given it 2-stars, had it been clean. The hotel is rundown and dirty - probably a 1.5 star property. To add insult to injury, there was a group of about a dozen loud kids in the hotel room next to ours. We decided to bail - give up the $100 and move to a real 3-star. As I write this, we are at the Hilton Garden Inn - for which I paid $144 (not including tax) - a slight discount from the regular $164 rate that the manager gave me after hearing my tale of woe. This is my first negative experience with Priceline. I really was shocked as I have stayed at maybe a dozen 3 and 4 star Priceline hotels and never been disappointed, much less so upset with the condition of the hotel that I had to leave.

This hotel should not be on Priceline, period. After moving hotels, I learned that the Millennium is ranked 16 out of 16 Buffalo Airport area hotels on Trip Advisor. The HGI, in contrast, is rated 2 out of 16 in the same category.

Other than warning my fellow Better Bidding travelers, do I have any recourse? Obviously, I was willing to chalk the $97 up to experience, but I wonder if Priceline will do anything to try to refund my money.

In the meantime, I strongly suggest that you do NOT bid a 3-star hotel in the BUF region. It seems as if most recent winning bids for this zone and category ended up with the Millennium, which is not worth half of what I bid.

"

[thereuare]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your brief stay at this property.

I don't think you have much recourse once you leave the hotel and don't discuss the issue with management and/or PRICELINE while on property. While there if you can point out tangible issues to the hotel and they're unable to provide an alternate room that is acceptable, you have more of a chance to negotiate with them (and PRICELINE), but if you picked up and left the hotel doesn't know if you left at 6pm or 6am and fully utilized the room, nor gave them a chance to re-sell it if you left early.

Thank you for sharing your win and experience at this hotel with the board. Can you please add a reply to this thread with the date(s) of your stay so we can add this information to the topic title and enable your win to appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[Street22]

Our 30-minute stay at the Millennium was July 15, 2012.

There was a very long line at the front desk when we left to go to the Hilton Garden Inn (two people being waited on, approximately 6 people in line plus a tour group of about 30 waiting to checking in) - waiting a half-hour to an hour or more to get to talk to the young man working the front desk was not an option).

Changing rooms would not have mattered - the Millennium is a 1.5 star motel not a 3 star hotel and will not become any better than a 2-star until major renovations are completed.

The Hilton Garden Inn Buffalo Airport is terrific - a real 3-star hotel - the difference between the two properties is night and day.

I would reiterate my strong warning to any Better Bidding readers (mostly sophisticated and experienced travelers) - please think twice before bidding on a 3-star in the Buffalo Airport region - if you end up at the Millennium, you are very likely to be disappointed.

[AaronJB]

Thank you for the follow-up; sorry again to hear that the stay was so disappointing. :(

[sweetcurves]

The Millenium SUCKS! I've stayed there a few times, really only because I got it for less than $50, and because I was only going to spend about 6 hours there total.

Sorry you had such a bad experience.

[corster]

The Millennium does have some nice rooms, worthy of a 3* designation - you just don't get them unless you book a "Superior Queen" or "Superior King" room on their website. Unfortunately they only brought a few floors of the hotel up to what I would consider a 3* designation. The rest of it hasn't been renovated since the hotel was lost their Four Points franchise (after originally being downgraded from a full Sheraton)

This isn't even the typical "Worst room in the house for the Priceline customer" situation - you'll get one of the bad rooms if you book with any third-party agent, as they don't sell their best rooms anywhere else except their website. It's unfortunate, but there are better rooms available - I got them to move me into one last time I was there. You just need to pull teeth.

I agree though, I would do my best to avoid this property. Having stayed at many of the 2.5* properties in or immediately adjacent to this zone (the Residence Inn among them), they are far better hotels than the Millennium - the only problem is you risk Priceline "upgrading" you to the Millenium by bidding for them.