Recovering From A Bidding Mistake

[j38129]

For the first time, I made a screwup on a Priceline bid and it bit me in the behind.

I was trying for a hotel in Detroit. I was trying to bid for the Downtown zone, but inadvertently clicked on the Airport (DTW) zone. When the first bid didn't go through, I added a second zone, and got the win, but saw the hotel and immediately knew I had screwed up. I called Priceline to beg for mercy, but they refused (likely since the zone I wanted was higher priced than what I got). Because of the nature of the trip (and the lack of mass transit options from the airport to downtown), I need to stay downtown.

So the question becomes: what do I do with the two-night stay I can't use? I've read that PL will reconsider once you've placed a winning bid in the correct zone, but thanks to the quirky nature of the Detroit area, four of the five zones have 4-star properties, which means I can only bid twice a day, so it may take a couple days to get a winning bid (I'm up to $75). Could I put it up on, say, Craigslist or eBay (since I will be there to be able to check in/out, but just can't use the room)?

I'm sure I'm not the first person around here that's had this happen to them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[thereuare]

Can you please post the details of your win to the board as the information may help another user who does want to stay in the area you won.

All you can really do is try PRICELINE again and see if you can get a customer rep that will make an exception to their rule. PRICELINE reservations are non-refundable/non-changeable, and personally i wouldn't give (or attempt sell) a room to a stranger as there are too many things that could go wrong. The check-in issue isn't a factor since you'll be able to be there to check-in/check-out, but still too much risk for my comfort level... but what if the other person trashes the room, steals something of value, causes a scene (fight or otherwise), creates a fire, or does anything else that would be outside the realm of 'normal/abiding' behavior? While this may be a remote possibility, the ramifications are high, and even the small risk wouldn't be worth it to me (although you don't say for how long the stay is)

Have you looked into renting a car?

[j38129]

Can you please post the details of your win to the board as the information may help another user who does want to stay in the area you won.

Duh. Sorry. Posted the priceline win HERE.

Have you looked into renting a car?

We're actually driving in, but the event we're going to is downtown. It just becomes a pain to drive downtown and back (30 minutes each way), and staying downtown gives my wife a little bit of ease.

[Dary_Kroger]

Duh. Sorry. Posted the priceline win HERE.

We're actually driving in, but the event we're going to is downtown. It just becomes a pain to drive downtown and back (30 minutes each way), and staying downtown gives my wife a little bit of ease.

If you sell the room, you could have the person check in under THEIR name...on YOUR reservation. But you have to call the hotel ahead of time and give them permission to check in and the other occupant's full name to check in. This takes the liability and risk out of your hand because the hotel will be using their credit card to hold incidentals. I have done it before, twice. Usually I am flying in to meet a significant other for a weekend vacation and I miss my flight, and they get there sooner but the reservation is in my name. Shouldn't be an issue. But don't mention anything to the hotel about 'exchanging' or renting your room or giving it away or anything like that.

Other option, if the hotel has free parking...take it as a lesson learned and stay there. I personally hate staying downtown for the sole reason of paying $15/day minimum for parking...Then you get there and don't have in/out privledges or have to pay a little more for it or park on the street and wake up by 7 am before you get a ticket (i had a rental company charge my credit card for a ticket weeks later as they were getting the bill). Money that I prefer to use on the hotel's breakfast buffet. Then some want to charge $10/day for internet downtown also. And there's less chance of being delayed or missing a flight if you stay near airport also.

I'm surprised Priceline won't refund you...or even offer you a 1 time courtesy for a small fee. But that's why I rarely ever book more than 1 day at a time. If you want 2 days you can always just extend it. Gives the hotel more paper work and probably bad for the trees/waste/environment...but it's your convenience on the line.

[Dary_Kroger]

....oh and don't try to re-bid in a different zone for the same dates. A message will pop up saying you already have a hotel for those dates and you'll simply have 2 reservations. Pre-paid.

If you really, really, really want to get out of it, book the other hotel and simply don't show up to the 1st. And then call your bank and explain your case. It'll be like you paid for something and didn't receive the item and they might be willing to refund it. I've actually done that once when a hotel wanted to take $100 incidental in cash and mail it back to me. I walked out and the hotel refused to refund priceline who refused to refund me...so I just called my bank.

But I've only done that ONCE, and it's not something that's easily done.

[j38129]

Unfortunately the hotel I won is physically at the airport, which means I don't just get to pay for parking, I get to pay for *airport* parking! At least if we stay downtown, I don't have to worry about in-and-out privileges: I can just walk or cab it to our event.

I have two theories: 1. The bid that won would not have won the zone I wanted, so they couldn't just transfer it, and 2. they saw the winning bid was a second bid with a zone that did not have the 4*, which tipped them off that someone was gaming the system.

In all likelihood I'm going to make one more call after I win downtown and beg again. If worst comes to worst, I'll just eat it.