Priceline Hotel: 2* Key West Fairfield Inn

[zbenye]

Hotel Name: Fairfield Inn Key West

2400 N Roosevelt Blvd

Key West, Florida 33040

Your Offer Price: $50.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $100.00

Taxes and Service Fees: $20.23

Total Charges: $120.23

Based on Rates on Expedia (~$100), Hotwire ($80 lowest) and the lack of recent winning bid postings, I started with a bid of $50 for 2.5*. When that was rejected, lowered to 2* but due to the lack of rebid options decided to not lower under $50. Accepted. May be an overbid, but who cares - good name hotel with free parking, breakfast and Internet, and has a pool.

$99 on the hotel's website.

[Canes98]

zbenye, If you're reading this, keep an eye on the weather. A tropical depression formed east of the Bahamas, and the preliminary forecast is for it to hit or pass very near Key West as a Category 1 (weakest category) hurricane on Tuesday.

Stay safe!

[zbenye]

Thank you for the alert, Canes98, I'll keep a watch on the news. Leaving KW on Tuesday anyway but might want to leave earlier in the day if so.

I'm more worried about the weather in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.

[zbenye]

Checked in early in the afternoon. Very friendly front desk folks. Rooms not terribly exciting and the wireless internet was available only in the lobby and around the pool.

Two hours later I was asked to leave. Mandatory evacuation of all visitors from the keys due to Tropical Storn Rita, may she spin her way to hell.

The hotel manager told me that Priceline is familiar with these situations and will not give me a hard time. He said he would not charge Priceline anything, and gave me a printed notice to give to Priceline confirming the evacuation. I tried to call Priceline. Entered my reservation number and telephone number as instructed, but the system persistently rejected the telephone number. There was no way around that and no option to reach a person. May Priceline Customer Service go to hell too. I'll have to email them to apply for a refund.

[zbenye]

OK, the Priceline automated response system sucked, but I humbly have to report that my refund request emailed to them was answered within the hour, with a number to call to speak to a rep. The rep was a local at a call center here in the U.S., very courteous and helpful. He called the hotel to confirm they had closed and within minutes gave me a cancellation confirmation number, advising that a full refund would be made to my card. An email from Priceline to that effect followed.

[thereuare]

Glad to hear they took care of it, but sorry to hear a monkey wrench was thrown into your plans.

[zbenye]

Full credit received :-)