Priceline Hotel: 3* Panama City Beach Sunrise Beach Resort by Wyndham Vacation Rentals

[Judgless]

We bid on a 3 star hotel in Panama City Beach and won it for $110 a night.  When we checked in we were told that it will cost $95 for cleaning fees for our room if we stayed one night or more.  We were also told that if we booked a room with more bedrooms it would cost $130 a night in cleaning fees.

 

We called Price.line and they made it very clear the any hotel can charge any resort fee they want.  I told them we wanted to escalate this issue.  They told me they would get back to us in 5 days.  Below is their response.  We have complained before about issues.  They always claim they are right, and you always lose.

 

Very soon, Price.line or Hot.wire will give you a room for $1 and the Hotel can charge you and extra $95+ in resort fees.  Why would anyone use a service with unknown service fees?

 

-----Original Message-----

From: 'Travel Support Team [mailto:[customerviceservice.priceline.com]

Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:09 PM

To:

Subject: Your Request Number: ######## (########)

 

Dear Judgless,

 

Thank you for your patience while we researched your issue with the Sunrise Beach Resort By Wyndham Vacation Rentals.

 

We contacted the hotel and spoke with Bree (Front Desk) regarding the charges. The hotel informed that there is a mandatory charge of $94.55 (Cleaning Charges) for all the prepaid reservations. Your confirmed hotel may charge your card certain mandatory hotel specific service fees. For example, resort fees (which typically apply to resort type destinations and, if applicable, may range from $10 to $40 per day), tourism fees, or housekeeping fees and/or certain optional incidental fees, for example, parking charges, minibar charges, movie rentals, etc.

These charges, if applicable, will be payable by you to the hotel directly at check-out. This information is provided to you on the contract page prior to purchase.

For specific information on additional hotel fees, we ask that you contact the hotel directly as they will be applying these charges.

We apologize for any inconvenience; however, we are not able to refund the fees that were charged by your confirmed hotel. All guests that stay at this hotel were charged these fees. When you submitted your request, we displayed this information on your contract page that you reviewed prior to purchase.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you find this information helpful.

 

Sincerely,

 

Customer Relations Specialist

[thereuare]

I have removed the personal information from your email above.

Please start by reading your messages.

Then, please provide the full details of your purchase in a reply to this thread so that the information can help others, we'll then respond accordingly to your post above.

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

[Judgless]

Here are all the details.

 

Booked – 03/15/2014

Star rating - 3.0 star

City - Panama City Beach, FL

Zone - Panama City Beach North - Laguna Beach

Hotel Name – Sunrise Beach Resort by Wyndham Vacation Rentals

Dates that we won - Check in 04/29/14 (Tues) – Checkout 05/05/14 (Mon)

Price won per night - $115

Taxes per night - $13.98

Nights stayed - 6 nights

Total $773.88

 

We did not bid on a resort.  Just a 3 star Hotel in that zone.  We could not check in until we paid $95 in cleaning fees.  We contacted Priceline and above was their response.   Priceline told us you can bid $1 on a room and it is ok for the hotel to charge you any amount of money for a resort fee.  This breaks the entire system.

[Judgless]

Why do does the forum keep deleting the email  I got from Priceline?  I feel their response is extremely against the customer and this site keeps deleting it.  Why?

 

[thereuare]

Why do does the forum keep deleting the email  I got from Priceline?

Your email to PRICELINE is in the first post of this thread... there is no reason to post it multiple times and/or in each reply.

Thank you for sharing the details of your win with the board.

It's not entirely clear if the fee you were charged was a Resort Fee or a Cleaning Fee. Regardless of how it is classified, it's a potential fee that you agree to when you initial the box to place your bid.

As far as cleaning fees, I do believe this properties charges a clean fee to all guests, regardless of how they booked (third party or direct).

As far as resort fees, hotel's can't charge "whatever they want" since as per the terms when you place your bid, they max out at $40/day (fortunately most are substantially less). As well, any resort fees are not only for priceline guests, but are fees that apply to all guests (regardless of how booked)... so if a hotel begins to charge a fee that is too much it would start to effect their 'regular' bookings as well.

While i have always taken the stance that any mandatory fees should be included in the room rate, that's not how the current hotel system works and extra fees are becoming more and more prevalent, even in non-resort areas and at some lower star rated properties.

Luckily the savings seen by bidding on PRICELINE usually outweigh the risk of any extra fees that may be charged by the hotel, but if you need a more exact amount of your total costs before your purchase, you could use PRICELINE EXPRESS and/or HOTWIRE, both of which show the total cost, including any extra resort/hotel fees, before the purchase (it's still within the terms that you're responsible for any extra fees, but PRICELINE EXPRESS and HOTWIRE have been showing the resort fees before purchase for the vast majority of their properties, although i still see one or two every so often that i know has a resort fee but it is not shown beforehand in the offering).

[Judgless]

Your email to PRICELINE is in the first post of this thread... there is no reason to post it multiple times and/or in each reply.

It was deleted 3 times. I posted it again because it kept getting deleted. You modified words in my posts also. I said the email was below. You moved the email and now my post claims it is above.

 

It's not entirely clear if the fee you were charged was a Resort Fee or a Cleaning Fee. Regardless of how it is classified, it's a potential fee that you agree to when you initial the box to place your bid.

Read the email from Priceline. The hotel informed that there is a mandatory charge of $94.55 (Cleaning Charges) for all the prepaid reservations. That is very clear that it was a cleaning charge.

 

As far as resort fees, hotel's can't charge "whatever they want" since as per the terms when you place your bid, they max out at $40/day (fortunately most are substantially less). As well, any resort fees are not only for priceline guests, but are fees that apply to all guests (regardless of how booked)... so if a hotel begins to charge a fee that is too much it would start to effect their 'regular' bookings as well.

That is not correct. This hotel told me the $95 cleaning fee is a one time fee if you stay one day or more. I could have bid $115 on the room for one night and have to pay $95 in resort fees.

 

While i have always taken the stance that any mandatory fees should be included in the room rate, that's not how the current hotel system works and extra fees are becoming more and more prevalent, even in non-resort areas and at some lower star rated properties.

Luckily the savings seen by bidding on PRICELINE usually outweigh the risk of any extra fees that may be charged by the hotel, but if you need a more exact amount of your total costs before your purchase, you could use PRICELINE EXPRESS and/or HOTWIRE, both of which show the total cost, including any extra resort/hotel fees, before the purchase (it's still within the terms that you're responsible for any extra fees, but PRICELINE EXPRESS and HOTWIRE have been showing the resort fees before purchase for the vast majority of their properties, although i still see one or two every so often that i know has a resort fee but it is not shown beforehand in the offering).

When you bid on a zone you do not see the fees for each hotel in the zone. It is a game of chance. Some might charge zero in resort fees some might charge $95 in resort fees (95% cost of the room in fees). That is what happen to me. I went to Priceline.Express and the hotel does not show up. It does show up on Priceline.

[thereuare]

It was deleted 3 times. I posted it again because it kept getting deleted. You modified words in my posts also. I said the email was below. You moved the email and now my post claims it is above.

I don't recall which of your posts i saw first, but i saw each within minutes of each other and kept only kept one of them. It's generally not considered good netiquette to post duplicate content on any message board, and if you feel a post was removed in error a better course of action would be to contact an admin or moderator... not to simply post it again. I also removed your personally identifiable information for the email.

 

Read the email from Priceline. The hotel informed that there is a mandatory charge of $94.55 (Cleaning Charges) for all the prepaid reservations. That is very clear that it was a cleaning charge.

Yes, i know what you were told by PRICELINE and what their email stated.

 

That is not correct. This hotel told me the $95 cleaning fee is a one time fee if you stay one day or more. I could have bid $115 on the room for one night and have to pay $95 in resort fees.

Maybe this property has a minimum nite stay requirement for winning PRICELINE bids so that they don't accept any one nite stays? It's certainly possible that this hotel only accepts multiple nite stays of say 4 or 5 nites or more.

 

When you bid on a zone you do not see the fees for each hotel in the zone.

Again, if the terms of PRICELINE bidding don't work for your needs, you can use PRICELINE EXPRESS or HOTWIRE which generally (almost always) show the full amount, including resort fees, before the purchase.

[deejub]

Just saw this and wanted to add my two cents.

 

A few years ago I had a Priceline win in Florida (I wish I could recall the hotel, but I don't). The hotel charged me a $15/night fee that they said was a "Priceline Processing Fee" that they only applied to Priceline customers.

 

Priceline did intercede and credited my credit card the same amount as the fee. I don't know that they had to per the rules, but they did. That is, of course, a lot different than a fee charged to every customer like a resort fee.