Priceline Hotel: 4* Newark - Jersey City - Meadowlands (Jersey City - Hoboken - Weehawken) W Hotel Hoboken

[Arista]

I started out looking for something in Manhattan, bidding $101 for a 4-star. I was appalled that, in addition to the usual "taxes and fees," they tacked on $28 for a "hotel fee," which I'd never seen before.

 

I decided to go ahead anyway, but my offer was rejected and they counter-offered with $155 (not counting taxes, fees, and more fees, of course). I turned it down.

 

Today I tried again, trying $111 for a 4.5 star in Manhattan. I got the same "hotel fee," this time of $30, and my offer was rejected.

 

Then I tried Jersey City/Hoboken, first with an offer of $101 for a 4.5 star property. No hotel fee, but it was rejected with a counter-offer of $126. I turned it down and bid $111 for 4-star, and this was accepted.

 

Room subtotal:$111.00

Taxes & fees:$26.15

Total charged today:$137.15

 

What is this "hotel fee,' anyway? The last time I used Priceline's name-your-own price, in December, I booked a 3-night stay in Charleston, SC, and there was no such thing. Is this an attempt to extract the last penny from people staying in the most expensive areas?

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success.

 

Very nice win for this property! Hope you are looking forward to your stay.

 

The "hotel fee" when bidding on PRICELINE is the service telling you that there is the possibility of a hotel in that zone at that star rating that charges a resort fee-style fee. Resort fees were previously very common in Orlando and Vegas, but have started to be seen in increasing amounts in NYC.  The hotel fee shown is the highest of any hotel in the zone at that star rating... should you win a hotel with a lower fee you will be charged the lesser amount (or if the hotel won does not have any resort fee then there would be none charged); so it's basically a 'worst case scenario' so that you don't ultimately end paying more than what was shown on the bid confirmation page.

 

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

 

Enjoy your stay.