Question about Policies

[Willow Branch]

We just had an interesting experience & wondered if anyone else may have encountered this......We booked a Priceline hotel for 3 nights; unfortunately, we were not able to make it for the 1st night, but still wanted to use it for the 2nd & 3rd night. We called the hotel to let them know what was going on as we definitely still wanted the rooms for the 2nd & 3rd night, but were unable to make it for the 1st night.

When we checked into the hotel, they had no record that we had called stating that we would not be there for the 1st night, so they considered us as "no shows" and CANCELLED our reservation!! I have never heard of this before. What do they care if we show up one night later--we paid for the 3 nights thru Priceline!

After many minutes of going back & forth, they agreed to let us stay for the remainder of the 2 nights & that they would find a room for us. After much discussion, they also offered us a credit for that 1st night as they were sorry for what had happened.

Now, my question to you is this, the Hotel wants to credit Priceline & the Hotel tells me that Priceline will credit me. Is this true? I find this difficult to believe that Priceline will actually credit me! I asked the Hotel about this, & they told me that if they tell Priceline that we did not use the room, then Priceline will not charge them & they will credit me.

What do you think? If you think it is doubtful that I will see the money from Priceline, then I will try harder to just get a free room from the Hotel for future use (which would be fine with me!).

Thanks for any & all advise!!

[dahammer]

please post a follow up to your Ft. Lauderdale post.

Also, please post the results of your 3 night stay under a new topic and we will be happy to comment

[Willow Branch]

I'm sorry dahammer...I had intended to post the 3 night stay, but when this came up, this took priority. SORRY.

The Fort Lauderdale hotel was not done on Priceline, so I didn't know you wanted the info...again, I'm sorry!!

[thereuare]

If you're not going to be arriving on the day of check-in (also recommended if you'll be arriving very late at nite on day of check-in) you need to call the hotel and let them know. It's also recommend to give them your credit card info on the phone and have them check-in you over the phone just to make sure they don't 'bump' your room and then walk you (or cancel the rest of the reservation) when you eventually do show up.

Currently from Pricelines Terms:

If you don't check-in to the hotel on the first day of your reservation, and you do not alert the hotel in advance, the remaining portion of your reservation will be canceled and you will not be entitled to a refund. Calling the hotel to make them aware of the delay will help to secure your room.

[GM Mike]

thereuare is right. In most hotels, especially 3* and up, a call to the front desk in advance will solve this problem. The general policy is, anyone who doesn't show up is considered a "no show" -- generally around 2am if the hotel isn't full, as early as midnight if it IS full, but as early as 6pm at less reputable establishments if they think they can get away with it. When a reservation is "no showed", it is entirely forfeited. In general, for reservations that are NOT prepaid, this results in a charge of one night room and tax to the credit card used to guarantee the room. For prepaid reservations, this generally results in the ENTIRE prepayment being forfeited.

Most hotels will allow you to check in "to protect", as it's generally called. This means that, due to some unforseen circumstance, you can not arrive as expected, but you agree to pay for the first night in order to have your room available at, say, 6am. The clerk will check in your reservation as if you were there and hold keys for you, perhaps requiring you to actually present your credit card when you claim the keys.

Technically, the hotel was within its rights to take your full prepayment when you didn't show up. Because you called, ALMOST ALL hotels would have checked you in "to protect" at that point, as a courtesy to you. In the future, you may want to explicitly request that you be "checked in to protect" your reservation, to make sure.

As far as Priceline crediting money back to you, a clerk associate of mine has successfully called Priceline on behalf of a customer he had to "walk" to another hotel and secured a refund of that night of the reservation. (For the record, he also secured a room at no charge at another hotel acceptable to the guest, who essentially stayed at a 3* hotel instead of 2.5* for free.) So at least in the case of a HOTEL making a mistake, Priceline will credit back to the guest. It's quite possible you'll get a refund, but I'd stay on top of that. It's up to the hotel to make it happen. Note that in the hotel world, most places would NOT refund that first night (i.e. the hotel is being generous to you).

[Willow Branch]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my question!! I learned something new; I am just thankful that I did call them to let them know of my partial change in plans (I certainly did not know that I HAD to do that! I must have missed that somewhere.

Anyway, I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again!

[Willow Branch]

Just thought that I would let you know what happened so as to have closure to this topic.....the hotel now says that it was not communicated properly with us & that they cannot give a credit for our missed night.

So, that is the way it stands.

Again, thanks for the responses as once again, I learned something!