Priceline Hotel: ST. AUGUSTINE FLORIDA

[bturner13]

Cannot find much info on hotels in St. Augustine Florida thru Priceline on any board. Only 1 & 2 Star hotels in the 2 areas we want (Historical & Beach). I see that some folks have gotten 2* hotel rooms for $40-$45. Any suggestions folks?

Thanks!

[thereuare]

BTurner,

I looked around a bit and did some research....

Hotwire uses similar zone definitions, BUT the St. Augustine Beach has no hotels in it (i tried for various dates in the future), the St. Augustine zone goes all the way west to the highway (so may not be close to the shoreline at all if that's what you're looking for), and the other area you're not interested in, known as the Golf area.

As with Priceline, Hotwire only offers 1 and 2 star hotels. Rates thru conventional means run as low as $60-80 or so (didn't check for specific dates as you didn't specify), and Hotwire random dates are about $50-70. If you need this area i personally wouldn't bid more than $40 or so. Anything more that won't represent that much of a savings (after you add in the $5.95 priceline fee) and i'd sooner take a hotel that i could choose and have the out of pocket be similar. There's just too much risk when bidding blindly for 1 and 2 star hotels. In the tradisional search i saw a LOT of Days Inn, Holiday Inn, HoJo, LaQuinta, etc. type of properties. Maybe you could search for the suite-type properties (AmeriSuites, La Quinta (are they all suites?), Embassy Suites, etc) in the area, if you're happy with all of them see, if a sutie property is available thru Hotwire at significant savings (there IS a "S" icon for a property in the area).

Again, a large part of my decision would have to do with how long i was staying (i can put up with almost anything for one nite) and if this was work/vacation/friends visit.

Hope this helps some!

PS- for you as well as anyone else reading, don't know if you utilized it, but when you ask a question like this on the board, you can click "Subscribe to this Topic" so that you'll be notified via email whenever there is a reply to your question <cool stuff, huh?>

[bturner13]

Thanks for the detailed info 'thereuare'! I too am finding the same results thru the normal hotel websites and Travelaxe.net. I have a couple of HK$300 Funny Money Scratches I got from Priceline/HK that needs to be used before the end of April for a 2 day trip. Will post what I finally get.

'Thereuare', you make this board fun and we appreciate all your hard work. And you don't jump someone's s**t when they screw-up!

[iahphx]

Well, bturner, I think I have the info you need. DON'T BID PRICELINE IN ST. AUGUSTINE NOW!

I have a "crazy" relative travelling around Florida this month (see my central Florida bid post) who keeps calling me for help with last minute priceline reservations. Yesterday, he tells me he wants to spend tonight in St. Augustine.

OK, so I quickly look at the zones, and I look at the historical info on TOBB. I first tried that "west" zone for the apparent Renaissance hotel, but not too seriously -- I went up to $50 (plus that promotional $10 bonus money for 3 star+ properties) and quit.

I then bid more seriously for what appeared to be a 2-star Radisson in the historic district that folks had once gotten for $40. The priceline bonus money promotion doesn't count on 2-stars (the highest zone there), so I first bid $40 and failed. I then added the "beach" zone, raised it to $45 and got a La Quinta in the historic zone.

A little disappointing, but not terrible. But then I went to La Quinta's website to see what a room would have cost me for the night and it turns out there's a promotional $49 "Sleep" rate available. Do the math -- $45 plus $5.95 means I COULD HAVE SAVED MONEY booking direct! That's never happened to me before with priceline (I wonder if I complained to priceline under their price guarantee, they'd refund the $1.95)

BTW, I then looked at Radisson's website (which I guess I should have done beforehand had I wanted to be an anal-retentive bidder), and found that the St. Augustine Radisson is apparently closed temporarily. Hosed!

[bturner13]

Thanks for the heads up and all the research! I too am finding the same results you have. I wonder why PL does not have a better foothold in St. Augustine. Perhaps it is supply and demand!

Cheers!

[iahphx]

Out of curiosity, I went ahead and requested my "overcharge" refund from priceline. Sure enough, they sent me an "idiotic" form letter response. You can easily see why they're not famous for their customer service!

_________________________________________________

Dear Sir or Madam,

[As you can see from the attached] I made this reservation with you for tomorrow in St. Augustine. I was awarded the La Quinta for my $45 bid. Checking their website, they are offering a rate to the general public, using their "Sleep" promotion of $49. With your $5.95 service charge, I am paying $1.95 more than if I had booked the room direct with La Quinta. Please refund this difference to my credit card.

Thanks.

________________________________________________

Dear Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to send us an e-mail. We apologize for the delay in responding to your message and understand that you are dissatisfied with the price you requested.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you, however, as you are aware, we search for hotels that will accept the price that you agree to. Hotels change their rates throughout the day, which is why we recommend that you research available rates for the

hotels in the area of your destination prior to determining the price you are willing to pay for your reservation.

Mr. xxxx, we are sorry that you are no longer satisfied with the price you agreed to. We search for a hotel that matches all of your criteria, including price.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

Sachin T.

The priceline.com Customer Service Team

[bturner13]

Iahphx, WoW! You went that extra step! So is PL going to refund the difference? That idiotic response you got is indeed the standard response I get from them all the time! Why do you think that is? I really do wonder why PL does not have a better "in" in St. Augustine.

Thanks again for all your help!

[thereuare]

The way i read the letter it sounds like they are NOT going to refund the money; AND aren't even aware of the situation. They just browse the letter for a few keywords and then send "Letter x". The worst offender of this is Yahoo who you can write a letter to stating "please don't tell me to try ____ because that's not the problem"... sure enough they send you an email back instructing you to do what you just asked them NOT to suggest.

I think Priceline doesn't have an "in" because it appears that this area mostly has lower star level hotels. I usually find that there is more savings in the higher quality level hotels. Fixed costs (chamber maid, front desk, etc) to run a hotel are similar at all quality levels, so the higher end hotels have more of an opportunity to give deep(er) discounts and still make a profit.

[bturner13]

Thanks ThereUAre for the response. I believe you hit the nail on the head about lower star zones! I am finding the same results.

Sorry, but I am still a bit confused with something in your response, "The worst offender of this is Yahoo who you can write a letter to stating "please don't tell me to try ____ because that's not the problem"... sure enough they send you an email back instructing you to do what you just asked them NOT to suggest." I told ya that I am slow but trainable so plz be patient and clarify!

[thereuare]

As an example, i'll have a problem with Yahoo email, and write them a letter describing the problem. I'll also tell them, "PLEASE don't instruct me to delete my cookies and temporary internet files, because i've already tried that and it doesn't solve the problem."

Their reply:

Thanks for contacting us. You should first try deleting your internet cookies, and if that doesn't solve the problem, try deleting your temporary internet files.

Thanks for contacting us. If you continue to have problems, please let us know.

"Pins and needles, needles and pins... it's a happy man that grins; now what am i mad about?"

"Well you see Ralph, that landlord is raising the rent $5!"

(if you don't understand the above quote, no problem, just a Honeymooner's reference for anyone that is a fan)

[iahphx]

Since I was having so much fun with this, I decided to send them a "reply" to their letter. This time they at least read it, and sent me a largely coherent form response! Not surprisingly, however, they do not consider their $5.95 service fee to be part of the guarantee. Frankly, I think that's mildly dishonest, but hey -- you going to sue for $1.95? So it is possible to overpay on priceline -- just by not more than $5.95!

BTW, I went through this exercise to see what would happen (obviously, the money involved is trivial). I think we now have some better insight (good and bad) into their corporate practices.

_______________________________________________

Dear Sir or Madam.

With all due respect, do you guys actually READ these letters before sending out a form response?

My correspondence seeks a refund under your "best price guaranteed" program. As my letter states, I paid more for my hotel room than I could have gotten it direct from the hotel's own website. I would appreciate the refund -- and you folks actually reading my letter!

Thanks

_____________________________________________

Dear Mr. xxxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to send us an email. We apologize for any miscommunication in our previous correspondence and understand that you

found a better rate for your room on hotel's website.

We have reviewed rates available on http://www.laquinta.com and are unable to find a room rate that is lower than you offer price of

$45.00.

Please make sure that when researching other internet sites, you are looking at the correct hotel and looking at the exact check-in and check-out dates and equivalent room type. [Editor's note -- huh?]

Furthermore, Mr. xxxx, the $5.95 priceline-processing fee is used to defray the cost of processing your request. If we find you a hotel reservation, a standard $5.95 per room charge is added to the final cost. Our Best Price Guarantee applies for your offer price and does not include the processing fee or taxes added to it.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

Surabha T.

The priceline.com Customer Service Team

[bturner13]

Do push for the $5.95, again! I had a similiar situation and PL finally paid me the $5.95 Processing Fee!

[bturner13]

ThereUAre, I was thinking the same thing about the star catagories thing in St. Augustine, but Lodging.com is showing availability at the Ramada in for $37.46. Oh but that is on I95 at the exit and really not in the historical district.

[iahphx]

Yeah, I was afraid of overpaying for one of those interstate motels, too. That's why when I started bidding the 2-stars, I did not include the "west" zone.

It's just a shame that the downtown Radisson was classified as a 2-star -- something I've never seen before (even AAA gives it 3 stars). Otherwise I never would have bid $45 for a two star. Even $40 -- a price I was rejected at -- could have easily been an overbid.

[iahphx]

There's even more to this story . . .

My foot-loose family member decides he wants to stay ANOTHER night in St. Augustine. And he like the La Quinta. Given the above info, I tell him the best thing to do is get the $49 "sleep" rate direct from the hotel. Only problem is they're not offering it for the additional night! So I bid, not optimistic that I'd get him anything (if you see my Central Fla post, you'll see we had little last minute luck on this trip).

First bid: $43 -- with very limited rebids, merely trying to shave a couple bucks off the $45 rate, and remembering I was rejected the previous night at $40. But this time, we instead get the 2* PONCE DE LEON HOTEL AND GOLF RESORT.

Turns out that IS the former Radisson. Expansive grounds, but Pop says it's not quite as "well kept" or convenient to the historic area. Published room rates are much higher than the La Quinta, FWIW.

So perhaps those old $40 Radisson bids would still work. If I wanted to stay at the Ponce, I'd probably bid $40. If rejected, I'd look to see what I could get the La Quinta for on their website.