Hotel Under Renovation?

[Daycruiser]

Okay, I posted this at TOBB and it disappeared. Just trying to get some suggestions on how to follow through with this. I had a succesful win for the Charleston, SC area. Actually received a 3 Star in N Charleston, which actually listed the highest level a 2.5*, I used this as a free rebid so I was disappointed. Nonetheless, won the bid at $109. Found out the hotel and checked their website. Surprise Surprise, I could have gotten this hotel for $109 directly through the hotel! THEN find out that the hotel is undergoing serious renovation during the day (which is when we will actually be at the hotel). I am very disappointed that Priceline would use a hotel that was undergoing renovations, and also that I saved virtually nothing! I actually paid more because of the Priceline fee! Any suggestions? The travel dates are this weekend, so time is running out.... please help (without being mean!!!)

[WillTravel]

Priceline should give you a refund on the difference between the lowest posted price and what you paid, using their guarantee. Search on the Priceline web site. The only difficulty is if you are past their time limit, which I'm not sure about.

If the renovation is going to mean serious noise, I would complain, but I'm not sure of the best way to go about it.

[thereuare]

I believe their guarantee is only bid amount vs. hotel's price.. so no refund is available based upon their guarantee (unless you can find a cheaper rate at Expedia, Orbitz, etc... feel free to use our HOTEL CHECKER TOOL to help you in finding a better rate.

I think the bigger issue here, if i'm understanding you correctly, is that you bid for 3* but received a hotel in a zone that only has 2.5* properties? Have you checked to see if the hotel is actually in the North Charleston zone rather than just has a North Charleston address? (sometimes their is overlapping and the actual zone names are not as descriptive as we'd like)

Please let me know about the above and i'll respond further. It would also be appreciated if you posted your winning bid in the corresponding forum (but we won't scold you yet for not doing so :) )

[Daycruiser]

You guys are so nice over here!!!! The hotel is actually called the Sheraton North Charleston, but North Charleston borders very heavily on the other zone, so I am not terribly sure if I have a leg to stand on. I sent correspondence to customer service and I am waiting for someone to call me back. I usually have success with Priceline, but this one has been a mess. I have a couple more to bid on, but I am hesitant in doing so before I get this one wrapped up. I will post my winning bid under SC to help others :) Thanks again for the warm welcome!!

[thereuare]

Let us know how this works out, but it seems to me as if this hotel is in the Charleston (Coliseum-Airport) zone (which does indeed offer 3* bidding)

[Daycruiser]

I just did some handy dandy sleuth work, and while it is called "North Charleston", the hotel is actually in the Coliseum airport zone (tricky), so that is fine... My main concern is the renovations, which hopefully won't be too bad. It looks like a nice hotel, so fingers crossed...

Thanks again for all your help! I will "review" the hotel upon return!

[badbadleroybrown]

My question is why would you bid higher than available rates?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

If you re-read the first post, DaisyCruiser mistakenly used this area as a re-bid zone when it wasn't one (and presumably rates are higher in the North Downtown zone).

[badbadleroybrown]

Thanks for the invite.

But if you view Daycruiser's South Carolina post, he states he added the Airport zone # 3 on his rebid list. This hotel seems to be in the airport zone. So, N Charleston doesn't seem to be a mistake since it only offers 2.5 stars. I guess I view this as complaining about something that didn't deserve it. If you don't want a hotel in a certain zone, you shouldn't add the zone. But then, it seems like searching for a way out of it, by trying to find a complaint about it; i.e. renovation. Its nice this post was added, but it seems like irresponsible bidding to me.

[thereuare]

I don't agree, but perhaps my correction above clarifies things a bit. Part of the above is a typo on my part as i was up early, out all day, and trying to catch up with all the posts that had appeared on the board (with one eye open).

The user actaully wanted the Downtown zone which does offer 3* bidding. The other zones were added as re-bids but a mistake was made by adding the Airport zone which also has 3* hotels avaialable. I see nothing wrong with the strategy, except that the mistake was made of adding a 'live' zone.

Using RE-Bid Zones correctly is actually a quite effective strategy that has enable many of us to get bids accepted at the absolute lowest price possible.

[thesqueegeekid]

I have stayed a few times at hotels which were under renovations ... and twice, the restaurant was closed. The restaurant is one of the ammenities offered in 3*/4* hotels. This allowed me to contact PL and get some compensation ... through a UK bid they refunded me 15 pounds off my one night stay at the Loew's Philly and through a US PL bid ... two nights were refunded on an 4 night/2 room stay in Montreal.

In this case, I would call the hotel and ask what specifically would be affected by the renovations and get a contact name ... and either ride out the stay and complain after ... or before.

As for the price, take it lightly as a cost of learning and look forward to saving huge on wiser future bids.

[Daycruiser]

Just for a little clarification on this :) I did alot of research on various hotels offered in ALL the zones I bid on with 3* ratings. ALL of them came up at a minimum of $159. I did not want to bid over $109, as we had a corporate rate at another hotel for $109. The only one I did not check was the North Charleston Sheraton, as it's name implied that it was in North Charleston (and since North Charleston did not have a 3* in it's zone, I did not feel it necessary to check it, it turns out, the North Charleston Sheraton is actually in the Coliseum Zone). Once I won the bid, I checked the website and found it was offered at $109... which I would imagine is because of the renovations, as all the other 3* hotels in the area are well above this rate. I feel I did adequate homework to make a well-informed bid. I am calling the hotel this morning just to make sure that all public areas will be available.

Oh yeah, I'm a girl :) So no wisecracks!

[Daycruiser]

Here is an update on the hotel we stayed at... We really could not tell the hotel was under renovation at all. The staff was very friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The room was great (the beds at the Sheraton are simply the best.... down comforters and pillows, yummy...) We have no complaints at all about the stay!