Priceline Hotels

[CathyM]

I bid through Priceline for the first time and will be staying at the NY Hilton and Towers and the Waldorf-Astoria each for three nights in October.

I printed out my confirmation information from the site, but do I need to call these hotels just to confirm my rooms? Should I specify that I want non-smoking, king bed, etc?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please post your winning details (dates, price, hotel, etc) in the PRICELINE NEW YORK forum and then we'll be happy to answer your questions in this thread.

THANKS!!

[holtju2]

I bid through Priceline for the first time and will be staying at the NY Hilton and Towers and the Waldorf-Astoria each for three nights in October.

I printed out my confirmation information from the site, but do I need to call these hotels just to confirm my rooms? Should I specify that I want non-smoking, king bed, etc?

I would only call if I would be arriving VERY late something like after midnight. Even if your room is prepaid and Priceline email tells that late arrival is guaranteed the hotels do cancel your reservation if you don't show up at some point during the night.

[nowhereman]

Cathy,

it is always a good idea to confirm your reservation, regardless as sometimes some reservations will fall through the cracks b/c of miscomunication between hotel and website. it takes the hotels sometimes 24 hours before a reservation will get into their system from their central reservations. (goes from online travel site to a central reservations office where youre reservation is booked by the computers. from there the central reservations office has to take that information and generate that booking from the central system to the in house system).

depending on the operation.. it can take a while. this being said, its in your best interest to call the day after you get confirmed from hotwire or priceline. if you call before, its most likely they will not have it in their system yet, and you will worry yourself to death about the hotel not having it, when they do (they just dint know they have it yet).

when its a same day reservation what we would get is a fax from the websites saying they have a same day booking, with all of the pertenent information we needed to manually put it in, and so that we could expect the guest, and adjust outr availability and so forth.

ok.. so whats all this mean?

if your reservation is for more than a day after it was booked, wait 24 hours, confirm your reservation with the hotel. while youre on the horn with your wining hotel, make your bedding request. also if youre going to be late, let them know at this time. some hotels close their desk at 11 or 12 (when the nght auditor does his magic in the back room). if you let them know you'll be running that late, the hotel will leave a note for the night auditor to be aware you will be popping in, so he can keep an eye out for you.

if you are going to be arriving after midnight, or the next day.. let them know, so they dont put you down as a no show (a headache you dont want to go through).

now if its a same day.. call them an hour before you take off, try to confirm it, if they dont have it at their desk yet dont freak out. just ASK the hotel to call the website at the hotel help desk and confirm it. (dont demand.. be civil.. no one likes a demanding person, and people dont always respond well to others who are about to loose it because a reservation they booked less than 10 min ago is not on their desk that instance).

keep cool, things will work out. if somthings not there right away, remember youre buying from a discounter so not everything will be flawless all the time. roll with the punches go through the right steps, keep a level head and things will be fine. ( if you want somthing with out possability of kinks or some hoops to jump through, then eliminate the middle man, pay rack rate and buy through the property where its booked directly thorugh where yorue staying.. if you buy through a discount website dont be supprised if murphy stops by everyonce in a blue moon.. end rant... caveat emptor)

ok.. now if its a BIG hotel ie 4 star.. waldorf, hilton et al. they will have people there at the desk later than most hotels.