Will hotel be offended by a very low bid?

[Mika]

Hi,

I am very new using Priceline, and this may be a very silly question, but I am serious.

Of course, I would like to spend as little money as possible for getting a hotel room. But, I am worried if I get a bad service because my bid is too low, like the worst room is offered or room not get cleaned properly and so on.

So my questions are,

Can the front staff see how much money I am paying for the room?

Have anyone had any experience not being treated nicely because of the low bid?

I don't worry about it too much if I am using Priceline for major cities as hotel people surely see wide range of price and guests. But I am now looking for a hotel in a small town where there is only one three star hotel and I don't know if they see many Priceline bidders as their guests. . .

[lindabobhat]

I think it depends on the hotel as far as seeing what you bid. I seem to recall that the hotel tells Priceline up front what the minimum is that they will accept (and that Priceline gets the difference if your bid exceeds that amount - don't quote me on this, though.) I know I have tried to use in room TV checkout at some properties that I won on Priceline and I have seen the rate I paid show up on the hotel folio. I think some hotels have certain rooms they try to assign to Priceline customers regardless of what the bid is. Like a room right off the elevators or by the ice machine or even a room that is smaller than most of the hotel's standard rooms. I can tell you that I have been assigned rooms I'm not thrilled with but have almost always been moved if I ask nicely. This usually isn't a problem unless a property is booked to capacity. A word of advice on smaller town bids - the deals are generally not as good because the availability is more limited (big cities have a plethora of unsold rooms and tend to offer better bargains.)

[thereuare]

The hotel doesn't know how much you paid, but does not how much they charged PRICELINE (however, many front desk clerks assume that you paid whatever amount the hotel collected, not realzing that the guest may have paid more)

There are some hotels (forutnately a minority) that seem to assign smaller or less desirable rooms to PRICELINE / HOTWIRE customers, but it's also hard to say with any degree of certainty... these rooms existed long before there was a PRICELINE or HOTWIRE service, and the hotel obviously assigned them to somebody... who is to sa that the room assigned was due to a discounted rate or simply 'bad luck of the draw'? (or maybe the guest rubbed the front desk clerk the wrong way)

Somoe complaints are also unreasonable... the guest reports back here they they "got the priceline room" because it didn't have a view of the ocean (perhaps considered an upgrade and more expensive than the hotel's "standdard" room) or that there wasn't enough sunlight that enters the room (in which case i assume the desk assigning the room didn't consider this to be a 'priceline' room)

If you decided you'd like to try PRICELINE or HOTWIRE and need help with an upcoming hotel room feel free to post the details of your stay and we'll try to advise you accordingly.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[chen]

I've booked a buttload of hotels on PRICELINE and I would say that about 30% of the time, I get a room that is probably among the smallest in the hotel and usually near an elevator (a louder area). Its like getting the middle seat at the back of an airplane.

Typically, I call and request a room change and usually I am accomodated. If you're not prepared to be a little pushy, then you will get screwed.

I should note that the other 70% of the time, I get a great room and I always get a great price.