Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Kensington-Earls Court-Knightbridge) Copthorne Tara

[dcurtis]

I THINK this transaction will turn out well in tihe end, but there are some complications.

Bid History

Using the PRICELINE link on this site (and others' strategies):

1) Bid $70 for 6/10 for Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge; no deal

2) Priceline countered for $92; rejected it.

3) Bid $75, adding Bloomsbury - Marble Arch; no deal

4) Bid $77, adding Regents Park - Baker Street

5) Bid was accepted, for Copthorne Tara in Kensington; total amount for one night is $96.55

6) Added one night at the same price, 6/11 (the offer clearly said "at $77")

HOWEVER, I wasn't paying attention to the completion of the transaction, and when the second itinerary came through, I appear to have been charged $175.91 for the second night (the charge hasn't shown up on the credit card yet). It looks like this:

Original Reservation

Here is the itinerary for your original reservation. Please remember that you have two separate reservations that make up your total stay.

Check-In Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Check-Out Date: Thursday, June 11, 2009

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 1

Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$77.00

Subtotal: US$77.00

Taxes and Service Fees: US$19.55

Total Charges for Original Reservation: US$96.55

Additional Nights Reservation

Here is the itinerary for your additional nights reservation.

Check-In Date: Thursday, June 11, 2009

Check-Out Date: Friday, June 12, 2009

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 1

Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$145.00

Subtotal: US$145.00

Taxes and Service Fees: US$30.91

Total Charges for Add. Night Res.: US$175.91

So, I contacted customer service right away ... haven't heard back from them yet but assume it will turn out OK. I've had only one problem with Priceline before after using it many many times, and that problem was resolved. But it pays to pay attention, and it would have been simpler to just bid for the two nights.

After my winning bid, I checked reviews and found out that some of the rooms can be noisy since they are close to the tube station (aboveground at this location), but reviewers have recommended e-mailing the hotel in advance to ask for a room on a quieter side, and they have receved good rooms, even if they are Priceline customers. So I'm going to do that.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your success!

For the counter-offer, three things can happen when you attempt to extend the stay:

1) PRICELINE books you another room at the same price

2) you're told that there is no availability and they can't extend your stay

3) there is availability but at a higher price than you're previously accepted bid and you have the option of accepting or rejecting the higher price

Is it possible you were given option #3 but didn't read the page too carefully?

Let us know what happens regarding your inquiry and how it gets resolved.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[dcurtis]

I was positive it said that I could extend my stay at the same price, but just to be absolutely certain, and to document my case, I went through my browser's history and found the page with the Priceline offer, and saved it in case I need it. It has my Priceline hotel request number on it. The important part states:

"Happy with the hotel we've selected for you? For the same great nightly rate, you can stay a little longer and kick back and relax. Hurry, this option is only available for a limited time! Click here to extend your stay at Copthorne Tara Kensington now."

And that's what I did, within less than a minute, and my screenshot shows the text link to be purple ... I'm a little disappointed that I haven't heard anything after more than 8 hours. But I think the automated prompt assured me that I'd hear something within 24 hours. I hope that is true on a holiday weekend. Anyway, I'll keep you posted through the Forum.

[thereuare]

After you clicked the link to extend your stay, do you recall the details on the next page?

[dcurtis]

No, that's when I got distracted and wasn't paying very good attention. And I can't retrieve those other pages today, the links have expired. But if at that point they were trying to impose a higher charge, it seems that they would be reneging on their promise ... I still haven't heard anything by email. When it has been 24 hours (soon) I will call Customer Service.

[dcurtis]

I finally talked to a person at Priceline Customer Service, who put me on hold a few times for long stretches of listening to horrible music while she talked to her manager ... they found a web page that showed that after I clicked to extend my stay at the same price of $77, I was informed that they weren't able to get the room for the same price, but they could give it to me for another night for $145 -- and apparently I accepted that offer by initialing the page and continuing on (I do remember half-seeing that number $145 but half-thinking that was the amount for two nights at $77, but of course if I had been paying full attention I would have been aware that 2 X $77 = $154).

They can't (won't) do anything about the charge, since I unwittingly agreed to the contract. My credit card has been charged. Oh well, it won't break my travel budget -- before had I decided to go with PRICELINE I almost made a reservation for a 2 star hotel for two nights for $283 and now I have a 4 star hotel for $272. And I learned something useful: pay close attention to every step of the PRICELINE transaction. It seems a little like trickery, or false advertising anyway ... I didn't expect that, next time I will be on the lookout.

Some better news is that after reading reviews about tube noise in some of the rooms of the Copthorne Tara, I e-mailed the hotel and asked for a quiet room, and got an immediate reply that my room will be away from the tube and on an upper floor.

Good luck, fellow bidders, and enjoy your trips to London!

[thereuare]

Sorry for the confusion, but at least it's still cheaper than booking this hotel direct (even for the second nite alone) and it appears you're not letting it spoil your trip!

Thanks for the follow-up and letting us know the outcome... enjoy your stay.