Priceline Hotel: Need advice on already booked rooms

[ExecAsst]

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of a dilemma and I was hoping some of you could offer your advice - I wasn't sure whether to post this on the General section or the New York section, so please move it if this is the wrong spot.

I am an Executive Assistant at a non-profit org, and I have booked 16 rooms in a NY hotel for a conference we are having. There is no way we could have afforded the regular prices. I called the hotel immediately afterward to request 2 beds/non-smoking in each room. The agent responded with the usual spiel that Priceline does not guarantee 2 beds/non-smoking, she can put in a request but there is no guarantee, yada yada yada.

We really do need 2 beds in each room for this conference, as the guests don't know each other and sharing a bed would not be appropriate. Yes, I KNOW that Priceline doesn't guarantee 2 beds. I am looking for tips as to how I should approach the hotel and/or Priceline about this. I have called the hotel twice, should I call Priceline?

I am trying to build up a good relationship with a woman at the hotel, but when I called her the 2nd time after faxing her the room list, she told me she hasn't had time to even put the request into the computers. Also, since the 2 occupants of the rooms may be arriving at different times, I would like to arrange it so that either one of them may check in, not just the name on the Priceline reservation, but the woman told me she can't enter names into the computer on PL reservations. Also, she said that the hotel is all sold out of double double rooms during that period, but I looked online and was able to find rooms with 2-doubles on Expedia and other sites.

I asked her if she could give me at least a date by which she would know whether or not we had 2 beds, but she couldn't even do that. The entire time I remained calm and polite, and so did she for the most part, and she said she would talk to her manager and call me back today.

If anyone has ANY advice or strategy on this I would greatly appreciate it. Does anyone have experience booking a large group of rooms at one hotel through Priceline? In New York City? During a busy season?

Thanks in advance!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please read the second post in Our Rules and Policies

It is important for everyone to know when customer service issues arise, but the majority of the users come here to see winning bid information... so please oblige them with this information before asking for them for help.