PL hotel charges extra fees -- legal?

[cosmo]

I frequently use Priceline and recently noticed that one of the hotels I stayed at charged me $3/night on a PL prepaid deal. These charges were made, without my knowledge, to the credit card I used to prepay on PL. Since I had also stayed in another hotel in the same area that didn't charge this additional fee, I doubt that this is a local occupancy tax or anything like it.

I wonder if this practice is acceptable by PL rules and if I can do anything to get this money back. Also, I believe that it gives that particular hotel an unfair advantage in the PL bidding process since these additional fees are, obviously, not included in the bid price the hotel accepts.

Any advice? Thanks!

[thereuare]

From 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.

Please provide your winning bid information in a new thread. Not only is it the right thing to do, but knowing the location of the hotel in question will give us the additional information needed to properly address your question.

[cosmo]

The hotel in question is in the vicinity of SFO airport. The bid that was accepted was $33/night for 3 nights. I hope this helps. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[WillTravel]

Is there a reason you won't state the hotel name?

[oldfoagy]

You must have given the hotel that credit card when you checked in. Did you contact them and ask what the charges were for? If it were me, that's where I'd start, although it's only $9 and you got a great price of $33. But I do understand the principle...sort of like posting here.

Why not post your winning info with hotel zone, hotel name, dates, and any pertinent info?

[thereuare]

Is there a reason you won't state the hotel name?

... and post the info in a new thread as requested?

I don't ask this to be a pain, but if you were a user looking for information for a stay near the San Francisco airport, would you think that all of the pertinent information was in the PRICELINE SAN FRANCISCO forum, or would also think to look here, in the GENERAL PRICELINE TIPS forum?

[cosmo]

I am new to this, thus the missing details: it was the LaQuinta Inn in South SF, just north of SFO; 2 stars, I believe.

No matter how small or large the $ amount in question, if it is a violation of the PL rules --and it should be as I certainly found it misleading, to say the least-- it needs to be fixed. The folks promoting this practice are taking advantage of the trust PL customers place in the system. Also, at the hotel's end, $3/night per room adds up to a decent sum of money over time; and, if this practice isn't justified, it comes at the expense of other PL hotels in the same area that are priced slightly higher but don't use this maneuver to siphon off winning bids.

Does this make sense?

Has anyone had a similar issue before, with any PL hotel? What's the best way to address this problem?

Thanks.

[cosmo]

Hi thereuare,

I believe that this misleading practice is of interest to PL users everywhere not just in SF. Also, I wanted to see if there might be a PL hotel in, say, FL or NY that is charging similar fees, and if it is justified or what PL customers may have done about it. That's why I figured that the GENERAL forum was the best place for this thread. Perhaps we can post a link to this thread in the SF forum?

Thanks.

[thereuare]

This thread/forum is fine for this discussion... what i'd like to see is a NEW POST in the SAN FRANCISCO PRICELINE forum with your winning bid info.

My point above was not that this topic was in the wrong forum, but that you should post your winning bid info in the Priceline San Francisco forum as that is where users who are looking for bidding information for the SF area would look.

[WillTravel]

A number of users at different hotels in South SF have gotten hit by a small tax in this area. Here's what the Priceline customer service help on the web site says:

Depending on the city and property you stay in, you may also be charged a "Hotel Occupancy Tax", resort fees, parking charges, room service, etc. as these costs are not included in the price you pay priceline. These charges, if applicable, will be payable to the hotel directly at checkout.

So you are right that an unpredictable, unknown tax does not seem fair, but it does happen and it's just something that has to be considered when using Priceline. I think if you book a hotel directly or through any other means, they will charge a similar tax in South SF.

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your PRICELINE BID.

Sorry about the above, and i can assure you that i disliked asking again and again as much as you disliked reading it... but it is certainly better than getting sent to read the FAQs :) (i'm sure some people got that!)

Now to answer your question:

Priceline states that certain fees are not included in your bid:

Depending on the city and property you stay in, you may also be charged a "Hotel Occupancy Tax", resort fees, parking charges, room service, etc. as these costs are not included in the price you pay priceline. These charges, if applicable, will be payable to the hotel directly at checkout.

Regarding your specific $3 charge, there is no telling what is for without first calling the hotel. It could be for phone calls (which you didn't make but they think you did), something from the mini-bar, etc.

The most likely scenario is that it is indeed a hotel or tourism tax, which is not included in your Priceline bid. If you stick around here awhile and/or browse a bit (and i sincerely hope you do) you will find a bigger complaint among users are Resort fees. Unlike taxes, which go to the local government and the hotel has no control over, resort fees go directly to the hotel's bottom line. Since resort fees are mandatory, whether you use the facilities or not, why is this fee not included in their posted/published rate? The answer is so that their rates appear to be lower, and more competitive, than they actually are! Many hotels are also stretching their defintion of 'resort' just to collect a resort fee... i was once charged (but fought) a resort fee at a hotel that simply had a pool... no fitness center, no sauna, etc. What makes this a 'resort'... the fact that they have a pool! :)

The next biggest complaint among users is the unknown of parking charges, but at least these are not mandatory upon check-in... theoretically you could avoid this fee by finding alternate parking arrangements, unlike a resort fee which is simply added onto the bill whether a guest used the facilities or not.

If it was a hotel tourism tax, why did another hotel in the zone not charge the same fee?

-the hotel paid the fee themselves (possible, but unlikely)

-although the two hotels are in the same Priceline zone, they may actually be in different town/counties, and the tax/fee may only apply to the one in which the La Quinta resides (more likely)

I would begin by calling the hotel and asking what the charge was for. If it's for a govt. tax i don't think there is much you can do about it, as Priceline states that such fees/taxes are not included in your bid. Is the credit card you gave an imprint of upon check-in the same one you used to place your bid?

[Senoreit]

As user oldfoagy states, "You must have given the hotel that credit card when you checked in. Did you contact them and ask what the charges were for?" Although I grant you that the charge is suspicious, and may indeed end up being unjustified, don't you think it would be a good idea to find out what it's for before declaring it so? I'm sure the hotel can look up your folio and let you know. If you still feel like you have a complaint after that, then you'll have to take subsequent steps with the hotel and/or Priceline. Do keep us posted...

[Senoreit]

Drat, beat to the punch again by thereuare! :)

[thereuare]

... but we're on the same team, not a competition. :)

[stone]

When I stayed at the Sheraton Gateway SFO last month they charged me an extra $3 as well.

[thesqueegeekid]

Priceline can not be at fault here because they do not share with the hotel your credit card information. Instead, they issue one of those one-time use MasterCard numbers to be billed after you complete the stay. As others have suggested, you must have given your CC at check-in which is almost always asked for.

[Chris26WI]

Starwood has a campaign running currently where they charge you 1$ something (40 Bt. in Thailand) to your bill for every night as a gift to Unesco Children's Foundation or something - to all guests, not only PL guests.. - But this is volontarily, of course you can deny the payment, but you have to tell them during check-out.

[swag]

It's accepted by the veterans here that PL often does not include occupancy fees in your bid total. But I wonder why? If they can include the % sales taxes,, why not the flat rate occupancy fees?

I know in New Orleans, PL does not include the fee, so it's paid at checkout, but Hotwire does include the fee in your total. So why can't Priceline?

[DeltaPurser]

Just thought I'd chime in here... I'm pretty sure I've gotten charged the $3 local tax on all my SFO stays at the Sheraton, Embassy Suites or at the Hyatt, so the original poster shouldn't feel s/he is being targeted here. It really does seem to be local tax issue.

DeltaPurser :)