Priceline Hotel: 3.5* San Jose (Palo Alto-Mountain View) Westin

[kcfields]

3.5* Westin in Palo Alto. Days of 9/17/09 - 9/20/09. First bid $85 a night accepted. Wanted to start bidding a little higher to try to avoid Dinah's (for only reason of trying to be closer to Stanford).

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding and congratulations on your success!

Thank you for sharing your result with the board!

Enjoy your stay.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to start future purchases.

Yellowdog.

[kcfields]

3.5* Westin in Palo Alto. Days of 9/17/09 - 9/20/09. First bid $85 a night accepted. Wanted to start bidding a little higher to try to avoid Dinah's (for only reason of trying to be closer to Stanford).

Wamted to provide an update. Finished the stay at the Westin great hotel, but it seemed like we got a "Priceline" room. I wanted to know if others feel the same way? My wife and I traveled from Orange County to Palo Alto with our 3 month old, needless to say we got to Palo Alto much later than we had planned. We checked in just before 8 pm (might partially explain the room selection) on a Thursday where that Tuesday Stanford students had just moved in. Hotel staff says the hotel was booked with Stanford parents sending off thier kids. Now the room we recieved was in the first story (4 stories in total) and THE very back room of the hotel (hotel is shaped a little like an Z with open courtyards in the gaps. We literally had the farthest room available. We couldn't really complain though because it was perfect with a 3 month old who still occassionally cries before she goes to sleep. So we only had neighbors on one side of us and above us so we felt it was perfect, but the Hotel staff did not know I had a kid until after I checked in.

Do other people have similar experiences (i.e. Priceline rooms are near say elevators, stairwells, bottom levels, etc.?) I had no issue since I was staying for a wedding, but I am not sure if I would use Priceline or Hotwire for a hotel say in Hawaii where I wanted a partial ocean view room. Surely I think I would get either the City or a Mountain view and would have to pray that I could pay to be upgraded.

[AaronJB]

PRICELINE rooms are "run of the house" rooms - you shouldn't get a "subpar" room and you can ask to be moved if you are, for example, next to the elevator or something along those lines. However, PRICELINE and HOTWIRE reservations are discounted so they are not eligible for upgrades. While one may be able to work out an upgrade with the hotel, there is no guarantee that they will be willing to do so.