Loading...

priceline hotel wanted $20 for non-smoking room


LoneStar
By LoneStar,
in

Recommended Posts

Using priceline, screwy things occasionally happen, and I just ran into a doozy.

At the 2-star Canoga Park Ramada Limited (in the San Fernando Valley, north of LA), I called the hotel the morning of my arrival to request a 2-bed non-smoking room for my family. To my surprise, the hotel said it had assigned me a king smoking room, and that I'd have to pay a $20 "upgrade" for anything else. I asked whether the other rooms were mostly sold out, and they said no, it was simply the hotel's policy. I asked to speak to the manager, etc., but couldn't get the hotel to budge. I refused to pay the upgrade (I was only paying $31 for the room to start with!), and one of my small children slept on a porta-crib mat with linens that I put on the floor (cribs were free at the hotel!).

I sent an email to priceline complaining about this treatment, even though I was 99% certain they'd do nothing for me. Priceline's rules are ambiguous on these issues, saying they "request" a non-smoking room but don't guarantee it. The rules are even more ambiguous on bedding, but in the dozens of priceline stays I've made, I've never had a problem getting 2 bedded rooms if they were available.

Sure enough, priceline said there are no guarantees on these things and there was nothing they would do for me. Obviously, if a larger number of properties treated priceline guests like this, priceline's business would dramatically fall since folks would not want to "take a chance" on what they'd get. While priceline no doubt realizes this, they don't seem to want to get into the business of "policing" reasonableness, and pretty much leave you at the mercy of the individual hotels to act responsibly.

From a consumer's perspective, I guess you just have to hope you won't run into too many hotels like this Ramada. Has anyone ever had a similar experience?

Link to comment

This is a shame, and clearly a hotel that does not really want to be in the Priceline system (so in my opinion, they should just drop out rather than tarnish whatever is left of the Ramada name). If you were booked into a non-smoking room, would they charge $20 to switch to a smoking room?

I'm sure what you received from Priceline was their typical form letter, but i would reply one time further to make sure your point is well taken.. "we understand if the hotel is sold-out, but when there is availabilty, and the hotel charges the same amount for a smoking room as they do a non-smoking, charging an additional fee to the Priceline customer ruins the priceline name and the 'equal treatment' that priceline customers expect and deserve."

Why hotels such as this one don't view Priceline customers as an opportunity to 'win them over' for their future non-opaque stays is beyond me.

I was going to ask that you add the above comments to the HOTEL REVIEW section but i see you have already done so, thanks!

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

Link to comment

I have seen hotels which charge more (on direct bookings) for rooms with 2 beds. If that is the case, then I would expect to pay to upgrade a one-bed Priceline room. But IMO there should never be a charge to switch to an available non-smoking room that is otherwise the same. Could it be that the one-bed non-smoking rooms were sold out?

Link to comment
Could it be that the one-bed non-smoking rooms were sold out?

Nope, because when I couldn't get a 2-bed nonsmoking room, I asked for a 1 bed nonsmoking room. They said that was a $20 charge, too.

I did just look at ramada.com to see how the hotel "regularly" prices its rooms. It does seem that the 2-bedded rooms are queens, as opposed to the somewhat more customary twins, so perhaps the management there believes they shouldn't have to "give them away" to priceline customers. I would note that, on the published rates, they charge only $3 more for 2 queens instead of one king. Obviously, then, if the hotel felt that HAD to recoup that revenue -- and MANY hotels routinely upgrade priceline customers to higher tariff rooms when they are available -- they could have charged me the three dollars. I would have laughed, but paid it. Charging $20 is just absurd.

Link to comment

Two things......

1. Did you try to contact Priceline through this link?

priceline.com/customerservice/email/Corp/emailanswer.asp?category=0&question=0&pagetitle=Send+us+your+feedback

I have had good results emailing through Ms Gillingham's office on two occasions. At least you shouldn't get canned responses going this route.

2. A friend of mine recently was awarded The Benson Hotel in Portland, OR on Priceline. He and another gentlemen were sharing the room, so he called the day of check-in and requested a room with two double beds. He was told there were no double bedded rooms available. At that point, my friend immediatly went to the hotel's website and checked availability only to find that the only rooms that displayed were ones with two double beds. Upon check-in, he inquired again and was told that the hotel only assigns rooms w/one bed for Priceline customers. He discussed the situation with the Manager who agreed to assign them a room with two double beds and waive the additional charge. I've also read many Priceline reviews of this hotel, and it seems their normal practice is to offer customers an upgrade to a King room for $20-30. Despite the fact Priceline only guarantees one bed per room, I believe it's bad business on the part of member hotel chains to have such exclusive policies.

Are hotels such as Ramada Canoga Park and The Benson trying to make additional revenue because they believe their Priceline rates are too low? Do they need to nickel-and-dime the Priceline customer any way they can in order to bring the room revenue up to what they feel is an acceptable level? If so, they should just increase their Priceline rates, enabling them to be a little more flexible when it comes to room type assignments. Practices such as those in this thread only make the Priceline customer feel they as though they are being punished because they didn't book directly with the hotel. And that doesn't go too far to try and impress the customer to book directly with them next time.

Link to comment

I couldn't get that link to Lisa Gillingham to work. Do you have another?

The thing about this is I don't really care about the Canoga Park Ramada. I mean, I'll just know to avoid bidding for 2 star properties in Woodland Hills, CA if I'm travelling with my family. But it's the PRECEDENT that bothers me. We all know that if MORE hotels start thinking they can nickel and dime priceline customers for different (but still basic) room types, priceline will become much less useful. I mean, if there was a significant possibility of a surcharge for 2-bedded rooms, you really couldn't use priceline for family travel. And if you kept getting stuck with smoking rooms -- or otherwise undesirable units -- you might also take your business elsewhere.

Priceline needs to require its hotels to give customers any standard bedding room it has left (sure, nothing wrong with a hotel giving the better views to higher paying guests if they want to, I'm talking about basic bedding configurations and smoking/no smoking). Leaving it "ambiguous" just opens the door for some hotels like this Ramada to get "cute" with the program. If more properties tack on such fees, priceline will become an annoyance, and I'm sure many people like me will book elsewhere. I'm sure that's not in priceline's interest.

Link to comment

The other thing, of course, is that such surcharges discriminate against the vast majority of participating priceline hotels that do not try to surcharge their guests. Presumably, a hotel that is gaining extra revenue from surcharges can underbid a comparable property that is not going to try to collect a surcharge. Logic would say these more hospitable properties would be unhappy with the practice (and, if you think about it, who really wants their front desk employees to get into fights with unhappy priceline customers over surcharges?).

Link to comment
Presumably, a hotel that is gaining extra revenue from surcharges can underbid a comparable property that is not going to try to collect a surcharge

Not to change the subject, but on a related note, this is the reason for mandatory resort fees and safe charges with 'traditional' bookings.... the rate can seem less than a competitor's property, but not so when factoring in resort and other extra mandatory fees (if the other property doesn't have such fees).

I'm not a fan of additional charges to use fitness centers and the like, but i can accept them... but if a charge is mandatory it should be included in the room rate. (what's to prevent $10 room rates but a mandatory $200 to program the door key? Of course this is extreme, but where is the line drawn?)

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

Link to comment

OK, I wrote an email to Gillingham and received an automated response that I'd likely hear from them after one business day.

Let's see what management says, instead of their "unimpowered" Indian subcontractors. As I said, while my particular facts are hardly heartwrenching, the precedent here is significant. Is Priceline going to allow hotels to jerk around customers with dubious upsell techniques, or are they going to hold them to reasonable hospitality standards? Priceline's track record for customer responsiveness isn't stellar, but if they know what's good for their business, they'll won't blow it off. The downside for priceline is having to police the reasonableness of a hotel's refusal to provide the requested room (like was a non-smoking room actually available, was there a chance a regular customer would want it, etc). Maybe a "no upsell rule for basic accomodations" rule would be enough to stop the practice in 90% of cases?

Link to comment
Presumably, a hotel that is gaining extra revenue from surcharges can underbid a comparable property that is not going to try to collect a surcharge

Not to change the subject, but on a related note, this is the reason for mandatory resort fees and safe charges with 'traditional' bookings.... the rate can seem less than a competitor's property, but not so when factoring in resort and other extra mandatory fees (if the other property doesn't have such fees).

I'm not a fan of additional charges to use fitness centers and the like, but i can accept them... but if a charge is mandatory it should be included in the room rate. (what's to prevent $10 room rates but a mandatory $200 to program the door key? Of course this is extreme, but where is the line drawn?)

Yeah, resort fees are definitely one of those "gotcha" annoyances. I agree that if it's a mandatory fee, it should be in the room rate. I've heard that some hotels charge as much as $25, but I think the most I've been hit up for is $15. It's obviously annoying on priceline, but so far I've not been hit up by a fee so high that I considered it "material" in the context of a discounted resort stay. That said, I'd send Gillingham another letter if I ran into a $25 surcharge. :)

I did have a strange resort fee experience last year when I was invited to Phoenix to attend a business-related party. Given priceline's reasonable resort rates, I really didn't mind buying my own hotel room (knowing I'd probably get something very nice and very cheap!). But my host insisted that I accept his voucher for this mid-priced Radisson "resort," and I of course accepted. When I arrived, the hotel accepted my voucher, but insisted I pay their additional $15/night plus tax "resort fee." I'm sure my host would have been mortified to know I had this additional expense, but there's no way I was going to be ungracious and mention it to him.

I just read an even stranger resort fee experience on flyertalk.com, where customers redeeming Starwood Preferred guest points for "free nights" are hit up for the resort fee. I mean, really. That's so "unfree" and uncool!

Link to comment

Well, emailing Gillingham did produce a phone call from a "Michelle" at priceline today. Michelle was quite cordial (she struck me as a fairly polished customer service agent, but not a decision maker), but not helpful.

Although I explained to Michelle the potential problems to priceline if hotels routinely tried to upsell basic room accomodations to priceline customers, she was unyielding in her insistance that priceline simply guarantees a room for 2 people, and that after that, you're pretty much dependent on the hospitality of the innkeeper. She said that if a smoking room or the wrong bedding is a problem, maybe you're better off not booking with priceline.

I tried to explain that experienced priceline customers are willing to accept a little uncertainty with their reservations -- and the obvious difference between a hotel that runs out of non-smoking rooms and one that makes a conscious decision to try to sell priceline customers one for 20 bucks -- but I don't think I made any headway convincing here that this upselling WAS a real problem.

So it looks like we're left with the situation where priceline won't move to enforce any hospitality standards at its properties. We just have to hope this upsell thing doesn't catch on. (Although maybe if it did, and priceline bookings fell, it would motivate management to do something).

Link to comment

On 1/15/05, the Louisville Embassy Suites (East) quoted a similar policy: "All priceline.com reservations are booked as Smoking King" (exact words of the front-desk clerk; I asked that she repeat it). The price of the "dubious upsell" to an equivalent nonsmoking room was $10.

I concur with the sentiments posted above: If this practice becomes widespread, it will have an impact on Priceline's revenues. I've been a Priceline customer since their launch, and this is the first time I've encountered this sharp practice.

As for the Louisville Embassy Suites: Sure, I readily admit that I was a leisure traveler freeloading on a cut-rate rate this weekend. But the next time I'm heading to Louisville on business, guess which property I'm instructing my travel department to bypass when booking my lodging?

Link to comment

You know, if these "smoking king" rooms are so hard to give away, why don't the hotels designate more rooms non-smoking? :)

I hate when everything has to have a legal "solution," but I'm wondering whether there should be a law that prohibits charging more for non-smoking rooms. It just ain't right.

Link to comment

I'm curious if some hotels might adopt the following policy. If a Priceline customer asks for a nonsmoking room, charge $X for the privilege. If a Priceline customer asks for a smoking room, charge $X for the privilege. Or if a Priceline customer asks for one bed, charge $X. If a Priceline customer asks for two beds, charge $X. In theory, the hotel could charge more for any request, regardless of which way it went. Once they find out what you want or don't want, you are at their mercy.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with a previous poster, that a very WISE property manager would realize that some priceline customers are in fact also customers who book their rooms conventionally. As a matter of fact, I think the biggest mistake most hotels make is not offering SOME sort of benefit to their frequent stayers, even if it's not the normal welcome gifts and points. At least if they did this they would KNOW who their guests were. Today since they don't offer any benefits, they dont' know if you are a once a year vacationer or a road warrier on a weekend with the wife.

That being said, there is a "cost" to the hotel to put you in a more popular room. They do need to spread wear and tear across all their rooms. Imagine if you sat on one end of your couch, but never sat on the other.

I always assume I'm going to get the worst room in the place, then I'm plesantly surprised if I don't. The one time I had a clerk say "since your reservation was with Priceline we've reserved a smoking double room for you." I just replied in a slightly louder than normal voice, "Oh well, I guess I can't complain since I only paid $XX for the room anyway." I figured I'd made the next few minutes of her day a bit more uncomfortable, as I'd gotten the room for about 60% off the lowest internet rate I could find.

Link to comment
  • 4 months later...

I would complain to Ramada corporate after the fact. Tell them that non smoking rooms were available for booking on the web. (ramada site).

During checkin, I would bring up health issues due to tobacco smoke in confined places. (ie hotel room). I usually ask nicely about bed/smoking preference.

Lately, alot of the hotels I won bids on were nonsmoking. I ask nicely if I can have 2 beds. All but one time, my bedding requests were accomodated. (the one time it wasn't done, I got a free roll away and a nicer room. :)

Link to comment
  • 6 years later...
Need help with your own trip?

Register now, we have a huge community of travel enthusiasts to answer any questions you might have.

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account
Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
QUICKQUOTE [X]
PRICELINE & HOTWIRE on one screen!
NOTE: Priceline searches for
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY ONLY
Room %roomN%:
Age of child:
FINDFAST[X]
×
×
  • Create New...