Priceline Hotel: 4* Toronto (Airport East) Sheraton Gateway

[chickpea1111]

I was trying to bid on a 4* Toronto downtown west. I had my last bid at $60 for just that zone. Then I added what I thought to be free zones, including Airport West at $62. I wasn't expecting to receive an accepted bid as the list had no 4* in that zone.

Please update the list as Sheraton Gateway must now be a Airport West (previously Airport East).

I will adjust my plans - even though I really want to be downtown. The other bad point is that if I was actually targeting the airport zone I probably could have won a lower bid.

[tilepusher]

First of all, please confirm that Priceline places this hotel in the Airport West zone by going to the itinerary page (either from "My Trips" in your account, or from your confirmation e-mail). The zone should be listed between the hotel's name and address.

If Priceline claims that this hotel is in fact in the Airport West zone, I believe you have grounds to dispute this bid, as I'm almost certain that Priceline has this wrong. I spent a lot of time trying to locate this hotel when Priceline split its old Toronto Airport zone, finally resorting to using the street level view on Google Maps. The hotel is located just off Terminal Access Road 3, which is clearly in the Airport East zone. The problem is that Priceline, in its listing for the hotel, has this hotel mapped within the airport in a spot that would place it in the Airport West zone. I checked this spot using Google's satellite maps, and there's no building in the vicinity. Which is not surprising, as it's right next to a runway!

Lastly -- and most importantly for future bids -- never use the hotel lists to determine your rebid zones. For various reasons, the hotel list does not always show the highest star-level available in a given zone. The correct method of finding your rebid zones is described in Priceline Rebidding Explained; don't use any other.

[thereuare]

Sorry to hear you received a hotel in a zone that you didn't intend.

Please do confirm the zone that PRICELINE lists this property, and if indeed the Aiport West zone, please let us know if you pursue the zone discrepancy with PRICELINE.

Also, for anyone following along, it's worth highlighting again:

DON'T use the hotel lists to determine your re-bid zones, the ONLY method which should be used is detailed in Priceline Re-Bidding Explained. Always feel free to confirm your re-bid zones with the board before bidding.

[chickpea1111]

Thank you for the responses and additional tips. I am new to this and will keep the rebidding tips in mind next time.

I did verify that the Sheraton Gateway is now zoned in the Airport West. I spent considerable time looking at the maps before I called customer service. WOW - these guys are awful. I explained that the actual airport is in the Airport East zone. I even used Bing maps which is what they are using. I looked at the aerial of the airport - the Sheraton is clearly in the terminal which is in their East zone. The 2 agents I spoke to said that it was on their map in the correct zone. I asked what they were looking at because the Bing map shows the Sheraton clearly in the other zone. He said he would email it to me. It still hasn't come through. What I thought might be happening is that on my reservation there is a mailing address - I think the PO boxes for the businesses ARE ON THE WEST side - when I put that in Bing - that is where it showed up on the west side of the runway. The agent said the hotel on the map was near Etobicoke Creek - which again is near where the box address is. I explained this and they still refused to budge. I felt like I was talking to complete idiots. I am considering calling my credit card to dispute it.

[thereuare]

Trying emailing them, explaining the situation as clearly as possible, and ask them to call the hotel to the confirm their physical location and correct zone based upon their own zone boundaries.

See this previous thread (and the link at the end of that post) regarding a similar situation.

Good luck and keep us updated if you make any progress.

[chickpea1111]

I finally got a resolution after following up with Priceline 4 times. On the second call I insisted I talk to someone who could do something about the error with the zones since I was getting the same scripted response "I am sorry that you are unhappy with the hotel but it is in the zone that you selected and it is not refundable". Finally they have me to customer relations who put me on hold numerous times but then I got a person who said "yes, you are right - it appears the hotel is in the Airport East zone". This was after I suggested they use the bird's eye view on Bing maps - where they have it pinned is in the middle of the runway/airport service area. So they said they had to wait for a response from the "resolution team" and I should get a response within 48 hours. Well I did not - but I kept following up and finally got a refund on April 1st along with a confirmation email.

I did rebook using a new bid for the night of April 3rd - and minding the free re-bids got the downtown (south) Hilton at $70. I was very pleased with that. Location was perfect and the hotel itself was wonderful.

[yellowdog]

chickpea1111

Great to see that everything worked out well for you!

Yellowdog.