I know many of you here use Priceline to get hotel rooms. Have any of you used the Price chop on Priceline? A few days ago I booked a room in Nashville, TN. I spent a lot of time checking room reviews and I saw that many of the hotels were completely booked. After a good hour of trying the name your own price and failing to get a room, I did the Price chop.
After driving for 9 hours, and through several hard down pours, we finally pulled up to our hotel in Nashville. It was after midnight and we were so tired. The receptionist said she hadn't received any reservation in our name and they were booked solid! I was very unhappy!!! I produced the paper work that I printed off the computer showing her I did indeed have reservations. She told me that they had run out of rooms a day before we even placed that reservation. We were left to try to figure out what to do to get another room during a time when so many events were taking place and the hotels were full to capacity.
The receptionist started calling around for us (which I appreciated) and we had to take a room at a Best Western (I would call it a "tired" Western). For many years we were living under a super tight budget and we had to take crappy rooms because they were cheaper and we needed to save money. I have reached my limit for doing that and try to get a nice room that I don't have to worry how old and filthy the carpet is, or think about how long ago the bedspread was washed.
Has this happened to any of you? I thought Priceline guaranteed their rooms. This has now happened to us 2 times in Nashville. I might think it was the hotel's fault except I have experienced this with 2 different hotels in the same city. Have any of you contacted Priceline with a problem before? I will be calling them tomorrow and through the magic of the internet (Facebook, google+, Twitter, AFI) people will know about it if I am not compensated in some way. The social media is a great way to spread bad PR for companies if they fail to do what they advertise. It can also be used to show appreciation for good companies, as well.
I found this at the bottom of their opening page - With our Best Price Guarantee, you can be sure you're getting the lowest rate at top-notch hotels - even at the last minute.
What do you guys think?
