Priceline enables resort fees scam
Even the savviest consumers step in traps. One such trap is the infamous and infuriating resort fee charged by insidious hotels. Attorneys have challenged these fees with varying degrees of success. The courts generally permit them where the consumer has been given notice of the fees before or at the time of the booking.
Enter Priceline. It doesn't disclose the name of the hotel, let alone the fees that the hotel may charge. So the Russian Roulette element of using Priceline is magnified because of parking, resort and other sundry fees that the Priceline-connected hotel may spring on an unsuspecting guest. Sure enough, that happened to me recently despite my best efforts to avoid it.
My failing strategy was to decline to bid on the resort category. I limit my bidding to 4-star hotels and never select "resort". It's worked pretty well, but a sleazy Scottsdale hotel (Scottsdale Plaza Hotel) chose to include "resort" in its title in order to justify this noxious charge. And Priceline enabled this by categorizing the hotel as a 4-star hotel. Note: travelers reporting on Trip Advisor describe Scottsdale Plaza as a gussied up Motel 8 and generally pan the property. Apparently, Priceline execs haven't checked this hotel out before giving it a 4-star rating. I dutifully called Priceline to ask it to cancel the reservation and the obnoxious Priceline customer service person Jai repeatedly parrotted the company line. Talking to her was like talking to a wall....with an Indian accent. I also lodged an e-mail complaint at the Priceline website and got a call back from its "executive office" and they repeated the same points as the first wall. I agreed to disagree and hung up. Just for full disclosure, I got another call from Priceline's executive office and hour later and stating that they would cancel the reservation "as a courtesy" because I was a frequent customer. But we'd gone too far now. I was loaded for bear and ready to take on the offending Scottsdale Plaza.
The good news is that every hotel thrust has a consumer parry. In the past, when a hotel has insisted upon applying the resort fee, I've paid for it with a credit card and then contested the charge. Both Visa & Mastercard have upheld my complaint and rescinded the charge. Isn't life odd when the shifty credit card companies step in to PROTECT a consumer from a deceitful hotel.
The other parry is one that I've honored for the better part of a decade -- whenever I come across a hotel that charges a resort fee, I tell them that I'll never return, no matter how much I enjoy the stay, because such fees are deceitful. They should be incorporated into their rates so that I can make an informed decision about whether to book a stay with them. And I've honored that pledge. Charge a resort fee and you won't see me again. I urge all other travelers to heed that pledge.
And until Priceline changes its policy and starts giving customers options to bid on properties without added fees, then it isn't likely that I'll use them again. Too bad -- it'd be an easy fix. But I guess Priceline would rather enable sleazy hotel practices rather than standing up for its customers. Long term: bad move, Priceline.
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This post is awesome..i've
This post is awesome..i've been reading tons of crap posts from other blogs, but shows you have a more educated reader base.
http://www.onlinecheck.com/business_loans.html
Refuse to pay RESORT FEE
I booked a hotel room for my cousins and their parents online with Hotwire. I PRE-PAID online and paid the full charges. I then called to verify the reservation before they arrived. I was asked for a credit card authorization form so they wouldn't have to present their card. I signed one and sent it. They waited until that evening as my cousins were arriving to tell me about the charges for the RESORT FEE.
This was for the Peppermill Hotel in Reno. FYI - RESORT FEE was $10 per room - per night.
I asked the manager if he'd ever bought something online, and he said all the time. I then told him that I was charging him a RESORT FEE for everything he'd purchased online and he owed me $10,000.00 in RESORT FEES. He said I was being silly, and I told him DITTO. I insisted that I paid for the rooms in full and there was NO DISCLOSURE of any RESORT FEE, and that I paid HOTWIRE and not them. And if they felt they needed more money for the room that they would have to take it up with Hotwire. In the meantime if they did not provide the room to my cousins, I'd file a complaint and make sure that I told all of the locals what a scam they were running.
The manager reluctantly - but quickly agreed to rescind the fee.
HEY HOTEL OWNERS, BUILD THE @#$#@!!! FEE INTO THE PRICE OF THE ROOM. DO NOT LOWBALL AND THEN SCAM PEOPLE FOR MORE CASH WHEN THEY ARRIVE. THAT IS JUST DECEITFUL! IT'S CALLED LYING!!!
No More Priceline for Me
I have used Priceline many times in the past 10 years. I have been desensitized to the scam of the undisclosed amount of resort fees or parking fees. However, today's events took the cake. I showed up at the Holiday Inn Los Angeles and was immediately faced with the parking gate--$15/day for parking. This wouldn't be so bad if you just knew up front, but when I bid on Priceline, and I'm sure everyone else is in the same boat, I'm doing it to find the best deal. It didn't used to be this way, but all the hotels seem to be jumping on the scam wagon.
I then proceeded to check-in for a 2 night stay. My business partner was planning to join me later and stay in the same room. Next, I told the girl I needed two separate beds. I've always been under the impression that the reservations would be for two people--I just never understood that to mean that I had to always share a bed with the other person. The girl at the counter told me that there would be an extra $20 fee to get a room with 2 beds, instead of one. I was already miffed on the parking fee and now they were going for the jugular, rack up the charges, stick it to me. I was upset and told her to forget that crap. She instantly told me that I could call Priceline and cancel the reservations. BUYER BEWARE!!! There's no such thing as cancelling reservations with Priceline. I'm not sure which country the calls were routed to when I called, but the customer service agents were inhuman robots. Priceline has the worst customer service on the planet. I wasted over an hour on the phone. The CSR tried multiple times to end the call, but I kept him on as long as I could. He absolutely refused to escalate the call to a manager. "That's not our policy," I heard over and over again. They just have no room to budge for ANYTHING. I assured the guy that I was not gay and I wanted my own bed and that I should have been able to expect that I could have my own bed since the reservations are for two people. But, bottom line, don't expect to get 2 beds without a rediculous upcharge. My guess is that Priceline goes into the hotels and tells them how to make back some, or all, of the lost revenue on the stay.
I'm placing my vote that Priceline go out of business by not using it ever again.
hotwire has similar issue
Thank you for the post. I used Hotwire and had a similar issue.
Hidden parking and resort fees. 40 bucks.
At the reg desk they told me tough beans....if I cancel I would not get a refund on my registration.
I took it to Hotwire who told me the same story. This really is a fraud and a scam. Say it will be one price and when you show up it is 50% more. Nuts...an the customer service just blames management.
I am done with hotwire. They are a fraud...
Indeed. I was just looking at
Indeed. I was just looking at Hotwire and Priceline, trying to find an inexpensive hotel for this weekend. Hotwire has a 4-star hotel for $29, what a deal! But then, it notes "This hotel typically charges all guests a resort fee regardless of how the room is booked. The hotel collects this fee of about $10 per room per night directly from you, so it won't show in your Hotwire® total." Priceline hides the fees in a popup link that you have to click on and gives no indication of whether the fees are likely to apply (in this case, I'm bidding on a 3.5-star hotel): "Depending on the property you stay at, you may also be charged (i) certain per person, per room or percentage based mandatory hotel specific service fees, for example, resort fees (which typically apply to resort type destinations and, if applicable, may range from $10 to $40 per day), energy surcharges, newspaper delivery fees, in-room safe fees, tourism fees, or housekeeping fees". Given the trouble of avoiding these fees, I think I'm going to have to avoid Priceline until they can either stop using resort hotels with these shady practices or include the fees in my bid.
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