I'm sorry if this is way off topic. I used Priceline for the first time last week to purchase a hotel in Rome because all the hotels are so expensive. I put in 100 euro and that I wanted a hotel in the historic center. I honestly didn't think I would get any bites, but sure enough I did. Now I have a reservation for 2 nights at the Hotel Terminal. I checked the reviews on tripadvisor and they don't look too great. My husband and I decided that we do not want to stay there. We are going to eat the cost and rent an apartment for 3 nights instead.

Okay, now onto my question. I understand that we are totally at fault and that the reservation cannot be cancelled, as I read through Priceline's terms and conditions before I made any moves. We accept that we will just have to lose the money. However, a coworker suggested perhaps putting the hotel reservation up for bid on ebay and try to recoup some of the money back. Can this be done? And if so, do I just call the hotel and change the reservation so its in someone else's name?

Thanks!
Tracy

Better call the hotel and check. Priceline's own policy says that the names on the original reservation can't be changed.

Anonymous, thank you for your reply. I didn't see that on the Priceline website but I assumed as much. Oh well...I guess I just learned my lesson.

Thanks!
Tracy

A possible solution if you do sell or give the room to someone else is to add their name to the reservation. Simply call the hotel and say that the person sharing the room with you will be arriving before you and you want to give their name to enable them to be able to check in before you arrive.

It then doesn't matter that you don't arrive and will not use the room.

I have done this several times with Priceline bookings when I have travelled with people and we will arrive at our destination separately. Then the first to arrive can check in. I have also done it in your situation when I have made the booking and then not been able to use the room.

Priceline reservations are not transferrable, so I think you would be violating their terms of service if you give it/sell it to someone else. But as long as they don't catch on...

You don't necessarily have to show ID when you checkin with a Priceline reservation (in Italy, though, I'm not sure if they will ask for your passport). The person checking in will have to sign something perhaps indicating he is John Smith if the reservation is in that name, but he may not need to show ID. He will be asked for a credit card for incidentals probably, but if there are two people Mr. Smith could say he doesn't have one or have his companion Mrs. Realname give hers instead. (Priceline reservations can be made with any credit card, not necessarily of the people checking in.)

Here's a possibilty: if you try to sell this on eBay, arrange to checkin to the room in Rome when you arrive, and perhaps have the person you sold it to with you (since you will be in Rome). Then you never have to go back and can stay at your apartment instead.

Andrew

Hi tcreath. All hotels in Italy require that all customers staying in their rooms hand over their passports on arrival at the hotel. This is mandated by the Italian law. The hotel fills out a police form with all the passport information and it is turned over to the local PD.

If it violates their terms, then you would not be allowed to sell it on Ebay, right? I presume Ebay has some standards that you aren't allowed to do "illegal" things on their website. Even if they don't, I imagine Priceline is used to people wanting to get rid of things they have bid on and I wonder if they could monitor ebay and then do something to people selling Priceline bids on Ebay. I believe they have some relationship with Ebay or contract with them for some services.

Thank you all for your replies. LoveItaly and Christina, I was thinking about both of those things myself as reasons why it would not work. I think I am just going to suck it up and pay the extra money for the apartment. Its my own fault so I'll just pay for my actions.

Its funny...here I was trying to save money by using Priceline, and it ended up costing me quite a bit more. I think I'll avoid Priceline from now on. I've heard many great stories about people finding really good deals, but I don't think its worth the headache or risk of getting a not-so-great place.

Thanks again!
Tracy

I think that Christina is correct that eBay would not permit such a sale because it is against Priceline's rules. I attended a meeting which had a speaker from eBay who told us about the extensive measures that they take to prevent certain types of thing beings sold on eBay.

Sorry to hear of that experience. The Priceline zone for central Rome includes some areas I would consider undesirable, and it makes sense that the most likely hotels to occur would be in undesirable areas (unless you go for a 5* hotel, most likely). I can understand why you'd give up Priceline, but part of using it successfully is knowing where not to use it (and I would never use it for Rome, although I have for many cities).

Some people have succeeded in selling off their Priceline reservations, but as noted, it does contravene the terms. If you do a search, I think you can find some discussion of this on FlyerTalk.com .

Tracy, not only did you get a hotel you apparently don't think you'll like, but you bid way too much. I checked out 3-star hotels in central Rome in March and it is fairly easy to get one for under 100 euro just by going to any travel website. I could get the Terminal for about 75 Eur. I'm not sure why you bid more than the going normal rate, but it is kind of a "buyer beware" situation with Priceline. You have to do your research - a site like BiddingForTravel.com is crucial to make intelligent choices before bidding.

You say you'd never use Priceline again, but realize you used it almost blindly without apparently researching hotel rates. Not trying to rub salt in your wound here, just addressing your comment about not wanting to use Priceline ever again. I'd never recommend people use it that way - you really do need to do your homework when using Priceline (use BFT), otherwise you can wind up paying way too much for a hotel you don't like. And also, a 3-star hotel in Europe is more likely to be like a 2-star hotel in the States (at least in my experience), and if you read the Trip Advisor reviews of Hotel Terminal, you get the flavor that it's kind of like that: not a great place, but basically like a cheap US 2-star, relatively OK if you get a great deal on it.

Also, even if you don't use this Priceline hotel reservation, you can get at least a little of your money back. Priceline has a "lowest price guarantee" and they will refund 100% of the difference. Use TripAdvisor.com to find the best price available for the Hotel Terminal for your dates (I saw 75 Eur), then email Priceline and see if you can't get at least 50 Eur (assuming you paid 100 Eur) back from them.

Andrew

tcreath: Don't give up on Priceline. Just study up more next time. PL is not good everywhere. For Paris it's basically useless, apparently that's also true for Rome. But PL is really terrific for London. And for some odd places like at SFO - you can regularly get the best properties for $35-$40

Andrew, thank you for your reply. Actually I did do my research. Both travelocity.com and hotels.com had the Hotel Terminal listed at about $150.00 per night. I tried to bid under $100 on Priceline but they wouldn't let me. It gave me a "most average hotel prices in this star range are well above that" or something along those lines, so I put in $100 instead. When I put in $100, I assumed I would get a pretty good deal on the hotel. Considering that travelocity had the same hotel at $150, I think the deal was fairly decent. And with the exchange rate 75 euros would be close to $100 anyways.

This will be our third trip to Rome. I have no problems with staying in the Termini area (although I prefer not to), but I did read tripadvisor and 4 people out of 6 gave it one or two stars, which makes me nervous. I want to have a good time and not worry about our hotel.

Thank you everyone for your advice on priceline. I think I will try it again someday, but probably in European cities until I become a little more familiar with the process.

Thanks and happy new years!
Tracy

Tracy

Ebay does not permit any third parties to auction travel, including accomodations, on their site. Your auction would be cancelled if you were to mount it. I myself had to jump through 8 million Ebay hoops to become a verified travel provider, because I don't own the company I was mounting the auctions for. It was a grueling process, and the company I was doing the auctions for had to provide Ebay with loads of information to prove that I was their legitimate agent.

Anyway, Ebay wouldn't be your answer, but there might be other ways to sell your rooms. Getting around the name thing wouldn't be that difficult: we've done it a few times. Just adding the other name to your reservation ought to work fine.

And about the Priceline message saying that your bid was too low: experienced Priceline users know to totally ignore that little message when it pops up.

I wouldn't give up on Priceline if it were me: there are forums with great advice for Priceline, such as betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com. I've read some decent Priceline advice here on Fodors, too.

Most Priceline users agree that Rome isn't a great city for Priceline. London, on the other hand, is.

Good luck and Happy New Year.

priceline always says your bid is too low! Ignore it and bid anyway.