WillTravel, Priceline does NOT have to be ADA complient. The hotel public areas must be ADA complient.


Priceline is selling a service.

Barbfam, did you bid $85 based on half of $170? This is one place where you shouldn't pay attention when Priceline prompts you to bid half of the usual price, but rather stick to what people are posting on biddingfortravel, or you will wind up overpaying.

However, the property you wound up with sounds unacceptable at any price, and maybe Priceline would respond on that basis. They have helped me in getting a refund from a hotel at the Mexico City airport when I was overcharged, for example, which surprised me because everyone always says they have no customer service.

Holiday Inn Bel Air is about the best 3 star in the area, just what hotel were you hoping to get that is 3 stars in the Beverly Hills area???

If a hotel only wants to discount its "smoking" rooms, Priceline should have a way to tell you that. But they don't want to.

And no matter what guarantee Priceline has given you, the fact is that if you get to a hotel and all the non-smoking rooms are taken, you're out of luck.

barbfam, I would have complained to PL about that dorm/hotel. If it didn't meet their criteria for a 3-star (which includes room service), you could get a refund. PL relies on hotels' self-reports of available features when assigning star levels, so I suppose occasionally the info is out-of-date or just plain wrong.

Marriott Burkshire now appears on Biddingfortravel's list for the Baltimore area, but there's no review. It would be a great public service if you'd submit one -- you could just cut and paste your post above.

Also, if you're worried enough about flu, you can get trip cancellation insurance on PL now.l

I would never use Priceline, I'm too picky about where I stay. If I had to stay in a smoking room, it would ruin my whole trip. Yuck! ***kim*** (~~)

I wouldn't be able to stay in a smoking room either. Yet I do use Priceline, a lot. I call ahead and ask for a nonsmoking room, and I've always gotten one. Someday, if I don't, I'll just go to a different hotel, pay rack rate or whatever, and pay it out of the thousands of dollars I've saved over the years using PL.

kimamom - I'm curious. When you book your hotel rooms, do you stay in completely non-smoking hotels? If not, how do you get the hotel to commit up front that you'll get a non-smoking room? Every reservation I've ever made has indicated that room preferences are not guaranteed, and are subject to availability at the time of check in.

A smoking room would ruin your whole trip?

Why not just switch hotels?

Roll with the punches kinda thing.

People who state that they get a non-smoking room because they don't use Priceline are just plain wrong. It's a crap shoot either way! I've worked for years in the hotel business and requests are just that: requests.

As for the hotel "hating" Priceline, the front desk probably DOES hate Priceline customers because of the "I want a junior suite, nonsmoking with mountain view for $35" attitude.

Back to the ADA thing. What is required is that a public facility make "reasonable accomodations" to accomodate a person with disabilities - and that is left up to interpretation. I am not sure not liking the smell of smoke and not getting a non-smoking room falls into the category of reasonable accomodations.

I also hate the smell of smoke, but many people go a little overboard when stating the health disasters that will befall them if they spend a night in a room where someone has once smoked. I don't even think waking up with a sore throat and an irritated nose falls under the category of a disability.

You couldn't pay me enough money to work for priceline.

Can you imagine the amount of daily customer complaints they receive?

No wonder it takes an act of God to get through to an actual human being on their "customer non-service" line.

I've never used Priceline and have never stayed in a smoking room, hopefully I never will! LOL My requests for non-smoking have been honored 100% and some places now have a non-smoking policy for the entire property, which I love! ***kim*** (~~)

I think it depends on the hotel's individual policy. Granted I can only speak for the individual hotels that I've booked, but whenever I've booked a room, it's specified before I confirmed and in my confirmation e-mails that my room and bed type are guarantees and not requests.

Priceline's website has a "Frequently Asked Questions" section that clearly states they do not guarantee non-smoking rooms or bedding type. And that those requests need to be made directly with the hotel once you've won your bid.

I love Priceline. I do my research with biddingfortravel.com and will only bid in areas I know I will get something decent. The hotels I've won have always granted my non-smoking requests. Only once did I not get the bedding type I requested.
If you can't deal with Priceline's rules, don't use them and please do not blame them for your mistakes.
There are times my husband and I find their rules unacceptable and that's when we're booking important trips like anniversaries. We won't use them then.

What I had read before is that the hotels do not have to be ADA-compliant, but if a handicapped guest cannot get a handicapped room, then Priceline will refund the money.

However, I note this on the Priceline web site, which may or may not be different than before:

If you require a handicapped-accessible room, please contact the hotel that accepts your request directly. Most hotels will be glad to accommodate you if rooms are available.

If your hotel does not have a handicapped accessible room available, please send us an e-mail.

========
Priceline doesn't say what will happen at this point, but I seem to recall cases where there were refunds.

I'm not sure if an asthmatic person who requires a non-smoking room would be covered under ADA or not.

Does that Febreeze stuff really work?
I don't praticularly want a smoking room, but will take one if it means a king bed over double/double.
So far, my experience with Priceline has been good...disagreed with a rating once, but for what I paid I certainly didn't complain to the hotel.
I filled out priceline's survey and told them how I felt. Others must have done the same thing because the star rating has been lowered for that hotel.
Plus, the DH would just crawl under the counter if I complained. He is easy going and usually gets upgrades just because he's such a nice polite person to strangers. If I fuss to him, he always wants to know what I paid....and gives me that you better be happy kind of look.
I recently got 2 rooms in Atlanta for what 1 would have cost me on the hotel's website. Now, that makes me delirious. Jackpot!

Just one more positive Priceline response, echoing what has been already been said. I have used Priceline more than a dozen times - after careful research on BiddingForTravel.com - and always been at least satisfied, if not thrilled, with my bid results. It's not that I have saved big money, it's that I have paid the same money I would pay for a 1-star or 2-star hotel for a far nicer 3-star or 4-star place. And I've always gotten the smoking/bedding prefs I wanted.

I recommend *always* calling the hotel after you win your Priceline bid and setting your bedding and smoking preferences, right away (but wait a few hours after you win your bid for your reservation to move into the hotel's reservation system). If you care about smoking/bedding prefs at all, you are nuts not to call ahead. You can't count on getting what you want on check-in. That could even be true of a non-Priceline reservation, though in that case you have the option to change hotels.

One more thing: once I set my smoking preference to non-smoking at a Marriott in Amsterdam. When I checked in, the front desk agent insisted they had no more non-smoking rooms, despite my protests that I had requested and been granted one. I was prepared for this because the people in front of me (not Priceline customers) were given the same story. But I insisted, arguing three times that a non-smoking room had been promised to me. Finally, the agent "found" a non-smoking room for me. It was a basic Marriott room, nothing special - I think they were just being a-holes about it for one reason or another. Sometimes you do have to raise a stink to get what you want, even if you are not using Priceline.

Andrew

I just booked a room at a Best Western on-line at their website. In big red letters on the pre-confirmation screen it stated that preferences for smoking, etc. were not guaranteed and just requests. It is not just Priceline.

WillTravel, my background is hotel management and I can tell you for a fact that yes, hotel public areas must be ADA Complient.

There is a big difference between being complient and following to the letter. Using the term ADA complient means that a hotel will to the best of their ability make hotel public spaces handicapped accessible. That usually includes wide doorways, wheelchair ramps, braille on elevators, close captioning, flashing smoke alarms etc.

Handicap accessable rooms are always on a first come first serve basis. There is really no way a hotel could have all its hotel rooms follow ADA to the letter.

As long as a hotel, in good faith, is ADA complient, they will not get sued.

Priceline's policy is a curtesy and no more than that.

Mny people would not want to stay in an ADA compliant room or apartment. For example, counters are generally lower than would be comfortable for someone who is standing. Wider doorways and the like I do not think would be a problem. But most people would prefer a tub to a roll-in shower!