UPDATE: Priceline has released a statement regarding this afternoon’s e-mail oopsy. [More]
Priceline Books Me In 3.5 Star Roach Motel, And There’s No Refunds
By January 22, 2013
The problem with Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” feature is that you don’t get to name your own hotel. That’s the point, of course. When Chris used it to book a 3.5 star hotel for his vacation, though, he looked up reviews for the place and saw that other customers’ experiences ranged from “no heat” to “dog poop in the closet” to “bedbugs.” That was not promising. So he tried to cancel, only to learn that Priceline has a strict policy against that. No matter how terrible the hotel you end up with might be. [More]
Hotel Claims Overzealous Employee Posted Sign Offering To Pay For Nice Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
Earlier today, we told you about the Texas hotel that offered guests up to $5 if they posted positive reviews on any number of popular travel sites. A rep for the hotel has since responded to say that this was a case of an overzealous employee acting on their own. [More]
Dallas Hotel Blatantly Offers To Pay Guests For Positive Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
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Here’s a tip to hotel managers around the world — Paying for reviews is bad enough. Advertising that you’re willing to pay for positive feedback is only going to communicate to your guests that you run a bad hotel and that you expect them to not have anything nice to say about your establishment. [More]
Priceline Convinces Kayak To Elope By Paying It $1.8 Billion In Cash & Stock
By November 9, 2012
Who knew these two crazy kids would end up together? Travel site Priceline announced it’s going to pay its fellow travel search company Kayak $1.8 billion in both stock and cash. With this kind of speedy relationship, it makes you wonder if anyone bothered with a pre-nup. [More]
Expedia Books Me Into 4 Hotels I Can’t Stay In
By November 2, 2012
Like many New Yorkers in low-lying areas, Consumerist reader Jacob’s home was evacuated. Without a place to stay, he used his phone to book a room at a Manhattan hotel. Little did he know that he wouldn’t be staying at that hotel, or the one after that, or the one after that. [More]
Making A Booking Mistake On Priceline.com Not As Disastrous As I Expected
By October 15, 2012
Is booking your travel through third-party sites always a complicated nightmare that precludes refunds and makes your life difficult? No! Not always. Sometimes it saves you money and isn’t the headache you imagine it to be. Tony learned that the making an error on Priceline wasn’t as bad as it could have been. [More]
Lawsuit Alleges Price-Fixing By Major Hotel Chains And Online Booking Sites
By August 21, 2012
A class-action lawsuit filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in California alleges that the biggest names in online travel — Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com — and some of the world’s largest hotel chains — Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Intercontinental, among others — conspired together so that the “best price guarantee” you often see when booking a room online is in actuality just a number set by the hotel operators. [More]
I Would Like To Name My Own Price & Not Get Trip Insurance Automatically, Priceline
By April 2, 2012
Alli says she’s stumbled upon something she thinks is new on Priceline — when she named her own price for a , $25 worth of trip insurance was included with no opting out screen. Of course, Priceline doesn’t announce clearly that this is going to happen, instead just hiding it in the Terms of Service agreement. [More]
Bus Group Doesn't Mind If Priceline Kills Off William Shatner As Long As It's Not With One Of Their Vehicles
By January 24, 2012
Priceline is reportedly offing their spokesman William Shatner in an ad, which is just fine with the American Bus Association — but they’d prefer it if his means of death is something other than a fiery bus explosion as seen in a new commercial. They’re asking the travel booking site to pull the ad, which they feel is in poor taste. [More]
Priceline Upgrades You To Reportedly Bedbug-Infested Hotel
By December 7, 2011
Ordinarily, it would be a good thing if Priceline upgraded your bid for a 3.5-star hotel to a 4-star bid. This sometimes happens when a classier hotel accepts your bid. It wasn’t much of a bonus for Lissa, though. She wanted to avoid a certain 4-star hotel because user reviews in various places complained of bedbug infestations, so she bid only on 3.5-star establishments. Of course, this bid landed her at the allegedly infested hotel. It took her several hours of customer service hell to get out of the situation, which is still better than being chomped on by bedbugs. [More]
Antics Of Rude, Shirtless Dude Score Me A Free Hotel Room Upgrade
By July 19, 2011
Regular readers of Consumerist probably know that we do occasionally write about “bad consumers,” those few who bad apples whose behavior makes things harder for the rest of us. But we don’t often see examples of good, sensible consumers actually benefiting from others’ idiotic antics. This is one such story. [More]
Hotel Issues Refund, Priceline Keeps All Of The Money
By April 28, 2011
Wynn could use the services of a Priceline negotiator. He booked a stay at a Marriott through Priceline, but due to some confusion, the hotel put the price of the entire stay on his credit card. The hotel promised Wynn a refund of the incorrect charge, and didn’t end up charging Priceline for the hotel stay, either. That was incredibly nice of them, but leaves Wynn with a problem: Priceline still charged him, and simply kept all of the money. [More]
I Lost Priceline Hotel Reservation Because My Card Was Maxed Out
By April 13, 2011
Josh doesn’t have a lot of money. When he and his girlfriend went to check in to the Crowne Plaza hotel room they reserved on Priceline, he handed over his credit card to confirm the reservation, and his card was declined. They wouldn’t accept his girlfriend’s card to put on file for incidentals, and they were ultimately turned away, losing the reservation…and the money they paid Priceline for the room. [More]
Priceline Restores Insanity, Moves Hotel Reservation To Different City
By November 4, 2010
Priceline has a very different understanding of what a “hotel reservation” is than Shane does. He and his wife and children planned to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Washington, D.C. to attend this past weekend’s Rally To Restore Sanity And/or Fear put on by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They reserved a hotel room in a close suburb, near a Metro station, correctly assuming that traffic would make driving into the city a bad idea. [More]
Priceline Really Doesn't Want This Guy's $244 Back
By October 21, 2010
Andrew tells Consumerist that he received a refund of $244.16 from Priceline.com after canceling a hotel reservation. That part isn’t the problem. The problem, from Andrew’s point of view, is that Priceline never charged him for the now-canceled hotel rooms in the first place. He doesn’t hate free money, but wonders whether Priceline will finally notice their mistake and sic a collection agency on him sometime in 2012. [More]
Priceline Promised No "Young Renter Fee," But Avis Says Pay Up
By September 29, 2010
When Lauren reserved a car rental through Priceline last week, she checked out the fine print to see if she’d have to pay any age-related extra fees, and according to Priceline what she bid would be the total price. Now Avis is telling her Priceline is wrong and she’ll have to come up with more money at the rental counter. [More]
Holiday Inn Manager: If You Book Through Priceline, You're A "Bad Customer"
By September 24, 2010
Discount travel websites can provide amazing discounts, but can also make you a second-class consumer of sorts–particularly in hotels. Jesse learned this the hard way when he booked a stay at a Holiday Inn in a major American city. He tells Consumerist that he reserved his room through Priceline, and called the hotel to make sure that his reservation would include two double beds for the four people traveling. He checked in to find a single queen bed in the room. His mistake? According to the hotel manager, being a “bad customer” who booked through a third-party site. [More]
