This is company I have never used before. In my excitement to save 2% on a number of companies I chose to go through ebates.com. I have done this in the past with Hotwire.com and it worked so perfectly, so I was not worried at all about doing this again.
I found the best deal and it was with Priceline.com. I needed a room for 6, which I had specified. All the companies had nearly the same price for the exact same room, so I chose the cheapest, and the best % cash back.
The Hotel I booked only has a King or 2 Doubles. Before I booked the room I had called the hotel and asked how many could fit in a room with the breakfast and was told of the 2 room types and that yes, 6 people could fit into one of the rooms.
Once I was in and booked I had to do a double of take of what I booked. I thought I had booked 2 doubles, but it was not. I had actually booked a room that Embassy Suites doesn’t even list on their site or advertise and the reservation office didn’t even know they had. After much investigation into the matter I discovered that although Priceline offered 5 different room options (for the one I booked) the Hotel only has a couple of these rooms.
I have booked a lot of hotel rooms, but never have I been so confused.
I immediately contacted Priceline.com who told me I needed to take it up with the Hotel. The Hotel told me I needed to take it up with Priceline. I again went back to priceline and kept getting canned messages of “sincere apologies”. Each one saying “we don’t offer a service where you can select how many people”, followed by “we hope your customer service was a pleasant experience”.
I had to back up and see for myself so here it is:
Priceline does NOT allow you to pick how many people you would like to put in a room. Sure enough, if you go straight to their website that option is not available. Why would anyone book a hotel room without specifying how many people you could put in that room??
Priceline does contract with other companies (ie, ebates, Kayak.com, BookingBuddy.com, Travelzoo.com, plus others I am sure) that do offer the service of selecting how many people you will have in that room. What they DON’T do is honor that request.
Also in my latest dealing with Hotwire.com I became aware that I could cancel the whole thing and be reimbursed. That is very reassuring, because there are times when we make mistakes or things come up.
And last but not least the BIGGEST FAIL of all – I could have gotten the whole thing cheaper directly through the Hotel itself!! Yep, now I am stuck with a wrong reservation, it will cost me more later. I thought for sure these companies were saving me money every time. Can you read the word SUCKER written across the top of my head?
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With the economy the way it is, it seems like everyone is cutting back and trying hard not to spend money aimlessly on things. I think this is great. This is something that many people have needed to do for years now. But with so many blogs out there filled with all types of money saving tips, which I too will share, there comes a point where you feel guilty buying something that you truly want or enjoy, but you need to know, it's ok to splurge every now and then. 
I was still upset and trying to get resolution, so I sent them another email stating I put in the number of people, but they won’t honor it. Explaining how we did that.
Their response to that was “so you are suggesting we add that feature. Thank you for the suggestion.”
Really??!!!??? Don’t tell me those aren’t canned responses.
I think I may have found a way to cancel the reservation. I will keep you posted.