A Priceline booking problem leads to a nonrefundable hotel room — or does it?

Glen Hartness books the wrong night at a La Quinta hotel through the Priceline app. Why won’t Priceline refund the erroneous booking?

Question

I’m trying to get a refund from Priceline for a booking that, on the surface, appears to not be eligible for a refund. However, it is hard for me to believe that Priceline can keep my money for this mistake.

Here’s what happened: I booked a room at a La Quinta Hotel in Austin, Texas, for one night. While at the hotel that night, I decided to extend my stay another night and began the process of booking the next night through Priceline’s app on my mobile device. 

I thought the time was just after midnight and, having used the Priceline app frequently — I’m a Platinum-level member — I knew the dates for the booking would be auto-populated in the app form for the following night. 

But the actual time was just before midnight, so the dates were populated in the form for the current day. 

As soon as I clicked the confirm booking button, I realized the mistake and called Priceline’s customer service to report the error and request a refund for that booking. A Priceline representative told me he would need to first contact La Quinta before he could process the refund. 

I immediately went downstairs to the front desk of the hotel to let them know what had happened. The front desk representative was happy to cancel the booking and provided me with a cancellation number. The representative also told me that no one from Priceline had contacted it and that the hotel had not received any money from Priceline for my erroneous booking.

As you might have guessed, Priceline is refusing to refund the money. I feel this is not the type of situation that these nonrefundable rates were designed for. I notified the hotel and Priceline immediately, and the hotel agreed to cancel the reservation. Can you help me get my $88 back, please? — Glen Hartness, Austin, Texas

Answer

You booked a nonrefundable room rate at the La Quinta through Priceline. What does nonrefundable mean? If you click on the link next to the booking, it’ll tell you: “This booking is non-refundable and cannot be amended or modified. If you fail to arrive or cancel the booking, no refund will be given.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a provision for reversing an erroneous booking such as the one you made — but you already know that. (Related: Look before you book on Priceline.)

Years ago, when Priceline had started, a company insider confided that nonrefundable doesn’t really mean nonrefundable. If you make an honest mistake, and call the company quickly, it can undo an erroneous reservation. Over time, though, Priceline has gotten stricter about its nonrefundability. And that brings us to the present day, when the company refuses to help an elite-level frequent guest like you even if they book a date that is obviously wrong and that the Priceline app shouldn’t have allowed.

How do you avoid booking errors on Priceline?

Booking problems like yours are fairly common. In an era of one-click purchases, it’s way too easy to make mistakes. Some of them can be permanent.

 Here are some tips to ensure your hotel booking goes smoothly:

1. Double-check the details

Before confirming your reservation, carefully review all information. Are your dates right? Room type? Number of guests? Any special requests? A simple typo in the date could lead to a major headache. Pro tip: If you’re dealing with an international site, don’t forget the date convention is different — it’s day/month/year. That has led to a lot of wrong-date bookings in the past! (Related: What can I do about this Priceline flight change?)

2. Read your confirmation

If you spot an error immediately after making a reservation, I have it on good authority that Priceline will try to fix it. But don’t push your luck (see #1). Certainly, if there’s an error and you don’t spot it immediately, there’s less of a chance you’ll fix it. (Related: Downgraded on my Priceline flight.)

3. Remember the hotel night trick

By far the biggest mistake is getting the nights wrong. If you’re planning to be in a city on the fourth of the month, your reservation will be for the night of the third, not the fourth. I admit, I’ve made that mistake a time or two. If you make this error and you don’t catch it after receiving your confirmation, it may be unfixable. You could be on the hook for a hotel night that you don’t need. (Related: My car rental is fully refundable. Why is Priceline keeping my money?)

How to resolve this booking problem with Priceline

I think you could have appealed this to one of the Priceline executives whose email addresses I publish on this site. A brief, polite email might have helped them see the absurdity of the situation. 

Or maybe not. Sites like Priceline rely on artificial intelligence to handle customer service problems, and chances are the company would have routed your complaint to a chatbot of some kind that would have sent you another rejection.

I reached out to Priceline on your behalf. A representative responded to me directly.

“Priceline connected with Mr. Hartness directly to resolve the issue and is processing a refund for the mistaken reservation,” she said.

That’s a good resolution. But what I’d really like to see is for Priceline to fix its app so that you can’t make that mistake in the future.