Priceline – How Do I Get a Non-Smoking Room in a Hotel?

I was already disappointed in the Days Inn Airport Center LAX Hotel before I got to the room. The hotel was right next to an adult book store and the businesses in the area had barbed wire on their fences. The pool was empty. But realizing we had been given a smoking room rather than a non-smoking room was the last straw. It was after midnight and we had already heard the man at the front desk tell someone the hotel was booked solid so we slept there. My wife refused to sleep there a second night. The problem was that we had booked the hotel with Priceline.com so we had pre-paid. So we basically wrote off the cost of the second night and slept on the floor of my son’s apartment.

When I got home I wrote Priceline:

1) How should I tell my readers to avoid finding themselves in the same situation. I am hoping the answer is not to avoid Priceline completely.

2) Specifically what is Priceline’s policy regarding smoking rooms. I double checked my reservation and saw nothing that indicated it in the email I had received.

I did not hear back from support at all but when I redirected this to media relations I received these suggestions:

I also looked at the Days Inn options.  While the room option you selected was a very good price, it didn’t specify smoking or non-smoking, so the desk clerk had the option of assigning what was available.  So my advice would be as follows:

• If you prefer non-smoking or smoking, choose a room that specifies which you’ll get.  I looked at your Days Inn and it does offer specifically identified smoking and non-smoking rooms.
• If you see a room that doesn’t specify, call the hotel before you book.  They may be willing to put aside a specific room type for you.
• Or, better yet, look for a hotel that’s 100% non-smoking.  We have them in our reservation system.
• Finally, try to arrive on the early side when the front desk has some flexibility regarding what type of room to give you.

Again, sorry for the confusion.

Brian

I think Brian’s 3rd suggestion is what I will do going forward. If I use Priceline, I will only use it for hotel’s that are 100% non-smoking. I never want to stay in a room that isn’t a non-smoking room. Only 12% of Californians are smokers and I would guess many of the remaining 88% would, like me, prefer not to come home with their clothes and luggage smelling like someone’s butts.