Priceline Review

I enjoy using travel websites to book my own travel.  My friend told me about the "Name your own price" feature on Priceline and I decided to check it out.  I had an upcoming trip to plan and decided to try to get a 4-star hotel for $100.  I was successful in "naming my own price" but the hotel I got was by no means a 4-star hotel.  It was horrible.  If you want a full review of the hotel priceline sent me to, check out my review of the Plaza 500.  To put it succinctly, the place sucked.  Not smart enough to stay away from the "name your own price" feature despite my unfortunate stay at the Plaza 500, I used this method to get a room ijust outside Seattle in a town called Bothell.  The hotel was given 2 1/2 stars and I got it for $79 a night.  The price was great and it was even a very nice hotel, much nicer than the Plaza 500, but I was given a smoking room.  It seems that when you name your own price, you are not given a chance to refuse a room that is hazardous to one's health.  I suffer from asthma and could not stay in the room for more than 2 minutes at a time before I had to go outside to try to get my breath.  The front desk staff was completely unhelpful and even claimed they had recently been in the room and had smelled only a slightly musty smell.  They told me that not only did they not have another room available, they had double-booked 6 rooms.  A line from Seinfeld came to mind, the one where Jerry is trying to rent a car and, despite a reservation, has learned that there is no car being held for him. 

I now know better than to try to name my own price on Priceline.