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Chris Huban thought the $95-a-night room rate he found at the Westin Chicago River North hotel on Hotwire.com was too good to be true. When he checked in, he found out why. Huban, a sales manager based in Abington, Mass., was issued the keys to a room that smelled of cigarette smoke and had a smaller bed than he wanted. "It was right across from the elevator, and you could hear people coming and going all the time," he says. "It overlooked a very large parking garage." When he asked for another room, the man at the front desk told him, "Based on the way you reserved your room, we can't move you."

Mark Ricci, a spokesman for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which owns the Westin chain, says their hotels are not supposed to discriminate against people who use discount sites. But some say complaints such as Huban's have grown louder recently. "There's a growing practice of assigning less desirable rooms to guests who booked online and got a deep discount," says Bjorn Hanson, a hotel analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Passing grade. Most agreements between travel websites and a hotel stipulate the room must meet specific requirements. Priceline's contracts, for example, say the accommodations must be for double occupancy. The hotels are careful to follow the letter of their contracts, but many also set up unofficial classes of rooms, ranging from best to worst. (At one hotel, the rooms are assigned a letter grade.) The most-coveted rooms--with the ocean view in the quietest part of the building--go to frequent guests and people who pay top dollar. The worst--overlooking the dumpster--go to the bargain hunters.

When Wendy Margules, a real-estate agent from Newtown, Conn., used Expedia to book a room in Venice for this May, she thought she was getting a view of the canals. But when she called her hotel directly to verify, her dreams of watching gondolas were sunk. "I was told that I had booked through Expedia, and for that rate there was no way I would be in a canal-view room," says Margules, who still is deciding whether to change or cancel the reservation. Expedia spokesman David Dennis said his agency's hotel contract prohibits "any kind of discrimination against our customers." But, he adds, "Hotels are not in the business of giving away their most expensive rooms, either."

Analysts say the discounts--as much as 40 percent to 60 percent on sites like Priceline and Hotwire--make the travel websites worthwhile. But, if you can, check with the hotel to learn what kind of room you get for that rate. Earning frequent-stayer status also can help your room assignment. If you don't get the room you feel you deserve, contact the travel website. If you're getting shoddy treatment, a site can--and frequently does--intervene on behalf of its customers. Just keep in mind: How much are those savings worth if your goal is a view of Venice from your window?