Starwood Preferred Guest - william-another question about upgrades

I tried to do a search but I am at the Orchid hotel in hawaii and have already lost my conection several times.

My question is about getting an upgrade when staying at a group rate. I paid $250/night for an ocean view room. When I checked and and asked about a suite upgrade and availablility I was told that even thought I was a plat and they have suits they would not give one to me since I was attending this conference--is this true?
thanks

if you get platinum perks on priceline and even free nights, i can't imagine you not getting perks on an expensive group rate.

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 06-24-2002).]

Thanks for your reply, the question is what do I do now that they have already said no.

William I would be interested to hear what you would do in this situation.

Rachel:
While we wait for William, and while you are still at the Hotel, you should get the name of the person checking you in and other related facts. That will for sure help the process later.

The person who checked you in is wrong, although as William and I learned a while back http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif, there sometimes can be contractual circumstances in group stays that prevent suites from being given out to anyone other than the group organizer.

Absent such contractual circumstances, the check-in person is incorrect.

If you are still at the hotel, I would call or go and speak personally to the manager. Simply tell him or her that you did not get the upgrade that you expected, etc., and ask them to remedy the situation for you. I would not recommend, at least initially, that you even bring up in the discussion anything about your rate, etc. Also I don't know if you are staying for 2 nights or a week, so depending on how much longer y etc., it may or may not be worth it, etc. And yes, do collect the names of the people you spoke with in case you need to correspond on this later. I frankly do not remember, technically, if group rates are ok for upgrades, but I would assume they are.and

if you aren't having luck at the hotel through the manager, why not call corporate services immediately?

I've been on group/convention rates and have had no problem getting upgrades. What I had to do, though, is call the hotel a few days before my stay and make sure they had my Plat. number. Since those kinds of reservations are usually from a Master List, the number is usually not on the reservation. Also - if your charges are paid and covered (i.e. you won't get a bill for the room cost), you don't points/nights credit. But you should still be given the upgrade if it's available.

It is true that some groups contract for suite upgrades for their select few. If this is the case, then the hotel is truly not in a position to grant your request.

If, however, the rate were the issue, this would not be in accordance with our interpretation of the Terms and Conditions.

In order to check for sure, I would have to have the details regarding your reservation and the group. If you wish, send them to the email address below.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 06-24-2002).]

This is part of what I sent to william

I am attending the 3rd international lung cancer conference at the orchid hotel. This is not a master bill or anything like that. The organizers got a group rate and I called the hotel myself (since I am just a participant and not faculty) and asked for the rate for this meeting. I paid $250 a night for an ocean view room--but if you ask me it is a pool view room you need to crick you neck pretty far to the right to see the ocean. When I arrived at the hotel 8 pm local time after 18 & 1/2 hours of travel I asked very politely to the women behind the desk
me: "Is there any chance I could get a suite upgrade?"
her : "no, we do not upgrade conference rates"
me: "I have been upgraded at other properties when attending a conference"
her: "well not here, we do not upgrade these rates"

I will be here until 6/29, so I will see what will happen. At this point I am more irriated with her resonse than not getting a suite. I would have been happier if she just said they were sold out of them--but I know that is a lie since they still have suites availble from orbitz.


[This message has been edited by rachel (edited 06-24-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rachel:
I will be here until 7/29</font>

That's one long conference!

Thanks for sending me the information, rachel. I have forwarded it to the resort's hotel coordinator. They will touch base with the hotel and have an answer for us soon.

Hopefully, I am still here when the answer comes. I am scheduled to begin my vacation after today. If not, someone will follow-up on my behalf since the Guest Forum email address will be monitored, but not necessarily Flyertalk itself, so if you have any questions, just send them to the email address below.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Just to add insult to injury a friend of mine who has NO status with starwood and also had a conference rate for a 1 bedroom suite ($350) got upgraded to a VERY large 2 bedroom suite without even asking for it.