Starwood Preferred Guest - Puerto Vallarta -- How many in a room?

I tried to make a reservation for the Westin Puerto Vallarta for this winter using points. I asked for two rooms, one for two adults, two children, the second for two adults (my parents).

The Platinum rep came back and said that there was a limit of 3 people to a room per the fire code, and that I would need yet another room. Oddly enough, the Sheraton in the same town allows for 4 to a room.

Had I booked on the web site, I would have had no problem booking, since they only ask how many adults will be in the room. If I split the reservation into 3 and 3, they will not give my parents an king bed.

This really isn't a points question (at present, it is an additional $21 per night between 3 adults and 2 adults. I'd pay the $42 per night for the kids.) It is more an operational issue. My inclination is think that it's more to drive up room sales than for safety.

Has anyone run into this here or at any other property? If I book on the internet and put in two adults, what can they do at check in? (I haven't lied.) What is Starwood's overall policy toward paying for children int the parent's room?

Is the Sheraton PV a better choice than the Westin anyway?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MarshB:
I tried to make a reservation for the Westin Puerto Vallarta for this winter using points. I asked for two rooms, one for two adults, two children, the second for two adults (my parents).

The Platinum rep came back and said that there was a limit of 3 people to a room per the fire code, and that I would need yet another room. Oddly enough, the Sheraton in the same town allows for 4 to a room.

Had I booked on the web site, I would have had no problem booking, since they only ask how many adults will be in the room. If I split the reservation into 3 and 3, they will not give my parents an king bed.

This really isn't a points question (at present, it is an additional $21 per night between 3 adults and 2 adults. I'd pay the $42 per night for the kids.) It is more an operational issue. My inclination is think that it's more to drive up room sales than for safety.

Has anyone run into this here or at any other property? If I book on the internet and put in two adults, what can they do at check in? (I haven't lied.) What is Starwood's overall policy toward paying for children int the parent's room?

Is the Sheraton PV a better choice than the Westin anyway?

</font>

The policy toward children 17 and under is that they stay free in existing bedding when staying with a paying adult. The limitation here is not the policy toward children as much as it is the limitation in the number of people allowed in a room due to fire code restrictions. I'm sorry, but I don't buy the extra revenue assumption.

You have several choices to make if you want to stay at the Westin. First, as you have noted, you can make the reservation online and no one would know the difference. Still, most people indicate the number of children staying in remarks to the hotel. If you don't play it straight, you leave yourself open to problems upon arrival. Assuming you want to avoid that, I would call Customer Care, explain to them the situation, ask them to contact the hotel on your behalf and get a reply that will be copied to everyone so if there is a problem later, it can be ironed out quickly with one phone call back to Customer Care.

Any other choice is not as lock-tight and will involve an element of risk. Since these will probably be elaborated on by others and since I am obligated to play it as conservatively as possible, I will leave that to them. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

You can reach Customer Care at 1-800-328-6242.

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 08-27-2002).]

Thanks William, that's good advice. I didn't mean to sound overly suspicions, but I had just finished reading all the lousy news on the US Air board. (Shouldn't have taken it out on the one loyalty program that actually knows the meaning of loyalty http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )

Had I booked the stay on the website, I wonder what would have happened when we arrived with two kids in tow.

Thanks again!

I would hope that they would have taken it in stride and not made a big deal out of it, but these days, you can never tell. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Although customer care was no help whatsoever (just repeated to me what I already knew was in the system), I did receive a timely and positive response to an e-mail that I sent to the property. 2 adults, 2 kids, no problemo!

Off to book my stay!

Jeff