Starwood Preferred Guest - Sheraton Suites PHL room rate snafu

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Montego Bay, Jamaica www.roundhilljamaica.com (http://www.roundhilljamaica.com)!!!

Before leaving on our trip, we decided to stay near PHL since our flight
was scheduled for the wee morning hours. I booked a room via spg.com for
the Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport. This hotel is in a little
compound with a Four Points Hotel; they share some facilities like
laundry etc. I booked the room under their Park-n-fly rate. $189.00 for
a *Club Level* room, 1 king + double sleeper sofa, and 10 days of free
parking. Room was guaranteed to my JCB credit card stored in my SPG
profile. I have stayed at this hotel a few times before, but back then
it was a Westin Suites and the other hotel in the compound was a
Sheraton. But when they were a Westin, I don’t remember them having a
Club Level. They did (and still do) have plaques on all the rooms on the
8th (top) and most of the 7th floor identifying them as SPG rooms.

Well we didn’t arrive until very late in the evening, nearly midnight.
When I checked in, the clerk asked for my credit card and photo ID (that
was different). Well first of all she didn’t recognize my JCB credit
card and asked if it was an American Express card. (Gee, it says JCB
Card right there on the front. And I *know* they take JCB!) Anyway, she
didn’t know what to do with it. No matter, she handed me the check-in
materials and said I would be on the 4th floor. (Huh? Is that where
they put the Club Level? Seems odd not to be at the top!) Sure enough,
I get to the room and it’s NOT on the Club Level. Now granted, it was
probably larger than any of the others on the floor, but it’s not what I
reserved. I know it’s not a club room because the hotel guide says the
Club Level is on 8 and the 8th floor lobby has a huge sign that says
“CLUB LEVEL”.

So, of course, I’m not happy and head downstairs. I ask the two front
desk clerks why I’m not in a club room. “There aren’t any more rooms
available on the 7th floor,” I’m told. But since the *7th* floor is
full, they still put me in a Preferred Guest room. “Okay, but are you
going to change my room rate to the lower non-club room rate?” I asked.
No response. Since we had to leave the hotel very early to catch our
flight, I wasn’t able to speak with the manager or an assistant. I got
the distinct impression that the two clerks I spoke with were running the
hotel. I did, however, leave a voicemail message for the assistant
manager and will talk to her when I return.

So, given those circumstances, was I wrong to expect them to at least
drop my room rate to the $159.00 rate for a King +sleeper, Park-n-Fly?


Oh yeah, if you stay at either of these hotels, here’s a tip: the
hotels’ airport shuttle vans picked up the Sheraton Suites guests before
heading over to the Four Points and then to the airport. So by the time
our regular 12 passenger van pulled up to the Four Points, we could only
take one guest--who was in hysterics because she had 14 minutes to get to
her flight on USAir! Evidently they rescheduled her or some such
nonsense and she’d been waiting for a shuttle bus for 45 minutes (yeah,
they do have taxis, beats me why she didn’t get one!).


[This message has been edited by jonesing (edited 10-31-2002).]

I'd have firmly requested a few bucks off my rate. You booked and confirmed a club room. It was in your rate description. Sounds like they snafu'd and upgraded one too many guests to the club floor.

Since it is a Sheraton, I would expect you'll get some sort of compensation (points or $$$) as part of the service guarantee.

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines but I wanted to be sure I'm on firm footing when I talk to a manager. Like I said, I asserted to the desk clerks that I would expect them to charge me the lower non-club rate but got the feeling that they were in charge for the night--no adult supervision.

Oh yeah, guess what I just found out about? When I tried to check in using my JCB card, the night clerk had problems with it. She didn't recognize it as a credit card that they accept (they do). So in the morning when I checked out, they told me my card didn't go through and I would have to pay some other way. So, I used my Amex card. Well today, about 6 days later, I tried to pay for a meal with my JCB...declined! JCB customer service says there are TWO pending charges against my card from, yup, Sheraton Hotel!!!! One for $265 and another for $680!!!

this def seems like a service guarantee issue

1. They billed you card incorrectly twice for incorrect amt causing you financial discomfort

2. You reserved a room type at a higher price which they gave away. When you did show up they gave u alower room type and didn't credit the difference. This is different from reserving a specific type of bedding such as double, king, non smoking which isnt guaranteed.

I would ask for $30 and pts equal to 1 nite there for all the confusion. Say you only brought that card. You wouldn't been able to pay becuase of no fault of your own!

open an issue with customer care asap as william would advise

[This message has been edited by welookgood.com (edited 10-31-2002).]