Starwood Preferred Guest - Bad Experience At The Westin Copley Place Boston

I arrived at the hotel yesterday with my family at 2:30pm to find that the rooms we had booked were not ready yet. We had booked a total of 3 Junior Suites.

I asked if it would be possible to get the rooms prepared as soon as possible. As soon as I asked this question the duty manager got involved and said to me that I had no right to ask his staff to ready a room anytime before 3pm. My parents and I are all Starwood platinum members so we were kind of shocked to receive this type of response. We were traveling with my young sister who was extremely tired from the trip. When I told this gentlemen that my sister was tired he told me that "she should learn that you cannot always get what you want, so what ?" I was shocked by this and asked to see his manager. He said to me that he is the front desk manager and anything that happens in the hotel goes through him. I questioned if there was an upgrade available he then told me he had upgraded me to a river view room even though I booked all river view rooms. I later showed him the confirmation from Starwood. The gentleman then asked me stop asking him so many questions, later informing me that it was up to him to what type of rooms we get. He stated that he could cancel our prepaid rooms and set a much higher rate. I felt he was threatening me.

At this stage we knew that by arguing with him we were going to get no further. I then asked him to prepare the rooms as soon as possible as we headed off to lunch for about an hour. My family and I would have defiantly moved to another hotel if it was not for the fact that we had prepaid our stay. As we got back we were told by one of his colleagues that he was off work and our rooms were ready. When we tried to go upstairs two sets of keys did not work and housekeeping was still in process cleaning the room.

I understand we showed up early, I would have not minded to be treated with a little more respect and courtesy as a guest. This man was rude and inconsiderate for his guests. I am here till Thursday, will update everyone on any further incidents.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by francisliang:
I arrived at the hotel yesterday with my family at 2:30pm to find that the rooms we had booked were not ready yet. We had booked a total of 3 Junior Suites.

I asked if it would be possible to get the rooms prepared as soon as possible. As soon as I asked this question the duty manager got involved and said to me that I had no right to ask his staff to ready a room anytime before 3pm. My parents and I are all Starwood platinum members so we were kind of shocked to receive this type of response. We were traveling with my young sister who was extremely tired from the trip. When I told this gentlemen that my sister was tired he told me that "she should learn that you cannot always get what you want, so what ?" I was shocked by this and asked to see his manager. He said to me that he is the front desk manager and anything that happens in the hotel goes through him. I questioned if there was an upgrade available he then told me he had upgraded me to a river view room even though I booked all river view rooms. I later showed him the confirmation from Starwood. The gentleman then asked me stop asking him so many questions, later informing me that it was up to him to what type of rooms we get. He stated that he could cancel our prepaid rooms and set a much higher rate. I felt he was threatening me.

At this stage we knew that by arguing with him we were going to get no further. I then asked him to prepare the rooms as soon as possible as we headed off to lunch for about an hour. My family and I would have defiantly moved to another hotel if it was not for the fact that we had prepaid our stay. As we got back we were told by one of his colleagues that he was off work and our rooms were ready. When we tried to go upstairs two sets of keys did not work and housekeeping was still in process cleaning the room.

I understand we showed up early, I would have not minded to be treated with a little more respect and courtesy as a guest. This man was rude and inconsiderate for his guests. I am here till Thursday, will update everyone on any further incidents. </font>

Good Heavens!! That does not sound like the Westin Copley that I know and love. I cannot help but wonder two things as I read your post:

1. What was the hour of your arrival? I mean, were you at the front desk at 9:25am?

2. What rate did you pay? I can infer that perhaps you were on a very deeply discounted rate.

All in all, those factors should not have generated the response you received, certainly as Plats! But, I have sadly witnessed an array of Plats over the years make major scenes like demanding to check in a 8am into the Presidential Suite after having paid $34 on Priceline. I am sure that, after a while, these sorts of demands would make me a little rough around the customer service edges, too!

I am in no way suggesting that this is your situation, but I do think that the time you arrived at the hotel does have some bearing.

Hope the rest of your stay has been better! You are in THE best location in the city. Enjoy!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by francisliang:
I felt he was threatening me.

This man was rude and inconsiderate for his guests. </font>


three words for you: "Customer Care Line."

despite awful promotions that aren't even remotely competitive with its competition and a disaster of a web site, these three words are why i stay loyal to starwood.

they will take care of you.

edited to add: and i like the properties (in addition to the usually stellar customer care). http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited 02-03-2003).]

Yes, I would definitely make this known to Hotel Customer Service. They can be reached at 1-800-328-6242 toll-free during normal business hours.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

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He said he came at 2:30pm for 3pm checkin. Came back an hr later and still not ready

He also prepaid for a suite so I assume that def not the lowest rate and sounded like he just wanted a room

I think the front desk was out of line and you should call customer care and contact gm.. I mean 30 min should not make a difference in your treatment like that has made..

[This message has been edited by welookgood.com (edited 02-03-2003).]

Sounds like the "manager du jour" didn't sleep on a heavenly bed. That's one of those instances that "I'm sorry sir, we had several late checkouts where people didn't leave the rooms when they promised" would have made the situation so much better...

Wow. Very surprising for a Westin.

Since you are still at the hotel for the next few days, I would call the general manager's office in the morning and ask to have a 5-minute meeting with him personally at some point during the day. Tell him you are a Platinum member and have an unfortunate situation that you want to tell him about in person. I have to believe he'll make the time for you.

You can at least give him the feedback and an opportunity to recover through some nice gesture (though I wouldn't set any expectations). Based upon what you have described, the front desk manager was out of line and the GM needs to know it.

Then, let it go. Don't let it ruin a good time in a great city!

The one time I stayed at this hotel I found the front desk staff to be difficult in recognizing platinum status. I booked a junior suite, and when asking about an upgrade, the front desk person said that since I already had a suite, I was in an upgraded room.

I also may be bitter because after the stay I realized that I grossly overpaid for the room.

Ideally if u book reg room get upgraded to jr suite and book jr suite upgraded to better suite if both r plat. AT MININUM though you should receive a friendly check in...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sbtinme:

1. What was the hour of your arrival? I mean, were you at the front desk at 9:25am?

Answer : I arrived at the hotel at 2:30pm.

2. What rate did you pay? I can infer that perhaps you were on a very deeply discounted rate.

Answer : I did not use priceline. I booked directly through westin.com
The rate is definately not a hugely discounted rate.
</font>

Definitely call the customer care line... you should have called from the lobby when it was apparent that the Front desk manager would not produce his manager when asked...

We actually had a somewhat similar circumstance once when I was plat... customer care took care of us & then when the general manager (who was not on duty) was notified he also made ammends... Don't let this sour you to Starwood, instead report it to make sure this manager doesn't treat anyone else like this again.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Tute84:
The one time I stayed at this hotel I found the front desk staff to be difficult in recognizing platinum status. I booked a junior suite, and when asking about an upgrade, the front desk person said that since I already had a suite, I was in an upgraded room.</font>

i hope you reported this to customer care. the only way difficult hotels will get "fixed" is to bring it to starwood' attention (i.e., don't just ignore it).

Wow! I'm sorry to hear you were treated so badly. I definitely agree with the suggestions to call Customer Care and have a short meeting with the GM like AZ Travels the World said.

Please keep us posted!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by welookgood.com:
Ideally if u book reg room get upgraded to jr suite and book jr suite upgraded to better suite if both r plat. AT MININUM though you should receive a friendly check in...</font>

There are no 'better' suites than the Junior Suites. If you book a river view junior suite, there's nothing else to give a complimentary upgrade to.

I stayed there for about 8 months last year on a weekly basis. I never had the arrogant desk staff described in the above post. They were always polite, always recognized my plat credentials and always gave me a junior suite upgrade (except once). Often the check-in staff were different, so to them I was a new face, yet they all treated me with respect and kindness.

As for francisliang's case - there is no excuse for that manager's attitude. A letter to the GM *AND* Customer Care is very much in order.

As for an upgrade, if you booked river view junior suites, they don't really get any better except maybe higher up. So, to him, he probably saw that you had what they consider their 'best' upgrade options.

And, I believe you are only entitled to 1 upgrade per stay, no matter how many rooms you book. You can only phsyically occupy one per night. The laws of biology and physics make it impossible to be in two rooms at once. Francisliang booked 3 junior suites, however, the Copley 'upgrades' are in fact for those who have booked standard rooms. The junior suites come in 2 flavors - oversized corner room, or corner mini-suite with separate desk/work area set off from the sleeping area. For more than 2 people in one room, an oversized corner unit is the better choice. No other types of upgrades. Don't even think about vying for the top floor Presidential Suite that is about 6000 square feet(I kid you NOT).

As for the 230pm arrival, it is not uncommon to arrive on a weekend day (poster arrived on Sunday) to encounter people doing late check-outs. It's a policy that we all appreciate, but we need to be aware that when we arrive before check-in time, other preferred guests may still be occupying the room. At that point, the manager should have offered another available room as an alternative to keep, or use temporarily.

All that notwithstanding, Francisliang should never have been treated as described. I'm disappointed if this is what the Westin Copley has stooped to.

This hotel has had a very mixed record with guest treatment and SPGs over the years.
One needs to be somewhat agressive sadly in getting their needs met here at times.

I have in the past upon arrival been told the rate was to low that I booked and they would have to charge me a higher rate.
Pre Starwood
Post Starwood Given a twin beded room as a Platinum on a low floor.
Though my request and profile is for hi floor king.
Been told I had a suite when it was merely a slightly oversized guest room
Denied access to the club floor when they had one.
So many asked in the past for upgrades to it they found a better way to say no thet just removed/closed the lounge.
Was a great one sadly.
Sorry to see it go
On my last visit To the Westin Copley the conceirge let me know to book the transportation back to the airport myself as they only deal with their preferred suppliers

Despite some of the staff the property is enjoyable and on a good day there are some helpful people here and there.
The tug of war with check in is business as usual from my experience.
The bright side @ Westin Copley great location Heavenly Beds and nice renovation to the lobby area.

Sheraton across the way in Copley is still a stronger hotel based on trying harder for SPG guests.
Especially Platinums.
Service there too is still a mixed bag but when you can find it way more cooperating in working together with you.It also still has a club lounge or did when I was there last.

The Westin is such a popular choice they can get away with some of their nonsense.
Having the Palm and Turner Fisheries is a nice duo of restaraunts to choose from in a hotel.
Back to the posters problem.
The hotel should have given you a temporary room or at least made a goodwill attempt to apologize for any delay close to or after the check in time.
Apologies are certainly in order.
Would be great to see this hotel do a stonger more satisfactory job in this important market
Happier stays ahead hopefully

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