Starwood Preferred Guest - Walking the Platinums

My wife and I are both Plats. Tonight she is being walked from the Sheraton Chicago Northwest at 10:30pm. The front desk manager was very cavalier that "these things happen, we have other Plats that will not have rooms if they get here". I talked to the Front Desk manager and she said they don't save rooms for Plats if a non-Plat also has a guaranteed reservation. I could understand if they had a water leak or something but simply not saving a room for a Plat rubs us the wrong way.

The whole system is a joke, the illusion that Plats have special consideration is ludicrous. Plats just like everyone else get a room night paid for and a few thousand "we're sorry" points (by the way my wife was not offered the paid night until I got on the phone with the front desk manager). However, when you have a combined 400,000 points you just want your room and a good nights sleep. I would love to know the statistics on Platinum walking...my best guess is they are not much different than any other guaranteed reservation.

Platinum "walking" has been discussed recently. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/007307.html

It'd be one thing if a 1PM weekday arrival were walked. It seems by nature to happen very late at night. Moreover, all of these "walks" seem involuntary. What steps are hotels taking to "voluntarily" rebook people before they arrive or to solicit "volunteers"? If these late night involuntary walks continue, it may be time for White Plains to get firm with offending properties.

We stayed recently at the Sheraton Mesa AZ and arrived about 11:30 PM and I asked if they had an upgraded room for me and they said no, they were going to have to walk up to 14 people that night, but they had saved my room as the last one in the house because they wouldn't walk a plat. And, when we got to the room, there was an ENORMOUS goodie basket with my name on it, so I think they really did save that room specifically for me. Normally they give us a suite or at least a club floor room there, but since others had paid for all those rooms, they did the best they could do and then when the extra mile with a goodie basket (in addition to the regular platinum amenity). I would hope all Starwoods would do as well! I was impressed with the gesture and the integrity and we will make a point of staying there more in future.

While I may be somewhat annoyed I think the hotel paying for your room at another hotel and then giving several thousand points compensates for the inconvenience.