Starwood Preferred Guest - Getting bumped from a Starwood Hotel

View Full Version : Getting bumped from a Starwood Hotel

sinfonia

Jun 22, 04, 10:37 am

Hello, all.
I booked a reservation at a Sheraton hotel weeks ago for a convention I will be attending. The area is not a very convention-friendly town (meaning there are not many hotels and the ones there are are not large, and a lot of people flooding the city) so all of the hotels are sold out. The Sheraton I am staying at, I have been told by an employee over the phone, is actually overbooked by 13 rooms for almost every night I am there. I asked him what happens if you give out all of your rooms before I arrive (I will get there late at night) and he didn't really answer my question. Is it possible I'm going to get bumped from the hotel, and if I am, don't they have some sort of ownership in the issue? What should I expect if I get bumped? I want to make sure I get all of the points I should have gotten even if I don't stay there, and expect they will find suitable arrangements for me somewhere. Advice?
Thanks!

fly co to see the yanks

Jun 22, 04, 10:45 am

there are rules in place for being bumped at a starwood hotel. william, the starwood lurker, has spelled them out in the past. i would do a search.

sinfonia

Jun 22, 04, 11:03 am

there are rules in place for being bumped at a starwood hotel. william, the starwood lurker, has spelled them out in the past. i would do a search.

Thanks. I just tried searching and for some reason, came up with nothing on the subject but I will keep trying. Thanks again.

cattle

Jun 22, 04, 11:54 am

sinfonia

Jun 23, 04, 10:13 am

Here are a couple that I found by searching with "walked bumped" using the advanced search feature I chose the Starwood Forum. Hope it helps :)

Sorry to inform you that you have been bumped (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173938&highlight=walked+bumped)

Walking a Plat (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173374&highlight=walked+bumped)

Is this a fair response from Starwood? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167998&highlight=walked+bumped)

Thanks, cattle. This is very helpful. I didn't think to look up the word "walked." Now I know at least what to expect to receive if, in fact, it happens. Thanks!

cattle

Jun 23, 04, 12:28 pm

Lets just hope you don't get walked. Maybe you can let us know what happens either way.

intwrite

Jun 26, 04, 10:55 pm

Here are a couple that I found by searching with "walked bumped" using the advanced search feature I chose the Starwood Forum. Hope it helps :)

Sorry to inform you that you have been bumped (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173938&highlight=walked+bumped)

Walking a Plat (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173374&highlight=walked+bumped)

Is this a fair response from Starwood? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167998&highlight=walked+bumped)

I wish this came up several months ago. Three staff members and I were walked from the Meadowlands Sheraton and not offered any of the benefits, not even the taxi ride or free room at the other Sheraton they booked us in. A call to the hotel manager the next day resulted in starpoints, but after seeing what the policy is, I feel like I've been hoodwinked.

ac777

Jun 27, 04, 8:47 pm

I was booked at the Sheraton Cavalier in Calgary for a very late arrival. When I called for the pick up I was told they had some problems and they were accomodating me at the airport hotel and paying for it. They, also, gave me 5000 points but I did not get the Stay credit. Lurker says I should have got the latter as well.

sinfonia

Jul 12, 04, 1:24 pm

Lets just hope you don't get walked. Maybe you can let us know what happens either way.

Well, I'm finally backed and I did NOT get bumped. Interestingly enough, there were several guests there who WERE bumped that booked through group sales for the convention there (I think most of them weren't Starwood members at all), and the hotel couldn't find reservations for people that actually had them, etc. But I didn't get bumped. I did, however, have a PLETHORA of problems at the hotel. So now I am asking a new question to this thread: At what point do you just cut your losses and walk away versus making sure the hotel knows every problem you've had? I literally had so many problems at the hotel that I felt bad telling them after awhile. I did complain when I didn't get the room I was promised, and when the room I checked into was missing entire window panes, when my shower head was broken so that I had no hot water, etc. but the thing is that they were so nice in apologizing each time something went wrong that I felt bad even telling them when things went wrong after awhile. By the time my room service (which wasn't even what I ordered) had mold on it, and the engineering came to fix the broken toilet two hours after he was supposed to be there (I had to wait in the room the whole time because he was supposedly coming any minute), etc. and by the time he came up there, looked at it for about five seconds and said there was nothing he could do, by that time, I just felt so terrible telling the manager on duty AGAIN that something went wrong that I just stopped. I kept thinking that surely after I tell them enough times about things that went wrong, they would make sure nothing else went wrong. But things KEPT going wrong and they would keep saying everytime "I'm so sorry, please accept our apologies and we will credit points to your account/treat you to dinner/etc., we want to make sure the rest of your stay here is the best stay you've ever had at a hotel," but the service never got better. And then everytime I came into the lobby, that last manager would say, "We want to make sure you're enjoying your stay now, is it wonderful for you now?" and the first time, I said, well, you know, I appreciate it, but I still am having these problems . . . and by the end of the time, I just didn't even know how to answer that question so just stopped even telling him all of the problems. They were very good about offering points/compensation for the problems that occurred, and they did credit my account with some of the points they promised (though not all that they promised were credited for some reason), but honestly, I would have rather had less problems than trying to just garner points. Points are nice but when you have that many problems, it'd be nice if they worked towards that as well.
On another note, I had another stay last month at a Starwood in a different location that we had some problems with (I really am not a complainer but this particular hotel actually called us up in the hotel in the middle of the night to kick us out right then telling us we didn't have a reservation. When I told them yes we did and that I made it through the central reservations line, they just kept telling me I didn't. When I suggested that perhaps they call the Starwood reservations line to straighten it out [this was at about 11pm and I was sleeping when they called], they said they couldn't do that and I would have to. I got the manager of the hotel on the phone then who told me that she was not going to call Starwood reservations, I was going to have to call the central reservations line and straighten it out. I really didn't think this was my job and found it very frustrating that they'd call us up in the middle of the night when we're sleeping to kick us out, and refusing to straighten it out with central reservations themselves but make me do it [I don't know why they couldn't -- it was just a matter of calling them and getting a confirmation code from them to give the hotel], not to mention other problems we had.) So the thing is, I received a message on my machine in response to my complaint from the hotel saying they were going to credit my account, and frankly I didn't think their offering was enough for the problems we had had, and so I called the hotel back. I spoke to the manager on duty who said that he couldn't do anything about it except book future reservations and that I would have to talk to the general manager. He gave me the voice mail of the GM of the hotel and I left a message. Three days later, I still hadn't heard back from the GM so I called back the hotel and talked to a different manager on duty then who was difficult with me and told me that the file is closed. I asked to be transferred again to the GM's voicemail since he was out, and left another message. It has now been over a week that I have been trying to reach the GM (I've called five times now) and I still have not even heard back from him at all, which is just representative of the way this hotel treated us at our stay. What is my next step? The GM clearly isn't doing anything -- I originally called Starwood Customer Service to file the complaint, but they sent it to the hotel to handle. Now the hotel is not cooperating, so who do I go to now? The sticky about how to handle a Starwood issue says for escalated issues, to go to executive, but then it also says not to go to them with issues about specific hotels, so where do I go then? Back to customer service? Thanks.

Starwood Lurker

Jul 12, 04, 1:30 pm

Well, I'm finally backed and I did NOT get bumped. Interestingly enough, there were several guests there who WERE bumped that booked through group sales for the convention there (I think most of them weren't Starwood members at all), and the hotel couldn't find reservations for people that actually had them, etc. But I didn't get bumped. I did, however, have a PLETHORA of problems at the hotel. So now I am asking a new question to this thread: At what point do you just cut your losses and walk away versus making sure the hotel knows every problem you've had? I literally had so many problems at the hotel that I felt bad telling them after awhile. I did complain when I didn't get the room I was promised, and when the room I checked into was missing entire window panes, when my shower head was broken so that I had no hot water, etc. but the thing is that they were so nice in apologizing each time something went wrong that I felt bad even telling them when things went wrong after awhile. By the time my room service (which wasn't even what I ordered) had mold on it, and the engineering came to fix the broken toilet two hours after he was supposed to be there (I had to wait in the room the whole time because he was supposedly coming any minute), etc. and by the time he came up there, looked at it for about five seconds and said there was nothing he could do, by that time, I just felt so terrible telling the manager on duty AGAIN that something went wrong that I just stopped. I kept thinking that surely after I tell them enough times about things that went wrong, they would make sure nothing else went wrong. But things KEPT going wrong and they would keep saying everytime "I'm so sorry, please accept our apologies and we will credit points to your account/treat you to dinner/etc., we want to make sure the rest of your stay here is the best stay you've ever had at a hotel," but the service never got better. And then everytime I came into the lobby, that last manager would say, "We want to make sure you're enjoying your stay now, is it wonderful for you now?" and the first time, I said, well, you know, I appreciate it, but I still am having these problems . . . and by the end of the time, I just didn't even know how to answer that question so just stopped even telling him all of the problems. They were very good about offering points/compensation for the problems that occurred, and they did credit my account with some of the points they promised (though not all that they promised were credited for some reason), but honestly, I would have rather had less problems than trying to just garner points. Points are nice but when you have that many problems, it'd be nice if they worked towards that as well.
On another note, I had another stay last month at a Starwood in a different location that we had some problems with (I really am not a complainer but this particular hotel actually called us up in the hotel in the middle of the night to kick us out right then telling us we didn't have a reservation. When I told them yes we did and that I made it through the central reservations line, they just kept telling me I didn't. When I suggested that perhaps they call the Starwood reservations line to straighten it out [this was at about 11pm and I was sleeping when they called], they said they couldn't do that and I would have to. I got the manager of the hotel on the phone then who told me that she was not going to call Starwood reservations, I was going to have to call the central reservations line and straighten it out. I really didn't think this was my job and found it very frustrating that they'd call us up in the middle of the night when we're sleeping to kick us out, and refusing to straighten it out with central reservations themselves but make me do it [I don't know why they couldn't -- it was just a matter of calling them and getting a confirmation code from them to give the hotel], not to mention other problems we had.) So the thing is, I received a message on my machine in response to my complaint from the hotel saying they were going to credit my account, and frankly I didn't think their offering was enough for the problems we had had, and so I called the hotel back. I spoke to the manager on duty who said that he couldn't do anything about it except book future reservations and that I would have to talk to the general manager. He gave me the voice mail of the GM of the hotel and I left a message. Three days later, I still hadn't heard back from the GM so I called back the hotel and talked to a different manager on duty then who was difficult with me and told me that the file is closed. I asked to be transferred again to the GM's voicemail since he was out, and left another message. It has now been over a week that I have been trying to reach the GM (I've called five times now) and I still have not even heard back from him at all, which is just representative of the way this hotel treated us at our stay. What is my next step? The GM clearly isn't doing anything -- I originally called Starwood Customer Service to file the complaint, but they sent it to the hotel to handle. Now the hotel is not cooperating, so who do I go to now? The sticky about how to handle a Starwood issue says for escalated issues, to go to executive, but then it also says not to go to them with issues about specific hotels, so where do I go then? Back to customer service? Thanks.

Maybe it is time to write a letter to the corporate office, like the sticky indicates? Be sure to reference your Hotel Customer Service file number when you do.

I said don't send it to the Starwood Preferred Guest executive office if it is a hotel-related issue. That office only has the authority to deal with program-related issues.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

sinfonia

Jul 14, 04, 3:56 pm

ConsultantFlyer

Jul 28, 04, 5:49 am

Maybe it is time to write a letter to the corporate office, like the sticky indicates? Be sure to reference your Hotel Customer Service file number when you do.

I said don't send it to the Starwood Preferred Guest executive office if it is a hotel-related issue. That office only has the authority to deal with program-related issues.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I'm an SPG Platinum that was just walked from the Westin Santa Clara to the nearby Embassy Suites (gotta love the circa 1980's decor!) despite the room having been guaranteed with a credit-card at a corporate global preferred SET rate.

I was sheepishly informed by the front-desk supervisor on attemtped check-in that they only guarantee rooms till 1 am (arrival time at the property was ~ 1:45am) and my room had just been released to a "walk-up".

William - understanding you're surprising your mum and likely won't be checking e-mail until your return, can you or anyone else clarify the defined process for claiming the SPG elite walk compensation?

While the supervisor dealt with this in a professional manner, it still doesn't get over the decided inconvenience of not being able to avail myself of:

a)24-hour room service - pizza is actually darned good at the property (the thoughtful provisioning of a microwave at the Embassy suites doesnt help as it's now almost 3:30am and only option is Dennys)
b)Heavenly shower and robes - grungy tub and off-yellow towels simply don't cut it at the Embassy Suites
c)Not being able to take advantage of the $16 unlimited internet and long distance (significant time-savings in expense process over cell-phone or calling card)
d)Late check-out (I had planned to do return to the hotel after lunch to "rest my eyes" before checking out

What (if anything) can be done to ensure Platinum guests don't get walked in the future?

Last time I encoutered a similar siutation occurred, I was walked was by the Intercontinental Bangkok, and they had a limo on standby for when I arrived to take me to a very nice sub-penthouse corner suite at the Mandarin Oriental (nicer property IMHO). While I'm not expecting anything close to this level of customer service, what irks me most about this situation is the room was given to a "walk-in".

Overall (recent stays at the 4-points Sunnyvale and W-Silicon Valley excepted), I have been very happy with Starwood and particularly impressed with the responsiveness of those in this forum.

Starwood Lurker

Jul 29, 04, 5:34 pm

...William - understanding you're surprising your mum and likely won't be checking e-mail until your return, can you or anyone else clarify the defined process for claiming the SPG elite walk compensation?

You shouldn't have to claim it. It should happen automatically; however, if it doesn't, just send me your Starwood Preferred Guest account number and I'll take care of it personally.

...What (if anything) can be done to ensure Platinum guests don't get walked in the future?

Regrettably, not much from our end of things. The Platinum/Gold walk policy is severe for a reason - we don't want them walking elite members in the program. It looks like they took a gamble that you weren't coming and lost.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com