Starwood Preferred Guest - Tip: To get a printable page of the reservation on SPG.COM

As some may have discovered to their frustration, the web design geniuses have another quirk in their award winning web site. When you initially make a reservation, you get an option to open a printable page that gets rid of the huge border on the left with occasional ads and most of the useless verbiage in the details page. However, if you don't print it then, there is no way to get the printable page later from the reservations list.

There is a workaround. Use the change feature to make some minor change in your information (or just add a character to the special requests) and confirm change. You now get a reservation changed confirmation page which has the link to click to get the printable page. :)

The advantage of the printable page is that you can get away by printing just the first page as it avoids most of the crap that comes on the view details page and fits most of the useful information on the first page. They could have made the printable page even better by removing the useless banner and the large white space below it which would have fit the entire information in one page. But then usability is not a strength of the SPG web design team nor does any usability feedback get prioritized over trying out the next cute programming trick from the "JavaScript for Geeks" book.

Couldn't you just highlight what you need and print "selection"?

Just a thought. Does changing a reservation just the slighest bit have any negative sides to it? (SPG newbie talking here).

aloha

Couldn't you just highlight what you need and print "selection"?

Most browsers don't have that functionality.


Just a thought. Does changing a reservation just the slighest bit have any negative sides to it? (SPG newbie talking here).


Nothing I can think of although I would avoid doing this just a day or two before the stay (i.e., before the hotels touch the reservation) just because there seem to be non uniform ways in which different hotels get/access the reservation and I don't trust this part of their IT system to think the change will not have any side effects (such as confuse the hotel into thinking there are two bookings).

Many here update the special comments section to ask for suite upgrades, introduce no smoking preference when only smoking rooms are available, etc.

Perhaps William knows for sure whether there is any negative side effect.