Starwood Preferred Guest - For Lurker: problem getting credits due to "other" category in bill

Hello, this is my first question directed to William. I tried a few searches using keywords like bill, categories, credit, etc. but couldn't locate anything relevant to my issue. In 3 out of my last 4 stays, part of the food and beverage charges were listed on the hotel bill as "other". All three times, these points were not initially credited to my SPG account -- not surprising since I can't imagine that SPG is poring over each individual charge on my bills to determine Starpoints. :p I eventually ended up getting credit for these charges after contacting customer service, but this will get old soon if it continues to happen with such frequency. Any idea why so many F&B charges would end up in "other"? How, in fact, does SPG deal with the "other" category -- asume it's ineligible charges? Any way this issue might be addressed systemwide?

I am also curious if other forum members have experienced this issue.

Thanks for listening (reading).

Hello, this is my first question directed to William. I tried a few searches using keywords like bill, categories, credit, etc. but couldn't locate anything relevant to my issue. In 3 out of my last 4 stays, part of the food and beverage charges were listed on the hotel bill as "other". All three times, these points were not initially credited to my SPG account -- not surprising since I can't imagine that SPG is poring over each individual charge on my bills to determine Starpoints. :p I eventually ended up getting credit for these charges after contacting customer service, but this will get old soon if it continues to happen with such frequency. Any idea why so many F&B charges would end up in "other"? How, in fact, does SPG deal with the "other" category -- asume it's ineligible charges? Any way this issue might be addressed systemwide?

I am also curious if other forum members have experienced this issue.

Thanks for listening (reading).

Recently, I had a similar issue come up with one of our participating properties. In this case, the hotel was trying to differentiate between separate f&B outlets and their cost centers, so they put some of them in the "Other" category rather than being in the "Food & Beverage" category.

Something in their internal database did not allow Starpoints to be earned from the "Other" category. Not sure why, but not all "Other" charges are eligible, so that may have had something to do with it.

I'm all for properties being able to recognize and make decisions regarding their revenue, but not at the expense of creating more work for the member and the Customer Contact Center. If you, or anyone else, encounters a situation like this, let me know and I will have the SPG hotel coordinators contact the property involved so it can be addressed with them directly.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Cast your vote! Visit www.freddieawards.com and choose your favorite frequent travel programs today.

I need to go back and review my old statements, but this definitely happened to my on at least 2 occasions last year. I remember wondering why dining was listed as "other" It took a while to straighten out all the points.

Thanks! I will email you names of the specific hotels in which I encountered this issue.



I'm all for properties being able to recognize and make decisions regarding their revenue, but not at the expense of creating more work for the member and the Customer Contact Center. If you, or anyone else, encounters a situation like this, let me know and I will have the SPG hotel coordinators contact the property involved so it can be addressed with them directly.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Cast your vote! Visit www.freddieawards.com and choose your favorite frequent travel programs today.

You know, I don't really know if this impacted me or not but as I read the thread I thought: Man, this William is one solid guy. I know that is not a revelation, but look at the diplomacy with which he does his job in a very difficult arena. It's very impressive. I wish I had folks in my company like this.

Ok, now I'll go dig through my statements.