Starwood Preferred Guest - What to do with "SPG Award" Reservations when a property is rebranded?

We have a reservation at the Four Points Woburn (MA), but the hotel has been rebranded and no longer part of the Starwood family... what should we do when this happens? Does an award reservation still on after a rebranding occur? Don't think so?

We have a reservation at the Four Points Woburn (MA), but the hotel has been rebranded and no longer part of the Starwood family... what should we do when this happens? Does an award reservation still on after a rebranding occur? Don't think so?

The property was deactivated as of today and we are running reports from the database that would tell us who has both paid and award reservations. Once this is done, we contact the hotel and send them the deactivation closure forms, a copy of the reservations we have pulled, and ask them to sign a legal document that says they will honor all award reservations that were booked before the property was deactivated.

So, basically, at this point in time, no one on the Starwood or SPG end of things knows whether the property will be honoring award reservations or not. Once they return the signed deactivation forms, we will know and we will contact all members holding award reservations to let them know what the status of their reservation is.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

The property was deactivated as of today and we are running reports from the database that would tell us who has both paid and award reservations. Once this is done, we contact the hotel and send them the deactivation closure forms, a copy of the reservations we have pulled, and ask them to sign a legal document that says they will honor all award reservations that were booked before the property was deactivated.

So, basically, at this point in time, no one on the Starwood or SPG end of things knows whether the property will be honoring award reservations or not. Once they return the signed deactivation forms, we will know and we will contact all members holding award reservations to let them know what the status of their reservation is.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

We will cancel the reservation at the Four Points in Woburn... and reserve at the Sheraton Nashua for our trip to Boston.

What is the new brand of this Woburn 4 Points now?... and why don't Starwood tell people in advance when something like this happens?

Thank you William, ;)
We're sure glad we have you!

...What is the new brand of this Woburn 4 Points now?... and why don't Starwood tell people in advance when something like this happens?

Thank you William, ;)
We're sure glad we have you!

If you are anxious about the situation, then cancelling might be a good idea; however, at this point in time, you will have to cancel the reservation with the hotel directly and then call us to cancel the award for Woburn and rebook.

I have no idea what the hotel is now. They may or may not tell us on the deactivation form. We cannot tell anyone that a hotel is leaving until the deactivation actually occurs because there are legal documents that prevent us from doing so. Every now and then, word gets out, i.e., Manele Bay and the Lodge at Koeli, but we still cannot confirm, deny, or notify until the deactivation actually takes place.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

If you are anxious about the situation, then cancelling might be a good idea; however, at this point in time, you will have to cancel the reservation with the hotel directly and then call us to cancel the award for Woburn and rebook.

I have no idea what the hotel is now. They may or may not tell us on the deactivation form. We cannot tell anyone that a hotel is leaving until the deactivation actually occurs because there are legal documents that prevent us from doing so. Every now and then, word gets out, i.e., Manele Bay and the Lodge at Koeli, but we still cannot confirm, deny, or notify until the deactivation actually takes place.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


William we had a reservation using Starpoints, I did call and did cancel the reservation with Starwood and now have a cancellation number for the reservation. I also got my Starpoints back and now I have a reservation at the Nashua Sheraton. Now... do I need to call the hotel (Woburn Hotel) directly to make sure it is cancelled by the new operating chain? I do not want to be charged by this new company that runs this hotel. I am a loyal Starwood Guest and I don't want to stay elsewhere than a Starwood property. I do not want to stay at this property since it's not a Starwood anymore. What should I do?

William we had a reservation using Starpoints, I did call and did cancel the reservation with Starwood and now have a cancellation number for the reservation. I also got my Starpoints back and now I have a reservation at the Nashua Sheraton. Now... do I need to call the hotel (Woburn Hotel) directly to make sure it is cancelled by the new operating chain? I do not want to be charged by this new company that runs this hotel. I am a loyal Starwood Guest and I don't want to stay elsewhere than a Starwood property. I do not want to stay at this property since it's not a Starwood anymore. What should I do?

If you called and canceled with us before the property deactivated, then you are fine. No reason to call the hotel.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

If you called and canceled with us before the property deactivated, then you are fine. No reason to call the hotel.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thanks William!

The property was deactivated as of today and we are running reports from the database that would tell us who has both paid and award reservations. Once this is done, we contact the hotel and send them the deactivation closure forms, a copy of the reservations we have pulled, and ask them to sign a legal document that says they will honor all award reservations that were booked before the property was deactivated.

So, basically, at this point in time, no one on the Starwood or SPG end of things knows whether the property will be honoring award reservations or not. Once they return the signed deactivation forms, we will know and we will contact all members holding award reservations to let them know what the status of their reservation is.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


What does Starwood do in situations where someone has a confirmed award reservation and the new ownership of the hotel decides not to honor it?

What does Starwood do in situations where someone has a confirmed award reservation and the new ownership of the hotel decides not to honor it?

One of two things, usually: If there are immediate award reservations, we do everything we can to relocate them to one of our hotels nearby and notify the members of this fact. If the award reservations that are affected are three or more weeks in advance, then we (or the hotel in question) notifies the member that their award reservation has been cancelled, the Starpoints returned to their account, and that they need to call us (SPG) in order to find a suitable replacement.

But, every hotel deactivation is different. Some go well; others don't. However, in every instance, we try to make it the least inconvenient as possible for the member.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

What does Starwood do in situations where someone has a confirmed award reservation and the new ownership of the hotel decides not to honor it?

award reservations should become a liability of the new hotel just like any other liability a company assumes when one entity acquires another. moreover, starwood should reimburse the property the value of miles redeemed for the reservation.

that's probably not how it is done in practice, but doesn't this make sense?

Didnt care for the Prop, except it was a great place to get a cheap stay credit. With this one now gone and the 4P in Waltham already gone, inexpensive choices in the BOS area is almost nil.

I prefer staying outside the city itself, especially to save on the parking fees. Guess Ill be down to the Sher in Wakefield or Braintree, and as a last resort Lexington

Hopefully now they will rebrand that Sheraton Lexington Inn to be a 4P, because it is an absolute dump. Not as bad as the 4P Waltham was, but bad.

Didnt care for the Prop, except it was a great place to get a cheap stay credit. With this one now gone and the 4P in Waltham already gone, inexpensive choices in the BOS area is almost nil.

I prefer staying outside the city itself, especially to save on the parking fees. Guess Ill be down to the Sher in Wakefield or Braintree, and as a last resort Lexington

As I have heard, this was not a very good Starwood property (4Points Woburn), although it was just so-so, it was a category one, so 2000-3000 points a night is a steal! I guess that it's a good thing that the hotel was sold and we had to book elsewhere. We are now booked at the Sheraton Nashua, it looks like a far superior property. Many category one properties were closed or rebranded this year... I think Starwood is slowly removing those (cat. 1) properties... maybe they are figuring out, it's too much of a good deal! ;)

award reservations should become a liability of the new hotel just like any other liability a company assumes when one entity acquires another. moreover, starwood should reimburse the property the value of miles redeemed for the reservation.

that's probably not how it is done in practice, but doesn't this make sense?

I couldn't agree more. If I have a confirmed reservation (not to mentioned it has been "paid for" if the points have come out of my account), then the new hotel should have no choice but to accept the reservation. It is a liability of the existing hotel and should become a point of negotiation between the old owner and new owner as to how the reimbursement gets handled. I can think of no instance (unless a hotel is shut down) where the consumer should be hurt as we have a contract with the hotel to provide a certain room at that location for a given number of days at a given rate (or award level).

I could have seen this one coming. I found this property to below standard. I spent 3 nights there last year and couldn't sleep from all the semi-trucks allowed to park right below my window.

I did like the Four Points Boston Logan Airport. It has a great Japanese Rest. at that location.