Starwood Preferred Guest - spg.com internet only rates don't get starpoints??

William (or anyone else who can answer this question):

I recently booked a night at the Sheraton Premiere in Tyson's Corner through spg.com at a rate of $89.

The hotel is telling me that the only points that will post are for incidentals and my platinum bonus. They argue that ANY prepaid rate is ineligible for Starpoints.

I thought that all priceline and other wholesale/discount rates were ineligible, but I assume that when I book through spg.com, I get starpoints.

I've looked through the terms and conditions and it is a little vague about defining pre-paid rates, but the examples they give are all third-party discounters.

Can anyone tell me if I should be earning points for spg.com internet-only prepaid rates?

Thanks,

ACN

Make a phone call, anything booked at spg.com counts.

Make a phone call, anything booked at spg.com counts.

Already spoke with the hotel staff twice about it...they swear up and down that ANY pre-paid rate is ineligible

Not true. I always used pre-paid rates off spg.com in California and often in NYC. They have always earned points.

I’ve also used the pre-paid internet rates and received all my points, whether in the US, Canada, Europe or Asia.

Thanks for letting me know. I have asked the SPG Hotel Coordinator for this property to check in with them about why they think these rates are not eligible.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

A couple of hotels have started doing this recently. Most notably the oft praised Westin LAX ;) ...and Dallas Sheraton Grand at DFW as well. Double check the T&Cs before and AFTER booking....

Most - if not all - of my stays at *wood properties have been on internet-only prepaid rates. They have always received full starpoints without question. This would be a huge detriment to the program even if a few hotels started abandoning points for internet rates. It would be like what some airlines are doing now, fewer/no miles for certain discount fare classes. :td:

Most - if not all - of my stays at *wood properties have been on internet-only prepaid rates. They have always received full starpoints without question. This would be a huge detriment to the program even if a few hotels started abandoning points for internet rates. It would be like what some airlines are doing now, fewer/no miles for certain discount fare classes. :td:

I think the point is that it is not optional for them to abandon the Internet-only rates as being eligible.

Anyone who has such a missing stay should report it to Program Services by faxing in their hotel bill. 519-633-8557.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Most - if not all - of my stays at *wood properties have been on internet-only prepaid rates. They have always received full starpoints without question. This would be a huge detriment to the program even if a few hotels started abandoning points for internet rates. It would be like what some airlines are doing now, fewer/no miles for certain discount fare classes. :td:

I agree. I can see why Starwood would want its customers to book on SPG.com, but if they're going to throw in a bunch of frustrating T&C fine-print hoops for me to jump through, I'd rather forget about the points and just book somewhere else.

I'm glad we have William here to sort things out for us :)

I'm glad we have William here to sort things out for us :)

Me too! It's amazing. All the other boards I frequent have ENDLESS threads with pages and pages of "what if?" and extreme conjecture (check out the US Airways board for an example).

Here it's always four or five posts, a definitive answer .... on to the next topic.

^ Makes me like *wood even more!

Interesting because, when going into IAD, I've stayed at the Sheraton Premeire a few times with prepaid online rates booked through SPG and never had a problem with points posting.

Another OT I noticed at a recent stay that the emergency exit directions on the doors in the room, had stickers over the name "Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner" and with a new sticker saying "Sheraton Tysons Corner Hotel" I guess they're changing the name?.