Starwood Preferred Guest - USAir canceled my flight, hotel still charging me for tonight

This just seems unfair. Any suggestions? A very unhappy Mr. Macska is on the phone right now with the Westin.

Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but I figured it is kind of related to USAir-if they had cancelled the flight yesterday based on the weather forecast, then I could have given the hotel 24 hrs notice....

This just seems unfair. Any suggestions? A very unhappy Mr. Macska is on the phone right now with the Westin.

Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but I figured it is kind of related to USAir-if they had cancelled the flight yesterday based on the weather forecast, then I could have given the hotel 24 hrs notice....


You might have more luck posting this on the Starwood forum.

May be covered by your travel insurance, check with your credit card.

Were you on a non-refundable pre-paid internet rate? Oftentimes due to weather/flight cancellations the hotel will refund your $. If the hotel won't do it your best course of action is to contact the customer service components as outlined in the STICKY at the top of this forum.

Print out the cancellation from usair.com as well so that you have the appropriate documentation. Please report back and let us all know what happened. Good luck!

Technically, depending on the T&C of your reservation, not only can you be charged for one night's stay, but you'll also forfeit any Starwood points because you were a no-show. In all my years of making travel arrangements I've only had this happen twice. One time the hotel refused to waive the fee because the trip was canceled at the last minute with no extenuating circumstances. The second time, the hotel GM agreed to waive the fee as a courtesy because there was a blizzard and no planes were landing.

Be nice, yet persistent. If that doesn't work, try throwing your status around. If that doesn't work, you may be out of luck.

Sort of on point, these same hotels may not even have room if everyone showed up, because a lot of the current guests have nowhere to go and probably have requested additional night(s), resulting in possible double-sells for many rooms.

A friend was suppose to fly into EWR this morn and connect onto PEK. Well when I gave him the good news on Fri, he called CO and they switched him to a Sat night flight on NWA instaed. Well that got cancelled so NWA put him onto their 1st flight this morn, which also got cancelled last night.

When he was booked onto last nights NWA flight he called and made a Res for The Four Pts at EWR, it was a Non-Refundable res. Well once NWA cacelled his flight he called and the Hotel Had NO Problems Refunding him his $$ as there was no way for him to get in. Dont know if the room went unsold as many flights were cancelled all day yesterday out of EWR. But last night at 9pm SPG.com still showed Availability.

Kudos to The Hotel for doing what is proper , Releasing someone who had no control over their flight and no-way to get into EWR.


If SPG cant do anything, Call the Hotel, most times teh Mgr will release the res without any penalty.

Post #5 above is fully correct. Hotels often do, but have no obligation to, release guests from overnight stays they cannot make at the last minute. Yes, even due to circumstances fully outside of their control.

I have personally never had a *wood hotel charge me for a night I couldn't make, but have sweated it out a time or two when I'd get stuck in an airport at midnight ... too late to fly to my real destination.

In every case, a call to the SPG plat desk always involves a call to the hotel directly to determine their position on not charging me for the unstayed night. So far, it's worked in my favor, but I am fully aware that hotels are in business for profit -- also, I know the terms of the booking always alert me that cancellations must be made 6pm day of arrival (sometimes earlier) to avoid penalty.

I was in the same position today with a United flight, and the Plat Concierge was able to persuade the hotel not to charge me a cancellation fee. Don't know if you're plat--if not, perhaps a few calls to the regular customer service line would do until you find an agent friendly & persuasive enough to get the hotel to drop the charge.

Honestly I'm surprised you're having trouble; it's not as though it was some freak one-off flight cancellation. You're far from the only one in this exact situation. Keep trying, and if they still insist on charging you, write a letter explaining the situation clearly and asking for the money back.

Technically, depending on the T&C of your reservation, not only can you be charged for one night's stay, but you'll also forfeit any Starwood points because you were a no-show.
Untrue, you get points, but you don't get the stay credit for top tier.

A good credit card and/or travel insurance can definately help the OP out in this situation.

I've twice not made a hotel reservation due to weather. In both cases, I was going to make the trip eventually and the hotel was happy to simply move the reservation--without penatly--to whatever date I wanted.

The first time, it was the suggestion of the hotel. In the second case, they said they'd do it and they made a note in my file since I couldn't 100% to a future date then and there. In the note, I could move the reservation one more time without penalty to a date that I could guarantee but I could not cancel the reservation entirely.

Fair enough.

All of US Airways transatlantic flights from PHL left on time last night, arrived in Europe this morning, and arrived back in PHL on time this afternoon. We were advised by PHL Ops that all major flights would operate as scheduled, and they did.

The OP appears to have been coming from Boston. All of Logan's other major airlines had completely given up on the day--US Airways apparently thought it could somehow do better.

(If the OP is not coming from Boston, that could change the equation.)

Folks - please either post to USAirways or regarding *wood - looks like this is getting a bit "mixed messages" here.

ldsant
*wood Moderator

...but you'll also forfeit any Starwood points because you were a no-show...

Not according to the Terms and Conditions of Membership at spg.com. You are supposed to be credited for the money lost, but not as a stay/night credit.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Not according to the Terms and Conditions of Membership at spg.com. You are supposed to be credited for the money lost, but not as a stay/night credit.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


This is interesting as this happened to me over Thanksgiving. Couldn't make it up to Toronto because of the snow in Buffalo, had to turn around and come home. Called to cancel the reservation to see what options I had and and she wouldn't cancel the reservation, told me to call back and speak with a manager the next day.

The Sheraton charged my credit card in full as it was a prepaid rate, never got any credit for a stay, points posted for the cost of the hotel. The answer I pretty much got was So, Sorry to bad...if you come to visit in the next 6 mos we'll see what we can do to accomodate you....

Wasn't very happy to say the least....

..The Sheraton charged my credit card in full as it was a prepaid rate, never got any credit for a stay, points posted for the cost of the hotel. The answer I pretty much got was So, Sorry to bad...if you come to visit in the next 6 mos we'll see what we can do to accomodate you...

Well, like I said, no stay or night credit. I can probably get you the Starpoints for the money lost, but I need your SPG acount number and some information regarding the stay. You can send it to me at the email address below.

Volley.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Not according to the Terms and Conditions of Membership at spg.com. You are supposed to be credited for the money lost, but not as a stay/night credit.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders



Mea culpa. I must have confused Starpoints with another program.