colerc
May 2, 06, 1:03 pm
I recently had an award stay at the W San Francisco that generated about $70 in incidental charges. At checkout, I asked at the front desk about using instant awards to pay for some of the bill, and filled out the form to apply a $40 credit (for 3,000 starpoints) to my bill. The deduction of points appeared almost instantly on my SPG online activity statement.
I never got the final receipt for the stay (probably my first mistake, I know, but a friend staying with me did the actual checking out; my flight left earlier than his) so I don't know how it looked, but my credit card statement first showed a charge for $29.90--as expected--and then the next day, another charge for $39.71.
I called the hotel (probably my second mistake, perhaps the Plat Concierge could have handled this issue more efficiently, or at least without so much intervention on my part) and left a voicemail with the accounting department, which was returned a couple of days later. Apparently they know just about nothing about Instant Awards, which isn't so surprising since they're not used all that often. But they're still looking into it.
So not only did the $40 credit never get credited, but it looks like, from what the person in accounting said, that the front desk just divvied up my charges and was going to charge me for 2 days of net access ($29.90) and take off the other charges--even though the other charges came out to $39.71, not $40. When accounting noticed this, not knowing that the $39.71 was supposed to be paid with Starpoints, they added an extra charge to the card.
Has anyone else had such a hard time redeeming Instant Awards? I know they're not as common as free night awards, but still, they shouldn't be this complicated.
And on a related topic, does anyone know the official word on using in-room net access after noon when you have late check-out? I've often gotten charged an extra night for it and contested it, but the front desk line is usually that you pay for the service "until noon." Sometimes (at Westins I've stayed at) this is what it says on the agreement page, so I let it go. But other times (at the Ws I've stayed at) it specifically says "24 hours of access." So what gives?
I never got the final receipt for the stay (probably my first mistake, I know, but a friend staying with me did the actual checking out; my flight left earlier than his) so I don't know how it looked, but my credit card statement first showed a charge for $29.90--as expected--and then the next day, another charge for $39.71.
I called the hotel (probably my second mistake, perhaps the Plat Concierge could have handled this issue more efficiently, or at least without so much intervention on my part) and left a voicemail with the accounting department, which was returned a couple of days later. Apparently they know just about nothing about Instant Awards, which isn't so surprising since they're not used all that often. But they're still looking into it.
So not only did the $40 credit never get credited, but it looks like, from what the person in accounting said, that the front desk just divvied up my charges and was going to charge me for 2 days of net access ($29.90) and take off the other charges--even though the other charges came out to $39.71, not $40. When accounting noticed this, not knowing that the $39.71 was supposed to be paid with Starpoints, they added an extra charge to the card.
Has anyone else had such a hard time redeeming Instant Awards? I know they're not as common as free night awards, but still, they shouldn't be this complicated.
And on a related topic, does anyone know the official word on using in-room net access after noon when you have late check-out? I've often gotten charged an extra night for it and contested it, but the front desk line is usually that you pay for the service "until noon." Sometimes (at Westins I've stayed at) this is what it says on the agreement page, so I let it go. But other times (at the Ws I've stayed at) it specifically says "24 hours of access." So what gives?