Starwood Preferred Guest - Online rate vs. Phone rate

I book a room tonight at 7PM for one right at the SD Sheraton Mission Valley. When I called the Platinum concierage to book the room, they quoted me the 'lowest' rate of $199 + tax, but when I checked into the hotel room, and then accessed SPG, i found a rate of $179+ tax. When i called Platinum concierge to inquire, they first told me that it might be a different because of the type of rate, i.e. non-refundable, pre-paid, etc. but I told them that i booked it at 7PM of the reserved night, and was also told that it was non-refundable. I was then told that they don't have access to certain rates on SPG.com, because they are on different system. She was very nice about it, but after thinking about it, i was kind of skeptical. Has anyone else experienced the same thing??

I guess I am a bit confused by your situation. Let me get this straight: you booked a non-refundable rate of $199 over the phone and noticed a lower rate on SPG.com? SPG.com often offers web-only rates that the phone people don't have access to. You can only book these through the website.

there are different rates on spg.com than can be had either by calling the hotel directly or spg. typically, spg.com has cheaper non-refundable rates.

My experience is that the phone rate tends to be slightly higher than the web rate. When I asked why, they always said because the phone rate quoted was refundable. But the web rate also was refundable.
I think they do that because clueless people tend to call to reserve, so why not make a buck off them.

I guess I am a bit confused by your situation. Let me get this straight: you booked a non-refundable rate of $199 over the phone and noticed a lower rate on SPG.com? SPG.com often offers web-only rates that the phone people don't have access to. You can only book these through the website.

That's essentially what happened. I knew about the lower rate of $179 online, because I had checked earlier, but because I was not near a computer when i was ready to book the room, i called Starwood to make a reservation. This is the first time I have made a reservation that gave me a different rate than the online rate. I guess I just thought that they would access the same computer system (especially at the Platinum Concierge level), and when they told me that it was the lowest rate available, I didn't realize that there could still be lower rate on SPG.com. Lesson learned.

I have seen the rate discrepancy many times between phone and web, and one is not always better than the other.

FYI - My assistant often books my travel, and she has had success cancelling pre-paid reservations (whether booked online for via phone) without penalty IF she calls on the same day as the res was made. This usually happens due to her error; e.g. she either fails to notice it was non-refundable until the email confirmation comes in, she clicks on the wrong rate, etc. Usually the Plat Concierge is very helpful with this.

I just cancelled a points booking at the Sheraton Dead Sea in favour of the Le Meridien, after having read the gossip on the Sheraton here.

There are some subtle differences. Most interestingly, the online booking (Sheraton) had a day-in-advance cancellation policy, and the telephone (LM) booking says "Arrival Day". Both were made with points.

Hm. I'm assuming it's not a "hotel" thing, but a "booking method" thing?