Starwood Preferred Guest - Website Can't Display Reservation

I went to check one of my reservations on the SPG website and the following message appeared -

"We have found your reservation. It is not possible to display this particular reservation online. This is usually due to an unusual or complex rate or set of rates associated with the reservation in question. For questions regarding this reservation, please contact the Customer Contact Center nearest you."

This was a simple 1-night award reservation.

I have the same message for a forthcoming booking mixing award nights and paying nights... (however booked on the phone)

Same thing here for an award stay I booked before the category change. Also, my points for the stay have not been deducted yet.

Same here, 1 paid night + 4 50% off reward nights. Called Platinum Concierge & was told the hotel has combined the 2 reservations, no need to worry. I printed both reservations just in case.

One of the worst websites I've ever had to use.
Jim

I have several award reservations and one paid stay resy...spg's web site can't begin to display these in linear form, by date sequence, with a clearly marked "must cancel by date" so that I can easily see suspenses for cancellation. It is and has always been a dysfunctional for managing multiple and resys which involve both award and paid stays. It is what it is, and starwood clearly knows it and seems ok w/ it.

My challenge to the starwood CEO - establish a "john doe" account so he doesn't have superior access or visibility which I assume starwood execs have...then proceed to book three paid stays, and three award stays, wait 30 days, and then try to figure out the status of his various reservations by simply logging in to a web browser *without calling the starwood help desk*. Cannot be done.

Everyone knows it and we've (multiple posters) all said it in multiple threads for years.

Not sure if this is the answer to everyone's experience, but I do know that whenever a reservationis made or changed on the telephone, you lose internet access to it. Anytime I have asked the Platinum Concierge to book a rewards stay with a points-based upgrade, you lose all access to it on the web.

This has been discussed here before. The real problem is getting to the hotel and finding out there is a problem. The only solution I see is to call one week before and have them resend the reservation to you. And, of course, make sure to bring it with you when you travel.

That said, it's totally ridiculous that a company like Starwood can't solve this problem.:td:

Not sure if this is the answer to everyone's experience, but I do know that whenever a reservationis made or changed on the telephone, you lose internet access to it. Anytime I have asked the Platinum Concierge to book a rewards stay with a points-based upgrade, you lose all access to it on the web.



I guess this is exactly my problem since I wanted an upgraded award stay, which you can't book through the website. So I did book the reservation over the phone. I must admit I do not know any other major travel company whose website has so little capability that you cannot access a phone reservation online.

Hi, Starwood Lurker. This seems to be some important feedback that doesn't involve corporate policy that could easily be fixed. Either be able to book an upgraded award stay online or provide access to the phone bookings. Thanks.

Jerry-

I'm sure Lurker will respond, but this is a topic that's been covered before. I'm not an IT guy, but it seems to be very low on their list of priorities. I love Starwood, but this is a big black mark. As I said before, :td:

Jerry-

I'm sure Lurker will respond, but this is a topic that's been covered before. I'm not an IT guy, but it seems to be very low on their list of priorities. I love Starwood, but this is a big black mark. As I said before, :td:

I know, but maybe it needs to be covered again. It's like many other things - ignored until it gets so annoying one has to respond. Now with the other things people are getting upset about, maybe Starwood's lofty perch with frequent travelers is a bit in jeopardy and they need to respond to some of these issues or the program will not continue to look as good.

I know for myself that I have been moving some of my stays to Hilton HHonors because of the lack of Starwood properties in a number of locations I travel to and the differential in quality of mid-level hotels (e.g., Hilton Garden Inn vs 4 Points). If I am going to have to spend a lot more points for award stays, if they continue to make it inconvenient to book those stays, and if the Hilton AMEX continues to offer much better point earning capacity than the Starwood AMEX (though Starwood points are much more valuable than HHonors points), the differential in program quality is getting smaller and my allegiance to Starwood is beginning to be tested.

...Hi, Starwood Lurker. This seems to be some important feedback that doesn't involve corporate policy that could easily be fixed. Either be able to book an upgraded award stay online or provide access to the phone bookings. Thanks.

Just as an FYI, the booking engine does not support upgraded award bookings online at this point in time, and reservations booked over the telephone do not display online.

Not to say that this won't ever change, but that is how it is now.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I'll just add that, in addition to phone booked reservations and award upgrades, there is another reason that reservations seem to be unviewable on line:

sometimes when a hotel manually upgrades any reservation from on premise in advance.

Boy, that's poorly worded, but I don't know how else to word it. When a hotel assigns me to, say, suite #811, I can't view it on line. However, if they upgrade my room to a suite category without making a specific room block, it's usually (but not always) viewable.

Strange stuff, but that's been my fairly consistent experience over the past 5 or 6 years with spg.com. Anytime I need to have a hard copy of the reservation and I can't view it online, I call the Plat desk and ask them to simply e-mail me a copy of the current reservation. It's never been a problem.

Just as an FYI, the booking engine does not support upgraded award bookings online at this point in time, and reservations booked over the telephone do not display online.

Not to say that this won't ever change, but that is how it is now.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thank you - I understand the situation. What I am saying is that many SPG members feel that either or both of these issues are a problem for them and are asking (hoping) that management rethinks their position and does something to improve the capabilities of the booking engine. Thank you again for your quick response. I hope you can pass on our concern.

JerryFF, I suspect you're preaching to the choir to William (starwood Lurker).

This comment about the poor web site is among many, many other suggestions and is covered in one of the stickies at the top of the starwood threads for Y E A R S.

This thread, started 1/5/05, with 385 posts, says it all.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=654048

if Starwood has not used this as the blueprint for things to be considered for the next website makeover, then shame on starwood. Why do we collectively waste our time and energy and bother ever thinking starwood will use these comments ?

Upon learning of starwood.com's makeover over a year ago, everyone was thinking they might really do some innovative stuff and, gasp, actually use some of the long laundry-list of needs and feedback in said stickie.

nope - except for a nice visual makeover, the core content and capability of starwood.com was little-changed, at least in terms of how I use the site (as little as possible) and IMO.

So, with near-certain knowledge that William has "sent up" these various ideas over the years, for whatever reason, starwood execs have (apparently) intentially decided we will not see these improvements per the sticky.

William's warning above is ominous and suggests to me "more of the same so get used to it".

Starwood can be out buying a major chain (Le Meridien) and can be out developing new concepts, and developing condos in Vegas, and converting nice, once-marquis destiation HOTELS into condos and timeshares...all these pro-business development initiatives...but can't devote the resources into a decent web site.

So be it. Starwood's loss.

So, as JerryFF eloquently put it - as the spg program weakens, one looks with more scrutiny other diffferentiators. Starwood's weak website stands out even more and is a hassle to use and more importantly, for that matter, who has the time to *call* in for information when the siute should be doing this ?

As an aside - I had a nice dinner w/ a small business owner tonight who puts about $50K a month on his AMEX CHARGE card (as he told me) which feeds into membership Rewards. He was all ears when I described how powerful this spg program had been - and until Feb 1 I could easily make the CON case against MR and the PRO case for spg. It was a slam dunk discussion. Now, I find I literally have lost my enthusiam in telling others about starwood in general, and the spg program specifically. I am not sure I can make a convincing case for spg now to try to convert this person to the starwood card (which would, by definition, convert him to starwood hotel brands when he went to use his 600K points a year). What a difference this point devaluation has made for me.