Starwood Preferred Guest - Getting a refund on a pre-paid Westin room

I booked a room for me and some friends at the Westin in Boston this weekend.

I'm currently in NYC and both places are a whiteout.

It looks like getting to Boston is going to prove problematic.

Is it likely that Westin will refund my prepaid hotel stay because of these "extreme weather conditions" - or is that just the risk you take?

By means of comparison, most respectable airlines refund their customers if the flight is cancelled because of bad weather.

I've had this happen a dozen times with several different hotels (not just starwood) and the policy was surprisingly consistent:

- no refund for prepaid due to weather or other delays
- refund for guaranteed late arrival even if cancelation is too late

It seems that hotels really try hard to differentiate between the highly discounted prepaid rates and the more expensive rates, and one difference is the travel risk. I suppose the hotels look upon the prepaid as guaranteed revenue. I've lost several prepaids due to circumstances outside of my control (and bigger storms than the one this weekend!).

I booked a room for me and some friends at the Westin in Boston this weekend.

I'm currently in NYC and both places are a whiteout.

It looks like getting to Boston is going to prove problematic.

Is it likely that Westin will refund my prepaid hotel stay because of these "extreme weather conditions" - or is that just the risk you take?

By means of comparison, most respectable airlines refund their customers if the flight is cancelled because of bad weather.

I'm trying to get out of NYC and can't as well :-(

I booked a room for me and some friends at the Westin in Boston this weekend.

I'm currently in NYC and both places are a whiteout.

It looks like getting to Boston is going to prove problematic.

Is it likely that Westin will refund my prepaid hotel stay because of these "extreme weather conditions" - or is that just the risk you take?

By means of comparison, most respectable airlines refund their customers if the flight is cancelled because of bad weather.

Call Corporate Customer Service and see what they are able to do. 800-328-6242. Good luck.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Weird - I had this happen last year and called the hotel to tell them my flights were cancelled. They refunded the monies. I provided them with the airline/flight # information as well which they noted on my record.

This may be one of those YMMV situations though :) Did you call the Platinum Concierge and ask them to assist you?

I booked a room for me and some friends at the Westin in Boston this weekend.

I'm currently in NYC and both places are a whiteout.

It looks like getting to Boston is going to prove problematic.

Is it likely that Westin will refund my prepaid hotel stay because of these "extreme weather conditions" - or is that just the risk you take?

By means of comparison, most respectable airlines refund their customers if the flight is cancelled because of bad weather.

I am sure the hotel will tell you that Amtrak trains are still running from NYC to BOS even when it's snowing.