Starwood Preferred Guest - Award Not Available, But Paid (Pre-paid, that is) Room Is?

I wonder if anyone else has encountered this situation.

I explored booking a three-night award at a Sheraton in early October and was told that none were available, the hotel is sold out. Yet, I can reserve a room at the property for the exact same nights (or any single night in the time period), but only if I reserve via the internet-only pre-paid non-cancel rate. There was no BAR, rack rate or any other rate available.

I spoke to SPG and the hotel. It is near a convention center in a major East Coast city and there is a medical convention during that time. A manager at the hotel admitted they were close to sold out (figured as much) and that the award rate they are compensated by SPG was below the rate they were asking.

Now, it's not a major deal. I'm rethinking another destination for that weekend. However, this struck me as a blackout of sorts. Granted, I believe properties can claim exceptions for major events, but that wasn't the stated reason for an award not being available. And I have never encountered a situation in which the only paid rate available was a pre-paid, non-cancel rate.

This may be a rare situation, but it doesn't seem right. Any thoughts?

Very interesting topic, I too am eager to hear responses.

I too have experienced the situation in which no award rooms were available while spg.com shows availibility for prepaid internet rates on standard rooms

To be able to book an award, a standard room has to be available for sale or the hotel has to offer upgraded rooms for upgrade awards on all of the nights being queried. I guess the only way we could know if anything was amiss in this instance would be to know which property this is and what dates are in question. Then we might be able to set about understanding what might be creating this problem.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I ran into this exact issue when attempting to reserve an award at the Philadelphie City Center Sheraton. Also in October. The odd thing was that when I clicked on the "Award" option, it said, "Please contact SPG for....". It did not state that there were "no rooms available".

There were in fact rooms available - only pre-paid, online bookings. A call to the Platinum desk got me a terrific CSR who contacted the hotel and secured me an award room for the one night that I needed. It required an online booking and the changing of the rate once it was done. I appreciated the work around.

I'd never seen this issue before, and thought that it must be related to the new website. I hope it's not a sign of difficulties/blackouts to come.

Aloha

I ran into this exact issue when attempting to reserve an award at the Philadelphie City Center Sheraton. Also in October. The odd thing was that when I clicked on the "Award" option, it said, "Please contact SPG for....". It did not state that there were "no rooms available".

There were in fact rooms available - only pre-paid, online bookings. A call to the Platinum desk got me a terrific CSR who contacted the hotel and secured me an award room for the one night that I needed. It required an online booking and the changing of the rate once it was done. I appreciated the work around.

I'd never seen this issue before, and thought that it must be related to the new website. I hope it's not a sign of difficulties/blackouts to come.

Aloha

It's not a web site issue. The DAILY0 (read: Internet Only Rates) are retrieved from a different source than regular rates. If the hotel does not pull them from being sold like they should be doing, then it looks like they are still selling rooms when, in fact, they don't have any to sell.

It is always possible that they get cancellations in the interim and do not return the availability to us, ergo, your ability to get the workaround, but this is no way a harbinger of black out dates on Preferred (free) Night Awards. Difficulties? No doubt about it. Still, it is simply a technical issue that needs to be addressed at the hotel level.

Now, if only I knew what hotel it was that prompted the thread...

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Now, if only I knew what hotel it was that prompted the thread...

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Interestingly, the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center first weekend in October. And the prepaid internet-only rate is a standard (read traditional) room.

So they have rooms to sell, but not for awards. My healthy sense of skepticism suggests the property has found a slick way to hide inventory for awards when it may be to their advantage.

Interestingly, the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center first weekend in October. And the prepaid internet-only rate is a standard (read traditional) room.

So they have rooms to sell, but not for awards. My healthy sense of skepticism suggests the property has found a slick way to hide inventory for awards when it may be to their advantage.

Thanks. I know it appears that they have rooms to sell. We shall find out tomorrow. But, skepticism aside, I think they just forgot to close out availability in PRSNET and are now subject to overselling themselves. ;)

But, just in case they should have a standard room available, do you want it for Starpoints? If so, what dates do you want?

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thanks. I know it appears that they have rooms to sell. We shall find out tomorrow. But, skepticism aside, I think they just forgot to close out availability in PRSNET and are now subject to overselling themselves. ;)

But, just in case they should have a standard room available, do you want it for Starpoints? If so, what dates do you want?

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


First of all, it is more than an appearance of rooms for purchase. They are available on Starwood's web site as long as you are willing to pay in advance with no cancellation or refund.

Second, as a customer, I'm not interested in the rationale and I have no idea what PRSNET means. The bottom line is there are standard rooms for sale, but not for award redemption, which is in contrast to Starwood's no blackout promise.

And I question whether there is a mistake. I spoke to a front desk manager at the hotel and explained the whole situation (recall, it was the FD manager who told me that the compensation from SPG was below what they were charging). If it was truly a mistake, I would have expected a manager to take some steps to correct it. Yet, the same circumstances exist this morning, over a week since my conversation with that manager. Honestly, the manager's explanation, while admittedly overly candid, rings truer to me.

Finally, thank you for offering to assist, but I'm still considering other destinations. And the favorable airfare associated with this trip may be gone. Besides, it rubs me the wrong way that one has to go through special channels to get what I should be getting through regular channels. Besides, I'm now a little lukewarm on this property -- for the subject weekend and in the foreseeable future.

Am running into kind of a similar problem at the Mystique in Greece. It appears that rooms are available for sale, but never available for SPG award redemption. Is it because there are no "standard" rooms available at the Mystique, where all the rooms are "suites"?

Is it because there are no "standard" rooms available at the Mystique, where all the rooms are "suites"?

You got it.

If you phone a CSR, you should be able to book the suites at a "higher" rate.

Hmmm, that's precisely what I did but the customer service rep told me that there's nothing available, and I told him to check for the entire month of September and October... I will phone the CSR again...

(recall, it was the FD manager who told me that the compensation from SPG was below what they were charging).

That is often the case, but that doesn't necessarily make the SPG compensation levels the immediate factor for such situations happening.

First of all, it is more than an appearance of rooms for purchase. They are available on Starwood's web site as long as you are willing to pay in advance with no cancellation or refund.

Yes, I think we established this fact fairly early on, no? I guess where we disagree is in the reason. You seem to want to believe that it is some vast conspiracy. I tend to believe that the revenue manager simply forgot to shut off the Internet only rate.

Second, as a customer, I'm not interested in the rationale and I have no idea what PRSNET means. The bottom line is there are standard rooms for sale, but not for award redemption, which is in contrast to Starwood's no blackout promise.

Okay, you don't care if this is a mistake or not. I can live with that. All I care about is getting the property to fix their mistake, which will take of this problem.

And I question whether there is a mistake. I spoke to a front desk manager at the hotel and explained the whole situation (recall, it was the FD manager who told me that the compensation from SPG was below what they were charging). If it was truly a mistake, I would have expected a manager to take some steps to correct it. Yet, the same circumstances exist this morning, over a week since my conversation with that manager. Honestly, the manager's explanation, while admittedly overly candid, rings truer to me.

That's because everyone would rather it be a conspiracy theory. Much more sexy than a simple mistake. ;) Your conversations with the hotel front desk manager just reveal a lot of ignorance about how the program works regarding what the hotel gets as reimbursement when the hotel is 90% occupied. The people to whom you spoke are apparently clueless, but I assure you that the revenue manager knows otherwise and that there is no reason to play games with standard award availability.

Finally, thank you for offering to assist, but I'm still considering other destinations. And the favorable airfare associated with this trip may be gone. Besides, it rubs me the wrong way that one has to go through special channels to get what I should be getting through regular channels. Besides, I'm now a little lukewarm on this property -- for the subject weekend and in the foreseeable future.

No worries.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Yes, I think we established this fact fairly early on, no? I guess where we disagree is in the reason. You seem to want to believe that it is some vast conspiracy. I tend to believe that the revenue manager simply forgot to shut off the Internet only rate.



Okay, you don't care if this is a mistake or not. I can live with that. All I care about is getting the property to fix their mistake, which will take of this problem.



That's because everyone would rather it be a conspiracy theory. Much more sexy than a simple mistake. ;) Your conversations with the hotel front desk manager just reveal a lot of ignorance about how the program works regarding what the hotel gets as reimbursement when the hotel is 90% occupied. The people to whom you spoke are apparently clueless, but I assure you that the revenue manager knows otherwise and that there is no reason to play games with standard award availability.


Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


I certainly did not perceive that we had both agreed to that fact that rooms were available for sale. Recall, you wrote, "I know it appears that they have rooms to sell." Sorry, but my takeaway from that comment was an implication that there were not rooms for sale or that my perception was inaccurate. If you meant something different, then pardon my perception and/or consider how you could've worded it differently to establish more mutual understanding.

And I do not perceive a conspiracy, however I do perceive a savvy (perhaps even partially sneaky) property that has found a way, using the system, to deny award redemptions when inventory is available. And I would be willing to bet it is the same knowledgeable Revenue Manager that is playing the system. Either that or he is clueless as to what is going on around him.

Finally, if managers at your properties are so ignorant and "clueless" as to how a fundamental customer loyalty program works, then I question the quality of your organization. And the fact that they took no initiative to "correct' this "mistake" is a further indictment.

Out!

The Starwood Lurker may have offered a caveat that this is by no means a harbinger of where Starpoints redemption is headed, but I can't help but notice a pattern of inconsistency in the application of the SPG redemption rules, across brands and properties. Allow me to add my current predicament to the prior posts.

Case in point: For the last three weeks, I have been trying to book two nights at the Category 4 Sheraton New Orleans on Canal Street (November 11-13) using Starpoints, to no avail. I have already spoken with five different CSRs, hoping that there would be one who could somehow circumvent the process to make one room available. Zilch!

As of 9/4, 11:00PM ET, the hotel's website shows rooms are still available (pre-paid). The last CSR I spoke with even called the Manager of the Hotel in question and was told that, indeed, there were rooms available, but there was a required three-night stay, should I want to book a room using Starpoints. The CSR, apparently privy to the limited availability of rooms due to a convention, then suggested that I use my Starpoints on those three nights (even if I only had to stay for two nights), with the third night non-cancellable. :eek:

My questions thus pertain to the rather cryptic use of the "No Blackout Dates OR Availability Restrictions" service mark, as claimed by Starwood. In this case, shouldn't I be able to use my Starpoints to book two nights, as pointed out by the OP, since SPG advertises: "If we have a room, you have it"--when clearly, they still have rooms for sale? Further, why should I acquiesce to the three-night minimum? Kindly enlighten me on this issue, as I have not come across this particular minimum-stay requirement in the redemption rules. :confused:

Any clarification on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

ive seen the 3 day minimum thing with some hotels in israel, often the meridiens. it doesnt say 3 day minimum anywhere, but when i search for 1 day online there may b no award availability but if i search 3 days online, availability shows up. sometimes if i call up plat desk, they just see regular availability for 1 day and allow me to book it. otherwise, i do a 3 day booking online for the award res then call the plat desk and have them cancel 2 of those 3 days, has always worked for me

r

The Starwood Lurker may have offered a caveat that this is by no means a harbinger of where Starpoints redemption is headed, but I can't help but notice a pattern of inconsistency in the application of the SPG redemption rules, across brands and properties. Allow me to add my current predicament to the prior posts.

Case in point: For the last three weeks, I have been trying to book two nights at the Category 4 Sheraton New Orleans on Canal Street (November 11-13) using Starpoints, to no avail. I have already spoken with five different CSRs, hoping that there would be one who could somehow circumvent the process to make one room available. Zilch!

As of 9/4, 11:00PM ET, the hotel's website shows rooms are still available (pre-paid). The last CSR I spoke with even called the Manager of the Hotel in question and was told that, indeed, there were rooms available, but there was a required three-night stay, should I want to book a room using Starpoints. The CSR, apparently privy to the limited availability of rooms due to a convention, then suggested that I use my Starpoints on those three nights (even if I only had to stay for two nights), with the third night non-cancellable. :eek:

My questions thus pertain to the rather cryptic use of the "No Blackout Dates OR Availability Restrictions" service mark, as claimed by Starwood. In this case, shouldn't I be able to use my Starpoints to book two nights, as pointed out by the OP, since SPG advertises: "If we have a room, you have it"--when clearly, they still have rooms for sale? Further, why should I acquiesce to the three-night minimum? Kindly enlighten me on this issue, as I have not come across this particular minimum-stay requirement in the redemption rules. :confused:

Any clarification on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

Chiming in. I just tried to book the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach and had the same problem that others are encountering elsewhere. I asked for June 6-8 and spg.com showed pre-paid rooms available. When I tried to get an award stay room, I received the message "for rooms, Call starwood preferred." I called and was told that "no, there are no rooms available." I questioned this and was transferred to another CSR who also tried to help. He said that "the rate" wasn't loaded in the system properly so that he could not book me an award room even though rooms are available. Since it was the middle of the night (when I don't sleep, I surf), the second CSR suggested I call back in the morning when a CSR could call the hotel directly and get the situation straightened out.

I am not generally a conspiracy theorist, William, but I am troubled that I am not alone in having this particular problem. Has something changed recently that would make this "pre-paid" room dilemma more common? Or is this a problem that has always existed but that is only here getting attention?

Took

I am not generally a conspiracy theorist, William, but I am troubled that I am not alone in having this particular problem. Has something changed recently that would make this "pre-paid" room dilemma more common? Or is this a problem that has always existed but that is only here getting attention?

Took

Given the number of hotels associated with SPG, I'm guessing that it is the latter rather than the former, although a good conspiracy theory is always a lot of fun.

Mike

deleted

It would seem that this is not not an isolated (although, admittedly, not common) situation.

It would be my sincere hope that Starwood would take some efforts to investigate these situations and address them appropriately (which generally means customer oriented).

I'm not holding my breath though. If these instances are truly a "mistake", then why has this particular one not been corrected for two weeks, despite being brought to the attention of managers or above at both the hotel and Corporate.

Anyway, reading the negative reviews of the Sheraton Phil. CC, it would seem I dodged a bullet.

...I am not generally a conspiracy theorist, William, but I am troubled that I am not alone in having this particular problem. Has something changed recently that would make this "pre-paid" room dilemma more common? Or is this a problem that has always existed but that is only here getting attention?

Took

This was exactly the same problem as reported by wth and the hotel has fixed it so the Internet Only Rate is no longer showing. It is a problem that happens from time to time when 1) the hotel forgets to disable the Internet Only Rate or 2) is having technical difficulties doing so, like the Sheraton in Philadelphia.

The Sheraton in Philadelphia is still working on fixing their technical problems, so I don't have an update on when the Internet Only Rate will be disabled there for early October yet.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

The Sheraton in Philadelphia is still working on fixing their technical problems, so I don't have an update on when the Internet Only Rate will be disabled there for early October yet.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Technical difficulties? Do you seriously expect me to believe that?

Isn't it interesting that despite their technical difficulties they have managed to increase the internet only rate (I mean the only rate) for the originally considered stay period within the last week?

Face it, they are playing the system to their advantage. Revenue managers are notoriously customer-unfriendly.

Technical difficulties? Do you seriously expect me to believe that?

Isn't it interesting that despite their technical difficulties they have managed to increase the internet only rate (I mean the only rate) for the originally considered stay period within the last week?

Face it, they are playing the system to their advantage. Revenue managers are notoriously customer-unfriendly.

You can believe or not, but it is the truth, and I have been privy to the back and forth emails between them and technical assistance.

Out, as you say. ;)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I have consistently had the same issue booking award nights at the W ( Los Angeles/Westwood).

Rooms available, but no award rooms. A call to the hotel, and then the Starwood desk revealed that they would give me a room for 30% more in points. ( at that time it was a 10,000 point night, which they made available at 13,000.)

This is a game, and they're playing by their own set of rules.

:td:

I have consistently had the same issue booking award nights at the W ( Los Angeles/Westwood).

Rooms available, but no award rooms. A call to the hotel, and then the Starwood desk revealed that they would give me a room for 30% more in points. ( at that time it was a 10,000 point night, which they made available at 13,000.)

This is a game, and they're playing by their own set of rules.

:td:

Actually, that is not anything related to this issue unless they were also selling traditional rooms online at the Internet Only Rate. It seems that the W Los Angeles was sold out of traditional rooms when you wanted to stay, but had upgraded award rooms available, i.e. above traditional.

But, I guess the only real solution to this perception is to do away with the upgrade award rooms and make it traditional only, which we aren't willing to do, so I guess we just learn to live with it instead.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

William, thanks for looking into this. I note that the Sand key resort issue is fixed (no rooms available, at all). And please don't get rid of the upgraded rooms option! I have used it several times.





Actually, that is not anything related to this issue unless they were also selling traditional rooms online at the Internet Only Rate. It seems that the W Los Angeles was sold out of traditional rooms when you wanted to stay, but had upgraded award rooms available, i.e. above traditional.

But, I guess the only real solution to this perception is to do away with the upgrade award rooms and make it traditional only, which we aren't willing to do, so I guess we just learn to live with it instead.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

The issue at the Sheraton City Center has been resolved and Preferred (free) Night Awards can be booked through the Customer Contact Center until the web site refreshes overnight and then they will probably be available there as well.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

William,

Thank you for taking your time to look into everyones situations. I don't think people here say thank you enough.

Eduardo.