Hilton HHonors - Starwood Mistake-what Would Hilton Do?

I have clients staying at the Kierland and Starwood will not honor my reservation. What should I do? Each hotel is 30 minutes away without traffic

Due to an error in the booking process, your reservation at The Westin
Kierland Villas cannot be honoured. The hotel does not participate in
the Starwood Preferred Guest program and therefore your Platinum
Override will be cancelled. The resort is completely sold out and we
have do not have any option but to relocate your reservation. On behalf
of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., I would like to offer my
deepest apologies for the inconvenience this situation has caused you.

We would like to offer to assist you in finding alternative reservations
at either The Buttes, A Marriot Resort or at The Hilton Phoenix East.
Please see the below links for details on each hotel.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...arriott-resort
/

http://www.hiltonphoenixeast.com/?src=ppc_google_hipho

At each of these hotels a 4 night minimum is in effect, beginning on the
31st of January, 2008. We must ask if you are able to adjust your stay
pattern from back one night to begin on the 31st of January, 2008.

Please note we need a response by mid-day tomorrow in order to secure
your accommodations through the Super Bowl committee. A full pre-payment
is required by the Super Bowl committee and once we have finalized the
details between you and Starwood, we will ask for this committee to
reach out to you to secure payment for the room.

We understand how upsetting this news must be and we would like to
assure you that we are truly apologetic for the incorrect booking.

Mr XXXX, we would like to thank you for your assistance in this
matter. We understand that as a consumer you have many options on who
you wish to use as your travel partner of choice. We are honoured to
have had you as a partner in comfort since 2002 and we hope you will
continue to value this relationship.

With Kind Regards,

XXXXXXXX | Consumer Affairs Executive Division
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. | 1111 Westchester Avenue,
White Plains, NY 10604
Tel: 914.640.2690 | Fax: 914.640.2655

What can you do? I know Hilton has "special demand" times they will not accept a Diamond force, that a few properties choose not to participate in HHonors and that people can screw up.

At this point I think you have to consider the options - and see if you can find anything else by the deadline, or accept one of their offers. IMO, it isn't germane to you right now what Hilton would do - I'd be searching and checking my options.

BTW, I would informally recommend editing out the employee's full name, as it is FlyerTalk TOS to not use employee full names unless they are public figures / managers.

Good luck to you.

Thanks
Name Edited/deleted

You mention that the reservation was for your clients but that it seems it was booked under your SPG Platinum benefits. It would seem to me in a case like that, Starwood is doing you a favor by helping you find alternate accomodations. The benefit of "guaranteed availability" is for the member, not clients, friends, family, etc.

This thread is very strange as the OP refers to the bookings as a "Starwood Mistake". What am I missing?

MisterNice

This thread is very strange as the OP refers to the bookings as a "Starwood Mistake". What am I missing?

MisterNice

I agree that it is not as clear as it could be, but my take is that he made a reservation that was apparently accepted, but then canceled later. The time frame involved would be good to know. If it was canceled within 24 hours or so, I think Starwood did a reasonable job of trying to fix a mistake. If it was made months ago, and the OP just now got notice that it wouldn't be honored, that is a different matter.

This thread is very strange as the OP refers to the bookings as a "Starwood Mistake". What am I missing?

MisterNice I am not sure if he is asking about the hilton hotel that was mentioned, or what would Hilton do if they cancelled his reservation like this. I can honestly say I have this problem every now and then with SPG. A lot of their hotels have different contracts with them that, makes the Plat force almost useless. Hilton has a few ex demand dates, but they are vary rare. I have booked Waldorf for New years, Hilton Indy for the 500 etc with out any issues. I often run into problems with the SPG resorts, Mostly Swan/ Dolphin they have a convention or something often.

The poster referenced that he was told the hotel wasn't part of "Starwood Preferred Guest program." End of story. There are many hotels, both Starwood and Hiltons. I can think of the Hilton in Atlantic City as well as 1-2 in Vegas (well, they're part of it but no bennies....).

While unfortunate, it sounds like the double benefit of booking a client's hotel and receiving stay\points just didn't work out. Now I wish I had clients that could help me get my stays!!!

Updated- Just noticed this is also posted over in the Starwood forum as well in which the *Wood rep offered specific advice, yet this was opened 9 hours later in the Hilton forum?

The poster referenced that he was told the hotel wasn't part of "Starwood Preferred Guest program." End of story. There are many hotels, both Starwood and Hiltons. I can think of the Hilton in Atlantic City as well as 1-2 in Vegas (well, they're part of it but no bennies....).

While unfortunate, it sounds like the double benefit of booking a client's hotel and receiving stay\points just didn't work out. Now I wish I had clients that could help me get my stays!!!

Updated- Just noticed this is also posted over in the Starwood forum as well in which the *Wood rep offered specific advice, yet this was opened 9 hours later in the Hilton forum?

I think the OP was just wanting to know from people that normally use Hilton what HHonors would do in this situation...if it were a Hilton branded hotel. To the OP, this happens in ALL hotel chains and there isn't a lot you can do. Unfortunately they usually leave themselves an out in the fine print. Whatever they can offer you is them just trying to help. That doesn't mean though that you can't (in a very polite way) express your discontent with the situation and possibly negotiate for a little more. If they can get you a reservation somewhere else, you can always continue to try back at the hotel you wanted to see if anything opens up. A bit of a longshot, but possible.

You mention that the reservation was for your clients but that it seems it was booked under your SPG Platinum benefits. It would seem to me in a case like that, Starwood is doing you a favor by helping you find alternate accomodations. The benefit of "guaranteed availability" is for the member, not clients, friends, family, etc.

Well stated -- I agree wholeheartedly. The fact that SPG is offering two viable options is more than I would have expected.

Only other thing I can think of -- and it may be a stretch -- is to request SPG credit for the spend at the other hotel because it was a *wood error -- and not the OP's doing -- that is causing the spend to go to another property.

...We would like to offer to assist you in finding alternative reservations at either The Buttes, A Marriot Resort or at The Hilton Phoenix East...Please note we need a response by mid-day tomorrow in order to secure your accommodations through the Super Bowl committee...Well, *wood wanted to hear back from the OP by mid-day yesterday. Over on the Marriott board, OP also indicated he/she would ask *wood to pay for the rooms and transportation (which seems ridiculous to me BTW). No word from the OP in the last 36+ hours, so I'm not sure there is any point in offering any more input.

The last time the Phoenix area hosted a superbowl (in 1996 I think), there weren't nearly enough hotels to host all of the visitors, those that were here charged 5x+ their normal rates. It was to the point that people were renting out their houses (or even rooms/a couch) for a few days, and making tons of money in the process. Hotels have picked up a bit here over the past 11 years, but still around an event like the Superbowl you have to expect most area hotels to fill, and this would probably be a time when diamond force (or other competitor version) won't work.

I've been to both the Buttes and the Mesa Hilton, haven't stayed at either, but have been to events/dinner type things. Of those two, I'd suggest the Buttes, more centrally located, yet has some nice remote areas. Either would be quite a drive up to Kierland, 30 minutes is generous, I'd say at least 45. But as others have said, the OP was lucky they gave options, as most hotels are already full. Not only will the Phoenix area be full, I'm sure Tucson will see a bump as well.

The SPG guidelines also clearly state that 72 hour advance Platinum Override priviledge does not apply to resort properties.

The Starwood hotel should have rejected the reservation to begin with. Although I hate the "special event" clauses that some programs layer on top of their so-called Override benefits, I think we'd agree that if there ever is a valid time to deny the Override, it's for the Super Bowl.

But...since they accepted the reservation...it should be on Starwood to help the guest solve the problem. They're telling him in advance: you're getting walked. Hey, it's better than getting walked at 7PM on the evening of arrival.

My opinion: Starwood should find a comparable property or two in the same price range and help ensure that the guest has a confirmed reservation there. I don't think they owe him free nights, unless they try to put him up in a hotel that wants to charge 4 nights, in which case I'd say Starwood should eat the 4th night unless they can get that charge waived behind the scenes. Again, they accepted a 3-night reservation, so they should do something to support that.

The initial response is lame. It doesn't really matter whether they consider themselves part of SPG after they accept the reservation. That should have come up before they accepted it.

Perhaps this thread really belongs in the spg forum
Because Starwood accepted the reservation its of my opinion a small but reasonable good will gesture is in order.That is my opinion.I would certainly open a case .If it were me and I couldn't find a reasonable solution or other reasonable lodging alternative I would be steamed.They booked the reservation and I see it as a contract/confirmed reservation booked in reasonable good faith that should be honored.Especially to a loyal Platinum customer.In answer Hilton in my experience doesn't do very well in these kind of situations however their guest assistance seems to be superior in resolving problem stays compared to Starwood.

What I am confused about is this - The Westin Kierland Villas is indeed a time share that doesn't participate in the Starwood program. However, the Westin Kierland Resort is right next door and his Platinum override should have been valid there. Why didn't he book at the Resort or why didn't they let him use his Platinum status to get a reservation there?