Starwood Preferred Guest - booked Sheraton Kauai w/ pts - res not showing up anymore?

Back in May 2007, I booked 2 nights at the Sheraton Kauai for 4/1/08-4/3/08 with points (to tack onto a SVO trip). I called in and spoke to a SPG agent who did the booking w/ points. Shortly afterwards, I received an email from Sheraton Kauai with the confirmation/reservation number, and I could see it as an "upcoming stay" on SPG.com. Well, I didn't check SPG.com for a long time after that. I just logged in today and I don't see it as an upcoming stay anymore. Did they cancel the reservation on me without telling me? I emailed SPG to ask them about it, but have not gotten a response. Am I about to be screwed? Do they do this often? I will call them on Monday if I don't hear back, but this is pretty troubling to me, and I will be really unhappy if they canceled the reservation and now the hotel is "full". I'm hoping it's just a website issue, but I'm pretty concerned.

Sounds like a common website issue that when someone makes a change to a res (such as an upgrade), it might not be available to view online.

Two options:
1) search for the res by confirmation number. Sometimes this brings it up, I think.
2) call and ask. Why wait until Monday and put yourself through 2 days of worry?:confused: (You could also use the Click 2 Call feature in the Customer Support section of spg.com to have them call you.)

Whew, it is showing up again! I guess it was a web glitch or something. CSRs will probably think I'm bonkers. I was thinking the CSRs don't work on the weekend hence I waiting to call in Monday. I forget which of the companies I deal with are open on the weekends and which aren't, so I default to calling on Monday.

My question: does SPG ever cancel a reservation w/ SPG points without notifying you? I thought I heard once that they did to someone, and he just found out because he happened to log in and see it missing (the implication being that if he didn't log in, he'd never know and go to his destination to find he had no room). I forget why his reservation was canceled, but there was a point difference when he tried to rebook (forgot why too, hotel category/point increase?). This was what I was afraid of was happening to me.

My question: does SPG ever cancel a reservation w/ SPG points without notifying you? I thought I heard once that they did to someone, and he just found out because he happened to log in and see it missing . . .

It's funny you ask -- it just happened to me this week. I was working with a Platinum Concierge on a reservation and a few hours later logged in to check on some pricing for a different trip and noticed that one of the reservations was no longer viewable. Then, I noticed that the corresponding number of points for that reservation had just been added to my account.

So I called and asked the agent to look at the reservation and see if everything was in order. She read all the particulars to me, including that it was an award reservation, and said everything is in order. So then I asked her to look at the points deposit to my account and tell me what that was for. It was, in fact, the points for that very reservation. She said the award had been canceled. Doh! Not so, "in order" after all.

I asked her how that happened and she said it was done by an agent but she has no idea why. She reinstated the award, and the reservation became visible again online.

This reservation was for a stay in Tokyo. Had I not pursued it as far as I did, I can just imagine standing at check-in with no reservation -- in Japan -- no doubt one of the most rules-focused places on earth. It would have made for a bad day.

Now sometimes, reservations are not viewable because the hotel has modified them. That usually means that they've upgraded the room type. However, that's usually (though not always) pretty close to the date you're checking in. But, the mystery points, that happened to be the same amount as the award reservation in question, made me extra suspicious, so I pushed it further.

I think any time points have either not been taken out of your account for a reservation, or have been put back in (and you haven't canceled anything), specifically address that issue. In your case, ET, it sounds like your issue was attributable to the common weekend account problems that seem to plague SPG. But if something happens like this in the future, I'd recommend checking your points balance and account activity. If points have been redeposited, it's likely your award was canceled -- apparently even if your reservation has not -- yet.

For the life of me I do not understand why so many people on this board go into a tizzy, post that the sky is falling, without first CALLING and TALKING with a human being? Granted, they may not always be able to answer your question, but there is EMAIL also that goes to customer service that will return your message as well.

It has been documented over and over again that the spg.com website is full of glitches/problems/etc. One PHONE call and making note of the person's name and their ID has a tracking mechanism that the website doesn't.

And since Starwood has contact customer service centers available in all of the major areas of the world, what is the big deal about just picking up the phone rather than spending time posting and getting all upset? :confused:

And since Starwood has contact customer service centers available in all of the major areas of the world, what is the big deal about just picking up the phone rather than spending time posting and getting all upset? :confused:
Amen!

I just learned something new from a Platinum Concierge related to this issue.

I have a future reservation using Starpoints that I made with a Concierge. It's an upgraded room -- not the standard level of redemption. The stay is not listed in my stays, and I cannot pull it up by the confirmation number.

The Platinum Concierge I spoke with today told me that it is a known system "issue" and that upgraded room types that are booked with points will not show up online, either in the member's list of reservations, or by manually trying to pull it up. Makes me a little nervous, but she certainly seemed to know what she was talking about.

The Platinum Concierge I spoke with today told me that it is a known system "issue" and that upgraded room types that are booked with points will not show up online, either in the member's list of reservations, or by manually trying to pull it up. Makes me a little nervous, but she certainly seemed to know what she was talking about.

Yep, any upgraded award room types will not show up on spg.com. Lurker has confirmed and acknowledged this issue. Make sure you keep a copy of your confirmation email!