Starwood Preferred Guest - A glitch on the website: dates change when booking!

So, I was taking advantage of the upgrade to Gold, by booking a stay (special promo from spg requiring a single stay before the end of May), for this coming Friday, April 11. This hotel is local, on the beach just down the road from us, and I thought Mr. Soames and I can have a pleasant night out with dinner, and check-out the next day.

I filled in all the info, select King Bed, cc details etc. and the rate was close to $400 for one night. Non-refundable, no changes allowed.

My conf comes back instantly, and then I notice that spg's booking shows a April 8 check-in. WTH? I called the hotel immediately to tell them of the mistake :rolleyes: ~ certainly not my doing. Reservations were less than helpful and they couldn't do a thing to resolve it. I was told that someone will "have to call me back". I sure hope they do, and soon.

I've no idea how it happened, I have the calender right in front of me, I did not confuse a Tuesday with the Friday :( and the keyboard #s, 1 and 8 are quite a ways apart . :mad: Has this happened to any of you that on-line bookings get so screwed up?

yes, spg.com sometimes changes the date when going from one screen to another. you have to be very careful. this problem, combined with non-refundable rates, can be quite hazardous to your health (and your relationship with starwood).

I'm not sure this is good news or bad news, fly co :D

I was just clicking on the "continue" buttons and then, the final one, BAM!, up came wrong the wrong dates. If spg don't cooperate on this, I'll have to take it up with the cc co. I just loathe having to do battle; such a waste of time and energy :rolleyes:

I suggest that you calm down, call the hotel and explain the situation. Then ask them to simply swap the date for the Friday.

Good luck.

I suggest that you calm down, call the hotel and explain the situation. Then ask them to simply swap the date for the Friday.

I called the hotel immediately to tell them of the mistake :rolleyes: ~ certainly not my doing. Reservations were less than helpful and they couldn't do a thing to resolve it. I was told that someone will "have to call me back". I sure hope they do, and soon.

She has done so and is awaiting response. Seems odd, though, that reservations can't simply do it.

She has done so and is awaiting response. Seems odd, though, that reservations can't simply do it.

No one at the Customer Contact Center has the authority nor the functional capability to change a restrictive rate plan reservation like this one. If the hotel has an in-house reservations office, they may need revenue management to approve such a change.

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

If the hotel has an in-house reservations office, they may need revenue management to approve such a change.

1) what if the hotel doesn't have an in-house reservation office? and, whenever i ask for an in-house reservation department, the hotel always transfers me to the general call center.

2) if the hotel gives the OP pushback, i guess the OP should file a complaint with customer care? being a pretty intensive user of spg.com, i can vouch for said website randomly changing dates. it doesn't happen often, but it definitely does happen. there is no rhyme or reason to it, it'll just randomly change dates every so often. :confused: :rolleyes:

I suggest that you calm down, call the hotel and explain the situation. Then ask them to simply swap the date for the Friday.

Good luck.

I've accidentally booked a non-refundable rate before, called Customer Service immediately, and they couldn't help me. However, a call to the hotel solved the problem. They cancelled the reservation at no charge. In your case, it should be even simpler, since you just want to change the date.

1) what if the hotel doesn't have an in-house reservation office? and, whenever i ask for an in-house reservation department, the hotel always transfers me to the general call center.


Accounting department reversed the charge in my case.

1) what if the hotel doesn't have an in-house reservation office? and, whenever i ask for an in-house reservation department, the hotel always transfers me to the general call center.

On a call of this type, the associate has the ability to send a message to the hotel asking them to call you back. Or, you could just say thanks, hang up, and call Hotel Customer Service.

2) if the hotel gives the OP pushback, i guess the OP should file a complaint with customer care? being a pretty intensive user of spg.com, i can vouch for said website randomly changing dates. it doesn't happen often, but it definitely does happen. there is no rhyme or reason to it, it'll just randomly change dates every so often. :confused: :rolleyes:

I have confidence that Hotel Customer Service will be able to sort it out if it can be attributed to a web site error and not a user error.

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thanks for everyone's input.

uhm, Starwood Lurker, User Error? I think not LOL.

I may not be a Spring Chicken :D but I don't confuse a Tuesday with a Friday or the digits 08/04/2008 with 11/04/2008. Not that Customer Service would be interested, but Mr. Soames and I prefer to party at the end of the week ;)



I'm glad of your confidence that it will be sorted out (we could, if need be, go next Friday) ~ it will certainly give me more incentive to stay, again, at LHR Sheraton on our way to and back from Nice, as we've been doing for years.

I think it has to be fairly obvious that the website went wonky.

...I think it has to be fairly obvious that the website went wonky.

No worries. I never said that it didn't. ;) I'm just saying that it is possible to pull online sessions and determine whether or not something that happened was due to a web site error or a user error. :)

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

As far as booking on the SPG site goes, yes it does happen.

Although I haven't had to deal with the consequences of a completed booking, the bug normally occurs, for me, after...

Enter destination, enter date range, view results.

At top of results page, enter new destination, enter new date range, view results.

The results are always the new destination, but.....can sometimes, be the old dates.

I would add myself to those who have seen spg.com resetting dates when it shouldn't.

This is in addition to the more common occurrence, experienced on umpteen travel websites, where you adjust the check-in date (or outbound date on a flight) and the check-out date (or inbound flight date) is automatically adjusted for you, whether you want it to be changed or not.

I have also periodically had it occur when:

* Enter dates and look at hotels in location.
* Select a hotel in the location.
* View different rates at said hotel (Corp SET / AAA / Packages)
* Click on "Back to list of hotels"
* Sometimes the date is immediately changed to TODAY'S date for a one night stay and then wipes out my original dates.

This doesn't happen all the time, but enough that I need to keep my eye on it.

When no one had called me back by 12PM yesterday (the 8th!) I called the property again and some nice girl was able to make the change by just hitting a few keys, it took seconds ~ strange that that they couldn't do it the first time I alerted them. :confused: Anyway, all is well for Friday coming.

This girl also transferred me to some central Customer Service, because I wanted to verify that indeed the stay would qualify for the Gold upgrade promo. I was put on hold for a short while, then an agent, sounded like a saucy southerner Lady :D, came on the line, addressed me by name and told me that the Gold would take effect immediately. Barring the web-site glitches, which I will keep a closer eyes on, ^^ for SPG.

No one at the Customer Contact Center has the authority nor the functional capability to change a restrictive rate plan reservation like this one. If the hotel has an in-house reservations office, they may need revenue management to approve such a change.

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com


Understood, but then wouldn't it seem appropriate (oh, and customer friendly) for the person at the Cust. Contact Center to offer to call the hotel directly and resolve the issue immediately while the customer is on the line? Customers rarely appreciate the unknown/anxiety associated with the promise that someone will call you back. Great, but when? And half the time the call back never happens. Esp. in a case (which apparently multiple people have experienced, including myself) Starwood's web site has a mind of its own?

Equally important, given that so many people have experienced this problem, I haven't heard any indication that Marketing/IT is looking into this issue.

Understood, but then wouldn't it seem appropriate (oh, and customer friendly) for the person at the Cust. Contact Center to offer to call the hotel directly and resolve the issue immediately while the customer is on the line? Customers rarely appreciate the unknown/anxiety associated with the promise that someone will call you back. Great, but when? And half the time the call back never happens. Esp. in a case (which apparently multiple people have experienced, including myself) Starwood's web site has a mind of its own?

That depends upon several things. Not the least of which is whether the associate to whom you are speaking has the authority to call the hotel on a guest's behalf. If they don't, and direct interaction with the hotel is desired, then you should be calling or asking to be transferred to Hotel Customer Service to initiate it.

Equally important, given that so many people have experienced this problem, I haven't heard any indication that Marketing/IT is looking into this issue.

It was looked into. It could not be replicated using any information or processes provided here. If you want to try to help resolve the situation, then the next time it happens, call the Internet Help Desk and report it. 888-625-5144, option 3.

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

That depends upon several things. Not the least of which is whether the associate to whom you are speaking has the authority to call the hotel on a guest's behalf. If they don't, and direct interaction with the hotel is desired, then you should be calling or asking to be transferred to Hotel Customer Service to initiate it.]


I expect a Customer Service associate to be authorized to do whatever it takes (within reason) to address the customer's needs and correct problems. Why should the customer have to make a toll call to correct a company web site issue?

And if your people couldn't replicate the problem (again, one wich a number of people seem to have experienced), then it indicates to me that they are not trying to use the site like customers do or trying to understand the reasons that lead to these problems. I often find it occurs as I search different discounts. Unlike with Hilton's web site, I cannot look at AAA, AARP, and promotional discounts at once. I must hit each discount drop down to find the best rate. It is in this pursuit that I sometimes find the dates have changed with no explicit input from me.

And I have called the Internet Support Desk in the past and haven't found them to be the best listeners.