Starwood Preferred Guest - Access to Executive Club/Lounge only at Westin and Sheraton?

Hello all,

sorry in advance if this has been answered before, but I couldn't find anything using the search ..

I was wondering if the Executive Club/Lounge access benefit for Platinum members only applies to Westin and Sheraton properties? I would be particularly interested about the policy at Le Meridién hotels -- is access always granted as well or only with a room on Club Level (like at Hilton)?

Thanks for your answers in advance!
pilluelo

Hello all,

sorry in advance if this has been answered before, but I couldn't find anything using the search ..

I was wondering if the Executive Club/Lounge access benefit for Platinum members only applies to Westin and Sheraton properties? I would be particularly interested about the policy at Le Meridién hotels -- is access always granted as well or only with a room on Club Level (like at Hilton)?

Thanks for your answers in advance!
pilluelo

Sheraton's have a "club" level and Westin's have an "executive level". SPG benefits only apply to those two brands. This is not a benefit at Le Meridién hotels.
Everything you want to know about status at SPG (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9073296&postcount=69)

Here are the SPG Terms and conditions
https://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/legal/spg_terms.html
d. Access to the Club Level when staying at Sheraton hotels or access to the Executive Level when staying at Westin hotels, even when not staying on the Club Level or Executive Level floor(s). At Sheraton properties, access to the Club Level does not mean access to the Towers Level, even if there is no Club Level in the hotel and there is a Club Level in the Towers. Access to Towers Level is determined by each individual property. These benefits are limited to the member and one guest IF that guest is in the same room as the member. Lounge access is not available if a lounge is at maximum capacity or if a lounge is closed for any reason.


Also, for those who are new here or rarely visit the SPG forum. In the event that you need an answer right away or can't find something via search, I would suggest reading thru the Everything you want to know about status at SPG sticky thread at the top of the SPG Forum, as its very detailed and informative.

More often than not, you also get complimentary access to club level at the Le Meridien if you are SPG Platinum.

In other words, SPG does not mandate it as a Plat privilege at LM hotels, but any hotel can choose to extend such a privilege if they wish to do so. So the questions are...

Which LM properties have Club Lounges?
Which LM properties give Club Lounge access to Plat members?
Which have a Club Lounge but do not give access to Plat members?

The same issue is true of St Regis properties. They do not have to give access to a Club Lounge to Plats.

However, IIUC, if you are upgraded to a Club Level room that would normally come with Club Lounge benefits, then you should get Club Lounge access. See Starwood Lurker's recent post related to this topic (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10038007&postcount=16). (SL, if I have misinterpreted anything, please correct me.)

The Singapore and Bangkok LMs have a club lounge and have always granted me access as a Platinum. Until I read this thread I did not realize that lounge access was not a Platinum benefit for LMs and St Regis.

...was not a Platinum benefit for LMs and St Regis.

Is there a St. Regis with a Club Lounge?

The SR Aspen used to have one, but I don't think that they do anymore. The SR Beijing might have one or I think used to have one.

Is there a St. Regis with a Club Lounge?

The St. Regis Shanghai has a Club Lounge.

Which LM properties have Club Lounges?
Which LM properties give Club Lounge access to Plat members?
Which have a Club Lounge but do not give access to Plat members?


LRM Shanghai has a Club Level and Club Lounge. Plat members not on Club Level are granted access to Club Lounge. LRM Shanghai is very good on upgrades for Plat members, often suites.

LM Etoile Paris has a Club Lounge (Club President) and grants Plat members access to Club Lounge.

I have never been denied lounge access at a Le Meridien, I suppose they forgot to update the T&C of spg when LM became part of Starwood.

Regarding the lounge at St Regis Beijing, its accessible to "all" guests at the hotel.

Hi all,

thanks to all who answered my question.

While I did read the SPG T&C as well as the sticky post in this forum, I wasn't able to find any explicit information about the club/lounge policy at other properties.

I'm particularly interested in the LM Etoille and the LM Cancun - from the answers to my post, and also what I read in the hotels' master threads, maybe I'm lucky and get access to their club lounges.. :)

Cheers
pilluelo

... I'm particularly interested in the LM Etoille and the LM Cancun...I forgot in the above post that I had stayed at the LM Cancun, they gave me club access also.

for the meridiens in israel...

dead sea has a lounge and does give access
haifa has a lounge BUT DOES NOT give access

i think eilat may give access, but ive never stayed there...

In my brief stay at the LM MRU we were not offered entry to the defacto club lounge (at the Nirvana Wing) until we moved our room into that wing.

The St. Regis Shanghai has a Club Lounge.but I think, same as the case in Beijing, this lounge is available to all guests in the hotel ? or things have changed in the last year or two ?

I'm not sure if it's because of this, where the lounge is available to everyone...that when I checked in at SR Shanghai or Beijing, they never would proactively tell you about the lounge. otherwise the small lounges would really be completely over-crowded...

I've always been offered club access at LRM Shanghai. Large lounge on the 44th floor with a great view down Nanjing East Rd and over the river to Pudong.
One nice thing about the lounge at the Etoile is that at breakfast they put a huge pot of coffee on the table. So many lounges now seem to serve coffee individually in tiny cups. More elegant maybe but it's a pain having to ask for about 10 refills to get a decent caffeine hit.


LRM Shanghai has a Club Level and Club Lounge. Plat members not on Club Level are granted access to Club Lounge. LRM Shanghai is very good on upgrades for Plat members, often suites.

LM Etoile Paris has a Club Lounge (Club President) and grants Plat members access to Club Lounge.

Thank you for all the interesting information in this thread. As a long-time SPG plat' I've never been denied club lounge access at Le Meridien properties when booking a non-club room. In fact I believed it to be a guaranteed SPG Platinum benefit.
Maybe Starwood ought to consider writing it into the terms and conditions so that it is a guaranteed benefit as I'm sure many potential guests have stayed elsewhere (non-SPG) believing that they'd not get much in the way of recognition at Le Meridiens.
Since this benefit is almost universally granted why not shout it from the rooftops and steer more business towards SPG ?

LeM BLR and LeM DEL both give access.

Le Meridien Dead Sea and Haifa give access (though you need to remind them...)

Le Meridien Dead Sea and Haifa give access (though you need to remind them...)

Is any food/drink served in the these two Israeli lounges? One of the things I dislike about LeM DS is that you are a prisoner as you might as well be on the moon if you want to venture outside the expensive hotel restaurants in search of a meal.

Dead sea LM has light dinner, it was sufficient for us for a night...On another stay, the lounge was closed and they gave us dinner at the bar downstairs with a bit of prodding...

Last time I was there, there was also a cafe aroma in the works right down the road at the mcdonalds shopping center


Is any food/drink served in the these two Israeli lounges? One of the things I dislike about LeM DS is that you are a prisoner as you might as well be on the moon if you want to venture outside the expensive hotel restaurants in search of a meal.

this is not correct.

dead sea gives access, and yes they need to be reminded. actually have had some big arguements there about suite upgrades that escalated to the level of SPG Corp Cust Service as the hotel was refusing to give a suite upgrade. now they are better, at least they were on my last stay.

haifa as a rule does not give access unless you are on a "business rate." i had this problem at least 3 times in the past yr. for 2-3 yrs, i would get lounge access on all stays, then all of a sudden they stopped giving it. the 'host' of the lounge, who can be very rude and standoff-ish, says they have a letter from SPG saying they dont have to offer access except to business members-whatever that means (since i am an starwood preferred business as well). even once i was staying in a suite on the club floor and my key opened the lounge door (for free internet access at night), the woman said i couldnt come in. after a lot of arguing, she said that would be the last time, and on my two later stays last year, i was not granted access. the front desk is clueluess about this and will say you have access then sends you to the lounge and the witch in the lounge makes a big deal of saying you dont get access. on my last stay, i escalated to a manager who denied me access and referred me to the SPG rules that dont mention meridien...another platinum was at the front desk arguing for lounge access and an upgrade as well that time.

friends have had similar experiences in haifa. not sure how recent you have been to the hotel that you got access?

Lurker, why cant you guys add lounge access for LM to the terms and conditions?

r



Le Meridien Dead Sea and Haifa give access (though you need to remind them...)

this is not correct.

dead sea gives access, and yes they need to be reminded. actually have had some big arguements there about suite upgrades that escalated to the level of SPG Corp Cust Service as the hotel was refusing to give a suite upgrade. now they are better, at least they were on my last stay.

haifa as a rule does not give access unless you are on a "business rate." i had this problem at least 3 times in the past yr. for 2-3 yrs, i would get lounge access on all stays, then all of a sudden they stopped giving it. the 'host' of the lounge, who can be very rude and standoff-ish, says they have a letter from SPG saying they dont have to offer access except to business members-whatever that means (since i am an starwood preferred business as well). even once i was staying in a suite on the club floor and my key opened the lounge door (for free internet access at night), the woman said i couldnt come in. after a lot of arguing, she said that would be the last time, and on my two later stays last year, i was not granted access. the front desk is clueluess about this and will say you have access then sends you to the lounge and the witch in the lounge makes a big deal of saying you dont get access. on my last stay, i escalated to a manager who denied me access and referred me to the SPG rules that dont mention meridien...another platinum was at the front desk arguing for lounge access and an upgrade as well that time.

friends have had similar experiences in haifa. not sure how recent you have been to the hotel that you got access?

Lurker, why cant you guys add lounge access for LM to the terms and conditions?

r

I was at the Le M Haifa 2 weeks ago, Thursday to Sunday, and had no problem accessing the lounge. It only opens at 2pm though, and they bring out the food then, and don't change it - so by the end of the day it's rather tired. Lounge was empty when I was there.

Re Le M Dead Sea - Food disappeared after less then 5 minutes in the evening. Lounge was quite pleasant though. No breakfast on Sunday morning as the lounge was closed - not sure why...

weird...what rate were you staying on?

lurker, can you please clarify the policy and comment why LM is not included in the t&c?

I was at the Le M Haifa 2 weeks ago, Thursday to Sunday, and had no problem accessing the lounge. It only opens at 2pm though, and they bring out the food then, and don't change it - so by the end of the day it's rather tired. Lounge was empty when I was there.

Re Le M Dead Sea - Food disappeared after less then 5 minutes in the evening. Lounge was quite pleasant though. No breakfast on Sunday morning as the lounge was closed - not sure why...

weird...what rate were you staying on?

lurker, can you please clarify the policy and comment why LM is not included in the t&c?

I was on points - Cat 1 points actually, booked before the unannounced change....7000 for 3 nights!

Is there a St. Regis with a Club Lounge?

We were given use of the Shanghai St. Regis Club Lounge, and as you might expect, it was superb. ^

ya, took advantage of that old rate about 10 times in the past yr. and then they changed the redemption UNANNOUNCED to cat 3 (it wasnt on the list of properties changing cat)!

I was on points - Cat 1 points actually, booked before the unannounced change....7000 for 3 nights!

weird...what rate were you staying on?

lurker, can you please clarify the policy and comment why LM is not included in the t&c?

The policy is as it reads in the T&C's at spg.com: Club level lounge at Sheraton properties and Executive level lounge at Westin properties that have such lounges. It isn't a benefit at Le Meridien just like it's not a benefit at St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, aloft hotels, or at Element hotels, etc.

My best guess is that there might be some Le Meridien properties that don't want to give lounge access on a complimentary basis.

Question for you now...when Moments was in existence, did they give complimentary access to its most elite level...at all Le Meridien properties?

Best regards,

William

Question for you now...when Moments was in existence, did they give complimentary access to its most elite level...at all Le Meridien properties?

Nope. Here are the old LM Moments T&Cs (http://web.archive.org/web/20041208193000/www.lemeridien.com/moments/terms_conditions.shtml). They don't mention lounges at all.

LM Moments only had two tiers: Blue and Gold. Golds earned credits toward upgrades; got 2pm late checkout "at participating hotels, subject to availability;" and got rack rate rooms at sold out hotels with 48 hour advance notice. Honestly, it doesn't sound like their benefits were very competitive.

Thank you for all the interesting information in this thread. As a long-time SPG plat' I've never been denied club lounge access at Le Meridien properties when booking a non-club room. In fact I believed it to be a guaranteed SPG Platinum benefit....


You may try LM Stuttgart. I was told by front desk stuff that I don't want to go there because it is just a big crowded room and I don't get access anyway:(

Or go to the Sheraton Pelikan Hanover/Germany.

I'm SPG Plan and prior my booking for a weekend stay I asked if the hotel has a club lounge.
The answer was that they surely have one (opens at 8am on Sunday) - but access will be granted to every SPG Plat on Sunday after the breakfast was fininished (10am).

Now I'll stay in another 4*-hotel at Hanover (Luisenhof Hotel).

You may try LM Stuttgart. I was told by front desk stuff that I don't want to go there because it is just a big crowded room and I don't get access anyway:(

I've just checked into the LM Stuttgart and was given Club Lounge access by the extremely friendly and pleasant young lady on Reception - she said she was making an exception in my case as normally they don't give Platinums access - the reason for the exception was that she'd not be able to upgrade me to a suite - the reason for not letting Platinums into the lounge was "we get too many Platinums at this hotel, Stuttgart attracts lots of management consultants!" :D

Does anyone know if there is a lounge at the LM in Split, Croatia? If there is, are plats granted access? Also, is there any talk of a Starwood presence in Dubrovnik? Thanks..

Does anyone know if there is a lounge at the LM in Split, Croatia? If there is, are plats granted access?

Have you researched this thread?
Le Meridien Split, Croatia [Master Thread] (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=669872)

Check the thread and ask any additional questions there.

Enjoy.

Thanks, Cheap Elite. I did post there (I actually checked there first but couldn't find an answer). I'm trying really hard to post properly.