SkiAdcock

Thanks for the detailed report. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

adambadam

Anyone know if I will be charged VAT?

Booked a breakfast package rate and then LNF'd it successfully.

Kacee

Tell them when you check in that you expect a VAT waiver. If you wait until check-out, you will have to battle with them about it and there will be a delay (at least that's my experience in multiple stays).

jimrpa

Sorry that this may be a bit long:

A friend and I just traveled together on vacation to Bogota. Both he and I are lifetime platinums. (I'm also an SPG Platinum 75 for some useless side info.) We both booked reservations at the JW using points. I actually booked my reservation before him. As soon as I received my notification that mobile checkin was available, I went to the app and went through the mobile check-in process and was informed that I was all checked in and "my room was waiting" (hahaha!) I then told my friend that he should go ahead and do mobile check in (he's a bit of a luddite) so he downloaded the app and proceeded to do mobile checkin as well.

We headed off to the airport and stopped on our way for lunch. Got to the airport where he discovered he forgot his Marriott Rewards CC. Long story short - I was going to have to pick up all his credit card expenses on the trip and charge them to my credit card. No problem - what are friends for (and more Membership Rewards points for me ).

We get to the JW Bogota around midnight. I check in first, and the clerk informs me that my room is not ready yet and I'll have to wait about 10-15 minutes. I tell him no problem (as I think to myself "hmm... No room is ready at midnight? And I did mobile checkin? And I'm a platinum? Oh well, ok.") Then my friend goes to check in, and I explain to the clerk that he's going to have to use my credit card for my friend. Not a problem. The clerk finishes checking my friend in and immediately hands him a key to his room and sends my friend and the bellman with his luggage, off to his room. Um, ok.

About 15 minutes later, some chatting on Spanish on the walkie talkie and the clerk cheerfully announces that my room is ready and hands me the usual grey Marriott Rewards key (not a black JW key) and I and the bellman trudge up to my room (808 for fun, easy to remember as it's the name of a group I liked). Anyway, I'm awakened around 5 in the morning by loud clumping above me. I roll over and try to go back to sleep, but the loud clumping continues. I figured maybe there was some kind of maintenance going on somewhere in the hotel. Finally, I proceed on up to the concierge lounge for breakfast around 9:30. The lounge is located on the 9th floor and I discover it's directly above my room. The lounge has very nice hardwood floors and the lounge staff (of which there are several) all wear very attractive heeled shoes - hence the loud clumping I heard throughout my stay. "Oh well", I think to myself, "the clerk DID say they had a full house. I guess that was the best they could do for me." My friend joins me for breakfast and we head off to explore Bogota.

That evening, after dinner and running up to the lounge for after dinner snacks and drinks, my friend and I head off to our respective rooms. I'm about to settle into bed, and I hear ... exciting, high-tempo electronic dance music - LOUD!!! Good grief. My room happens to be conveniently located above where the DJ and live band are set up for the outdoor pizza restaurant at the hotel. So, I get late-night live and club music to lull me to sleep AND a 5:00 AM wake-up call, courtesy of the young ladies in the lounge clumping loudly across the floor. Just great.

So, two days later, my friend and I were sitting in the lounge one afternoon talking and he happens to mention that he left something on the dining room table in his room. "Dining room table?" I said. "What dining room table"? He said "You know, the dining room table by the little kitchen area when you come in to the room, next to the living room, before the bedroom." "No," I responded" I don't know of any dining room table, kitchen, living room and so on. Can I check out your room". "Sure," he said. "I thought it was what all the rooms in the hotel were like". Sure enough, they had upgraded him into a one-bedroom suite. Over on a far wing on the hotel, away from the clumping of the ladies in the lounge, and the noise of the live entertainment.

So, me, the lifetime platinum who checked in first, had to wait to get a non-upgraded pretty poor room, and my friend, also a lifetime platinum (who hasn't been a lifetime platinum for as long as I have been) checked in AFTER ME and received a room immediately and was upgraded to a one-bedroom suite.

Thoughts?

njcommodore

It's been three years since I stayed there, but other than rooms on the concierge floor I was never upgraded despite about 6-7 visits to the same hotel as a plat. I found that hotel to be much stingier with upgrades than other JWs, the Mexico City for instance. I don't know how much status matters at that hotel unfortunately.

Kacee

Makes you wonder how random the upgrades sometimes are

btw, the only hotel in Bogota i've ever stayed in that didn't have noise issues was the Embassy Suites where they gave me a room that looked out at a concrete wall.

But Bogota's a nicer property in most other respects, particularly the lounge.

DJ_Iceman

Disappointing, sure, but it happens. Most hotels don't have as many suites as they have platinum guests, so some are going to get upgraded and some aren't. If you're really curious, you could stop by the front desk and (dispassionately) explain what happened and ask if they know why your friend got such a nice upgrade and you got a rather poor regular room.

But this reminds me of the time I stayed at the IAD Marriott as a platinum premier on a paid rate for a concierge room (since it was not much more than a regular room, and I wanted to make sure I was close to the lounge). My friend, who was silver, checked in before me and the front desk associate made a big deal about his wonderful upgrade to a concierge room, right near the lounge. Then I checked in behind him, got my key, and walked all the way around the hotel about as far from the lounge as you can get. I went back to the front desk, happened to speak to the same clerk, who told me that "concierge rooms were sold out" so he was sorry he was unable to upgrade me. When I pointed out that I had PAID for a concierge room, he apologized but said there was nothing he could do. I asked why silver members were getting upgrades yet I couldn't get the room I paid for, and he blamed it on the mystical "they" who do room assignments. I told him I at least wanted the difference in price back between the concierge room I paid for and the regular room I was in, but he said he couldn't do that because I had concierge lounge access. I then told him that of course I had lounge access, as I was a platinum premier, but he still insisted he couldn't lower my rate. I asked to speak to a manager, who did lower the rate, but who was equally nonchalant about bumping me out of my paid concierge room (this was before the days of the elite guarantee, or I would have, for the first time in my life, made a fuss about it even though technically I don't think this situation would have qualified).

Okay, sorry for the off-topic story but I wanted you to know it could always be worse! (And I should also point out that I eventually gave the IAD Marriott another chance and it became my favorite hotel in that area--great upgrades, consistently excellent service, a fantastic lounge, and nicely remodeled.)

Lonsinla

Can I ask if golds get breakfast at the lounge or at the main restaurant too?

SkiAdcock

My guess is brekkie is in the lounge only for Gold/Plats. It's usually Asia that offers the either/or option.

Cheers.

CCIE_Flyer

Also available in the lobby restaurant - and a wider selection, with omelet station, more juices, etc.

Edit: Then again, breakfast may be included in the rate that myself and my colleagues are booked into, so that may or may not be a status thing.

Additionally, I would like to add that this is one of those properties that will ask for your credit card before showing you your final bill, and will add "luggage insurance" and other such nonsense if you don't explicitly opt out of it. I only stay at this property because my client has a strong preference that I stay there (group transportation to/from work, etc); they act exceptionally polite while dipping into your wallet, but can get quite testy when you challenge them on it.

Further edit: I'm quite confident that I've posted about this property before (not positive, but fair and accurate), and either it was removed, or there's another thread going that I posted in.

Kacee

They will often offer a cheap package rate that includes a restaurant breakfast (and theoretically allows you to avoid the otherwise inevitable argument with them at check-out over VAT waiver).

Honestly, I preferred the breakfast in the lounge. I thought it was higher quality. Quality in the restaurant was disappointing, though the selection was somewhat broader.

Lonsinla

can i ask what charges I have to look out for when checking in?

CCIE_Flyer

You'll want to be on the lookout at check-out for anything that isn't directly room rate or tax - e.g. their stupid "luggage insurance." I suspect the FD folk work on commission for this sort of theft, so it probably won't do you any good to attempt to protest it at check-in (someone else will just be adding it as they check you out). Just be sure to ask to see the folio before handing your card over, and ask about anything and everything you aren't certain of. Ask to have any nonsense removed before agreeing to pay.

Lonsinla

thanks! am surprised you have to check it that throughly at a JW Marriott!

SkiAdcock

Normally you don't. Sounds like things such as 'luggage insurance' is unique to this property.

Cheers.