remymartin

Thanks, William!

It would certainly be an interesting addition.

GuysInCT

Same here, this really is a YMMV thing, but it's working pretty well for me too. In the past twelve months:

Westin Paris - 5 nights - cleared
San Diego Marina - 3 nights - cleared
Liberty Hotel Boston - 3 nights - did not clear
Virgina Beach Sheraton - 5 nights - cleared
New Orleans Sheraton - 3 nights - cleared
San Diego Marina (2nd trip) - 3 nights - cleared

22 nights requested, 19 nights cleared.

(used a few from 2013, all of 2014, a few from 2015)

Deemus7

Wanted to get your thoughts on an interesting situation that happened to me last month. Had a one night stay at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, and requested a SNA on my award booking. I also put in the notes that my wife and I were on a baby moon. A week ahead of time, I saw that my reservation showed a Grand Luxe oceanfront suite, with the SNA still pending. At the 5 day mark, I got an email about my SNA clearing, and lo and behold, I had been downgraded to an oceanfront junior suite. Here are my questions:

1) Would you have cancelled the SNA once you saw that you had been upgraded to a higher category suite?
2) Is this the way hotels should be handling things? (This one is really for the SPG lurkers)

I emailed the hotel's concierge and was promptly re-upgraded, so all's well that ends well. Still, I'd love to hear from some other Platinums to see if this was an aberration or SOP.

Thanks!

Starwood Lurker

They should absolutely not be pre-upgrading reservations that have any SNA's attached to it. Other than this, it's an automated process and they have no control over the system downgrading to the suite that you chose when applying the SNA's.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

FlyerBeek

I actually agree. But if you have attempted (unsuccessfully, multiple times) to use them, then I think they should offer to extend them (perhaps on a case-by-case basis).

-FlyerBeek

megalab

I used all 10 last year but not as much luck this year. The biggest problem was SPG IT glitches, though some other quirks didn't help.

FAIL: Sheraton Iowa City (3 nts) - Was on a special, but points-eligible, rate yet neither via SPG.com nor a Plat Concierge could I apply the SNAs, perhaps due to the same glitch that affected future stays. Didn't matter as, despite the hotel being full I got the Plat upgrade anyway.

FAIL (sort of): Sheraton San Jose (9 nts) - We wanted to use them for their Pool Suites but they're not an SNA option so we just booked them. While probably unreasonable to expect a 9 nt stay to clear when the area was sold out most of the week, it's odd they weren't even offered when they have so many of them, and are the same rate as the SNA-eligible Tower Suites.

SUCCESS: Sheraton San Jose (1 nt) - We needed one more room the last night of our stay. Didn't really need a suite but I had SNAs to burn. Also we wanted a room close to our first room, and the hotel kindly offered to switch to a pool suite (Shhh... I think that's against SNA T&Cs...) if one with two beds was available at check-in. There wasn't so we ended up with a suite in the Tower. There were many available so not sure we really needed the SNA. Still, it all worked as it was supposed to, even cleared at T-5d.

SUCCESS: Four Points SMF (1 nt) - Planned to stay here the night before flying home and decided to burn an SNA. Cleared at T-5d. Changed plans so cancelled. Changed plans again but didn't bother to reapply the SNA. I got the Plat upgrade anyway so obviously the SNA wasn't necessary.

FAIL: Sheraton Seattle (7 nts) - I decided to try and treat myself on a last minute work trip, but I needed to remove an SNA pending on another stay to have enough. Had a recurring problem where SPG.com claimed I was not signed in to the account that applied the SNAs so I could never get access to them. Also, again I was on a special, but points-eligible, rate so again, SPG.com wouldn't let me apply SNAs even if I had them.

I called the Plat Concierge but the first one couldn't figure out why it wasn't working and only offered to escalate to IT. I called back later and got a more proactive Concierge who manually removed the SNAs from the other reservation and applied to this one. However, while there was still an SNA suite available it was past the 2 pm automatic sweep time. We were both a bit frustrated she couldn't help me, and sure enough all were booked by 2 pm the next day. No big deal, but I don't get why nearly every other upgrade scheme I've ever used can be applied manually in real-time when needed but not SNAs.

FAIL: Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield (3 nts) - Applied for a two-bed suite. It was not available at booking and never became available. I tried to add the 1K suite but again, SPG.com wouldn't give me access to the SNA function. Regardless, the hotel gave me the 1K suite as a Plat upgrade. I felt bad they didn't get whatever compensation their entitled to get from SNAs as the hotel was pretty full that weekend.

SUCCESS: Westin Huntsville (3 nts) - another work trip, another special rate, another issue with getting access to the SNA function. This time I reached out to the Lurker who worked his magic behind the scenes. They even cleared at T-5d despite the hotel being sold out by then.

So there you go, 3 of 7 stays successful, though in two failures I got the Plat upgrade anyway (one I justed booked the suite I wanted anyway) and two successes didn't seem to require SNAs for the upgrade. I do appreciate the benefit when it works but I am just baffled that, over two and a half years later, such a presumably sophisticated outfit like SPG still can't seem to get this system to work reliably. I still can't access the SNA function for my reservations, even on the "new" SPG.com, despite repeated assurances service tickets were sent to IT to "look into it." While I greatly appreciate the Lurker's help, it shouldn't come down to that; I imagine non-FT Plats have similar problems, get frustrated and give up. Maybe that's good for FTers but it can't be good for SPG and thus tarnishes this benefit. Here's hoping things get better and everyone has as much luck as Flews!

tlott

I was trying to apply a SNA at the Le Meridien Fairway, Dubai. Regardless of the dates of the reservation, SPG.com says I cannot apply them (no availability).

SPG chat advised me that "Le Méridien Fairway is a non participating hotel and does not participate in the Suite Night Award program."

Is this the case? There are SPG participating properties that do not participate in SNAs? Or (I suspect) the hotel simply hasn't loaded them into the system? She said there were "a few" properties like this.

nongsom

IME even if no SSS available on spg.com i still apply SNA.
IIRC i have situation when i stay at hotel and ask for upgrade for my upcoming stay(another hotel).
I have upcoming stay A and B at same rate.
In the first time A and B both can apply SNA.
After i stay at hotel and ask for upgrade for A.
Booking A can't apply SNA (previously can apply SNA) and my next stay i got room upgrade as my request.

heakja

I am sometimes pre-upgraded at hotels I visit a lot. Are you saying that hotels are not allowed to do that if you have attached an SNA?

nongsom

Maybe it come from SNA system are match and override current upgrade
IME sometime got upgrade at suite don't appear on SNA request (but lower cat suite).
Maybe suite on SNA are limit and upgrade pool are more room type than SNA.

travelswithmyself

I would have cancelled it. I'd also have emailed the hotel to thank them for the upgrade to the higher category suite ;P

remymartin

LM Fairway did not participate in SPG until around a year ago. Perhaps a remain of the past?

Did you also check that suites in the SNA categories were available for the dates your res is for?

Starwood Lurker

How can I say this so it doesn't need to be repeated?

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

tlott

Yes I thoroughly checked that all suites were available, I made some dummy bookings in the future and found the same result in all cases.

I think you're right, it is possibly a remnant from when they did not participate in SPG at all.

Maybe this hotel needs a nudge to flag some room categories for SNA availability.

catarina

I hit 50 nights in June and received my 10 SNA's. They expire 12/31/2015.

Am I correct in thinking that I won't receive my next set until I hit 50 nights again in 2015? And they will expire 12/31/2016?