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hotel manager lying to avoid suite upgrade - is this the norm?

hotel manager lying to avoid suite upgrade - is this the norm?

 
Old May 29, 2014, 9:53 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 31
hotel manager lying to avoid suite upgrade - is this the norm?

I just had a 4-night stay at Westin New Orleans at Canal Place. Had pretty frustrating experience getting suite upgrade as a platinum, mostly due to hotel staff lying. I want to share my experience here and hear your opinion . I will try my best to just layout the facts and not put in my own judgement until the end. Sorry for the long post in advance.

Here's what happened in chronological order:
Before arrival: I booked 2 rooms for 4 nights. I called the hotel in advance to request suite upgrade. The rep on the phone confirmed that the request was received. The day before arrival, I called again to check how likely i will get suite upgrade. The rep said i would not get upgraded the first night because the hotel is fully booked due to weddings. But two suites would open up starting the second night. And I should get them as long as no one else booked them. Fair enough.

Check in At check in, I asked about the upgrade. Same story: no upgrade the first night, but two suite will open up next day. I should be able to grab them the next day, if they are not sold.

2nd day morning I went down to the front desk to inquire about suite upgrades around noon. It was a different associate here. My bad experience started here. The conversation went like this:
Me: My name is XXX and I am in room YYY and ZZZ. I asked about suite upgrade last night when i checked in. I was told nothing was available at the time but there should be two suites available for me to move in today. Are those two suites available.
Associate: Yes, those two suites are available today. The guests have checked out. But I can not upgrade you.
Me: Why? Did anyone else book the suites?
Associate: No. But our king bed rooms are oversold by 17 rooms. We need to keep the suites to balance it out.
Me: If you upgrade me to those suites, you would have two empty king bed rooms. Also, according to SPG terms, platinum member should get suite upgrade when available.
Associate: let me talk to my manager. Then she picked up the phone. While she is talking, I open up the mobile app and checked what rooms the hotel is selling. They are still selling king bed rooms despite being "17 rooms overbooked". And they are selling suites for the rest of my stay. The manager came out after a few minutes. She shaked my hand and introduced herself. The conversation continues..
Manager: Mr.XXX. I understand you want suite upgrades. But you didn't request suite upgrade in advance. You would not get suite upgrade if you don't request it, because we wouldn't be able to block the suites for you.
Me: I did request upgrade ahead of time. I've talked to three different people and they all confirmed my requests.
Manager: [tying on computer] hmmm, i don't see any notes here. Did you remember who you talked to?
Me: I don't remember their names. But the fact is you still have suites available now.
Manager: Well, our king rooms are oversold and there will be more guest coming in later today. Some of them paid the rate for the deluxe room and you paid the rate for the traditional rate.
Me: Are you saying you will give suites to non-members who paid the rate that's $20 higher instead of SPG platinum?
Manager: Some of the guests checking in today are platinum
Me: But I checked in earlier. SPG terms says I should get them. If it comes down to rate difference, I will pay the rate difference.
The manager did more typing, then said: Well, okay, I can only upgrade your both rooms to suites for today. We have no suites available during your 3rd and 4th night. So you will have to move back to regular room after tonight.
Me: Are you sure? Spg.com is showing there are suites available for the rest of my stay.
Manager: SPG.com doesn't reflect what's available in our system. You wouldn't be able to book it.
Me: Is this about the rate I paid? If so, I'd be willing pay cash to get upgrade.
Manager: No, it's because we don't have any suites even if you want to pay suite price. We don't have any suites, from Bienville suite to presidential suite.
Me: Let me think about whether to take the suites for just a day.

I stayed in the lobby thinking about the situation. I decided to the book the suites on my mobile phone to see what happens. The rates are non-refundable. But the suite rate are not much higher that stardard rooms. So the worst case sceanrio is I end up paying cash for the suites, which is not too bad. I went ahead and submit my reservation for 2 suites during 3rd and 4th nights. It went through without a problem. In 2 minutes, I got email confirmation. I went back to the front deck. The manager already left.

Me: You just said there is no suites available during my 3rd and 4th nights. But I was able to book them. There are still more suites available after my booking.
Associate: Let me talk to my manager. Then she picked up the phone. After 2-3 minutes, she turn to me: Now you paid the suite prices, you will be able to get 2 suites for the rest of your stay.
Me: then what about the statement of no suites available 10 minutes ago?
Associate: the availability in our system can change if someone cancels.
At this point I already spend almost 30 minutes. I decide not to spend more vacation time and let SPG deals with this later. So I decided to settle: Fine. At least can you comfirm my upgrades TODAY? You manager said i could get 2 suites today.
Associate picked up the phone, after a minute, she said: Yes, you will get two suite upgrades today. One of them is a larger suite with river view. The other one is a smaller one bienville suite. They are not on the same floor, one on 25th and one on 28th. Do you want to proceed?
I said yes. I also asked them to modify my existing reservation so that I don't end up paying for 4 rooms. Then I left.

2nd day afternoon After lunch, I called SPG Platinum deck and complaint about this situation. After hearing my story and talked to the hotel, the SPG rep told me a different story: the hotel only upgrades SPG platinum to Bienville suites, which is their junior suites. What I booked were suites with river views, which were not supposed to be given out to SPG platinum memebers. That's why they told me no suite available. (Several lies were told here: 1. The manager told there is no suite of any type available, not just junior suite. 2. the hotel just confirmed that I would get a bienville suite for the rest of my stay, now they told SPG rep that they don't have one. 3. the manager told SPG rep that suites with riverviews are not given to SPG plats. But the flyertalk Westin New Orleans thread says otherwise) The SPG rep also told me that what the hotel will do is to upgrade one of my room to riverview suite, which is better than the junior suite, then let me paid for the other suite. I thought this was a fair solution, which is much better than me paying for both suites. I thanked her and hung up. It was quite a hassle to get there. But the final outcome was fine.

Unfortunately the story did not end here. I packed up my stuff and was ready to move that afternoon. And I was calling the front desk every hour to check whether my suites are ready or not. Everytime I was told i need to wait a bit longer every time. A different rep answered the phone when I called at 7pm inquiring about the suites. This time, she said: "suites? what suites? I don't see you have suites until tomorrow night?" I hang up and went down to the lobby. The associate said i would have suites tomorrow but not tonight, there was no notes on my reservation. And the two open suites were already sold. I asked to talk to the manager. A different manager showed up and said she had no clue about what was going on ealier that today, and she had no suite available at that point. I knew there is no point discussing further and gave up.

I got my two suites the next day uneventfully.

My thoughts
Overall, I was quite frustuated about my experience. I did end up being upgrade to a larger suite for two nights. So I guess it was fine from the results perspective. But I hate the fact that I had to fight for that. I probably spent a hour at front desk or on the phone. I'd rather have hassle-free upgrade to junior suite for 3 nights instead.

I also thought the manager and the staff were very unprofessional and lied multiple time. They delivered bad customer experience and totally failed to manage my expection by selling suites to others after confirming upgrade for my 2nd night.

What do you think about my experience? Should I adjust my expectation that I have to flight to get a suite (and be happy that I did)? Is it okay for hotels to lie so that they don't give you upgrades? Am I expecting too much from being a platinum?

Thank you for reading.
youcai is offline  
Old May 29, 2014, 10:06 pm
  #2  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 31
One more observation and thougt:
The SPG rep that I talked to seemed to care more about defending the hotel than my benefit. While I was telling her my story, she interupted several times to tell me what hotel told could be true without waiting for me to finish. After she talked to the hotel, she gave me a speech that suite upgrades are not guaranteed, and how the hotel is doing me a favor by giving me a larger suite. She sounded like that hotels are always right and plats are always too demanding. I am not complaining here as she got me a better outcome. But I was hoping SPG reps to be at least unbiased, if not favoring the their members, who are at nautral disadvantage negotiating with hotels.

What do you think? Am I expecting too much?
youcai is offline  
Old May 29, 2014, 11:25 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 52
Yes, somewhat. Just because something is bookable, doesn't mean they are with-holding it from you. It likely means they are holding them for other platinums who have been pre-cleared, unless there is a last minute online booking. It's not first-come, first-suite. There still exists a hierarchy and internal metrics that govern which plats get the upgrades if available when they arrive (in your case you had checked in the day before, when clearly the hotel was at occupancy).

What you likely didn't want to hear was that they were holding them for actual revenue or their more valued platinums to arrive, whichever came first.

Secondly, your benefits only extend to one room (not sure if you were travelling with a second Platinum member). Pre-confirmed upgrades are also not a benefit (they are a nice gesture), unless you use Suite Night Awards.

The motto is if you care this much, just pay for it upfront. If you don't care just be pleasantly happy when you get an upgrade.

I'm not a fan of the checking availability online mentality. It automatically implies people are lying, and whether or not they actually are, it's naturally going to put their guard up.
BrianLo is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 12:46 am
  #4  
Used to be RichardKopf
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
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Since the hotel had no suites when you arrived, according to the rules, you are not entitled to a suite by changing rooms, later in your stay. Any such offer is due either to the generosity of the hotel or because they are caving to a complaining guest. Perhaps the hotel dealt with this poorly - I wasn't there so I can't say, but I think OP also dealt with the situation poorly, trying to strongarm into a suite later in a stay, and by not taking notes of the people OP spoke to throughout the procedure. It's a good lesson - always take names, dates, times.
BonViveur is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 2:32 am
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by BonViveur
Since the hotel had no suites when you arrived, according to the rules, you are not entitled to a suite by changing rooms, later in your stay. Any such offer is due either to the generosity of the hotel or because they are caving to a complaining guest.
+1
remymartin is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 4:15 am
  #6  
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Lots of stuff going on here, and a complex situation, no doubt. I'm not going to take the time to write more, however, because, I admit, you lost me with the title. "Hotel Manager Lying to Avoid Suite Upgrade - Is This The Norm?"

Yes, that's the norm. Most Starwood hotel managers lie to avoid giving out PLT suite upgrades.

Perhaps SPG is not a program well suited to match your needs.

Generally, though, the OP would undoubtedly have done better by noting the names of the people with whom he spoke. When I'm making rezzies and it's a situation which could be problematical later, I nearly always note the name of the person, date and time of the conversation. Never hurts to have that information.
Dr. HFH is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 5:31 am
  #7  
Hyatt 10+ BadgeFour Seasons 5+ Badge
 
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I stopped reading after you checked in.

1) You can't get an upgrade in advance without applying a SNA

2) If the room is not available and clean at check in, you are not entitled to it.

3) A hotel can block a suite for another Platinum guest.

4) Welcome to SPG.
m0hamed is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 5:40 am
  #8  
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As noted - suite wasn't available when you checked in = no upgrade, per the program rules. End of story.

(and even it it was, "available" has a different meaning to SPG. A room that's sitting empty, clean, not reserved via a paid suite reservation, for your entire stay, might still not be "available". Though it might be "available" to the guy behind you in line.)
CPRich is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 5:50 am
  #9  
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Lucky has a good post on this issue, with interesting comments

http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...to-be-a-fight/

I too have become fairly sick of often having to fight for upgrades
UA-NYC is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 5:55 am
  #10  
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One other point:
After hearing my story and talked to the hotel, the SPG rep told me a different story: the hotel only upgrades SPG platinum to Bienville suites, which is their junior suites. What I booked were suites with river views, which were not supposed to be given out to SPG platinum memebers. That's why they told me no suite available.
Some years ago, Lurker wrote a very informative explanation of the numerous reasons why "suites available online" is not equivalent to "suites available for Plat upgrade." (I wish I'd made a note of the link; can't find it now.) One of the factors was the rule that properties need only make their lowest-level suite available for such upgrades.
beltway is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 6:03 am
  #11  
 
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My view as well. No suite was available at check in, and the OP even knew that in advance. Everything else was best efforts to go above and beyond the stated benefits. And as usual on Flyertalk, we're only hearing the OPs side of the story. Accusations of "lying" are tossed around far too often on these threads. More likely a case of not listening.

Cheers,
Flews is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 6:22 am
  #12  
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All for a room......

I too try and work the "system" for better rooms at hotels but my approach is much different and I usually accept the the answer I am given at the front desk regardless of the outcome or a possible disappointment.

From your too long post it seemed like you approached this as a battle immediately, pushing and pushing multiple hotel employees for a few extra square feet and when you didn't get it, going corporate. From reading your post it sounds like your attempts were based solely on what you thought you deserved without little regard to the generosity or good will of the hotel. I'm sure they see this everyday and it gets tiring.....perhaps a smile and " Okay thanks for trying .Maybe it will work out on our next stay" would have gotten better results both from the hotel and with your blood pressure.
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Old May 30, 2014, 6:25 am
  #13  
 
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I see fault on both sides, but in this case as the hotel promised the upgrade it should have been honored:

OP: I think a case of unreasonable expectations. Platinum benefits only accrue to one room. Unless you are using SNA's it is not a benefit of Platinum to get upgraded to suites in advance. (I recognize it happens but it is not a benefit of being Plat.) Additionally, the suite has to be available for the entire stay at check-in. Finally, the upgrades are only to "select-standard" suites, and the hotel decides which category is select-standard.

There is also an internal upgrade priority, which (IMO) I find perfectly reasonable. I get it that all Plats are not equal, and I'm worth more to a hotel I spend half my annual stays at vs. one I've never stayed at before.

Hotel: All of the above said, once the hotel staff promised to upgrade you, they should have followed through. Period.
dcstudent is offline  
Old May 30, 2014, 6:29 am
  #14  
 
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Let's face it.........getting upgrades and what the T&C's say really means nothing. It truly is like flipping a coin. The person in front of you with no SPG status etc., just might get lucky to get an upgrade and you won't or vice versa. That's the excitement of the SPG upgrade program - it's a surprise every time you enter the hotel I love surprises and the hope that you just might..................and then lo and behold you get another "sucker". Oh well, can't wait for next time! I'm excited already.
Unfortunately it comes down to consistency and policing - the specific hotels can really do what they want with no accountability or I guess I am assuming that, while some hotels do a great job with the program. It is what it is.
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Old May 30, 2014, 6:49 am
  #15  
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Thanks all for responding. It seems like I was expecting too much from being a platinum. I will adjust my expectation going forward while looking for loyalty program better fits my need.

Also like to clarify several points:
1. Yes, I did not write down the names of the person who I spoke to. But I spoke to two people on the phone and one person when checked in. They all told me the same story. I'd think I am good.
2. My biggest problem with the hotel is about staff lying. I'd be fine not getting upgrade if they just stick to the rule, i.e., I can not be upgraded if no suite is available at check in. Instead, they made up stories about no suites available.
3. There are a few comments pointing out that I should not use the mobile app to check against what the manager told me. I checked the app only because three other staff (2 on the phone, 1 at check in) had told me a totally different story earlier. I would not question that if I was given a consistent story. As it turned out, the manager did lie to me.
4. Regarding the suites may be perblocked for other plats using SNA. This is definitely not the case. The manager told me that if they block the suite, those suites won't be available online. Also, the hotel was quite empty during my 3rd and 4th night. A lot of suite availability online. Finally, when I move to my suites, they asked me which floors do I want to move to, which is another data point that shows they have plenty of empty suites.


Finally just a thought: let's say I have a multiple day stay, hotel doesn't have suite available the first night but has plenty of suites starting the 2nd day. If hotel refuse to upgrade starting day 2, can't I just shorten my existing reservation to one night and then rebook a different reservation starting the 2nd day? Do I suddenly become eligible for suite upgrade now? If so, the term is quite silly

Last edited by youcai; May 30, 2014 at 7:09 am
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