drunkskunk

Recently earned 2 Member Exclusive Free Nights under SPG's Select Member Exclusive promotion where you get a free night for every hotel stay, up to a maximum of 3 nights.

Called into the Gold Preferred Guest line and tried to use it to book the W Resort Koh Samui in Thailand but was rejected because the resort is villas-only and my earned free nights can only be used to book "standard rooms".

Just wondering if this is a common practice of SPG to advertise:

"That's three Free Night Awards redeemable at your choice of our Category 1–6 hotels or resorts through December 31, 2014. Now there's only one question: Where to? "

and to deny its members the use of earned free nights.

3Cforme

You want to parse the Terms and Conditions of the promo very selectively. They apply in their entirety. If you're not familiar with the Standard Room requirement of SPG redemptions, it's time to get familiar with it.

EuropeanPete

The rules are laid out pretty clearly in this case - the W Koh Samui does not have any rooms which would be applicable under the offer.

drunkskunk

Yes I did read the T&C before calling up to book but there is no definition of what actually is a "Standard Room". Some chains classify them as the the lowest graded rooms in each property. SPG could have attached a list of non-participating properties on its promotions page and avoided all the guesswork.

nongsom

same problem with my brother
Samui = > only le meridien
Another cat6 avilable in thailand => St.regis Bkk

fireworksboy

The one in Napa comes to mind. If you're familiar with the program, it's not a surprise. If you're not, it can be a shock. There's not many of them, but if it's the one you're hoping to stay it, it sucks none the less.

arrek

I just tried to redeem these for the Westin Madrid. The agent redeemed December 29-January 1 (3 nights), but when I looked at my account an hour later I noticed 12,000 starpoints missing. I was informed by a second agent that the night of December 31 was a blackout date. Huh? There is nothing in the T&Cs that I can see about blackout dates. It says stays must be "consumed" by Dec 31, but the agent confirmed that meant check in.

Can anyone clarify? I will try to call again in the morning to try and apply the certificate vs. using the starpoints.

drunkskunk

The situation is unfortunate because I changed my hotel selection to earn the free nights specifically to use at the W Koh Samui. Wished I was never targeted for this promotion.

Will advise my friends and co-workers to be extra careful about SPG promotions from now on. They really pile on the fine prints.

Also, maybe the Starwood Lurker can explain how is a "Standard Room" defined? By square feet (etc. >500sqft) or by room names (etc. villas, suites)? I personally will not participate in SPG promotions anymore but will want to have the information so I can warn others to this practice.

taipeiflyer

you're being ridiculous.

Starwood Lurker III

Hi arrek,

There is no black out day for the award. The award can be used for 31 December, 2014.

Best Regards,

Christina Zhou
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

controller1

I find this hard to believe. If you actually changed your selection to use at the W Retreat Koh Samui then I must assume you at least visited their website to learn something about the property.

On the front page of the hotel's website is a link titled "This hotel has Limited Participation in the Starwood Preferred Guest® Program." The bolding is part of the link. When clicking on the link the following is received:

"SPG Participation Disclaimer

All rooms at the W Retreat Koh Samui are villas; therefore, Starpoint Award reservations must be booked at a higher Starpoint rate through your local customer contact center."

The above should have alerted you to a potential issue pertaining to standard rooms.

drunkskunk

I agree I should have paid more attention to the fine prints. However, if we are going to depend fully on the information posted, SPG also posted the following: "That's three Free Night Awards redeemable at your choice of our Category 1–6 hotels or resorts through December 31, 2014." In no way did they specify any blackout dates or room types.

I just want to say that it is simple enough for SPG to post a list of the properties that are not participants of the Exclusive Nights promotions, instead of saying I can have my choice of Cat 1 -6 hotels or resorts, which is simply not true.

I guess to many of you here, my questions or mistakes are very obvious. But I am also sure that there are many beginners like me who will be confused by SPG's wordings. I just hope the Starwood Lurker can define what exactly is a "Standard Room".

Keyser

i would never change my plans unless i knew everything about the promo....which would include reading the fine print....

if you are giving your friends & co-workers advise then tell them to always read the fine print....now that would be good advice....

you will find a fine print with pretty much every hotel chain & promo....not just spg....

people tend to forget that no one forces them to participate in a promo....they can do so if they wish....but its unfortunate everytime someone complains about the benefits they earned from the promo without reading the t&c of the promo/program....

drunkskunk

Exactly. I totally agree with what you are saying. It's just that the T&C only states "Free Night Awards can be redeemed for any Starwood Category 1–6 hotels or resorts for a standard room for any night of the week."

And the only way you can know if your hotel has a so called "Standard Room" is to call SPG and find out. And most of beginners like me will not even question the a/m terms and would have just taken it at face value.

I started this thread to vent and complain at first but after reading the comments, I guess I just want to let SPG know that they can do better and end any kind of confusion with a simple list of hotels not participating in this Exclusive Nights promotion.

RFDMinnesota

What I want to know is how do I get targeted for these kind of things?!