goverdorff

Hello all, first post.

I'm putting this up to see anything you guys would recommend regarding a difficulty I am having with Starwood on an upcoming reservation.

I will be leaving USA to travel to SE Asia for several weeks, leaving early next week. For the last part of the trip (night of 20th thru 27th morning), we will be staying in Bali.

We were thinking of doing the 20th-25th in Bali, and were pretty set on the Luxury Collection Laguna Nusa Dua. Later, we were planning on doing the Gili islands on the last 2 days. So we booked a 5 night stay at Nusa Dua for 20-25th.

After looking at it more, it just wouldn't work to do the Gili's on those dates, so we decided it would be better to book the night of the 20th in Bali, 2 days in the Gilis, and then the last 4 days in Bali. So effectively I needed to change my 5 day reservation at the Laguna to 5 nights, but split as 20-21st (1night), and 23-27th (4night).

I called up starwood to handle the change. The attendant worked with me over the phone, but in the middle of changing it, noted that the 23rd was showing up as full. Of course it should have been able to go through, since I already had that night booked. He had already cancelled the previous reservation and booked the first part of the trip (1 night on the 20th). He assured me that it must be some computer mixup and tried to phone them. At that time of the morning however, it was around midnight in Bali so he wasn't able to get through to anyone for reservations. He assured me I would see a 2nd reservation notice soon.

I waited a day and didn't hear anything, so I called them up. They went through the same procedure, and ended up opening up a ticket to fix the issue. I was told wait 48-72hrs. After 48 hours, I called in and was told to wait an additional 24 hours. This morning (about 60 hours in) I got an email saying someone was looking at the case. But I still hadn't heard anything, so I called tonight to get the skinny (at 72hours).
I had to re-explain the whole situation again, and was told that they don't have any rooms at the Laguna for one of the nights. Of course at this point I'm apoplectic, saying I had a room at the Laguna for that night until your reservation dept screwed it up! He said "well we can't built another hotel room for you." unbelievable. He apologized and offered that I could instead stay at the Le Meridien, a hotel my wife does not want to stay at, for 44k starpoints (laguna cost 40k when i booked). When I declined, he offered to put a "hastening" on the case, so I should hear back from them within 12 hours.


At this point I fear I'm just getting the run-around. Should I just skip starwood altogether and book somewhere else? This is beyond frustrating.

MSPeconomist

IMO 40,000 points for one night in a standard room at the Laguna is way too much. Did I blink when it became a super luxury property? Have you looked at rates in money for the dates of your stay?

goverdorff

sorry, maybe that could have been more clear. 40k points is for 4 nights, not one

LovetoTravel83

One extra night and it would still cost you the same rate.

As for the reservation, I think the agent made a mistake. The agent should've made a the reservation first then cancel the old one.

margarita girl

Go to the Westin Nusa Dua for that one night. The properties are literally one beside the other.

jb3t

Problem solved.

And keep looking as there's a good chance something will open back up.

travelswithmyself

Yep. The Westin and Laguna are connected by a paved path 20-30 feet long. They even have special gates or signs for guests :P (can't remember now).

Btw, just because you cancelled your reservation doesn't mean a night will open up. They may have a queuing system so someone who's waitlisted would have been assigned your night. Or they might have been overbooked to start with. Or they might have been fully booked and decided to lock the system for that night, and that would have to be manually "unlocked". Some of this was told to me by FD staff, some by conjecture when I pretty much tried to do the same to rearrange my bookings.

Agent should not have cancelled existing booking before making your new booking.

Hope things work out! (PS: I prefer the Westin :P)

yosithezet

Welcome to FlyerTalk goverdorff!

Medved

Not really. OP had 5 nights for 40K. If he goes to another hotel for an extra night, will be 10K more.

Medved

+1. Most agents I've dealt with first check FULL availability for a new reservation, even if it includes mostly same nights as old one. I had to keep old reservations for exactly same reason. The only way around it -- agent calls the hotel.

mahasamatman

The OP is no longer staying five consecutive nights, so it would be 50K no matter what.

goverdorff

here's a shocker, no response from starwood after 12 hours, despite their promise.

Thanks for the tip on the Westin, but unfortunately they're booked up too. After explaining the situation AGAIN to another agent, and their supervisor, they explained that:
the assigned agent, who emailed me Friday morning to let me know they're looking at it/talking to the hotel, is the only one who can help with this case. I said ok, then get her on the phone. Unfortunately she's out of the office. She'll be back in Monday morning-so the earliest I can expect some resolution to this is a full SIX days after I put in a call, and 8 days since the initial screwup.

Of course on Monday morning, I will be on a plane to Asia with no wifi and limited cell availability for some time, so I have no time to react depending on their response. I tried explaining this to the supervisor, but even they're like talking to a brick wall-no understanding, effort to do anything to assist the customer except WAIT to correct their mistake. What a way to treat customers.

I'm pretty sure my trip is shot now-the wife had zero interest in staying @ the Le Meridian or W (both too modern), and the St Regis is out of our price range. Thanks a lot starwood

TerryK

Nothing was botched. There was no availability on 23rd when your requested the change; you were not able to make the change no matter what. The fact that you cancel one doesn't matter. As travelswithmyself stated, cancelled inventory may or may not go back into available pool. You only recourse is asking Starwood to reinstate 20-25th five nights booking as it was cancelled by mistake.

merrickdb

Have you tried calling the hotel directly? Also, Bali is, quite frankly, one of the places I'd steer clear of Starwood hotels. You can get amazing villas for a fraction of the price. And if you're interested in being a bit more on the interior of the island, near arts Ubud, the Como Shambala is one of the best hotels I've stayed at anywhere in the world.

Thunderroad

Your trip is shot because the reservation for one night fell through? Yes, the Starwood CSR screwed up; and yes, Starwood should have worked this out by now. But I'd take merrickdb's suggestion to call the hotel directly during its business hours, to explain what happened and very nicely ask whether they could provide an award night booking for the missing night (which, checking the SPG site, I believe is the night of Nov. 24 rather than 23).

I assume that you still have the award night reservations for the other nights you want. If not, make that booking immediately so at least those nights are covered. And it might even help in asking the hotel to fill in the missing night.

The other thing you could do is make a booking at some other hotel for the missing night, such as an award stay at Le Meriden or the W, which still have some availability for Nov. 24. Or a revenue stay somewhere else. Ideally, the stay should be the kind that you can cancel the day before without penalty or even better on the day of arrival, just in case the Laguna opens up.

Finally, even if the Laguna can't help you nail down the night of Nov. 24 in advance, you can ask again at check-in.

Of course, it will be a pain if you have to end up switching hotels back and forth, but not the end of the world. The alternative, of course, is to revert to simply canning your stay at the Laguna because of the one missing night and getting something else for that period. But I'd say the hassle of moving back and forth is worth it for getting the free award nights (or at least four of them.)

Hope it all works out.