100,000miler

Phone charges at many *W hotels are outrageous. Take for example the W in LA. Its costs are $13+ for the first minute of LD which is just about anywhere in LA.

I refused to partake in this nonsense and simply rented a cell from the conceirege for just $10 per day.

Still this is a major issue at many proprerties. *W needs to come clean on this major rip off.

travelinjoe

Checked into the Westin portland tonight. Very friendly valet and front desk staff, helped with directions to a local restaurant (southpark).

My only complaint is that the internet access is not quite high speed - getting about 48K download(about dial up speeds).

I can't comment about the plat. upgrades since I am 1 more stay away from Gold. Next year though - *wood all the way and I should be able to make platinum by August ( not more mariotts).

SAGA

on 11/7 evening I booked a room at the Westin Portland which included free intenet access. I checked in on 11/8 at 5pm and checked out 12 hours later - 5am today. During my stay internet was not available. Even this morning, the staff at the front desk could not say when it would be up. Apparently the system is being upgraded and had been down for a while.

I resent paying the $30 or so extra for something that was not available. Should the hotel be charging extra for rooms with "free" internet access when none is available? Others beware.

Starwood Lurker

I would report the outage to Hotel Customer Service as a Room Amenity issue. If you paid $30 to have a room with free Internet access and it wasn't provided, I would expect that the hotel would have refunded it at check-out.

But, since I don't know all the details, I could be wrong, so it is best to let Hotel Customer Service sort it out.

800-328-6242.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Eastbay1K

Are you sure they weren't selling "Free From Internet Access?" Seriously, I'd think the hotel would have told you upon check-in and noticed your rate had this item included, and handled it appropriately at that time, along with unlimited local calls for dialup service.

SAGA

On the SPG website, on which I booked the room, the rates were $169 for a regular room and $199 for a room with free internet. I only found out that it wasn't working after spending aboiut 15 mins fiddling with the config on my computer trying to get the internet to work.

I'll call the 800 number. Thanks Lurker.

wck4

This is more useful in the summer than in the rainy winter, but Pioneer Courthouse Sq (1/2 block from the westin) has free wifi access available. ^

wth

Thought I'd share a recent experience with Starwood -- how one hotel ticked me off over $8.50 and how Starwood Web Services and Corp Hotel Customer Service saved the day.

I drove down to Portland, OR last weekend for a Beer/Wine Fest. I was planning to book the Westin as it is a block from the light rail line which would take me to the convention center where the Fest was being held. Add the Heavenly Bed and a great stand alone shower and it's a perfect choice. (They also used to offer Molton Brown bath products, but they stopped that about 6-8 months ago - drat!).

I tried to book one of the Westin promotional rates that was supposed to offer 15% off the best available (unrestricted) rate. Doing so offered me a rate of $101.15 (85% of $119). The problem was that the best available unrestricted rate per Starwood's web site was actually $109, which meant the promotional rate should have been $92.65 The difference is small but it would help pay for breakfast in the morning.

I contact Starwood Web Services and explain my experience, which they can replicate and by which they are totally dumbfounded, as in "I've never seen this happen before." The woman at Web Services was extremely helpful, apologized for the inconvenience and attempted to contact a hotel manager at the Westin Portland. They were all at lunch so she took my number and promised to call me back within two hours.

True to her word, the woman called me back within two hours and related to me the gist of her conversation with the Revenue Manager at the Portland Westin. To this point, this was just a minor inconvenience and more an amusing way to kill some time. But the hotel's response was what galled me and ticked me off. The Revenue Manager said that they never bothered to program in the $109 BAR for this promotional rate since it hadn't been offered in the past three years (there are multiple BARs based on day of week, load factors, seasonality, etc.) He wasn't sure how/why the $109 rate was entered on the web site, but thanked Web Services for bringing it to his attention and stated that he would have it changed to $119 ASAP. As for the prospective customer, after consultation with the GM, "the best he could offer" was the $101.15 rate. After all, it's less than $119. AND, he left it to her to communicate that to me.

First of all, I've stay at that hotel four times in the last year, and once was at a BAR of $109 and once was at a BAR of $99. The other two were at promotional rates (20% off two nights). Given the RM wasn't even aware what was being offered that weekend, it didn't surprise me that his knowledge of past rates was "fuzzy". Second, I can understand that he would revise the rate back up once he was aware of it (I would have done the same thing), but he didn't even bother to throw me a bone and offer me the lower rate (for one stinking night!). After all, indirectly, I was the one responsible for him becoming aware of the error. I may have actually helped the hotel make more revenue on all last minute reservations. And third, he didn't have the decency to contact me directly. He "hid" behind the poor woman in Web Services -- who handled everything very professionally. And I acknowledged that she was the unfortunate bearer of the news and commended her for handling the uncomfortable situation so well.

Knowing of my experience, she suggested that I speak with Corp. Hotel Customer Services to voice my complaint and transferred me. (I think, secretly, she was miffed at the RM in Portland and was hoping I'd file a complaint). The man I spoke with there processed the information -- both the rate issue and, more importantly, the poor way in which the hotel addressed it. He also noted that the current BAR was now $119 -- they wasted no time correcting that error!

He placed me on hold and when he came back he offered me two options. One was that he would be happy to book the room at the $101.15 with a direct note to the hotel that I expected a $92.65 rate. No sale! This was a non-refundable rate and the hotel had already had an opportunity to offer me that rate and never seemed to consider it an option. The second option was offering me x,000 Starwood points for my inconvenience. Sold!!! Based on my redemption experience those points are worth about $250-300. All because some lunk head in Portland wasn't willing to throw me an $8.50 bone. [Note, I have chosen not to disclose the actual amount of the Starpoints because I consider it a personal transaction. But, the $ value should give you an an educated clue.]

I decided to book at the Portland Hilton for $99. They have a new upgraded bed -- not quite the HB, but, more than acceptable. The room was more spacious than the Westin. And I was comped continental breakfast because of my HH status (Portland Hilton has no Exec Lounge). Even though I'm Platinum with Starwood, that carries no breakfast comps since the Westin Portland doesn't have a Lounge. [Note the policy difference between HH and SPG] And I had the option to self park at the Hilton and save a few extra bucks, something one can't do at the Westin.

Finally, the Westin Portland is off my considered list for a minimum of one year. And, I get down to Portland 4-6x/yr. with 2-3 nights/stay.

So, for the sake of gaining an extra $8.50 short-term revenue ($101.15 vs. $92.65), this so-called Revenue Manager has cost this hotel at least $600 in future revenue over the next year (based on past year styas at the Westin). And that only covers the room rate! Plus, I am very likely to fall in love with the Hilton again (used to stay there a lot) and forget the Westin for an even longer time. Now, I realize $600 annually doesn't make me a high revenue customer. But for $9, the Revenue Manager was still being short-sighted

And kudos to the two people in Starwood Web Services and Corp. Hotel Customer Services for their assistance and professionalism. And for their generous response.

urbanSPG

Bummer you had a bad experience. This still remains one of my favorite Westins and I'm off to stay there tomorrow. At least my chances of upgrade are better with one less platinum staying there!

AZ Travels the World

All this over $8.50? I know it is the principle, but jeez...

It's too bad. I've had great experiences at the Westin Portland. Personally, I think it runs circles around the Hilton.

wth

Actually, this is about the principle -- the principle that you stand by what you offer. In this instance that would've been 15% off the best unrestricted rate. Instead of standing by that, the hotel decided to just change the BAR. If I was solely concerned about the money, I would have stayed at the Four Points for $79.

Further, I recognize and respect that many of you have had great experiences at this hotel, however, I have not. I have experienced valet parking snafus (once I was asked to go around the block because the GM's car was parked in the limited drop off area!), billing errors at check out on multiple trips, outdated room service menus (at least a month old), consistently luke warm coffee in the lobby (at least credit them for offering), etc. Bottom line, my room was fine -- always upgraded to Business Deluxe or Mini Suite. Terrific and appreciated! But, it was many of the other peripheral services that contribute to the stay that were lacking. Each, by itself would have been minor annoyances (except for the GM car thing), however, in aggregate, it's below what I expect at a Westin.

Meanwhile, my stays at the Hilton have been error free, I am offered a free cont. breakfast and am given a more spacious room. The fitness facility is outstanding. Service at their restaurants is more attentive. All at a lower rate. As they say, YMMV.

Eastbay1K

The Portland Hilton really isn't much if any of a downgrade. The fitness facility (if you use it) is really great, and you do get the breakfast. Ok, the bed isn't as good, but w/o Molton Brown, the bathroom littlebottles are about the same.

The sad thing is I bet this revenue manager, if he was in a similar situation with another merchant, would protest louder than you did.

Every once in awhile as a business owner or manager, you blow it and just have to have your personal "oops I blew it" and in this case, said manager should be happy that it would have been less than $10 as opposed to realizing after the fact that he caused to be sold 1000 trips to Europe at $20 each.

couscous

stayed at the Westin Portland a couple of nights ago.. great location with nice coffehouse around the corner, perfect for people watching.. Very small lobby, old charm I guess. Was given room 1802 on the Starwood preferred floor. Room was nothing to rave about, I was only separated to room 1801 by a connecting door and it seemed that I spent the night with my neighbors.. Called for my car to be ready around 6am and went down the lobby at 615am.. car was not ready and front desk staff was not aware of me calling.. annoying, had to wait another 10 minutes.
Middle of the road Westin in my opinion..

100,000miler

Frankly I was not impressed with this hotel either. Rooms are not great low ceilings, nothing to write home about but the restuarants were good. That is my two cents worth.

Breakfast deals are always a big mystery to me at most properties. Rarely do I seem to be able to avail myself of them unless up early enough in the morning but I am not a morning person at all unless I must be up for work.

bloomaw

Just stayed overnight and was pleasantly surprised to see exercise bike in room, weights and yoga books. Very cool additions