Flews

Weird. Almost without exception, my best upgrades - with notes from managers, fruit baskets, wine, treats, Presidential Suites - have always been on the very first stay.

Cheers,

CLEguy

I get that properties over-sell and therefore overload SPG.com with "available" rooms.

But what if you're told the property is fully committed, yet 9+ rooms are available in every category on SPG.com? Is this "over-sell" and revenue management gone out to lunch, or is it something more nefarious?

mikeef

That's exactly the way it should happen. Glad it worked out!

Obviously, you are under no obligation to any of us, but I always encourage people to say something because it helps all of us.

BTW, I have always found Canadians to be lovely and I know that we send a lot of our crap north of the border, but I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to forgive you guys for Caillou or Max & Ruby.

Mike

Flews

We feel the same way about Two & a Half Men, Paris Hilton and Donald Trump.



Cheers,

Starwood Lurker

Like I said, this is already being done behind the scenes with no member input. Having an actual anecdotal experience documented as a complaint just adds more data and will hasten the correction process.

Your call on when you'd like to file the complaint...during the stay or after...but it really should be done if you feel like you did not get your published benefits.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

Flews

Or maybe these are rooms simply not available at that particular check-in time, or requiring servicing, or needing maintenance, or not in the upgrade pool, etc...

Sometimes the website just has a glitch. I once made an online reservation, and when I showed up a few hours later with an email confirmation as well as a print out of the reservation confirmation, the front desk could find absolutely no record of my booking on their system.

Cheers,

miloworld

I would assume most members feel upset (and lied to) when the hotel denies an upgrade past 10pm, or when there's >10 suites available. Starwoodhotels.com close online reservations at 12am, hotel's own reservation dept even earlier, the chance of someone walking-in and buying 17 suites is close to none.

They don't understand, happy Plats very likely = returning Plats + Good Reviews
Good Reviews = Gold + Non-members + members of other programs
Angry Plats = Bad Review = less customers of all channels

Thing is, I hate it most when hotels would upgrade some walk-in customers but when a Plat shows up,
shrug their shoulder and kinda go "you're already here and stuck with Starwood. hmmm.. let me see what I can do"

CLEguy

It was 2 days in advance when the "whatever/whenever" coordinator reached out to ask if I wanted anything--so I asked for an upgrade, and "we're fully committed" was the answer.

miloworld

On the contrary, shouldn't we raise our expectations to improve?

AT&T has dropped calls, what do we do? We complain until they fix those cell towers!

RogerD408

It's all in the timing... The people that load SPG.com typically work the day shift and they may only deal with loading SPG.com once a week or so looking out many months. If they have say 200 rooms at the property and their oversell margin is 5% (very low from my guess) then they may add 10 rooms to the website. As the day gets closer, I'm sure the percentage goes down, but I don't see them adjusting the numbers.

I have faith the system works for them. It may not be what we want, but it's not likely to change. The whole upgrade process is fraught with issues. I find asking at check-in works best for me. If I have reason to believe they are lying, then a report to SPG will get the situation reviewed and may cost the property (fines or even flagging if flagrant violations). That's all I can ask.

Flews

Well, since you're not entitled to any upgrade until check-in, your request was just as out of line as the response.

Cheers,

RZR

Platinum is Platinum, in my opinion, no matter how it's earned. In my opinion , I don' t recall seeing anywhere that they should be be treated differently.
Now however, I think think lifetime plats should trump all and that they should make that a benefit. That is loyalty, in my opinion.

synergistic

This isn't truly "on topic" but does address the fact that the website can't be relied upon for accurate inventory:

I recently stayed at a Sheraton Suites in Tampa, making a same day reservation for an accessible room with roll in shower. Upon arrival, I was told that all rooms with roll in showers were booked up, and we'd have to take a room with grab bars in a bathtub. I assumed the gentleman behind the counter was just mistaken and didn't realize that one of those "unavailable" rooms was set aside for us. I pulled out my confirmation, clearly showing two queens and a roll in shower. He looked again, no dice.

Another employee comes over, and together they try to figure something out for us. To their credit, they did not say a damned thing about us not having a wheelchair with us this trip - I've had that experience before, and had to explain that while we can make a step in shower work, we cannot handle the deep walls of a bathtub. In any event, they manage to find us a roll in room with king bed and pullout sofa, and we are grateful.

During this process - which took a good bit longer than a normal check-in, but still not unreasonable - I had been searching to see if any other local properties had roll in rooms available. On a whim, I checked "our" hotel, and (possibly a little bit snarkily) pointed out that I was still able to book the room types that were "unavailable." Again, to their credit, they weren't phased by my discovery or my attitude, and politely explained that the system is pretty much always willing to continue selling rooms of any type - regardless of in house inventory. Apparently this causes them problems with accessibility, bed type, and upgrade requests.

In any event, if the system allows even accessible rooms to be booked past capacity, I am not surprised at ALL that it would allow the same for suites. It's irritating - and for accessible rooms, worse than just irritating - but it doesn't feel like it's anything intentionally nefarious.

CLEguy

Then the response should have been that upgrades are available at check-in, not that the property is full when it very clearly is not. And just how is my request out of line, when they asked me what I wanted to make my stay better? Should I not tell them?

RogerD408

Prime example of the current state of customer support. They tell you whatever they think will make you go away. I think the proper response should have been: We assign upgrades at time of check-in, however, I will make note of your request.

Your presumption of knowing what their actual inventory availability is not accurate. SPG does not, and has posted here many times, show actual inventory. The website is a sales tool designed to sell rooms and in many cases more rooms than are actually available. You may choose to ignore that fact, but nonetheless it's what happens. Bottom line is there is no way to guarantee an upgrade at SPG properties and why many advise if you really need the suite, book it. THEN you have grounds to complain if they don't deliver. Everyone that I know that has been walked due to room not being available and the property has followed program procedures have come out ahead on the deal.