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SPG Customer Support - Shooting at hotel - how to handle such situation?

SPG Customer Support - Shooting at hotel - how to handle such situation?

 
Old Nov 24, 2015, 8:48 am
  #46  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5
Thumbs up stargold

Originally Posted by stargold
Simple question - Did you, or did you not, approach the front desk to discuss cancelling the remainder of your stay when you elected (and quite rightly so) to move to another property, and by necessity, the refund of the remaining portion of the pre-paid reservation?

The question of 1. whether you requested a refund, and 2. whether the hotel accepted/refused, are very important background facts in beginning to discuss whether the hotel is being reasonable.

For the record, I personally don't believe the hotel doesn't "owe you" anything for the fact that the shooting occurred. They might provide assistance in finding an alternative property and/or provide gestures of goodwill, but the hotel would have had to played a role in the incident in order for me to expect anything from them.

I think stargold has it exactly right !!
These are the correct and reasonable steps and expectations for this incident.
Kimber2Sassy is offline  
Old Nov 24, 2015, 10:03 am
  #47  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Posts: 225
Originally Posted by alanslegal
Unfortunately "bad" things happen, sometimes being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. This of Paris as an example

The hotel did not cause this, they could not foresee it happening, and yes the terrible event happened very close to you which is shocking as it is but at the end of the day, not the fault of the hotel.

5,000 is a generous offer but if you choose to relocate to another hotel, at your own expense - go for it. Any other offers from the hotel is highly generous IMO.
+1
bobunf is offline  
Old Nov 24, 2015, 10:38 am
  #48  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 63
Originally Posted by nicksal
My family and I had planned a long-term vacation in San Diego from Nov 7th - Dec 2nd (25 days) at the Four Points by Sheraton San Diego. I had business matters to take care of down here, so we decided to make it a trip with all of us. There were 4 of us total (2 small children). Everything was fine the first day. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant up the street.

How quickly things changed...

We're only 1 night in to the reservation, and the next morning we are awaken to gun shots in the room a couple doors down. Long story short, we were less than 25 feet away from a murder suicide. You can read about it here.

Police wound up closing off the entire wing. The hotel wound up evacuating everybody in our wing from their rooms, and offered everybody replacement rooms. Since we were going to be gone all day, we chose to just leave.

As you can imagine, the situation was pretty traumatizing. We actually wound up checking in to a Hilton down the street. It is now the 22nd and we still haven't been back to the hotel. I filed a report with SPG customer service, and the hotel wound up calling me a few days later apologizing and saying they would give me 5,000 Starpoints. I was pretty offended they only offered me 5,000 Starpoints, given that I had a 25-day reservation and spent thousands of dollars with them, my kids were with me, I checked in to another hotel, etc. I was heading in to a business meeting, so I didn't really have the time to express that to the hotel rep on the phone, so I took the 5,000 Starpoints.

I contacted SPG directly over the phone the next day and expressed how I felt that was not reasonable. 5,000 Starpoints would only get me 1 free night at the hotel. They asked me how much I feel I should get, and I responded, "a substantial amount". They said they would contact me within a week, but it's been a week now and I haven't heard anything back yet. It is now the 22nd and I have wasted 15 days now.

And while I don't blame the hotel directly for what happened, I do expect them to have great customer support when dealing with stuff like this.

Right now I am a gold member, and was hoping to reach Platinum with this stay because I have extensive traveling planned in 2016. I would like to avoid receiving a refund because I need most of these nights to qualify (even though one was never offered).

For those with more experience than me, is 5,000 Starpoints warranted? Is that offensive? What should I do in this situation? I feel like I didn't handle it correctly by accepting the 5,000 Starpoints the first time because I was in such a rush to get off the phone. This guy apparently got 10,000 Starpoints for being cursed at. And while I definitely don't condone that, I feel my situation is MUCH worse. Not to mention I was told I would be hearing back within a week, and nobody has got in contact with me yet.

What should I do? Thanks for any and all suggestions.
You sound like the child that kills his parents and then asks for clemency because he is an orphan. They should certainly refund the money for the nights you did not stay. However, you also seem to be more concerned about being made "whole" whatever that means instead of feeling sorry for the family of the victim.
donaldsc is offline  
Old Nov 24, 2015, 11:35 am
  #49  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: EDI
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Posts: 358
Originally Posted by Trodheim
Is this chap really whining publicly about not receiving enough compensation for someone committing murder/suicide in another hotel room? Certainly seems creepy to me that he would even want to profit in any material way from someone else's tragedy. So much human turmoil is attributable to this base corruption of personal greed and self-interest. Instead of compassionately recognising that he merely suffered inconvenience, he instead heaps his own complaints onto the hotel staff who already have had to deal with the horrendous aftermath of this tragedy... I find the tone of this thread rather sickening.
+1
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Old Nov 24, 2015, 1:49 pm
  #50  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: Marriott
Posts: 7
Your point of view is that your experience was ruined and you/family experienced trauma from the ordeal. The hotel and workers are victims here too, though. They are freaked out AND they lost 23 days of your booking, which directly impacts their bottom line and their worker's hours if they are not needed. Your actual, legal loss is one night. I do see your point to an extent, but I cannot support getting free rooms for 25 days. If it were me, I would offer you 3 days comped at a comparable hotel (so, I guess 15,000 points) but no more. It wasn't their fault. They lost money on many levels. Ask yourself if the theater in Paris has to pay the people who survived the terrorist attacks. I believe most people would say No. I certainly do. Your mileage may vary. Were I they, I would make a deal with you to help you get Platinum status. That is a legitimate loss also. This is in your mutual interests, but I have had bad luck with everyone except Marriott and LaQuinta.
***ADDITIONAL It is axiomatic that you should not have to pay for the remaining nights of your stay. (Period) And are entitled to a refund or credit.

Last edited by ColePhelps; Nov 24, 2015 at 2:17 pm Reason: Was not sure if they refunded his nights.
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Old Nov 24, 2015, 3:14 pm
  #51  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Leicester, MA
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I don't see why the hotel owes you anything. They ended up I'm sure with a room that they could not use for at least a few nights.
GoProf is offline  
Old Nov 24, 2015, 6:19 pm
  #52  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Virginia
Programs: HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Marriott nobody
Posts: 470
I think OP purposely did not checkout and did not ask for a refund, because he wanted and needed those paid nights credit to help him to achieve Plat. Now he is wondering whether it wouldn't be great if somehow he can get back enough points so that he can enjoy the extra nights as a new Plat with all the bennies.
EdofFX is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2015, 3:29 am
  #53  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 342
dunno how much i like this demand for a "substantial amount" of spg points for something the hotel did not cause.

the murder suicide, while traumatizing, is not really the fault of the hotel. i have no clue how receiving spg will make you whole.

franchising a hotel is tough work, then your guests do murder suicides, then some of the other guests demand compensation.

can op articulate what an exact amount of spg points should be?

i think refund of all remaining nights and i'd be happy to take 5 000spg in addition.
phbl is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2015, 5:25 am
  #54  
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why on earth would OP be entitled to a refund of his 'unused' pre-paid nights if, as it now appears, he left the hotel without checking-out ?!...

i could understand a refund of prepaid nights if one leaves early (= checks-out) due to a disturbing incident (whether or not caused by the hotel), especially when children are involved. People react differently to traumatic events and young children may easily develop a pathological obsession when these type of events take place within their comfort zone. In such a case, a certain degree of comprehension on the part of the hotel is warranted.

now, claiming he didn't stay at the property for some 24 nights out of a 25-night stay while not having checked-out of the hotel (because he needs the nights to post to his account), OP wants a sizeable compensation in starpoints.

that's a bit too much!
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Old Nov 25, 2015, 2:09 pm
  #55  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Wow, someone dies and immediately someone else is asking for a handout? Talk about entitlement issues.
bonoman is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2015, 2:29 pm
  #56  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 1,134
OP joined the site, created the thread, posted three times over the next hour, never will be heard from or seen again, and FT members will continue to debate the topic for the next two weeks. These threads almost seem scripted with a specific plot formula that ensures more traffic will be generated to the site.
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Old Nov 25, 2015, 6:09 pm
  #57  
 
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In fairness it has nothing to do with them. I would've just asked for a refund of the remaining nights and/or the whole stay since you had only used one day. Asking for more points or something seems a bit, odd to me.
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Old Nov 26, 2015, 3:54 am
  #58  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 342
Originally Posted by jibi
OP joined the site, created the thread, posted three times over the next hour, never will be heard from or seen again, and FT members will continue to debate the topic for the next two weeks. These threads almost seem scripted with a specific plot formula that ensures more traffic will be generated to the site.
i disagree.

i think it is important to argue among ourselves

even better when it gets to personal attacks while sipping merlot in the ua club before a 90 minute flight to akron

while everyone else is outside enjoying life outside

that's what makes flyertalk flyertalk.
phbl is offline  
Old Nov 26, 2015, 4:04 am
  #59  
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: australia
Posts: 5,755
As if a merlot drinker would have anything substantive to add
3544quebec is offline  
Old Nov 26, 2015, 5:46 am
  #60  
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The hotel owes nothing. Not anyhow their fault. In fact the hotel and its management is having a by far harder time than the OP and the losses of the hotel are certainly substantial. Why should they throw money or points at the OP?
Flying Lawyer is offline  

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