bmcguir2

Wanted to check and see if this is actually policy, or if I just had a terrible rep.

I have a reservation in August at a Sheraton for 8 nights @270/nt. Plans changed, and now I only need it for 6 nights (the last 6 nights of the 8 nights).

Online system says no rooms available for that date, even though my room is clearly available for that date.

Called in to the rep, and she informed me she could do it, but because my room wasn't available (because I'm "in" it), I would have to pay the rate for an available room, which is 310/nt.

I'm not asking for different nights, just a couple fewer nights. 2 months out.

I hung up before I said something nasty.

This cannot possibly be policy, can it?

Starwood Lurker

My apologies, but yes, it can. If you change arrival dates, you pretty much have to start over. Since the associates only have what the hotel is offering for the new arrival date, there isn't much they can do about it.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

writerguyfl

This is pretty much standard procedure for all hotel chains. One of the main reasons this happens is to stop people from cheating to get around stay controls.

I always use Las Vegas as an example. In Vegas, every hotel can sell out months in advance with 1-night Saturday stays. Therefore, to maximize revenue, they require a multi-night reservation if you want to stay on a Saturday. In olden times, people would make a multi-night reservation and then call to cancel all days except Saturday. This policy blocks that sort of thing from happening today.

Although annoying when they stop you from getting what you need, stay controls do help guests. Consider the possibility that the only reason you were able to book that 8-night stay initially was because the hotel had stay controls in place to stop other people from selling out the hotel with 1-night stays somewhere during your trip. Once a hotel is sold out on a single night, you can't book a multi-night stay that touches that night.

Hopefully, this explanation helps clear up the purpose behind this policy. I know it doesn't help fix your problem, but it might diffuse some of your anger/annoyance with Starwood. This is standard practice everywhere.

MSPeconomist

Has the OP tried to contact the hotel directly and ask them if the change could be made?

azepine00

i just spoke with hyatt diamond rep regarding the same possible issue and they assured me that removing one night from beginning of reservation will not be a problem even though cash+points inventory (that i used to book in the first place) is no longer available.

writerguyfl

That's interesting. If that's the case, then Hyatt is an outlier on this topic. I know that Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, and Carlson all use the cancel/rebook method described here. And, it's something I encountered on my last Best Western stay.

Honestly, I tend to forget about Hyatt because 1) they don't have hotels where I usually travel, 2) they aren't are big as the other major hotel groups, and 3) I don't know anyone working at a Hyatt like I do with other chains.

jpdx

Hyatt is very generous with changes on points/free night/C&P stays; generally, you can substitute one for the other, shorten stays, etc. The one thing that consistently doesn't work is making changes to reservations that had an expired Diamond Suite Upgrade applied; you can still shorten the reservation, but you lose the expired DSU.

Out of my Element

At least it's only $40 more/night. It could be $140 and you could be a noshow for missing those first two nights. At least you can rebook and it'll cost you $300 less for your shorter reservation.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK Hilton was the first to have this policy. It caused me to avoid Hiltons.

lilpisher

Completely agree - individual properties have always helped me out in a similar situation.