tamaloso

I have stayed in the Sheraton previously, i wasn't a favorite hotel but for connections flights is very convenience as well every hotel attached to an airport.
Im from Peru, as most people know right now my country is in emergency due to a natural disaster, cities are flooded and principal roads are destroy leaving principal cities isolated; most cities dont have potable water since almost 1 week. So i struggled myself with all this inconveniences of this disasters.
All normal activities in my country are already been affected since water, power, domestics and international flights. I'm a platinum member 100's the most high level of the starwood membership and have booked before my country disaster a non refundable 1 night stay in Amsterdam in my way to Thailand since i have to pick up something in Amsterdam and would be nice to stay 1 night there and enjoy a night out in a coffe shop, but my flights were affected for the emergency on my country, so i cancelled the booking thinking that my level of membership or at least the hotel will have some kind of empathy because everything was beyond of my power (cant control the natural disasters).
I arrived yesterday in my flight connection to pick up my stuff in the hotel and was blackmailed for the supervisor that him or the hotel wont be handle my belongings if i dont paid for the cancelled booking, i explained him the situation (even my ambassador communicated this previously to my arrival) still dont show empathy and deny give my property if dont paid for the cancelled booking.
Indeed the hotel care more about make 140 euros that show empathy to someone that is struggled with disasters that are beyond customers power, the only empathy that the hotel employee show was " i hope will be good your country again" yes sure tell this to the 75 people that already been killed for it.
This property lost a customers and i hope people who saw this thinking to avoid this hotel since they dont care about customer, they care about their-self
Please share this!

Attached is the picture of the supervisor, i meet him in another stay; was nice but this time just care about making money

<photographic image of hotel associate removed by moderator, for compliance with FT site Rules>

SkiAdcock

Trying to understand. You had a reservation there, but due to flight issues had to cancel it.

* Did you already have your luggage at the hotel & they wouldn't give it back to you unless you paid for the booking? That would certainly be an issue.
* Did you want to briefly leave your luggage there even though you canceled the booking? Not fun if they said no, but understandable & not unique to the property.
* Did they hold to the formal cancellation policy (ie, charge you) even though your flight was impacted by the emergency in your country? That's within their rights/T&C, even if not empathetic.

Cheers.

ajeleonard

Really unclear ramble.

Nevertheless, the situation in Peru is not the hotel's problem, if you couldn't travel you should claim on your travel insurance. If you have a non-refundable booking or missed the cancellation window then you owe the hotel the money. This situation is no different from anyone else with a delayed flight that impacts onward arrangements.

Canada101

I've stayed at this property several times and have always found the staff extremely accommodating and very professional. Perhaps there was a miscommunication?

KENNECTED

It's not a ramble, it's a language barrier. It appears to me the OP is trying to write in English. I've tried to translate as someone writing in Spanish and there seems to be something missing.

I think he needs help with a prepaid stay, but due to flights and missed connections he doesn't know what to do.

theddo

You aren't struggling with a disaster in Peru while in Amsterdam any more than the hotel does, your nationality doesn't make you struggle any more. You may have struggled with it at one point, but certainly not anymore.

The hotel is well within their rights to require payment for a hotel room which you have booked for a non refundable fee, even if I have never had them do so even when I've said "no, I'd rather stay somewhere else tonight". It surprises me that they would require payment, if they understood what you told them which they may not have done? And it is for the hotel room, not for storing your belongings (remember hotels sometime require $5/day to store letters).

I would pay up and talk to your ambassador about the issue and I would hope you would find a favourable solution, which does seem more likely anyway.

Mrtravel28

I wouldn't expect any compassion from the folks on here. I would also drop the Peru disaster story as that is not the problem of the hotel. I would however expect the hotel to make an exception, especially if you stayed there previously and at SPG 100 and traveling a lot would probably stay again.

This is a good example that sometimes sticking by the rules is not in the best interest of the company in the long run. The only exception would be if you had a wing of rooms and your cancellation would have cost the hotel significant revenue, which wasn't the case.

Not sure how this property is doing financially but seems like they could have waived it. I doubt they were sold out 100% and missed out on your 140 Euro. They are just trying to stick it to you, by seemingly playing by the rules only. Chalk it up to experience and avoid them like plaque.

GVA

I've reread the OP 3 times and fail to understand what the problem is or what the hotel did wrong (not saying they didn't do anything wrong, just saying I don't understand the issue).

Did he no-show on one date and show up on another trying to either check-in or get some of his belongings ?

scottinaz

I have stayed at this hotel and found them to be extremely accommodating. When you book a non-refundable room the hotel would expect to be paid whether or not you were able to stay. I see nothing wrong for asking for some accommodation for your circumstances but I would not expect it and would be very grateful should I receive it.

joakgarp

I don't understand. Let's shrimp your post down a bit. So you booked a non cancellable room, cancelled it for some unexplained reason and now don't want to pay the hotel.
If you were forced to cancel a hotel due to some weather incident take it up with your insurance company. No need to shout out the hotel at FT. The hotel's following protocol and so should you.

Mrtravel28

Not sure what you don't understand. OP had some considerable reasons that the hotel didn't seem to care about, where on occasion, the non-refundable rate can be refunded. This is at discretion of the hotel, and if this was in fact the first time OP requested this as PT100 and previous customer, any sensible manager would have agreed to it. Another example of the EU properties needing more training in appropriate customer service and general hospitality culture.

Yes, they followed protocol, in this case stupidly as this OP, if he is 100 night Plat, will avoid this hotel now. The potential loss they caused themselves is much more than the no loss they would have had if they refunded the non-refundable rate and showed compassion.

As a customer, don't you feel more appreciated when businesses are willing to go over and beyond to earn your business.


Look at it from the OP perspective. Have they refunded him, he would probably not even look at any other options in AMS and be willing to spend longer layovers just to spend the night at this property.

Bad business decision, not surprising of a EU Spg property.

MSPeconomist

I'm confused about whether the hotel already has some of the OP's belongings and is refusing to return the items or whether the hotel is refusing to store items for the OP (for the day?). In the latter case, the solution could be luggage storage lockers or a luggage storage service in the AMS airport.

Mrtravel28

That piece I don't get either. I would fully understand the AMS Sheraton not storing non-guests' luggage, as that would be absurd and impractical in an airport. I am guessing language barrier is prohibiting us from understanding clearly??

joakgarp

What's there to understand? OP wants us to understand his cancellation and anger at the hotel but fails to properly explain his reasons and how he approached the hotel. Well he did show us by taking a picture of a supervisor and post it live on a public forum. Only this proves to me the hotel was acting correct and tells us a bit about the OP already.

Wasn't aware of using a status on SPG overrides reservation terms. Do you mind share me that information from spg.com?
Next time follow the rules and always book a flexible rate if not sure about your stay.

rickg523

OP is quite unclear. I took it that he intended a stopover at AMS during which he was planning on going into town to complete an errand and have some fun. Due to the delays caused by natural disasters at home, he had to reschedule. Now it gets vague. Did he end up having something delivered to the hotel and was unable to retrieve it because he didn't have a booking? Was he trying to have something delivered to the hotel so he could pick it up during what now has become a layover at AMS on his way to Thailand and they refused to accept it because he had no booking?
Or was this about the room rate refund?
One last thing, I really would like to see any of the posters snarking the OP about his language skills, explain their last poorly-resolved customer service issue in a foreign language and submit it to a site native in that language. I'm sure they'll find snarky put downs of their communication skills really really helpful.