I've noticed that several of the Starwood properties in Australia have excellent management -- Westin in Sydney, for example, but also the Melbourne Westin and the W. Far better than average and better than Starwoods in the rest of the world. Thus your experience with the hotel noting the problem proactively and offering a solution doesn't surprise me (just try that at any London hotel!). The proactivism shows considerable effort and earns these hotels proportionate loyalty on my part. Unfortunately it doesn't help with the hardware problem for those few hotels that are worn out and needing more than cosmetic refurbishment.