W Midtown Atlanta switches Starpoints to Rack Rate
I have been a Starwood guest since 1995 and Platinum three years running. I have never been so thoroughly disappointed with the program until now.
I booked a room at the Atlanta W Midtown property using earned Starpoints through the Platinum Concierge 888 number. I had an unfortunate emergency and was not able to call to cancel nor was I able to check in. After receiving a rack rate charge for the stay, I contacted the hotel and was advised they had credited back the points to my count and instead debited my Amex on file for the full rack rate of $585.35 (tax inclusive).
At no point during booking was this disclosed to me and I don't see why it would matter that I check in or not - the agreed form of payment for this room was to be Starpoints not cash. After contacting Joanna at the W Midtown and expressing my concerns, she basically stonewalled even after I told her I would most likely be taking my $5000+ per year expenditures with Starwood to a competitor.
For a company so large and seemingly well organized, I can not believe they would let a profitable five year business relationship cease over something such as this. Beyond the Starwood points on my account, I advise many of the artists and talent agencies with which I work to choose Starwood properties when they're in town. All of this total is easily worth $10,000 a year to Starwood if not more.
My narrow question - what are the appropriate channels of escalation here to take this as far up the corporate chain as it takes? Until now, I have been a die-hard loyal Starwood guy and would like to give them every opportunity to rectify. All I want is the Starpoints initially deducted for the stay to be once again debited and the rack rate charge removed from my Amex.
To date, I have messaged the comments form on the platinum page and received and message from [email protected] indicating the Atlanta property may choose to charge me points or cash. This tells me someone somewhere definitely has the power to sort this out, I just do not know who.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin Mitchell