I continue to follow this thread with great interest. Some Starwood hotels have jumped through hoops for me. When this happens I report it on FT so these hotels hopefully increase business by word of mouth. It also seals my loyalty to the individual hotel.

There have also been instances where individual check-in people have made me feel I should bow down in gratitude for the delivery of even the most basic program benefits.

My ideal would be more middle of the road. A complete understanding of the program and pleasant delivery across the full range of Starwood hotels. Unfortunately, I think it would be extremely difficult for SPG to totally achieve this, given the large range of hotels, franchise and ownership issues.

stevens397 I agree with much of your post except an entitlement of suite upgrade prior to the day of check-in. Although not in the notification, you may have still received the suite at check-in if it remained unsold or was not allocated to another Plat.

My personal bugbear is the arranged preblocking of suites because it may result in other Plats not receiving their fair share. I know others will not agree with me and I accept that. I can even find merit in their arguments. Again, I don't see any ultimate solution.