OK, now I appreciate the motivation behind loyalty schemes. I've been a member of many over the years including the old sheraton one. I've been upgraded, had better rooms etc, but had a real bizarre twist at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver.
Arrived at 3.15pm with three tired kids after 14hrs of travelling and a pre-paid reservation for a suite.
Front desk told me that the room wasn't ready, but they could hold my bags for an hour or two until I could get in. Thing is this was 15mins after the official check in time. Explanation was firstly "check in is FROM 3pm" - OK so you can decide randomly what time I get the room? Then they said that they had a Platinum member who had asked for a late check out, so the room was still occupied.
Now I find this very interesting. I'd already paid for the room in good faith from 3pm, yet in reality I was paying for the Platinum member to stay in my room. It wasn't even the hotel that was paying for the Platinum benefit!
Needless to say, I made it quite clear that this wasn't a satisfactory situation and it had to be resolved immediately. Front desk pushed back again so I asked for a manager.
Manager was called, within 5 minutes they had found me a room and it wasn't as if we were chasing housekeeping out the door either.
Grovelling apologies and a breakfast voucher for 5 were then forthcoming - so appropriate service recovery - but really, this situation shouldn't have happened.
Yes, give the Platinum member a late check out if it's available. Or a room with a better view if it's available (so the non-status member gets a room with a worse view) or an upgrade if it's available. Or don't commit to 3pm check ins if it's actually 5pm. What next - I book a suite, pay for a suite and get a standard room, whilst a Plat pays for a normal room and gets the suite I paid for???
OK, rant over. I don't stay in Sheratons very often these days and if this is a tangible risk then I don't think I'll be rushing back either.
