Originally Posted by DCF

I feel genuinely sorry for Sarah9228's ruined honeymoon, and some of the service issues she endured are totally unacceptable.

But it was a terrible idea to use Starpoints and attempted SNAs for a honeymoon at that hotel, especially during the southern hemisphere winter holidays.

Firstly, those of us familiar with this board know that the standard award rooms are just terrible at the Westin Maui (the ones with a view of the parking lot and no closet). In actual fact, they got a room above Ono restaurant which means that they were upgraded from the usual award inventory in the ocean tower to the beach tower with the better rooms (including a closet!). Realistically, that was as good as it was going to get.

Secondly, while the US economy in general is going badly, Hawaiian hotel occupancy is very high because tourism from Australia and New Zealand is going through the roof. And this trip was scheduled slap-bang in the middle of the New Zealand winter school holidays and at the end of the main Australian ones. The chances of a better upgrade, let alone fulfillment of SNAs, was minimal.

Thirdly, this property is a resort. Platinums are not entitled to a late checkout. I always fly out of Hawaii on a late night flight (I have to fly out of HNL because I live in Australia) and I invariably book an extra night wherever I'm staying so that I can keep my room, my safe, my shower etc, etc. I had the same problem at St Regis Monarch Beach last week: my bags were left outside on a trolley all day and while I was allowed to shower in the spa, my kids had to shower at the "pool showers" OUTSIDE the restrooms.

Fourthly, the Westin Maui is not a luxury resort by any means. The only genuinely luxurious Starwood property with top-notch customer service in the islands is the St Regis Princeville, and that is blighted by excessive rain. The issue of "room placement" is an interesting one. Should the hotel give its crummiest rooms to people who are actually paying for a room or to people on award stays who have status earned elsewhere? That debate could go on forever!

As someone who owns at the Westin Kaanapali Villas and probably averages 15-20 paid Starwood hotel nights in Hawaii each year, these are the rules I operate by:

1. View Hawaii as a destination for earning Starpoints, not burning them. The 35% off rack plus 5th or 6th night free usually allows access to a good room category at a less scary price, while allowing heavy earning, and is almost always the way to go, especially as it's often linked to double or even triple Starpoints.
2. Don't book a lower category room than you would be prepared to occupy, because high occupancy levels mean that upgrades just can't be assumed to be likely. If you book an award stay, make sure that you have read all about the base room category, because you're probably going to have to occupy one of those rooms.
3. View SNA's as a "maybe but unlikely".
4. Never, ever expect a late checkout. If you're on a late flight, buy another night.
5. Don't just consider the US school holidays when you book. Make sure that you steer clear of Japan's Golden Week and also don't book without first checking out the Australian and New Zealand school holidays.