Originally Posted by
yosithezet
The T&C are very clear. Why should they grant the stay in this situation and not other situations? If you think they should do so in all of these situations, then why have T&Cs?
I disagree. If a customer makes a booking at a property within a chain (because it is part of that chain and they expect the benefits of membership of that chain) then it is unfair to the customer to find that they end up with the opposite of what they planned.
There is an argument that whatever the T&C's, in parts of Europe the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations may well invalidate such restrictive terms.
My own practical experience was of booking the old Meridien Park Atlantic in Lisbon in the midst of a Meridien Promo. Given the timing of the exit of that property it became impossible for me to replace that stay with another Meridien, yet I had sunk 6 of 7 stays to max out my return, because of the promo.
The end solution was that Starwood gave me stay and night credit and I completed the promo. I think this should be a standard outcome, it is clearly good customer relations.