I was wondering if anyone else has had problems exercising the Guaranteed Room Reservation benefit that Golden Circle Executive and Elite members are supposed to have. I've tried twice, both times running into problems. I've been a Golden Circle Elite member for about a year.
A few months ago, I called the reservation line to request a room at the Kerry Center Hotel in Beijing several days in advance, and was told I couldn't get one as it was fully booked. When I countered with "what about my guaranteed room availability benefit?", the reservation clerk had no clue as to what I was talking about. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and the supervisor told me I had to contact the hotel directly. When I called the hotel directly, got the same response. I again asked to speak to a supervisor, and the supervisor also didn't know what I was talking about. I referred her to the webpage that lists the benefits for Golden Circle members, and finally, she agreed to grant me a room.
Today, I called China World Hotel directly to book a room there. I was told that no rooms were available. I again asked about the guaranteed availability benefit, and the woman said, sorry, the hotel is sold out. Clearly not understanding what "guaranteed room availability" means, I asked to speak to the supervisor. She referred me to the duty manager. The duty manager told me the same thing. I said, yes, but I'm an Elite member, and I am supposed to have guaranteed room availability 48 hours in advance (it was now 72 hours in advance). She said they were already overbooked, and already had 30 (yes that's THIRTY) Golden Circle customers on a waiting list for a room. I said, "then you don't honor your promise of a guaranteed room availability to Elite members?" She said that they only honor it if there are rooms still availability. I told her "But if you have a room availability, no one needs the "guaranteed room availabity". She just restated she was sorry and offered to put me on "the waiting list". I told her I needed to know for sure I had a room, so that would not be acceptable. Again, clearly someone who does not understand the term of "guaranteed room availability".
I used to have the top level elite status with Marriott and used their Guaranteed Room Availability benefit all the time without any problem, but Shangri-La seems to make it either very hard or at least very difficult to use this benefit. Has anyone else had this problem, and figured out how to resolve it?
