Extra Person Charge not disclosed at time of booking
 

I recently booked a future stay using SPG points for 3 people. The property insisted that they will charge an extra person charge even though it was disclosed at the time of booking. SPG corporate tried to intervene but they cannot do anything because it is an Asia based property. This is unacceptable. All charges should be transparent at the time of booking. Is there anyone else I can escalate this case to?

Get corporate to cancel stay and book elsewhere?

That's odd - we booked points for 3 people and were not charge extra. Then again, we really did not like this property at all.

westin siray bay
 

Hi,

When did you go there and you booked via what website? What are the things you didn't like about the hotel?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

We booked on sPG website.

Our room was huge but falling apart. Shower was broken and they kept telling us it was fixed when it was not. we forced them to come 3 times in 5 hours. Things break but don’t tell us it is fixed when it clearly is not.

Pools spread out and tiny - quite odd. No views from seats around pool, no way to swim from pool to pool. limited seats which is odd for a resort. Pools (main one) divided into many little ones like jacuzzi size and hard to get from one sub pool to another. Incredibly weird set up

I found food service gosh awful to the point of rude at the Platinum breakfast. I don’t want to get into it but I have never been treated with such disdain.

Incredibly hilly. Uncomfortably so, as it took 15-20 minutes to walk from our room to gym which was cramped and had little equipment and free weights.

All in all beautiful spot but hotel is isolated in a creepy way, had weird layout and the service infuriating. Worst service I’ve seen in thailand. We checked out early which I can’t reach remember having done in Starwood before.

Any recent stays?

Will the Westin Siray Bay, Phuket, change brand (managing company?) in 2023 or did I understand wrongly?

You are correct. Hopefully they'll invest to fix the terrible build quality. Property was falling apart more and more each year we stayed since opening. From memory even the light and room switches were installed upside down.

Thailand’s Asset World Corporation (AWC) is also acquiring two hotels, the Grand Mercure Windsor in Bangkok and Phuket’s Westin Siray Bay, she added, with local media reporting the the value of the two transactions at THB 5.6 billion.

https://www.mingtiandi.com/real-esta...ngkok-for-30m/

I only stayed there once, probably within a year of its opening, and I also remembered the terrible quality of the construction.
AWC is definitely a company that can help the property look better, but it will take time and a lot of money (which AWC is not short of).

We really loved the property and visited annually for about seven years when we decided we couldn't accept the quality anymore.

Nearly USD $30 mil is on the plan to refresh this "old lady"

The new owner likes to manage properties as cluster; so likely to keep the Westin (or anything else under Marriott) to manage with other hotel it owned including Marriott Nai Yang beach, Courtyard Phuket town

They have tried, but also found out that it does not always work.

In Bangkok, I think that those properties have GMs that manage only one hotel: The Athenee, The Surawongse, Le Meridien Bangkok, Marriott Marquis Queen's Park, W Bangkok, The Okura Prestige Bangkok, ...
Same thing in Chiang Mai: Le Meridien Chiang Mai, Melia Chiang Mai (presently without a GM), InterContinental Chiang Mai Mae Ping.
Even in Koh Samui, Vana Belle and the Sheraton Samui, that is next door, have each their own General Manager.

I should have made it clear that they try to do cluster for reservation and marketing function when possible, not for front office or GM :)

Front Office would definitely not be wise, but they tried a Cluster GM with the Plaza Athénée & Le Meridien Bangkok and I believe also with Vana Belle & the Sheraton Samui.