avja

Same here. Great service.

Starwood Lurker

My apologies for any delay. I used to do the deactivation notifications in another lifetime of my career at Starwood. There is often a legal aspect to these that requires not communicating with affected guests until after the deactivation occurs. So, it is possible that you may hear nothing at all until after that happens.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

beachfan

Thanks William. Any idea of what the time frame for deactivation is? Earlier notice is better if we need to book elsewhere.

Starwood Lurker

According to James Luckard's post, they are deactivating on January 31st. I suspect that once the deactivation is completed, they will begin to work on a mail merge to affected members. I can't even begin to speculate on when it might be sent, but I was always keen on getting it done as soon as possible.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

thomasito

It will become a Sofitel...

avja

William - I understand the reason for not being able to give info when Starwood doesn't know the answer. However, common courtesy and good business practice requires a response saying that.

3galsontour

I am now in the position of having tried to contact SPG as suggested by William Sanders. In fact, I have tried twice as my situation needs to get rectified by me as soon as possible. I am taking two people over 81 years old and I had two reservations standing for the same time at the W St. Petersburg. One was Cash and Points and one was Cash only. I have noticed points were redeemed as soon as I made the reservation which was January 18th. The reservation for C&P has been cancelled with no contact from SPG to let me know of the problem I now have. On the other hand the Cash only reservation appears to stand although we I don't know who I now have a reservation with so I could amend it. The points were not returned to my account and all good faith attempts to rectify a bad situation have been ignored conveniently by SPG. I am actually confused to see a prestigious company decide that this treatment of customers is acceptable. Please can William let us know of an alternative method to contact someone at SPG with knowledge that can take this situation in hand.

Starwood Lurker

My apologies for the situation, but William Sanders never said to contact anyone with regard to this. That was Christina Zhou, who was probably unaware that there are legal hurdles in communicating before the property actually deactivates. My best advice is to wait to hear from the team handling this deactivation. When they have been given something to relate, they will be in touch, provided your reservation has the contact information necessary to do so.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

beachfan

Hi William;

While I understand the issues regarding communication, my P&C reservation was cancelled as well, with no notice from SPG other than what's listed on the reservation under the cancelled tab:

"This hotel is no longer part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts; this reservation cannot be modified through our site. Please contact Starwood Preferred Guest Customer Care and one of our associates will be able to assist you.:"

So waiting for someone to contact us is not the written instructions. I had previsouly contacted SPG Customer Care and got no response. Nor did I get the points back in my account.

Starwood Lurker

Well, that is probably a sign that the hotel has refused to take any award bookings after their deactivation. I thought you sent your email to [email protected] not through SPG Customer Care? However, I don't understand the call to action in the cancel tab because anyone you contact at the customer engagement center is only going to refer you to Executive Guest Service, so it could be a generic message not tied to this specific issue.

As far as official notification goes, it will happen. But, there must be some extenuating circumstances and hence the delay. Nevertheless, I will attempt to check with the deactivation team to see if they have an idea when this might be going out.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

beachfan

I think you are right re where my email was sent.

omegadeal

FWIW the reservation shows up in the cancelled section of 'My Stays' with the following:

This hotel is no longer part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts; this reservation cannot be modified through our site. Please contact Starwood Preferred Guest Customer Care and one of our associates will be able to assist you.

coolfish1103

The associate did no help at all.

I was on the online chat with one of the agent and she just told me the property left SPG and I should contact the hotel directly... then she just left the chat... extremely unprofessional...

khabah

The hotel is reopening as SO/ St. Petersburg under Sofitel's SO/ boutique banner later this month: https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel...18/index.shtml

khabah

avja

The saga continues
Checked my account and saw the following:
2/13 + 24000 pts W St Petersburg cancellation (it was a cash and points reservation at 6000 pts per night for 4 nights in July)
2/13 -24000 pts W St Petersburg relocation
I had not received any communication from Starwood. I therefore called the platinum desk and asked what was happening. The agent could not find out and suggested I email guest services. I just did this. (My best guess is that I was relocated to one of the Marriott properties in St Petersburg without my authorization.)