zymm

The only things listed under the Rate Details at booking for the St. Regis Aspen are : A credit card will be required 7 days before check-in, and You may cancel with no charge before XXth of X (60 days before check-in)

No mention of what it means to cancel within 60 days, and no definition of what constitutes a cancel, no mention at all of late arrival or no-show. It's pretty hard to see how they can legally enforce the outrageous fee encountered by OP when even today, under the Marriott terms, this is all they tell you at the time of reservation.

PointWeasel

I cringed when I read the Tripadvisor review above.

Stay focused on the main issue, and when that is resolved then you can vent on the other shortcomings as you seem.

hockeyinsider

This is what I received on a points booking. Zero mention of the actual fee assessed:

Antarius

They'll just send you a note by carrier pigeon written in morse code later on.

Super clear and obvious right? Can't understand why everyone is complaining here.

flyingeph12

I too would like to see where exactly Marriott defines a "no-show" and says that no-shows will be refunded their points and charged a specific cash rate. I don't think a line that says, "Cancellations within X days of arrival will result in a charge of $Y" cuts it (and I can't find any of my prior points reservation confirmations with Marriott that even say that).

pinniped

Somebody please explain the economic mechanics of this.

Let's assume I feel like I'm entitled to the Presidential suite. How does that affect hotel rates?

DFWsakp

OP - Did the hotel finally refund you?

ethernal

This is insane. I am absolutely for freedom of contracting (which would include Marriott creating onerous terms such as the one discussed in this thread), but freedom of contracting runs both ways. If Marriott (and its franchises) wants to impose these sorts of terms that run contrary to common sense and reasonable customer expectations, they must absolutely make it clear prior to booking.

A close read of the the T&Cs mention "standard cancellation fee will apply" - but the standard cancellation fee is almost universally the booking rate (1 or 2 nights, or the entire duration of the stay in the case of some resorts). In the context of the booking rate being points, a guest has no way of knowing what the cancellation fee is at time of booking.

For hotels like the St. Regis Aspen, these are not small amounts. A $7000 cancellation fee (or "no-show" fee) should be plastered all over the points booking reservation page. It runs contrary to intuition, and Marriott has an obligation to its customers to be transparent about the terms and fees of a contract - especially when they can rival the cost of a new car in some instances.

C17PSGR

I don't think I'm entitled to anything beyond program benefits ... as I'm staying 125 plus nights a year, that's 4 PM checkout, suite upgrades without games/begging, and a real breakfast. That's really not anything special ... just basic program benefits.

For hotels that deliver that, its a real revenue enhancement as many of us will stay at that hotel more often, rather than stay at hotels that cheat.

cletraveler

OP here - quick update: this remains unresolved at this point.

BTW, for those of you ascribing that TA review to me, please don't. I happen to be perfectly OK with Sheratons. Also, if you have been following along, you will appreciate from my previous posts that I 100% do not believe there is any "fine print" (or any disclosure otherwise) that supports the St. Regis Aspen.

Eujeanie

Have any of the Lurkers been in contact with you about this? I know they are pretty tight-lipped when things are under investigation, just want to make sure you have reached out to them, they are very good and this is an old spg property so they may have some insights.

Good luck.

margarita girl

OK, this is bizarre. And the plot thickens!

ethernal

No, there is no thickening plot. Based on other complaints, it is clear that this is a common occurrence of fraud - or at least near-fraud - that the St. Regis Aspen is engaging in. This situation is a relatively common occurrence given the weather at ASE (or even DEN when combined with the drive to Aspen). Assuming even 5-10% of the stays are on points (not an unreasonable hypothesis given the fact it is a resort), this likely occurs to at least a few guests every week.

Eujeanie

What a great income stream for the hotel!

nk15

They are probably waiting with excitement for noon every day to see how many the computer will declare as "no shows" from the day before...