audio-nut

I have a feeling the staff misread the rate plan so play it close to the vest....and yes I did receive points for the excess half hour charge.

tazi

A belated thanks to everyone for all the replies. I did call and found out the SPG50 could not be used during my stay but even on dates it was available, the website rate was cheaper.

Anyway, I'm thinking of staying The Claridge instead because of recent comments about the construction. Anyone know if there are still problems with noise and construction at the Libertador? Also, I read a review on tripadvisor where someone had difficulty with temperature control making the room extremely hot. Anyone else experience this??

alien

My wife and I are looking into staying at The Libertador this November. The Club Room rate is $34 more per night. What would be the added benefits at this property? Would it necessarily be better situated?

Edited to add: Nevermind, I booked it anyway...(Thank you SPG BRG).

thepla

I do not want to go into details because the Liberator actually sent me an E-mail informing me that I could lose all my points for a negative comment on this site. In my opinion there are other choices for Starwood properties in BA and Please research all other possibilities. My problems got so out of hand that Starwood customer service had to intervene; this is the first time I’ve had to use customer service with Starwood (by far the best program and people in the hotel business). I’ve been platinum since the program started and have over 400,000 points in the bank and sure I’ve used another 400,000 points, all this without a Starwood Amex. Please do not ask for particulars just check out the other Starwood properties first.

ldsant

Starwood emailed you saying that you would lose all of your points if posting something negative?! Did you forward that email to Corporate Services to investigate or did it come from them directly? I didn't realize that Starwood could pull your points because you post something negative about a property.

William - care to comment? It seems that if this is true then there are many on this forum who would have zero balances!

Also, to the OP - one of the great things about FT is that you share what happens; you're an "Original Member" I am sure you realize that posting "do not ask for particulars. . ." only makes others more curious about your situation

opushomes

Well, obviously they might have been piqued at my request for help in June (see above posts and Lurker's responses). Sorry to all FT'ers for stirring up a hornet's nest. Frankly, I am very interested in the service issues and frustration alluded to above.

I still believe that the Libertador is very convenient when staying in BA. Even with all the problems we encountered, we would consider staying there again on our next visit. The redone rooms are quite nice. They meet Starwood standards, the construction should be a temporary problem, staff training is a temporary problem if they choose to address it.

I am now really concerned whether on a subsequent visit, I would be retaliated against for posting problems of interest to others on this forum and, out of frustration, to get points to post after being told it was not the hotel's problem. Thank you, Starwood for having Lurker as a proactive part of this forum. He quickly solved the problems which the hotel (at that point in time) was unwilling to deal with.

It is hard to fathom how a hotel would take a retaliatory position in respect to problems by telling a guest he would not receive program points for posting comments about their facility. Perhaps the CowDoo folks can post their views about Libertador's treatment during their stays?

Gaucho100K

I dont know the particulars of this case, but I think there is no need for anybody to fear loss of your program points.

No particular hotel or property controls the program, they dont even manage it... so I dont see them being able to mess with your points. Even IF they refused to credit your points for this specific stay you can just take you receipt and take it up with SPG customer service.

IMO, you have nothing to worry about.

thepla

They sent to me a quote for the Starwood rules and regulations where the points could be removed. Rest assured this E-mail was not due to me threatening anything illegal; just willing to post on flyertalk all the problems with the hotel and their customer service.

itsaboutthejourney

lord knows I can be critical of Starwood at times, but I don't understand how the OP can post something telling us NOT to book at a property without giving us the particulars, epsecially if it's in an email that can easily be cut & pasted here with names removed of course.

I also agree with Gaucho100K that the points are based at SPG HQ in the USA, not Buenos Aires.

Now that our curiosity is piqued I hope thepla and opushomes can elaborate on their isssues for the benefit on all FlyerTalkers and the possibility that the collective Starwood forum may have some suggestions to help.

thepla

Cut-Paste from E-mail. This was sent after several E-mail correspondences. The correspondences started after I made changes to my reservations, at their request, and they refused to make good on their promises. I also had several problems at the hotel while using their services; for examaple they set up an dinner/show for a Tango, we asked for Monday and they made for Sunday. The hotel at the time had the lounge closed. We were given the ok for Breakfast in lieu of the lounge being closed (I had to ask the manaager) and they ended up billing for the breakfast. When questioned, they did remove the charge but were really snooty informing me that breakfast was not included... If this was my first experience with a Sheraton it probably would be my last. Since I have such a long history with Starwood, Platinum since the program started, I have just written off this to a bad experience with the hotel. Starwood customer service stepped in without me even asking for help. I did forward the E-mail from the hotel, did not ask them to intervene, I just wanted them to know that this property was not up to par (my opinion). The one possitive with this location is it is right next store to Florida street a very cool walking and shopping adventure.. There surely is lots more to do in BA than walk FLorida Street.

Section 3.5 is in red.

3. CANCELLATION OR TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP
3.1. You may cancel your Membership at any time by giving written notice of cancellation to your regional Customer Contact Center. If you do this, all unredeemed Starpoints will be forfeited immediately and may not be reinstated or transferred.
3.2. You will be considered an "Active Member" so long as (a) your Membership has not been cancelled (by you or us), and (b) you have had an Eligible Stay at a Participating Property within the previous 12 months, or (c) you have earned Starpoints by using a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card during the previous 12 months. Starpoints resulting from transfers or earnings from Program affiliates do not count toward active status. Owners are not subject to the Eligible Stay requirement and will continue to be considered an Active Member as long as they own their Vacation Ownership interest and maintain their Starwood Vacation Ownership account in good standing.
3.3. If you do not remain an Active Member, we will close your Membership account and all Starpoints in the account shall be forfeited without notice.
3.4. If we revoke your Membership, for any reason, you may not reapply for Membership and any account opened in your name and Starpoints earned in that account shall be forfeited upon discovery. If you cancel your Membership, or if we close your account because you do not remain an Active Member, you may reapply for Membership at a later date, but you will not recover any Starpoints forfeited from your prior Membership.
3.5. We may cancel accumulated Starpoints, suspend your Membership privileges or terminate your Membership at any time with immediate effect, confirmed by written notification to you if, in our sole discretion, you have (a) acted in a manner inconsistent with applicable laws or ordinances, (b) acted in a fraudulent or abusive manner, (c) breached any of these Terms and Conditions, (d) engaged in fraud or abuse concerning Starpoints, award usage or Membership privileges and benefits, or (e) failed to pay any bill when due to Starwood Hotels or any Participating Property. Subject to applicable law, Membership will terminate automatically on your filing for bankruptcy or otherwise becoming subject to a bankruptcy proceeding.
3.6. We may also take appropriate legal or administrative action if any of the items listed above occurs. Nothing contained in these Terms and Conditions shall limit us in the exercise of any legal or equitable rights or remedies.
________________________________________

opushomes

Nroscoe, please see post 75 of this thread. It contains a series of e-mails as a result of my answering one of the automated "rate the hotel" queries.

1. Hotel construction, extremely loud in our room. Complained, they offered to move us but told us the noise would be no better. Note: we were as gold upgraded to a suite (non-refurbished, tired, but so were we, so we declined the move for "nothing better"
2. The nonsense of dragging us out of the taxi on the way to the airport to rerun my Starwood Amex on file because, "the printer does not work".
3. The 35 minute wait for luggage to taxi on the second stay.
4. The lack of posting of points for the two stays.
5. The final straw was the e-mail that said, "not our fault, your Starwood account is 'screwed up'".

They did attempt to solve the problems discussed, I requested points for the noise and 2000 were posted quickly to my account. As stated, on the 2nd stay, they upgraded to a newly refurbished room, provided wine and cheese and made an attempt to make amends for stay 1. They blew it at check-out as explained in the e-mail. No, it was not a language problem, it was face-to-face communication that was ignored. The bellman told me that the Concierge sent him to the 7th floor while we were on the 6th.

The final straw was the total waste of my time to get points to post, Lurker accomplished this task in less than 5 minutes once he received all the documentation.

I'll post the points email received after and before (in that order) Lurker fixed the problem.

"Dear Mr opsomes (just noticed upon reread that she mispelled my name)

As I told you on my Wednesday email there’s a problem with your points account, and we are working on solving the problem.

Your points should be posted on your account shortly. Please if you have any question about it, contact SPG www.spg.com they manage points issues and can help you solve this problem."

The Wednesday e-mail cited above:

"Dear Mr. opushomes:

Once again I would like to ask you to accept my most sincere apologies for the discomfort experienced.

I want to thank you for taking the time on giving me a complete detailed description of each one of your problems during your stay. I honestly understand your feelings and I already share your comments with our Rooms Division Manager to alert her of the situation.

Regarding the points issue, we investigate and SPG informed some problem with the transactions done on your first stay (the last stay was posted; please let me know if you have any difference). Our SPG coordinator is working on it and will be solved shortly.

Without any doubt your comments are our most valuable tool to improve our service and I truly hope you will give us the opportunity to host you again in our Hotel.

Thank you very much and please feel free to contact me for further assistance."

At this point neither stay had posted contrary to her e-mail so I responded.

I walked away satisfied, only the issue of potential retaliation at a future time for posting on FT brought up above disturbs me.

tazi

I booked the Libertador for the weekend CowDO. Arrived very early and understandably, there was not a room ready yet. I left and did some walking, had breakfast and when I returned my room was ready. I had requested a renovated room. This was not what I received. Except for the bed, the room was worn and dated right down to the cracked tile in the bathroom. This was minor compared to the construction noise. The pounding was so loud, it sounded as if they were in the room with me. I didn't wait for my bags and went back down to ask for another room. An entire flight crew had just arrived and instead of helping me first, I was told to wait until they finished with the crew, only to be told 30 minutes later that it would be another hour before they had a room for me.

I came back an hour later and asked if I had been given renovated room this time and she assured me I had. It wasn't ... same tired worn room as before but on the 8th floor instead of 14th. It was nice and quiet though with no pounding to be heard. This was at about noon so I took a nap. About an hour later my sleep was disturbed by pounding again. Not as loud as before but loud enough to pull me out of a sound sleep. Not wanting to deal with this for the entire weekend (they start work at 7am on Saturdays ), I gathered my things and went down to check out. I wasn't charged for my brief stay and I moved to the Claridge.

In addition to the pounding, the temperature control in the rooms appears not to work as they were very, very warm. I had set it to cool, lowest temp and high fan before I took a nap and it never cooled down at all. I do have to say I had the same problem at the Claridge but was able to open my window in that room so it was OK.

Very, very disappointed with Sheraton. They should have something on the website to warn people about the construction. This turned into more than just an inconvenience for me.

Edited to add that the entire staff were very nice for the brief time I was there.

Starwood Lurker

If this were true, you are right, there would no doubt be a few less SPG members and Starpoints floating around out there.

My best guess is that the hotel did this on their own, for whatever reason. Now, I know of some members who have lost their accounts and their Starpoints for the reasons cited, but posting a bad hotel review at Flyertalk, or anywhere else, does not seem to be among the valid reasons for that happening.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

iahphx

It certainly seems like there are mixed feelings about this property. They are offering weekend rates for $145 including breakfast and a tango show (anyone know which one?). As a Gold, I'd hope for a refurbished room -- and I could use the late checkout, too. What do you think?

ldsant

Think about what??