SASfan

What is 24/24?

karthik

24 hour check-in, with a stay period of up to 24 hours. Hmm, how does 4PM late check-out interact with this? Do you waive your right to that if you check in well before regular check-in time? I'm guessing they're not going to let you stay from 10AM to 4PM the next day... That's fair enough, though. It might be nice to tack on 2 - 4 hours for GM/PMs though since if you check in right at the "regular" 3PM check-in time you get 25 hours with 4PM check-out, buying you 1 extra hour over a non-elite.

I noticed a lot of hotels in India seem to do this, including upscale ones. This seems like an especially good feature for an airport hotel. Checking in late at night and having to be out by noon can be quite a pain.

Edit: There's more info at the Four Points LAX site.

Savage25

Which hotels in India allow you to do that? The only one I know of was the Hyatt in BOM but they stopped it last year. Pity, as it was real useful when arriving on a midnight flight.

karthik

The Residency (a mid-upscale Indian chain) definitely did in Coimbatore and Chennai. I recall The Park Hotels (an upscale Indian boutique chain) having this policy in Chennai, but I wasn't the one staying there so I may be wrong. Got the same at a cheap 10 room place I stayed at in Bangalore (ridiculous rates there if you stay in the city; I found the cheapest decent place I could that had broadband. Read an article that placed Bangalore third after Moscow and Rome for average room rates.)

So maybe it's more the Indian chains doing it than foreign hotels, who probably stick to their regular policies... I don't think I stayed at a foreign-based hotel during my last trip there (most of the trip was spent at relatives' houses, so only a few nights in hotels.)

BlatheringPenguin

However the Four Points LAX is unaware of this offer and unwilling to honor it. I am searching old posts and will post (or start a new thread for) my current problem momentarily.

BlatheringPenguin

This thread seems fresh enough I'll post here...

I'm at the LAX FourPoints Sheraton tonight for a 'normal' night's stay before an early flight tomorrow. When checking in I asked after my reservation for about 2 weeks from now when I return. I'm landing at ~5am and need a place to sleep for as long as I can before getting in a car and driving.

Seeing the 24/24 offer on the fourpoints lax website (See:
http://www.fourpointslax.com
and
http://www.fourpointslax.com/24check.asp
) I had tried to book that for my stay on the phone. (This was several weeks to a month or two ago when I was doing the booking.) The 24/24 offer (as discussed in this thread) is that you can check in at any time of day and have 24 hours until checkout. Central reservations knew nothing about this offer and referred me to the hotel itself, which I called and made the reservation. (There was no way that I found on the website to do a 24/24 booking.) Today the front desk (and the manager, who did say she was new to the property) claimed never to have heard of this offer and that there was no way they would have such an offer available because they sell out every night. The end result is she booked me for a room the night before my 5am arrival, promised to personally check me the evening before in order to be sure that a room would be available, and give me a 2pm late checkout.

This should work fine as it is unlikely I'll sleep later than noon or 1pm, but I find it disturbing the disconnect between the offer on the property's website (and that our favorite Starwood Lurker is clearly aware of this offer) and what the property is actually doing in-person/on-site. It's a good thing I was here tonight and did check because they said that had I just showed up at 5-6am on that day they would not have had a room available for me. I am also a little concerned whether this will work as promised and really do NOT want to arrive at the hotel at 5-6 am and be told there is not a room for me. (Before arriving I'll have just worked two 16-18 hour night shifts and sat on a plane for 5 hours. When I check out I have an 9 hour drive waiting for me. Hence my concern for being able to get a few hours sleep!)

Any advice is much appreciated.

cheers,
-BP

Starwood Lurker

My best advice would be to contact Corporate Customer Service and ask them to make some inquiries on your behalf.

Via phone at 800-328-6242 or email at [email protected].

Good luck!

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

BlatheringPenguin

Thanks William! Although I am primarily a quiet lurker (especially on the Starwood forum) I really appreciate the role I see you playing here and have used your advice to others numerous times in the past few years.
cheers,
-BP

Eastbay1K

This used to be my hotel of first choice near SFO. I haven't stayed there much of late (only 2x this year), but last night was telling.

Check-in.
"I have you in a room with a queen bed."
"Is there a Platinum upgrade available?"
"No, not tonight." (Never said I wasn't Platinum, and never checked, and his reply started when I was barely done with my sentence)
"Ok"
(pause of several seconds)
"Can I see your platinum card?" (I've never been asked to show this, ever, when the hotel has the reservation.)
(Click click click, click click click.)
"I have upgraded you to a loft suite."
I then asked for the starpoint amenity, and went to the room.

The bathroom had 3 missing shower curtain hooks, causing it to sag pretty badly, and the wallpaper was starting to peel. The only water in the room was the $4.50 bottle of Fiji. I thought complimentary water was now a standard 4P feature.

I called for a late checkout at 11a (for 3p). At noon, the maid was pounding on the door, pounding pounding, yelling "housekeeping", and kept trying key entry (the door being bolted, and the DNS sign still on there), as I got back to the room at 3a and was trying to fall back to sleep, and wasn't about to get up (and go downstairs) to get her to stop. She finally did.

I didn't recognize any of the staff anymore. I hope the stay was an aberration.

blort

I stayed there a couple of weeks ago. The guy who checked me in was trying incredibly hard to get me to laugh. Maybe he was hoping to get a job with WN?

Anyway, he asked what time I would be leaving in the morning. When I told him about 5am, he said that was too bad because he would have put me in some upgraded room with a complimentary breakfast otherwise.

Since it was already 10pm, I just wanted to get to my room and fall asleep. Of course, I ended up in an accessible room, and the shower promptly soaked the entire bathroom.

It was my first time staying there. I only picked it instead of staying in the city because it was $170 vs. $400+. Next time I think I'll just bite the bullet.

Jumpgate

I've noticed the same thing. I've always really liked the SFO airport's design, people, amenities etc.

I was there in early Sep. and boy was it different. I sent clothes to be dry cleaned, they weren't ready until 11 pm the following evening and they lost a shirt.

Also the hotel itself looks to be in need of a thorough cleaning, and the workout room equipment is only half working.

Bring back the SFO 4 points I knew and loved!!!

alamedaguy

I always used to wonder why everyone seemed to like this hotel so much, but finally got a great stay in early August. The first two story room smelled of smoke, so they moved us to another one. Both of the guys at the front desk were super nice the whole time.

metacolo

I stayed in August for a week and, while it's not quite up to the W/Westin/etc. that I normally use, it wasn't bad for an airport hotel. And, about 25-30% the cost of other options, which goes a long way. I would probably stay elsewhere for 1-2 days, but for a week, it seems like a good option.

The staff (front desk, housekeeping) were all good in my experience; the only thing I didn't like about the place was the hallway design inside.

I had a minor problem with my stay (a critical package was not accepted for delivery), and contacted Starwood Corporate about the problem, and I got a nice letter from the GM and some points (and that the problem itself would be fixed), which was satisfactory.

slippahs

I wasn't terribly impressed with their HSIA, and front desk knowledge of the HSIA was terrible. Spent rougly 3 hours (in three different rooms) with two different staffers trying to get the HSIA to work (I needed to get some work done that evening). After finally giving up and going to dinner, the internet suddenly worked after returning. Front desk had no clue what the problem was, how to fix it, or even who to call to fix it.

Though I thought the rooms were well appointed, the staff's incompetence at this hotel was more than enough reason for me to never return.

BlissWorld

I don't know if this applied to you, but may be helpful to others. Four points HSIA only works with the PROVIDED ORANGE ETHERNET CORD. Using your own cord will not get you online.