tjk1976

High maintenance? I was paying a compliment for a well handled situation.

Anyway, my point was only to share an experience that wasn't completely focused on failures by *wood, as many posts on FT seem to be. Whether or not my concerns were "pretty minor" is for me to decide in my dealings with the hotel. Thanks.

PS - I'm guessing the hotel didn't share your view since they voluntarily called me after the fact and gave me 2,000 *points, which I didn't even ask for. I'm glad you weren't the manager I dealt with at the W Seattle.

Christian

Interesting comments, both OP's issues and the 'feedback' and interpretation.
My comment - at $350 usd + , there are NO minor issues... these are the things we are paying for no?

ldsant

I must have missed something - where did you see the OP paid $350 for the room?

tjk1976

I am the OP and FYI I paid $199 (x2 rooms)

I suspect Christian's point was that when you're paying top dollar for a room, it's reasonable to expect top notch service.

james318

I am there right now.

Christian

Exactly, and if OP got $199, he did well... BUT even at $199, are these so called 'minor' issues not real issues??
If I stay at a lower tier hotel/motel for $54.99, I can't get upset about a key card issue, or 'not so swift' service...
But at a W, these are issues for sure...

thegeneral

Next time you're there have a Manhattan in the lobby bar. The one that I had was about 5 ounces of booze deep. That'll put you in a cheery mood for the front desk.

Ready2Go

Maiana may also have done something to fix the problem -- I have done late checkouts at the W Seattle twice in the last four days, and both times my key worked fine all afternoon.

This is a great hotel.

GoingAway

My frustration is when you ask if the key will work before you head upstairs and they say Yes, but when you get there it's decactivated Would it be so hard to have just programmed a new card while I was standing there the FIRST time.

OP - the W did good by you ... made up each problem you experienced right down to the Manager call back. Nice touch by her. ^

Bulldog King

Interesting....

Everytime I've inquired about my card still working after the official check-out time, the front desk clerk has always personally checked and/or reauthorized the card before giving it back to me so that I could head up to my room.

I've never been "dismissed" with a casual reply that it would....only to find out that is doesn't work.

The only times that I have had to go back down was when I forgot to check at the desk first before going to my room.

A.J.

GoingAway

It was the Sheraton(?) Inner harbor in Baltimore ... horrible desk service the entire weekend.

Jills

Any chance one knows how to get such a rate nowadays? I'm in town for 7 months, and wanted to check them out. But I don't want to pay $300+/nt. Despite similar rates at the W Lakeshore in Chicago, I got a GREAT corporate rate. But the one in Seattle just acts like I'm out of my tree when I ask for same. I know it depends on volume, but sheesh! I think I'd make some kind of arrangement for a guaranteed 7 month guest, who works on a team with a dozen other road warriors. No? For that matter, I can't find a single flippin SPG in all of Seattle for less than $150/nt!! Are you kidding me?

Anyone have any ideas?

ldsant

Realize that at least for May - October many hotel rooms are extremely expensive due to corporate meetings, tourism, cruiseships, etc. During November - February you may be able to find hotels at good rates using seattlesupersavers that come out during the winter.

The Sheraton in Tacoma usually goes for about $130 per night but you would have to take the train (Sounder) into Seattle each way or drive. Also, you should simply call Starwood Corporate directly to see if you are eligible for a corporate rate.

Jills

Thanks! At least you've given me hope that rates will drop here in a few weeks. yeah, I'd seen that Tacoma property, but that's a 30 minute commute for me. Not bad, really. But for $10 more, I can stay 2 minutes away at the DoubleTree Seatac. For now, I'm suckin' it up at the HIX because it's 1) nextdoor to my office, 2) $86/nt, 3) running several good promos concurrently. But I CAN'T stay there for the entire 7 months. I think I might prefer a novocaine-free root canal!

But yes, you're right. I just need to get on the phone, and talk to the sales departments of the various hotels in which I'm interested, and just let them tell ME who wants my business the most. It's just hard to get around to making those kinds of calls in the middle of the day since that's those folks tend to keep "normal" back-office business hours.

Thanks again for the encouragement. Perhaps it will get better in November.

pinniped

I just completed a W stay in Seattle. I'm 1 for 3 there this year getting my bed type right, which is a little annoying, but the double beds there are actually better than in most places, so I didn't argue too much. Front desk was quick to note that they had assigned me what they considered the best double-bed room in the house (well, within the "regular" room type) - top floor, perfect view of Rainier.

But curiosity got the best of me, so I asked. All other Starwoods seem to nail my profile bed type right 100% of the time. I said I'm fine with my room, but I'd just like to know, why is it difficult for a Gold to get a King nonsmoking room at this particular hotel?

According to the manager on duty, several things are at play: for one, about 40% of this hotel's guests on any given weeknight are Platinum. Sometimes higher. Two, they almost always sell out the upgraded room types with revenue guests, so Plats on typical corporate rates are frequently getting the regular king nonsmoking rooms. (This explains the threads here about many people not sniffing any sort of upgrade at this hotel.) Finally, this property still has smoking rooms plus a decent percentage of rooms with double beds, so the available inventory gets squeezed tight across the more room types than, say, at the Westin across town.

An additional problem that might also have come into play is that our crappy corporate hotel booking engine doesn't automatically populate profile and frequent-guest number. So I have to place my booking for a generic room, and then call Starwood and have them add my SPG number and room preference. When I direct-book hotels at SPG.com, I notice that some properties will actually confirm bed/smoke online. So my guess is that I'm falling in line behind other Golds who have booked directly when it comes to getting room type assigned. Not sure if that's happening here, but it could be...