Omni Hotels Select Guest program
 

Anyone used this program - is it worth it? I just signed up and am staying there next month through a Priceline bid. Probably won't get any rewards for that stay, but will at least try.

NO MILES TILL YOU HAVE TAKEN A NUMBER OF STAYS :(
Otherwise you have to pay high rates to earn
NO PLINE credit

I have a cert for a room upgrade - think they will take this?

I highly doubt it.But it never hurts to ask politely.The worst they can do is say no
I have found in the past that often being polite and finding positive elements about the hotel if there are any :) to convey during conversation can yield wonders with or without a certificate.
Especially if they are slow.
I have come back and booked directly with a hotel if I liked the hotel I booked on Priceline.This happened recently where Pline pulled a hotel from its offerings.There replacements were awful in that market
It will now be costing me double to stay there now.But I can get full benefits and upgrades not to mention full cancel policies
Cheers good luck !

True - I have done the same. Can't beat the Priceline price, but sometimes I want to be sure where I am staying.

They offer 50% off a weekend stay when you first sign up...but when I actually tried to use it...guess what? No availability.

Ditto,They've denied my pleas :(

So far, have a good experience with setting up a weekend 50% (and an upgrade) at the William Penn (PIT) - reservation done over the phone. Hopefully, it stays, because I'm liking the idea of a junior suite at $65 (all-in) :)

We stayed at the Omni Cancun last fall on a charity auction bid I won. The Select Guest membership got us a free pot of coffee and orange juice each morning.

chakakohn,

I'm curious what your experience is there, because I am going to be staying at an Omni (Dallas, Park West) in July; I'm curious how they treat guests who reserved rooms off of third-party/opaque websites.

(Also, in some cases for leisure travelers, it's better to use the 50% off coupon and get the leisure rate offered by the hotel, because it may actually save a decent amount of money, but YMMV.)

Been a select guest for awhile now.. One thing I can say at the Omni is they will bend over backwards to help you.. I've stayed TWICE on priceline stays and TWICE on calls.. Everytime I've either been given something free or upgraded just for asking.

San Francisco Omni $65.00 both times (Priceline) I stayed there..and was upgraded to a two room suite..

San Diego Omni $99.00 a night (used 50% coupon), upgraded to their top floor, corner suite, overlooking the ballpark. Also came back every night with a turn down, w/ chocolate as well as a box of chocolate and fruit our last night with a handwritten thank you.

New Orleans $99.00 a night (used 50% coupon), received a great high floor room, and free breakfast every day.

As always,, got our juice and soda in the morning w/ the paper.. which is always nice, Early checkin and late check out (5:00 pm) is WONDERFUL for those sleep in last days.. Free use of their fitness center (The san fran one always had free fruit), business center (Here you can log on, check email, print out stuff etc), etc all made it worth while.

All in all the benefits are great when you are there.. if it's special ocassion, let them know.. they'll try to make it the best for you.. Above all be SUPER NICE and ASK if you want something.. I've never been told no.

-Monique

Did you call ahead with the room upgrade cert or just present it when you checked in? I am staying there in a week and will post if they accept the cert even though I made the reservation through Priceline.

Thanks

Welcome to Flyertalk !!
Official home of the miles and points world.Thank you for sharing your experience and endorsement of a chain that offers some very fine properties yet seems to go under the radar.

Definately sign up... i've had great luck at the william penn (Pittsburgh) the weekend after I signed up... free upgrade, great service.

Thanks for the helpful input I am planning to sign up in their program and give them a few stays to see if it might work as a new alternative to some of the other brands I frequent.
I would like to see Omni create more interest in their brand and program by creating a better marketing effort.
Its very dated and limited in the current approach.
Though it still works to some degree just the way it is.I might add they were very guest friendly on the phone with a can do attitude.
That set the tone for me to give the brand a try.

Thought I would share my only OMNI experience...even though it was March of last year. (2004)

I booked the OMNI CNN Center in Atlanta at a AAA rate that was available during a large convention. (Booked that almost a year in advance.) I then signed up for the Select Guest Program. My membership kit came with a certificate good or a room upgrade. My colleague did the same thing and also got a cerificate in the membership kit. We both called and had the upgrade request noted in our reservation.

When "D-day" finally came, my colleague arrived early in the afternoon and was upgraded to a large suite with a seperate parlor overlooking Centennial Park. He called down to the front desk and thanked them for the upgrade and asked if they could see to it that his "boss", (me!) also get a nice room to avoid any embarrasment. They were more than happy to accomodate and noted I would be arriving around 10pm.

I showed up and was given the suite directly under his, also with a beautiful view. The hotel had even placed a sandwich plate with fresh fruit, cheeses and sparkling water in the room. (Free daily continental breakfast via room service was also an extra perk for program members.)

I was planning to move to another hotel to be with a group after a few days and quickly asked about extending my stay. I was told the hotel was sold out, but was waitlisted. Eventually, after a day or two of asking, they were able to extend my stay at the same rate.

To top it off, they never bothered to take my coupon!!!!

sold I'm joining

Great Deal
 

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I stayed at the Omni in Atlanta and was very pleased. We had a large group and had won 8 rooms off Priceline for one night for $56 each. Not bad at all. I also had a room upgrade cert that they tried to honor, but there were no suites available. She did give me a key to the concierge level that offered free food and drinks. Unfortunately, my 2 year old got sick that afternoon and had 104 degree fever and we were unable to take advantage of this. I have been told it is quite nice. All in all I was very happy with the stay and shocked that they would honor the upgrade since it was a Priceline room. They also honored all other benefits that come with being a "Select Guest" with them. I will definitely go out of my way to stay there again.

Miles at Omni?
 

What have people's experience been with earning miles at Omni?

The Select Guest brochure says that "qualifying rates" earn 500 miles per stay. What have qualified rates been, in practice? Does the 50% cert rate qualify?

Thanks!

Hello duck guy.No discounted rates apply. :(
After 4 stays and becoming gold most discounted rates apply :)
The 50% rate will not qualify as I understand it.
However with that said it is always best to call for exact up to date clarification.
Being that you are a frequent stay guest at the top tiers there is a good chance they might consider comping you elite status.
That would open the door for your earning at most rates.I am planning to stay with Omni too.
I've heard great things about the hotels overall.
I'm a huge fan of the Rib Room in New Orleans located in one of their hotels
Cheers and quack quack

Just a correction to the last post: After talking with the Front Office Manager in St. Louis, she told me that Gold status normally takes effect after 6 stays. However, discounted rates seem to apply towards the stay requirement for Gold.

You are correct my apologies.I'm the guilty party here. :o
While discounted stays may earn stay credit they don't earn miles till Gold.
With that said you might be able to do even better with asking for an elite status match...........
Hear Omni is doing great in the demand dept for rooms.They have a very good reputation.
Plan to start using them more if things go well.
I like their old fashioned guest friendly ways.Reminds me of Westin in the good old days when you could find plenty of rate plans without absurd penalties for making changes.

Duplicate post - please ignore

Some other important comments since my last stay (Dallas, Park West):

When you get a Hotwire rate it shows directly on the reservation. In this case, I didn't get most of my preferred options (although the key one of 2 double beds was one I got).

Hotwire rates do not count towards stays OR miles, even for Gold Members.

(It's generally easier just to use a 50% off certificate and/or an upgrade certificate.)

Omni Corpus Bayfront vs Omni Corpus Christi
 

Has anyone stayed at either of these hotels? What's the difference and what do you recommend?

We have been Select Guests for some time now and everything stated above is true and then some. Omni Hotels in general are very conscious of their guests' needs and the Select Guest Program is the icing on the cake. Please see post #16 on this thread. They have always given us excellent service and consideration....anything extra that you request they do their best to provide and usually succeed. By the way, with respect to miles, they just started awarding miles 2 or 3 years ago and the qualifying rate may still by a bit fuzzy. For Gold, they give miles for discounted as well as government rates. They will also guarantee a room if booked by 4:00 pm day of arrival. We needed to use this once and it's a wonderful benefit. We have always enjoyed staying in their properties...one in particular we use a great deal....we always get the room number we request and often find red roses or fruit in the room. When they had the Charleston Place ( now Orient Express) we stayed there, even if we needed points in another program. Try them and you won't be disappointed.

I am excited about my upcoming stays.I have signed up in the program and looking forwrad to a good relationship with what seems like a quality focused company

Questions about requests and such
 

I just booked another stay at the William Penn, and in light of previous posts about the hotels being conscious of guests' needs, I'm curious on your typical requests (besides the high floor, low floor, quiet room, etc. preferences from Select Guest).

For example, when I was at the Dallas Park West, I was asked to fill a questionnaire about favorites (food, beverages, book, sports, activities, etc.). I'm wondering if this information is sent to other Omni hotels, etc. If they're using it to "personalize" each stay, then that's wonderful; I just want to be respectful and reasonable in requests (for example, I'm not going to ask them to have a bottle of Grey Goose in my room when I arrive! :D)

[I still have a lot to learn when it comes to upscale hotels, after all :) ]

Regarding special requests and needs....a little story from one of our stays. I had forgotten my steamer (always use it) and called housekeeping for an iron and ironing board which was promptly delivered. Thought that was all there was to it until my next stay when a maid showed up soon after check in with ....an iron and ironing board. The request must have been noted and of course complied with. That is very typical of Omni.

An odd thing about those half off certs:

One of my friends in my lab used a half-off cert (I've collected a bunch of them from generous FTers as well as through the SG program). Oddly enough, he was asked for an SG number (he gave mine) because he was using it.

Apparently, he was placed in a pretty nice room (I don't know much of the details, unfortunately) and he was given free morning beverages at the William Penn.

To make matters more pleasant, I was able to collect miles (it was a leisure stay)! [It turns out that at least a couple Omni hotels are willing to give you points for qualifying stays from friends/family - just book the rate and call the SG coordinator and let him/her know about that.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to use a stay, an upgrade cert, etc. to get into one of those multi-room suites... :D

I am MR Silver and HH Gold, BUT I think I received the best service as Omni SG (and the memebership is free)!! I just stayed at the Omni San Diego and it was GREAT!!! I am now a big fan even if I don't earn miles or points. If you want to be treated right w/ the lil things, Omni is the hotel and SG is the program.

Excellent Value - under promise, over deliver
 

I just stayed at the Omni Los Angeles on Dec/05 using the Travelzoo promo ($99 w/free parking/breakfast for 2). Evan as a top tier of Hyatt and Starwood (and have been mid tier of Hilton and Marriott), I could not recommend more about this Omni Select Guest program. The sign up is free and I got a certificate for room upgrade and 50% off weekend. Also, they will give frequent flyer miles for qualified stays.

At this hotel, I was able to use the room upgrade to get a spacious high floor corner room. I did not expect this but as a Select member, they provided free morning beverage of choice for two - hot+cold(coffee/tea,juices) delivered on time according to my choice sheet filled out the night before. 2 news papers (local and USA today). Also the free Internet was a great benenfit. I have requested the fitness kit but probably due to last minute room upgrade, I did not see this kit in my room. The bed is comfortable and with quality linens and feather pillows. The location is excellent, which is right next to LA MOCA (Museum of Modern Art). You can see one of the sculpture right in the restaurant for breakfast. The buffet breakfast is decent. The people I have dealt with are all friendly and professional, which is a rare quality these days.

Over all, I think this is a great hotel and the Omni Select is an excellent program for everyone to signup. They under promise and over delivery unlike many other guest reward programs.

I have to echo pretty much everything in this thread. I'd been looking forward to staying at an Omni for a while and trying out Select Guest. We did New Year's at the downtown Austin location. Ohhhhh man do they treat you well. I have zero desire to stay at any other chain after experiencing that. We ended up giving up a free night somewhere else to stay there another night.

Just before Christmas, I stayed at the William Penn (again - it's pretty much the only Pittsburgh hotel I stay in). Because of the timing (and a 50% off cert), I stayed for $50 (plus tax), and upon arrival, I got upgraded to a two double bed, one-bedroom suite (including the sleeper, there are three beds in the suite).

I put a request for cookies and milk at turndown (it's been a stressful semester for me), but due to some miscommunication about the upgrade, there was a problem with turndown service (the cookies and milk were left in front of the original room and the room wasn't serviced - the latter wasn't a big deal for me). After some apologies, they brought back extra mints and some cookies (although, unfortunately, no milk) and the next morning, I received extra juice and hot chocolate (my brother, who was staying in the room with me, received a whole pot of good hot chocolate), which pretty much made up for the earlier mishap.

I'll have to see about getting cookies and milk for the next time I stay there; for some reason it makes things just a bit less stressful. :)

As far as I'm concerned, the only chain that gives me equal or better benefits at this point is IC (and only because I'm RA, which ends in a few months), and they're often reluctant to give a better room, etc., so in the future, Omni will be getting a lot of my business.

(Another nice thing about the program: only 6 stays are required in two years to retain SG gold status, so I'm don't have to stay at places for the sake of it (although I'd consider doing so in all three cities I've stayed). )

[In response to the post about the get fit kit, I have never seen it in my room, but since the gyms downstairs have been very good, I have little need for it.]

I've stayed at both Omnis in New Orleans multiple times and the service has always been great. I'm sure tit has been menthioned but you get those nice 50% certificates when you sign up. Those can be very useful during peak times. So if you are going to stay in an Omni sign up first and get those certificates.

This might not be the most useful info since I'm not sure those Omnis are even open right now or will open again.

When do they Mail the 50% certificate?
 

Can anyone tell me when they mail the 50% certificate? I've signed up for Omni select club and booked a multi-room 3 night stay at the San Diego Omni for the end of this month (December). If the coupon comes before I leave, I'd like to call and adjust my room rate.
The select club confirmation says a packet will be mailed to me after my first stay.

FYI I booked one room using the OMNIZOO discount code found on travelzoo
http://hotels.travelzoo.com/california-hotels/271528
Alas, they're out of more rooms available with the Promo code. Any other codes to try?

Looking forward to staying at the Omni, especially being right next to the Gaslamp quarter on New Year's Eve.

Thanks!

I've signed up for Omni select club tonight and will be checking in tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out when I get back from the Final 4. Go UCLA!

You answered your own question there.

Incorrect.

Hotwire rates do not qualify for miles, but if you can get your Select Guest number on your profile, you should recieve credit for the stay (6 stays and you become a Gold Member)

If the stay doesn't post to your profile a few days after departure, just call them up and they should be able to add it.
1-877-440-6664

The only experience I have with Omni is one where they didn't credit my miles and refused to after multiple calls. Needless to say that will be my last Omni stay ever.