googe

I checked in to the Westin Portland and immediately asked if any suites are available. The woman at the front desk had already taken my name though, so she knew I was essentially asking for an upgrade. Since every Starwood I have ever been to seems to fail at upgrading voluntarily, I made a point to ask this time.

"Nooo, sorrrrryyyyy...I did give you a high floor though."

I then ask if there is a club level, and "No, we are too small for a club."

Great, no suite again (I've yet to see one), no club, at a Cat 4 hotel. Why am I a platinum? This hotel is actually a fair commute from where I am working, more expensive, and not as nice as the preferred hotel offered to me. But I stayed here out of SPG loyalty as I too often do. Oh, and they're not even participating in the current extra points promo.

So I go up to my room, try to book a room on the website, and what do you know...suites available all week. So I get on the spg live chat:

Me: I would like help with a booking
CSR: Welcome to SPG Platinum Online Chat. My name is CSR
CSR: How may I assist you further today?
CSR: What are the dates you are looking for and what is the hotel in question?
Me: I would like to book for tonight, from Sunday Oct 9 until Fri Oct 14, at Westin Portland
CSR: How many guests?
Me: 1
Me: I am wondering if a suite is available for this time period
CSR: I will have to call the hotel as I am in a different timezone where it is already Monday morning.
CSR: Please wait
CSR: I am speaking to Sonia at the Front Desk and they have a studio Suite available for an immediate check-in at the rate of 209 USD per night plus tax
Me: I just checked in and Sonia told me there were no suites, so I will go down and have her move me to this suite
CSR: She advised me that this suite is on a lower floor to where you are at the moment
CSR: It is on the 9th floor - you are on the 16th now
Me: Thanks I will go talk to her
CSR: We are always available, should you require further assistance. Thank you for your loyalty to SPG and for chatting with me today.
CSR has exited the session.

So I go back down there and say "Hmmm, I thought you just said that there were no suites left?"

"Oh, I just moved someone out of a suite, because they canceled" Note that it's 1am by now, on a Sunday night, and that was a matter of minutes - I don't believe her.

Then she goes on to make other, incompatible excuses as she types away.

"So you prefer larger rooms I guess? I just gave you a higher floor because I thought you would rather have that" - Right!

"I'll go ahead and note on your profile that you prefer suite upgrades instead of higher floors...that's correct, you prefer upgrades?"

I reply, "What? Isn't that what the SPG platinum program is for?"

"Well, some people get really upset when we give them a room that they didn't book! Weird I know! So that's why I didn't upgrade you!"

Really? Are you kidding me?

So I have the suite now, and it's really annoying that you have to be a "difficult customer" to get benefits to which you are entitled. I am generally a pretty easygoing customer, and I have a lot of sympathy for those in the service industry because many people treat them poorly. I'm now forced to be one of those types of people because starwoods won't keep up their end of the deal otherwise.

BobbySteel

Typical front desk crap. Happens to me all the time

jaejaez

Couldn't help but chuckle as I read through this. Thanks for sharing.
I look forward to the day when FT is void of these stories... as interesting as they are sometimes

jakpot

I find myself shocked when actually upgraded to a suite as per the program. I hate bickering with the front desk about suite upgrades. Now, I normally expect front desk to try anything to prevent an upgrade.

Cheers,

jaejaez

Just curious, what's in it for the FD agents to not upgrade you? It's not like the cost is coming out of their own pockets?? Is it just laziness?

Perhaps knowing the cause of the symptom is the first step to dealing with it

MJLouise

Are they under some type of review to match your on-line profile?

Seriously, sometimes the younger generation needs things stated and spelled out verrrry slowly.

You: I'm a plat. I would prefer a larger sized suite, even if a higher level room is available.
If you have two suites, I would prefer the higher level suite.

Sometimes their reasoning capacity just doesn't deal with two variables at once

JBauer

Big problem for Spg. No way to police this. Takes so much effort for a fight though.

googe

I wonder this myself. Unless they are under specific orders from managers to try and screw over plats if at all possible, I don't understand why they wouldn't be happy to give out the upgrades.

neuron

I have had this problem with agents who deny and deny until you call or go online with the Platinum CS. In Paris, they denied there was a suite available to Platinum services even though we could all see it being sold online. Finally got them to release one after speaking to a manager.

Seriously, if it is a Platinum benefit, it should be offered. Perhaps SPG should look into another way of offering suites, like certificates. The need for the customer to find suite availability after being told there is none is unseemly for all and the excuses the OP heard are pathetic!

pakalolo

I feel like I get a suite upgrade about half the time. I don't push it, ever. I just don't care enough as many times I'm only at the property for one night. The only exception would be when I'm going on vacation with my wife and/or kids. If I really want to make sure I'm going to get an upgrade, I'll often call in the morning before we check in an politely let them know our situation (five kids!) and see if they'll set something aside. Sometimes it's yes, sometimes, no, so if we are going with all the kids, I make sure we have reserved a room(s) that will accommodate our needs.

jakpot

I've assumed that managers want to limit the 'upgrade to suite' option as much as possible to keep the suite on the shelf for sale and to avoid the opex hit from an upgraded PLT.

I wonder what other reason there might be?

Cheers

Tak

I think the suite has been pre-assigned to another platinum member, but the suite is still available for sale to walk in/paid customer until the pre-assigned platinum member checks in.

FD usually have the list of Platinums who will be upgraded.
Unfortunately, OP seemed to be not one of them.
But the hotel still can sell those suites until those assigned platinum members check in yet.
If no walk in paid customers are taking those suites, the hotel is just waiting for the pre-assigned platinum members.
In OP's case, since OP checked the availability and insisted on the upgrade, FD made strange excuses, and released one of the pre-assigned suites to the OP.

If SPG pre-assigns the suites a day in advance, the rule should not say the upgrade is based upon the availability at check in time.

cln

Westin Grande Sukhumvit: , they assigned me a smoking room which smelled so bad that i wasn't going to sleep in that room. I called the FD and asked if there is any other room or suite available. "no we are fully booked today, this is the only room left" I checked spg.com and saw multiple suites avaible ( i was only staying 1 night ). I went down to the fd and asked again... "no sorry the system is wrong".. So i went to the mall and was hoping for somebody cancel a room. i called platinum hotline and they called the mananger... When i came back to the hotel my luggage was moved to a nice suite already..... i hate when they lie you in the face.... You need to fight for the upgrade sometimes...

3Cforme

The Plat benefit isn't into any suite: it's for available select standard suites.

Available means ready (nobody ever asks for 4PM checkout, right?) at time of check in (although I have been notified a suite will be ready later if I care to wait) for the entire duration of the stay. Standard suites means a possible subset of suites (some typical types are explicitly excluded in the benefit T&Cs).

It seems the forum could do this thread weekly - and does, regrettably.

jaejaez

I'm just waiting for someone to post one/all of the following points:

1. If you need a suite, then book it.

2. What's the problem? You can always email/call customer service and have it sorted out.

3. How do you know the room was available? It might not have been cleaned/half cleaned/all cleaned except for a tiny spot/toilet paper not yet folded to a "point"/closet door not firmly closed etc. You can never know its availability. There is no way for you to know, in fact, not even the front agent/manager could know it for sure. Even if it says it's for sale on SPG.com, the site might just be lying.