St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, UAE United Arab Emirates Opened Nov,11
Jan 13, 2015, 12:24 pm
#76
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 91
Hi all, looking at staying here in April, couple of quick questions:
1. I see people talk about SNA for upgrades. What exactly is an SNA? Excuse my ignorance.
2. I'm currently SPG Gold. Any chance of me getting an upgraded room, or is that only for Plat? Planning on booking with points, if that makes a difference.
1. I see people talk about SNA for upgrades. What exactly is an SNA? Excuse my ignorance.
2. I'm currently SPG Gold. Any chance of me getting an upgraded room, or is that only for Plat? Planning on booking with points, if that makes a difference.
Jan 13, 2015, 2:59 pm
#77
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: ECP
Programs: DL Diamond
Posts: 1,658
Hi all, looking at staying here in April, couple of quick questions:
1. I see people talk about SNA for upgrades. What exactly is an SNA? Excuse my ignorance.
2. I'm currently SPG Gold. Any chance of me getting an upgraded room, or is that only for Plat? Planning on booking with points, if that makes a difference.
1. I see people talk about SNA for upgrades. What exactly is an SNA? Excuse my ignorance.
2. I'm currently SPG Gold. Any chance of me getting an upgraded room, or is that only for Plat? Planning on booking with points, if that makes a difference.
1. SNA's are suite night awards given to SPG Platinum members with more than 50 nights per year. They are electronic certificates you can use to upgrade your room, provided space is available, starting 5 days before arrival.
2. Always a chance, though as a Gold you are not explicitly entitled to an upgrade to a standard suite subject to availability. It's worth asking, though... If your reservation is over the Summer when UAE hotels aren't so busy, you're likely to have better luck than if it's over Christmas, for example.
Jan 14, 2015, 12:31 pm
#78
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 91
1. SNA's are suite night awards given to SPG Platinum members with more than 50 nights per year. They are electronic certificates you can use to upgrade your room, provided space is available, starting 5 days before arrival.
2. Always a chance, though as a Gold you are not explicitly entitled to an upgrade to a standard suite subject to availability. It's worth asking, though... If your reservation is over the Summer when UAE hotels aren't so busy, you're likely to have better luck than if it's over Christmas, for example.
2. Always a chance, though as a Gold you are not explicitly entitled to an upgrade to a standard suite subject to availability. It's worth asking, though... If your reservation is over the Summer when UAE hotels aren't so busy, you're likely to have better luck than if it's over Christmas, for example.
Thanks so much!
So with regards to #2, if I were to receive an upgrade, would I just automatically receive it upon checking in? Or would I have to specifically ask when checking in?
Jan 14, 2015, 1:20 pm
#79
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: HEL
Programs: SPG LTP, hotels, OWE, STE+, *G, Octopus
Posts: 5,786
Golds are not entitled to upgrades, though it can happen.
Jan 14, 2015, 10:46 pm
#81
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: ECP
Programs: DL Diamond
Posts: 1,658
I occasionally got upgrades as a Gold, though never a suite upgrade if I recall correctly--usually just a "view room" or something like that--once in a while a club floor room. If you ask at check in if "an SPG Gold elite upgrade is available" they may offer you something. In my experience, UAE properties (have stayed at both StR in Abu Dhabi, Aloft Abu Dhabi and Grosvenor House in Dubai) were very willing to please.
Jan 15, 2015, 8:51 am
#82
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 91
I occasionally got upgrades as a Gold, though never a suite upgrade if I recall correctly--usually just a "view room" or something like that--once in a while a club floor room. If you ask at check in if "an SPG Gold elite upgrade is available" they may offer you something. In my experience, UAE properties (have stayed at both StR in Abu Dhabi, Aloft Abu Dhabi and Grosvenor House in Dubai) were very willing to please.
Jan 18, 2015, 6:00 pm
#83
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 72
Hi guys,
just wanted to share some experiences at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island as one of the original Ambassador Platinum members. To sum it up, I can definitely NOT recommend this hotel. The quality of the service is below par, the atmosphere is more like a two-star-mass-processing hotel.
The way the treated my requests prior to the stay, the stay itsself & the way the reacted to my complaints after the stay were so ridiculous that I have to post them here - I usually don't share experiences, but this one has to be shared:
Check-In
When I arrived at the hotel, I had to wait 35 (!) minutes until a check-in agent was free (a Swiss-Asian lady, on of the few professional people at your hotel, probably due to the fact that she was at the nearby Hyatt before) - we were told that the first night we can have a suite, and the 2nd night we would get a regular room (so we had to move after the first night). OK, fine. We accepted that. The suite that we got the first night was horrible (room 236 I believe) - it smelled old, as if no one had stayed there for the past weeks. The TV remotes didn’t work, after a while someone came to replace them. When we moved the next morning, I was again very irritated - we were put in a room with a view into the courtyard - when I called downstairs to check whether you have any sea view rooms, I was told “no, the standard seaview rooms are not for SPG points booking, only for cash bookings” - strange but OK. If I had known this, I would not have visited the hotel. This was IN SPITE of notifying them that I plan to get engaged that weekend..WOW.
Beach
When we arrived Friday night, I asked whether it was possible to reserve nice sunbeds for the beach next day - I was told no, this was first-come first-serve. When I arrived next morning at 8am, I was surprised to see that ALL the 1st row sunbeds as well as the cabanas were “reserved” - nothing was laying on them, but the personnel told me that people had come early in the morning and put towels on the beds, meaning that the staff couldn’t give them away to new guests. What kind of policy was this?! First of all, I don’t really buy that at all - I presume that the sunbeds were reserved for people who paid some extra cash to the staff or locals….I have no other explanation. Even by 11am most of the sunbeds were still empty, but “reserved”. One of the beach managers, Naman (very professional guy), told me about the problematic situation but “senior hotel management” has told him to follow these rules and he cannot be too strict about guests coming in the early morning and “reserving” their beds. This is horrible for normal guests like myself as it basically prevents me from ever using the beach..and a policy I have not seen anywhere. At the W Miami, Barcelona and many other hotels the reservations are revoked (and everything left on the sunbeds is removed) once the bed is idle for more than 20 minutes.
Breakfast
This was probably the least-individual breakfast I have ever seen anywhere. It felt like being on a 3-star cruise ship. On both mornings, we had to wait >20 minutes to get a table, not feeling as if anyone was taking care of us. Best was the 2nd day, where we waited from 10.30am-10.55am, and then didn’t really have any time to get anything from the buffet (as breakfast closes at 11am). The staff was really, really incapable, we asked for freshly-squeezed juices but kept getting the ones from the buffet (which are NOT freshly squeezed) and so on - the service was basically horrible i.e. non-existent. Hard product OK, but soft product and education of the staff very, very poor. Not up to standards of nearby Hyatt or Emirates Palace by any means.
Check-out & security issues
On Sunday at around 9am I received a call from a front desk agent, Vanessa, and was asked if we could check-out early (I actually asked for a late check-out - impossible!) as there was a “very important family” checking-in early and they needed our room since it was a connecting room. I was very, very irritated by this and said OK. I was told that my stuff would be packed and stored safely until we leave the hotel. When we wanted to leave the hotel at around 3pm, I was shocked - all of our luggage, including my girlfriends 15.000€ Hermes purse were located on the hotel drive-way - completely unsecured, just bound together by a thin rope - completely exposed to the sun. Was this a joke?! This was a severe security issue as anyone could have just taken our stuff or at least taken something out of it.
I send a pretty detailed complaint (covering all the points above) to the hotel's GM after the stay, with a very short response:
"Thank you for taking the time to write to me following your recent stay with us. I have noted and investigated your comments and it has concerned me that we have failed to deliver the experience you expected. I understand that as an SPG Platinum member, you are entitled to an upgrade subject to availability upon arrival but I do hope you understand that this can be very challenging during busy periods when there is very limited availability.
Mr. Hadzaad, thank you once again for sharing your feedback with me and if there is anything else that I could assist you with, please do not hesitate to let me know."
I replied that I was very irritated by this reply, as it didn't address any of the points I was referring to in my original email - the GM ignored my emails, SPG replied (after following up 3 times): "The documentation from Hotel Management addressing your complaints contains mention of CCTV video footage which does not support your comments. We ask that you please provide more information so we can find where this difference is. This will help provide us with a better understanding of how we can assist you."
I feel really offended by this, and I don't understand this either..I've resent all the details of the different situations and said I'd be happy to see the CCTV footage aswell...I felt like this was a prank at some point. I've usually enjoyed excellent customer service by SPG, but this is a joke...just wanted to share this - beware of this hotel.
Best
just wanted to share some experiences at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island as one of the original Ambassador Platinum members. To sum it up, I can definitely NOT recommend this hotel. The quality of the service is below par, the atmosphere is more like a two-star-mass-processing hotel.
The way the treated my requests prior to the stay, the stay itsself & the way the reacted to my complaints after the stay were so ridiculous that I have to post them here - I usually don't share experiences, but this one has to be shared:
Check-In
When I arrived at the hotel, I had to wait 35 (!) minutes until a check-in agent was free (a Swiss-Asian lady, on of the few professional people at your hotel, probably due to the fact that she was at the nearby Hyatt before) - we were told that the first night we can have a suite, and the 2nd night we would get a regular room (so we had to move after the first night). OK, fine. We accepted that. The suite that we got the first night was horrible (room 236 I believe) - it smelled old, as if no one had stayed there for the past weeks. The TV remotes didn’t work, after a while someone came to replace them. When we moved the next morning, I was again very irritated - we were put in a room with a view into the courtyard - when I called downstairs to check whether you have any sea view rooms, I was told “no, the standard seaview rooms are not for SPG points booking, only for cash bookings” - strange but OK. If I had known this, I would not have visited the hotel. This was IN SPITE of notifying them that I plan to get engaged that weekend..WOW.
Beach
When we arrived Friday night, I asked whether it was possible to reserve nice sunbeds for the beach next day - I was told no, this was first-come first-serve. When I arrived next morning at 8am, I was surprised to see that ALL the 1st row sunbeds as well as the cabanas were “reserved” - nothing was laying on them, but the personnel told me that people had come early in the morning and put towels on the beds, meaning that the staff couldn’t give them away to new guests. What kind of policy was this?! First of all, I don’t really buy that at all - I presume that the sunbeds were reserved for people who paid some extra cash to the staff or locals….I have no other explanation. Even by 11am most of the sunbeds were still empty, but “reserved”. One of the beach managers, Naman (very professional guy), told me about the problematic situation but “senior hotel management” has told him to follow these rules and he cannot be too strict about guests coming in the early morning and “reserving” their beds. This is horrible for normal guests like myself as it basically prevents me from ever using the beach..and a policy I have not seen anywhere. At the W Miami, Barcelona and many other hotels the reservations are revoked (and everything left on the sunbeds is removed) once the bed is idle for more than 20 minutes.
Breakfast
This was probably the least-individual breakfast I have ever seen anywhere. It felt like being on a 3-star cruise ship. On both mornings, we had to wait >20 minutes to get a table, not feeling as if anyone was taking care of us. Best was the 2nd day, where we waited from 10.30am-10.55am, and then didn’t really have any time to get anything from the buffet (as breakfast closes at 11am). The staff was really, really incapable, we asked for freshly-squeezed juices but kept getting the ones from the buffet (which are NOT freshly squeezed) and so on - the service was basically horrible i.e. non-existent. Hard product OK, but soft product and education of the staff very, very poor. Not up to standards of nearby Hyatt or Emirates Palace by any means.
Check-out & security issues
On Sunday at around 9am I received a call from a front desk agent, Vanessa, and was asked if we could check-out early (I actually asked for a late check-out - impossible!) as there was a “very important family” checking-in early and they needed our room since it was a connecting room. I was very, very irritated by this and said OK. I was told that my stuff would be packed and stored safely until we leave the hotel. When we wanted to leave the hotel at around 3pm, I was shocked - all of our luggage, including my girlfriends 15.000€ Hermes purse were located on the hotel drive-way - completely unsecured, just bound together by a thin rope - completely exposed to the sun. Was this a joke?! This was a severe security issue as anyone could have just taken our stuff or at least taken something out of it.
I send a pretty detailed complaint (covering all the points above) to the hotel's GM after the stay, with a very short response:
"Thank you for taking the time to write to me following your recent stay with us. I have noted and investigated your comments and it has concerned me that we have failed to deliver the experience you expected. I understand that as an SPG Platinum member, you are entitled to an upgrade subject to availability upon arrival but I do hope you understand that this can be very challenging during busy periods when there is very limited availability.
Mr. Hadzaad, thank you once again for sharing your feedback with me and if there is anything else that I could assist you with, please do not hesitate to let me know."
I replied that I was very irritated by this reply, as it didn't address any of the points I was referring to in my original email - the GM ignored my emails, SPG replied (after following up 3 times): "The documentation from Hotel Management addressing your complaints contains mention of CCTV video footage which does not support your comments. We ask that you please provide more information so we can find where this difference is. This will help provide us with a better understanding of how we can assist you."
I feel really offended by this, and I don't understand this either..I've resent all the details of the different situations and said I'd be happy to see the CCTV footage aswell...I felt like this was a prank at some point. I've usually enjoyed excellent customer service by SPG, but this is a joke...just wanted to share this - beware of this hotel.
Best
Jan 18, 2015, 6:12 pm
#84
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP (OWE), VA PLAT, EY GLD, SPG PLAT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton DIA, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,527
That's awful. The handbag alone could have been just taken off the luggage trolley with all of the contents.
I would open a case with customer care. Good thing I booked the PH.
I would open a case with customer care. Good thing I booked the PH.
Jan 18, 2015, 8:01 pm
#85
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YVR
Programs: AC*SE MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 4,604
Wow. I wouldn't expect this at any property, let alone a St. Regis. I'd say that honflyer was too gracious in accepting an early checkout given how they'd treated him throughout the stay.
Jan 19, 2015, 5:11 am
#86
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 72
Yes..let's see. I have involved customer service, they haven't really helped at all so far. Have never been as disappointed with SPG, hence I am posting it here. Let's see what happens.
Jan 19, 2015, 5:30 am
#87
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP (OWE), VA PLAT, EY GLD, SPG PLAT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton DIA, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,527
When Customer Care open a case they don't comment until their investigation is complete. They will be contacting the property and seeking responses to your complaint. Remember that properties do get fined when Customer Care rules in the guest's favour.
Jan 19, 2015, 5:35 am
#88
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 72
Well, customer care has already been involved (the hotel didn't reply to my complaints, except for apologizing for the non-upgrade/downgrade).
Latest customer care response was:
"Although I regret the circumstances that prompted your letter I appreciate being advised of your concerns.
I am sorry that your stay at I have updated the Customer Service file previously opened on your behalf. In addition, I have personally spoken with my colleague at the hotel. My colleagues will uphold their previous decision. I hope that you will be able to stay at the resort at a later date and encourage you to reach out as recommended to secure your upgrade."
When I reached out again, asking why they keep mentioning the upgrade (and none of the other points, which were clearly stated):
"The documentation from Hotel Management addressing your complaints contains mention of CCTV video footage which does not support your comments. We ask that you please provide more information so we can find where this difference is. This will help provide us with a better understanding of how we can assist you."
When I get these kind of answers from CC, I'm not sure what else to do. At the end of the day, the hotel can simply deny everything (probably what they're doing) - how should I "prove" them wrong? I told them I look forward to the CCTV footages...
Latest customer care response was:
"Although I regret the circumstances that prompted your letter I appreciate being advised of your concerns.
I am sorry that your stay at I have updated the Customer Service file previously opened on your behalf. In addition, I have personally spoken with my colleague at the hotel. My colleagues will uphold their previous decision. I hope that you will be able to stay at the resort at a later date and encourage you to reach out as recommended to secure your upgrade."
When I reached out again, asking why they keep mentioning the upgrade (and none of the other points, which were clearly stated):
"The documentation from Hotel Management addressing your complaints contains mention of CCTV video footage which does not support your comments. We ask that you please provide more information so we can find where this difference is. This will help provide us with a better understanding of how we can assist you."
When I get these kind of answers from CC, I'm not sure what else to do. At the end of the day, the hotel can simply deny everything (probably what they're doing) - how should I "prove" them wrong? I told them I look forward to the CCTV footages...
Jan 19, 2015, 5:53 am
#89
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP (OWE), VA PLAT, EY GLD, SPG PLAT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton DIA, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,527
So basically the hotel is denying all of your complaints, other than the lack of upgrade. They must have stated they have CCTV to prove you are wrong (but on which point)?
I would go back to Customer Care and make your displeasure known at the hotel's behaviour and refusal to acknowledge their failings.
I had SPG moments reps deny everything that happened at our event and I lost it with SPG. I told them how dare they refute every aspect of my complaint when my partner and other guests witnessed what happened. Nothing is more offensive than after a poor experience being told that you're version has been completely countered. FWIW, SPG refunded all of the points we spent on the moments experience.
Perhaps message Starwood LukerI/II or III.
I would go back to Customer Care and make your displeasure known at the hotel's behaviour and refusal to acknowledge their failings.
I had SPG moments reps deny everything that happened at our event and I lost it with SPG. I told them how dare they refute every aspect of my complaint when my partner and other guests witnessed what happened. Nothing is more offensive than after a poor experience being told that you're version has been completely countered. FWIW, SPG refunded all of the points we spent on the moments experience.
Perhaps message Starwood LukerI/II or III.
Jan 19, 2015, 7:10 am
#90
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,812
sounds very disappointing, and certainly one to strike off my shortlist as a potential hotel when I visit UAE later in the year.