megalab

Bear with me; my day job is to analyze claims of various opportunities for their alignment with reality. Good marketers manage expectations well and that's what I thought of SPG, so I was surprised they would go for overhyped infomercial vs. keeping it real(istic). SNAs are among the least transparent and hardest to use of any upgrade certs I've earned, so it was annoying to hear SPG promote them as so enabling. Part of the point of this thread is to let them know that's not the case, so why keep pretending.

As far as gifting friends, of course it's technically possible but the T&C are clear, anyone using SNAs has to be staying at the same time as you in a room you booked, which was not what was implied in the promo. I mentioned it because I'm planning a get together and would've like to use them then but booking the other rooms under my name is not an option. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

TravelinSperry

Thank you Christina. Based on your confirmation I emailed by Ambassador again to re-check with his Supervisor what he is telling me. I'll await his response before emailing you directly. I prefer to give him a chance to learn prior to going around him.

dickie98

This has happened to me in the past where a hotel (W Taipei) has dissallowed application of SNA's (i.e., a blackout period) during a specific time period weeks out from the "blackout period" (i've posted about this previously in this very thread). In my specific case, it was during the week of New Years 2013, where a standard room was going for about USD$1k per night on new years eve and around $600 to $800 the few days leading up to and after the event.

In the end, there was little anyone could do but I was upgraded to a corner room at check-in (booked a standard room) and the hotel was sold out within a few days before new years anyways.

remymartin

I had a weird thing where I had two consecutive bookings at the same property. The first one wouldn't let me SNA, the latter would. I then made a third booking for both nights, and this stay was neither SNAble(?).

After I locked in the SNA on that latter night, the first reservation suddenly became SNAble. Perhaps the property did some unblocking as a result? Or the stars formed a Starwood sign in the sky at that particular time of night? Who knows.

TravelinSperry

Oftentimes I book reservations like that and see the exact same thing as you - only one of the nights but not all are SNA-able. Very weird. It's a glitch in their system I suppose.

Spoke to my Ambassador again (with significantly more confidence based on your response) and had them check with their Supervisor. After checking, my Ambassador realized he was wrong and took responsibility. Turns out the Sheraton hotel in question does not have any suites at all - thus the message to not allow SNA's to be used. Now that sounds like a valid response to me

remymartin

It's extreme high season in Europe this week and I've just received confirmation that my first SNAs went through - infact in three different properties. Big ^ to SPG for this type of award!

AustinBear

I have had a zero success rate this year. I've only tried the past month, saving them for this vacation, but so far have failed at 4 properties, paid nights at 2. About to have my 5th failure. No confirmation for tomorrow night, yet...

So far this is just a dissatisfier for me. I understand it's high season here in Europe, but if they only work when I'm at the Sheraton Orlando by the airport in August, why bother.

Riddell

SNA worked for my 5 night stay in LeMeridien Split last week of July and worked last week for the Imperial Vienna too.
At the moment i have lots of SNA coming up in the US and it looks like the first two will not go through (Las Vegas, San Diego,..)

mahasamatman

So far this year, I'm five for five at three different properties (one revenue, two award stays).

Since the inception of the program, I've had a few misses, but have been able to use all my SNAs. I have four left, but unfortunately, I'm guaranteed to lose one as we'll only be staying in Starwood hotels for three more nights this year, and I will not requalify for Platinum and any potential extension.

Flews

I'm still batting 100% for SNAs this years. Probably a dozen or so. Although, I have quite a few, so I'm using them at some properties where I normally get suites anyways. The advantage is I get to pick the kind of suite I want, rather than leaving it to chance.

Cheers,

megalab

Funny, but the one SNA I've used so far this year the hotel did not have the suite I wanted in their pool. When I checked in they tried to switch to what I really wanted but it wasn't available. There have been several stays for which I wanted to use an SNA but the suite I wanted/needed wasn't an option. Frustrating.

MSPeconomist

I had one stay with SNAs confirmed where I specifically did not put a checkmark beside one suite category (smaller with an inferior view and no fireplace) but that is the suite that I was given.

spgplat21

You should follow-up on this with SPG. I had a similar situation where I was originally confirmed into the larger suite and ultimately downgraded to the lower level suite (that I did not originally select). The hotel was very apologetic and ultimately gave me enough points for one free night at the property. This was at the Phoenician pretty soon after SNAs came out.

FlytheTail

Applied SNAs to a stay beginning today at the Four Points Brisbane. Received an E-mail yesterday that they were unable to confirm my Suite Night Award request due to availability. Disappointing because they still have at least one suite for sale through the SPG website.

atxtraveler

I have to admit, I am thoroughly disappointed in the promise of SNAs and their actuality. I am a 25-30 stay a year player, but upped my ante this year and am currently at 53 and counting. I have earned awards now twice, so I have accrued a total of 20 SNAs. Not one single one has cleared. I really do not understand the point of them if they can not be confirmed at the time of request. We are talking about a "benefit" that is only applicable to people who have spent at absolute bare minimum $5000 a year ($100 four points fifty times), and yet this benefit is very tough to use.

I just got off a Platinum concierge call in which the representative was not even willing to call or write the general manager of the Sheraton Maldives to let me request the SNAs for my 10 year honeymoon trip, as the hotel says it is sold out of the SNA eligible rooms, yet all room types are bookable online right now.

Sorry for the rant... but honestly, the whole point of these things were to utilize them to guarantee a suite for those special trips...

Rant over.