AustinBear

Since I complained earlier in the thread that I was almost entirely unsuccessful using SNA's in 2014, I will report we were able to use 6 at the New Orleans Le Meridien (formerly W downtown, then New Orleans Downtown Hotel). Of course, they were at 17% occupancy a couple of those nights.

Bottom line is it's supply/demand based. My experience is it gives you a little leg up on upgrades, but not a lot. Like upgrade levels on airlines. You can clear the list a little earlier, if there is availability. SNA's just get you ahead of those that book suites at the last minute, as far as I can tell.

Also, a public thanks to Lurker (I) for helping with my SNA related account issue.

bchl

well, by reading through most of the posts from late 13 till now I can make some conclusion out of what I have read:

- demand/supply: chances are slim to get a SNA through if a property has per se a limited numbers of suits making available for the SNA upgrades.

- numbers of consecutive nights: the more nights requested the slimmer the chances to get the upgrades.

In order to increase the loyality of the SPG members to spend even more nights with SPG, instead of giving them more SNAs or even make it not expirable, the best way would be to extend the days which are needed to clear the SNAs:

- SPG50: 10 SNAs and 5 days advance clearance
- SPG75: 10 SNAs and 10 days advance clearance
- SPG100: 10 SNAs and 15 days advance clearance

at this through this system the loyality can be reflected and gives the SPG100 member a better chance to use up his SNAs and also encourage the SPG50 et al to increase their nights with SPG.

Cathay Boy

Can one use multiple SNAs on multiple rooms with the same stay? Say I want to book 3 rooms at a hotel, for 4 days 3 nights, can I use 3 SNAs to get all 3 advanced upgrade to suites?

RogerD408

At least two according to post #1 of this thread:

Not sure if they cut you off at two or if you can blow all your SNAs on one stay.

Cathay Boy

Hence my question, can you use it for MULTIPLE rooms (I guess I should of say more than 2 rooms)....

Starwood Lurker

As long as you are occupying one of them, yes. From the FAQ:

Can I request a Suite Night Award upgrade for more than one room at a time?
Yes, if the additional rooms are part of your reservation, you can request an upgrade as long as you have enough Suite Night Awards to cover the entire length of your stay for each room. One Suite Night Award is required per room, per night.

Can I request a Suite Night Award upgrade for more than one room at a time online?
At this time, you cannot request a Suite Night Award upgrade for multiple-room reservations online. However, you can do so by calling SPG customer support.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Cathay Boy

Thanks, good to know for a family trip I'm planning.

CIT85

I was successful redeeming 2 SNA for LRM Shanghai. Original upgrade when SNA cleared was to a Junior Suite. When I checked in, I was assigned a 2-room Residential Suite on the corner of 42nd floor with Bund view on one side and People's Square on the other side. This was the first time I had Bund view in a suite at LRM Shanghai.

Having stayed here several times years ago, Plt upgrade is usually to Junior Suite with rare upgrade to 2-room suite. That's why I used my SNA, hoping for another upgrade from Junior Suite. LRM Shanghai came through as I had planned. Great first use of SNA.

Cathay Boy

Just out of curiosity, what's stopping the hotel from just giving you Residential Suite to begin with? Why does it take a SNA upgrade to generate another upgrade? Do hotels get pay for SNAs that's why they feel more generous? Or in your case it could simply be luck as their Junior Suites are all given out so they had no choice but to give you a Residential Suite since they've pre-approved your SNA?

CIT85

The hotel can give you any room upgrade if they choose to. But, LRM Shanghai is known for providing Junior Suite as the upgraded room for Plats. I have talked them into upgrading me to a 2-room suite in the past, but not the Residential Suite with Bund view. 2-room suites and Residential Suites are not among the Platinum upgrade pool.

The logic I used is that SNA might be equivalent of reserving a Junior Suite, and then 1 more level upgrade for Plat. I don't know what happened behind the scene. But I don't think there's any chance of getting upgraded to a Residential Suite if I did not apply SNA.

factory81

My take on this whole SNA thing;

-It's a stay'n'pray award

-Hotels have no motivation to upgrade you.

-You can and will be denied upgrades, yet find suites bookable the day you arrive

-Its a upgrade to a certain suite style. And anything nicer is "too nice" of an upgrade. So, yes, it doesn't matter that the presidential suite is empty. They still won't give it to you, because all they are allowed to give out is a junior suite

-If you expect to redeem these during any time which can be considered "in season". You will not have luck. E.G. Do not even bother redeeming a stay'n'pray award at a ski resort anytime between October and May.

ALL OF this only applies to Starwood. If you want to be impressed with a hotel chain in this regard, you need to consider Hyatt. Not only do Diamonds get confirmed suite upgrades to work with, but they can also optionally have their breakfast amenity (the amenity that most Starwood hotels don't even care to ask me about anymore, and just give me points. Additional datapoint: Just stayed at a $250/nt Sheraton that didn't even have a breakfast.....yet alone breakfast amenity).

But yeah, you can go read some awesome trip reviews of Hyatt members and their confirmed suite upgrades at Park Hyatt's. Followed by their $100+ delivered room service breakfasts that they have chosen for their amenity.


It is all about supply and demand. And

1) The supply doesn't exist. Just go to an aloft. There might be 150 identical hotel rooms. There are no suites

2) The supply doesn't exist. The suites sell out naturally

3) The supply doesn't exist. When you want to vacation, others want to as well, so good luck redeeming that SNA

4) The supply doesn't exist. It's like American Airlines new A319 plane with only 4 first class seats. The supply of upgrades are slim. Good luck getting that SNA approved for consecutive dates at a place with a poor ratio of suites:regular rooms.

5/10/15 day confirmations won't do anything for me. If I can still book suites the day of arrival and be declined a suite. Then this does nothing for me.

I honestly just want the SPG program to try and compete with Hyatt and offer confirmed suite nights at the time of booking.

factory81

This is where I first felt the whole program to be a lie. So not only does my platinum membership mean nothing, yet alone platinum 100. But my suite night award means nothing as well.

Shouldn't I already be given one of these bookable suites that I can find on spg.com on the day of arrival?

Meanwhile over in IHG land I get upgrades to multi-room suites without having to apply anything, make a formal request, or even stay 75 or 100 nights a year.

I think SPG status is amusing. I don't gamble anymore, well, unless you consider Starwood. Because I always feel it is a gamble to see what I will end up with at a Starwood hotel.

Seriously tho, Kudos to the IHG brand for getting their monster foot print of 4700 properties beating to the same drum. I get recognition from Candlewood Suites to Intercontinental's. SPG comes in at a fraction of the size and it is a mess.

RAPC

Many of us find the SNAs work just fine. The system isn't perfect, but it works completely fine at a lot of properties. Yes there will issues, but it works well enough for some of us at least. We will all have different experiences and expectations, but ultimately for some of us we are happy enough, for others they can choose to take their business elsewhere that suits them better. You pay your money, you make your choice.

mahasamatman

No, that's not the way the program works. Not all suites are part of the Platinum upgrade pool, just as not all suites are part of the SNA pool.

RogerD408

Unfortunately more people are likely to post their issues when the system fails them. Very rarely do we hear from those that have a good experience. SPG has opted to not be transparent in the process with just about everyone saying it's the computers doing the work and no one can intervene (finger pointing 101).

I think SPG has been clear how the program is supposed to work. What they haven't been able to do is show how it actually works. Too many things being done behind the scene (room types/inventory). Properties allowed to manipulate the inventory without recourse (be it inventory, MaxLOS, MinLOS, etc.).

Personally, I wholeheartedly support the properties selling suites as much as they can. If we undermine their ability to maintain revenue, I would not expect them to stay in business very long. HOWEVER, if there is an opportunity to provide an upgrade, I think they should.

Given SPG does not manage many (if any) of the properties, enforcing the program is tough for them to do. Only by us making it known when it appears a property is not following the rules will they know action needs to be taken. Expecting the properties to dole out all the benefits is ideal, but not realistic. Some may be due to lack of training and some may simply being stingy and trying to get away with doing less. Again, we must report the incidents and let the program managers determine if they need to modify the program or better train the properties.

If some of the posters here would spend even half the time it takes to post their flames here and direct that energy to constructive reports to SPG, we just might see a much better program. Attacking the program just causes people to stop listening and nothing gets done.