RogerD408

So you were walked to a different property (although in the same building) without any of the walk benefits?

multivariate

Technically, I suppose so. But is it a walk if you don't know that it is a walk until after you check out? If I was a contentious sort - I could say that my ignorance of the whole thing even makes it worse. But I am not - so will hold off on being irritated until a bigger problem comes along.

geminidreams

So far have applied for 13 suite nights and yet to have a failure. Just had 3 awarded in Bangkok over Easter.

sbanders

While the SNA did not clear the property offered a suite at check in , we had 2 kids in tow so the upgrade to a King Ocean View Suite was appreciated they accommodated us with a King / Queen pull out Ocean View, still an upgrade and very appreciated as its quite a bump up from the Garden View .
Knowing little of what would have made the SNA clear I wonder if booking as 2 Adult 2 Children could have been the stumbling block , at check in when offered the suite I enquired if it would sleep 4 as per the original reservation , no , so I believe that had the Property had an appropriate Suite available they would have booked us in.

stargold

Became SPG50 for the first time in Feb, received my SNA in March.

Applied SNAs to two reservations so far, W Seoul and St Regis Saadiyat Abu Dhabi. Both were for weekend reservations which are the peak periods for those properties.

The SNAs cleared as soon as the window opened in both cases, for the highest category that I checked.

Will be interesting to see whether it is always this successful. But loving it so far!

matthandy

Two requests made two failures, both in Australia both in the same week. Bit annoying. First was at the Westin in Sydney which I've heard doesn't really look after plats well.

Now I can't seem to apply my re-credited SNA's to my next stay this week. I get an error message saying that the names on the reservation don't match and it prompts me to log in again??

Starwood Lurker

My apologies for any inconvenience, but you can probably call in or chat to have this done for you.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

megalab

I've had this problem for over a year. SPG has been "looking into it" since the beginning but has not found a solution. I've had to call in anytime I have an SNA issue.

matthandy

Thanks William. I used the chat service and managed to get this sorted out. Many thanks.

Thanks megalab. Bit of a weird issue!

netopia

I booked the Westin South Coast Plaza for 2 nights about 6 days in advance, and requested a Suite Night Award to be applied. About 2 days later, it cleared, then the day before check-in, I got an email saying "per your request, your Suite Night Award has been cancelled. If you believe this is in error, call us."

I dutifully called the Platinum Concierge about 30 minutes later. After some "investigation" the agent told me that the hotel had upgraded me in error, that they thought they had capacity but really didn't.

I have read enough about hotel behavior on FT to be suspicious. I sent an email in to corporate suggesting that probably the hotel just has someone they like better than me checking in, and wanted them to have the upgrade instead. If true this defeats the entire purpose of Suite Nights, which are pretty worthless to begin with.

In your infinite group wisdom, FTers,
1. Do you think I am right that I was downgraded to accommodate someone else, and
2. Is there any chance SPG corporate will be able to figure that out?

Starwood Lurker

My apologies for any miscommunication on this, but...

1) properties do not have the capacity to directly cancel Suite Night Awards.

2) if you'd like for us to look into this for you, please send your account details to the email address below.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

vandalby

To answer your questions in order:

1. I doubt anyone here can credibly answer this one; sure, it's a possibility

2. I'd start by calling the property directly, indicate that you never requested a cancellation of the SNA and see how they respond. If it's unsatisfactory, take it to corporate customer care.

...

or 3. Leave it in the capable hands of William (this is probably your best option!)

netopia

I will send my info to William, and THANK YOU for the prompt reply (and everything you do here).

Dr. HFH

Your first communications with corporate shouldn't accuse anyone of wrongdoing. That's bound to put them on the defensive to start. I suggest that a more effective first communication might be something more along the lines of, "I wonder if there might have been some error in handling my request. Here's what happened."

Always plenty of time to accuse people of wrongdoing later; but by starting out that way, you make it harder for them to admit that they might have made a mistake.

czj48

First, let me say that William is a great help on SPG.com.

I don't think anyone would take the comment as inappropriate as accusing someone of wrongdoing. It was WRONGDOING. The OP had every right to posit a theory about the inexcusable way he was treated. Someone other than the OP messed up very badly. It's not required for wronged spg members to go hat in hand and ask for forgiveness here for commenting about terrible treatment.

That said:

The only time I ever asked for help here several years ago William got it sorted out right away. Just a case of reminding a hotel about their own policy.

That said, it's very off putting to read about stuff like this, which seems to confirm the spreading belief that the spg chain is just becoming a free for all, with little identity due to the lack of consistency. It's a training and enforcement issue and as much as William and others here try to help, it's help applied after some inexcusable damage to the chain has already been done. I can't imagine what damage William and his colleagues are expected to regularly repair.

I have had some great and fondly memorable stays with spg since I joined in 1993. It's too bad when I visit a new area and spg just flunks regarding the most basic stuff which is promised.

These days I just stay at spg proprieties I am familiar with and I will continue to do so. Working hard to stay an spg customer.