andy3fan

I had the issue on a few of my reservations a few months ago, and had to call to process the upgrade requests. Now, all of my current reservations seem to be ok to process the requests online.

MSP2SEA

So, I'm to understand from this thread that, if a given room type is for sale, an SNA should go through for it at the 5 day window?

Just got my "non-confirmation" email from St Regis Mexico City (7/27 - 7/29), went online and both Executive Suite and Luxury Suite are available for purchase.

This is a technical issue? Or I misunderstand? Please advise. Anniversary trip, so I actually care about it this time. Thanks.

UA-NYC

Not necessarily - it may, or it may not. Supposedly the hotel has no control over it. But those being available for sale at T-5 are a good sign.

stimpy

I recently had a technical issue. I had made a reservation for a hotel long ago, before SNA's began. I tried to apply a SNA to the reservation and it said suites were available. Then I clicked to reserve a suite and it then said the suite was not available. I went through the steps several times and then called SPG. It turns out the hotel is completely sold out during my stay and there is a bug in the system for reservations made before SNA's began.

yosithezet

Are either of those the select standard suite type available for upgrades?

Starwood Lurker II

If you like, reach out to one of the lurkers with details and we can investigate.

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

MSP2SEA

Thanks Thyetus,

I sent you an email. And in response to previous post, yes they are both select standard suites, which I checked in my SNA request.

atlantaben

I will be staying at the Blue Palace property in Crete in late August. The only Suite Night Award upgrade option it shows in my reservation is the Maisonette Duplex Suite. Looks like the Deluxe Suite and the Island Luxury Suites (higher level suite categories) are still available for purchase during my stay but not listed as an option.

If I select the Maisonette Suite as an upgrade option and get upgraded, will the property upgrade me further (Deluxe or Island) when I check-in, if available?

I don't want to lose out on my chances on those suites

Starwood Lurker

YMMV. They aren't required to do so, but even a blind hog will find an acorn every now and then.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

AJLondon

ROFL. You do have a delightful way with words!

MSP2SEA

Following up on this... my experience:

Selected 4 room types for SNA upgrade (Luxury Suite and Executive Suite, smoking and non-smoking versions) at St Regis Mexico City.

+5 day mark: Received a "we're working on it" non-upgrade email. All "standard suite" room types were available for booking (Luxury Suite and Executive Suite). Emailed spgchampion as suggested here, and received confirmation that they had sent it on to tech team for review.

+1 day mark (morning): All room types available. Having heard nothing further from spgchampion, I emailed to ask status. William responded that the tech team had found that this was a technical problem, but it was too late to fix. I would get my SNAs back, and I could either A) tell him my room preference and he would attempt to intercede w/ hotel and then SNAs would be taken out from my account manually, or B) take my chances with the usual upgrade routine. I told William I would prefer Luxury suite, otherwise would take my chances on normal upgrade process. William responded that hotel had slotted me into an Executive Suite, the lower of the two room types, and he would deduct my SNAs manually.

Check in. Still all room types available for purchase, but no one willing to give me the full upgrade to Luxury Suite... for no valid reason. I asked William if this was the way the SNAs worked... that the hotel had discretion between the different types of standard suites I had chosen. He said "No" if the system had worked correctly, I should have received the better room type, but in this case he was apparently unable to enforce this rule outside the system.

I'm a bit underwhelmed with William's final response, as it seems that the tech team was not working with any urgency to address my issues in a timely manner, and I'm still not clear on why the hotel would not comply with the terms of the program appropriately in the case of a system error.

Overall have had good experience w/ the SNA upgrades... this was the first "problem" I've had in applying these awards. ... and in this case I did receive one of the room types I had originally requested. So, no big issues... just advice to stay on top of things if you run into these errors, otherwise you could end up with a "compromise" solution, as I did.

Starwood Lurker

I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way because the tech team was on the case from beginning to end. Sometimes these are easier to find and address the root cause, but it simply was not to be in this case.

As far as the suite I was able to get you pre-blocked into, I personally think that this hotel has its Luxury Suites attached to SNA's by mistake. The Luxury Suites are attached to their SPG5SU2 rate plan, which is not a standard suite at this property. Those would be the Executive Suite that I was able to get them to pre-block for you. SNA's are based on standard suites only and that is as far as I was able to go. While it is true that if the tech issue had not occurred, you probably would have ended up with a Luxury Suite, the property would not go any further to pre-block one as a gesture of goodwill.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

PhillyPhlyer40

This is the sad state of affairs at SPG. If mngt doesnt have the ability to "make it right" for platinum members (and obviously members who are NOT staying the absolute minimum to qualify), why give the chain your money? SNA's/lounge/breakfast all seem to be difficult to get consistency on w/SPG.

Flews

No need to get " ". If you're not happy, why not just take your own advice and shop around to find what you like at other chains. Life's too short to get worked up about loyalty benefits.

Thankfully, my own experience with SNA's/lounge/breakfast, etc... is consistantly as advertised.

Beyond the loyalty benefits, *wood also has great properties & value in the places where I need it. Indeed, in my opinion, the loyalty perks are only the icing on the cake: where I rest my head, the property amenities and how much I pay for it are the more important factors for me and my family.

So I will happily continue giving *wood my money.

Cheers,

MSP2SEA

What I liked about the new SNA benefit was that it appeared to create some transparency and accountability in the suite upgrade process... at least for 10 nights/year that were important to the guest.

Our SNA requests would be processed in an orderly manner using a centralized methodology, and we would not be subject to the whims of the front desk staff at individual properties. We would be aware of which room types qualify and which don't, and the system would be the final word.

So when I hear William say... well... "Luxury Suites" were listed as available for SNA, but they aren't REALLY standard suites (based on some information the guest doesn't have access to)... and Starwood corporate couldn't make the right thing happen because the property just didn't want to... that doesn't give me a lot of confidence. I know we're still working the kinks out of this SNA process, but at 7 months in, I would expect the process to be smoother. I also think it's reasonable to expect an answer within 48 hours of a customer service research question, without prodding or follow up emails.

Rather than dwell on this past event, I will make a suggestion for the future: Publish on the web the list of select standard suites at each property, and the count of these rooms relative to the total. Publish the upgrade priority like the airlines do. Why not? Make us better informed customers, and hold the properties accountable to the letter of the SPG program.