whimike

Are hotels finding creative ways of NOT honoring SNA awards?

I am staying at the Moana Surfrider Westin in Waikiki August 16th - 17th. I applied an SNA certificate to this stay several weeks ago. The 5-day time hit, there was Suite availability, but the upgrade did not clear. 24 hours later, same availability, no clearance. I got on with Platinum Chat where they confirmed the Suite was available, but they told me that it is at the hotels discretion to give it to me or not.

I posted here, above, and it was suggested there is a "glitch" and I needed to contact Starwood Lurker. I did so, and he responded promptly Monday morning that there is no Suite inventory for my date. Confused, I looked on SPG.com and low and behold, the property isn't allowing any bookings from the 16th-17th anymore, if you want to book on the 16th you have to now stay 2 nights! But, every single date around the 16th only has a single night requirement. So, I tried to book from the 15th - 17th, and the Suite was available for both the 15 - 16 and 16 - 17, so the Suite is available on the date I am staying.

I reported this back to Starwood Lurker, but he stated that in order to be upgraded with an SNA you have to be able to book the room on the check-in date, and since there is now a 2-night minimum for check-in on the 16th, and the particular Suite for upgrade is NOT available on the 17th - 18th, the SNA does not have to be honored by the hotel, even though the room is available on the night I am staying.

This seems like quite a loophole a hotel has to be able to deny an SNA award. With prior reports of this particular hotel almost never upgrading Platinums to Suites, and having a Japanese owner that prefers to only upgrade Japanese tour guests to suites (pure conjecture, but nonetheless reported here on FT), one that subscribes to conspiracy theories would find it oddly coincidental that all of a sudden a single date in this month changes to a 2-night minimum stay when an SNA award is applied to that particular date.

With my less than stellar "upgrade" experiences in many SPG properties, I simply don't know what to think. Starwood Lurker did say he has never heard of an issue before with this particular hotel in regards to SNA awards, so there certainly is a reasonable probability it is all pure coincidence. Then again my cynical side would keep me wondering...

dingo

SPG really has a messaging problem here and one that seemingly is very easy to fix. The fact that reps are still telling guests/members/plats that the hotels have discretion seems odd. Actually, it seems odd only if it is not correct. How can several months pass and SPG still not have all of the people that deal w/ Plats on the same page on something as fundamental as "does the hotel approve the upgrade?"? Puzzling.

charder

At the St. Regis Singapore the Lady Astor room is corner room which is a little bigger than the deluxe rooms. It has two "single" beds (both queensize) and a large bath room with a window.
I received one as a platinum upgrade and was happy enough with this one.
The St. Regis suite is a little bigger but not worth a SNA to me.

Life_Platinum

I have not had much luck in getting these upgrades. My next stays at Starwood properties have a message that I cannot obtain these upgrades for a variety of pre-canned reasons. I plan to call the Platinum Concierge to see if they can help me.

niteowl94

I received an upgrade at the Westin Maui Resort and Spa 6 days before my reservation and I'm staying there 5 night on points. Some have had problems getting upgrades but my first experience worked like a charm

yvr76

Not sure if this has been brought up (it's a long thread) but has SPG considered offering the 10 suite nights for each 50 nights in a calendar year? i.e. another 10 nights at 100 nights, 150 etc.

LovetoTravel83

That's not the case, I've reached over 100 last year and only got 10 SNA's.

LovetoTravel83

I also would like to know something and don't know if it's covered or not in this thread.

If I successfully redeemed an award for a stay and at checking in they gave away my room and there are no other rooms left in the catagory that I have got, should this be considered as a walk?

whimike

Quick update... The Westin Moana today enabled single-night bookings on the 16th and my SNA cleared.

Starwood Lurker II

Technically it would not be considered a walk. However, in a situation that this occurs, do reach out to Customer Care and lodge a complaint.

[email protected]

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

DCF

I'm not going to identify this property as so much is going wrong with my stay that I'm reserving the right to pursue formal complaint channels.

Anyway, last week I received an email from SPG confirming that my suite night request for a five night stay at a top-end US property had been confirmed as successful.

Then, upon arrival, I was allocated the lowest room category.

I never normally refuse to accept a room, but as soon as I saw this one I did. And the closest thing I got to an apology was a phone message apologising for the room having the wrong bedding.

So can a Confirmed Suite Night upgrade be withdrawn?

Starwood Lurker

File a formal complaint with Corporate Customer Service and I would be very surprised if the Suite Night Award(s) were not returned to your account.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

LovetoTravel83

William,

I dont think one wants the SNA to be returned, If I successfully redeem one I expect to get the room I requested. I mean whats the good use of it if it cant be used?

playbbg

I would like to echo this. What is the point in offering confirmed suite upgrades if one cannot trust that it will be confirmed? I think SPG really shot themselves in the foot with this new benefit. In business its always best to undersell and over deliver (the old upgrade process), but in this case, it seems to be a case study in over promising and not being able to meet the expectations SPG set for themselves.

Starwood Lurker

I would expect that if I used an SNA and it was approved and I got to the property that the SNA would be returned for me to use at a later time. YMMV.

As far as the one-off situation that was created here...how many of these have we seen? Why every time we have a one-off situation, does it become equal to the norm? Stuff certainly happens, but that doesn't mean it happens as a matter of course.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]