Chrislorl

So The Mrs. and I are headed to Niagara Falls next weekend for an Anniversary and much needed vacation. We booked a room with points at the Sheraton on the Falls Hotel. Today, 5 days out I receive the very personal email, shown below.

Dear Platinum Member,

At Sheraton on the Falls we are looking forward to your upcoming visit and we have exciting news to share. Our new Sheraton Club is now open and already quite popular with our guests!

During your planned stay we are forecasting high demand for the Sheraton Club. It is therefore unlikely that complimentary upgrades to the Club will be available at that time. I would advise you that if you value and require club access you should upgrade to a club package. (You may use your SPG points for this, only 3000 per day) By doing so you will be assured of enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of our new club, including a complimentary continental breakfast, all day coffee and beverages, and evening hors d’oeuvres service. Please contact us at 905-374-4445 ext. xxxx or at [email protected] to ensure you don’t miss out.

We look forward to your arrival.

Sincerely,

So after getting this and actually having several other booking issues this weekend I called the SPG Plat. number to discuss this. Honestly the folks there were as blown away as I was, admitted they have never heard of this before but in the long run basically said "the hotel can do what they want". They were very nice, called the hotel but got the same answer. I have asked for this to be escalated and forwarded the email to a supervisor who also admitted he had never seen this before.

I did believe that lounge access was a benefit of being Platinum, in this case it is held ransom for 3000 points a night, there was not even a dollar amount it was offered for. So at this point I have lodged a complaint with SPG about this practice but I have authorized the 9000 point instant reward. The lounge is a nice benefit but I am really torn at a $30.00 per day charge after the fact. Had it even been listed in the rate I could have dealt with it better "so I don't miss out".

I will wait for SPG's response and post the hotels response as well, but if you plan a stay here it looks like you should be ready for this.

RogerD408

So you agreed to them charging you for the upgrade? What response do you expect the hotel to give SPG when they make contact? The guest has agreed to the terms, end of discussion...

Personally, I would have responded with a message stating that as a Platinum I expect the benefits provided by the program. No where have I seen "subject to availability" for club access (except where there is no club).

These excursions away from program rules should not be tolerated. Sounds like the property is taking a page out of the airlines book to charge for anything that is not nailed down. Soon going to need a PhD to book a trip!

Rcling28

I hate when lounge access was free for platinum members, and they just say the hotel can do what the want...

artccc

This is unheard practice and rip off. I wonder what Starwood Lurker would say about it. Tkanks for the warning. As Platinium Members we should avoid this hotel.

RogerD408

After thinking about this for a minute or two, I wonder what the reaction would be to an offer of a room credit to fore-go club access? If they were concerned about the quality of service given the potential guest overload, I might be tempted to accept a room credit and spend it at the restaurant for breakfast or the such.

The way it was presented, it is merely a money grab and should be squashed. I hope you do escalate with the property and SPG so they will make it clear to other properties this will not be acceptable.

KSA_USA

Unbelievable. I am sure this will be sorted out but why you authorize them to charge 9000 point for lounge access. this could be used against you. the other thing i am not sure how much you value your points. most people would value 3000 points to be $75-90.

i hope you get your points back and enjoy complementary access to the lounge.

BigBopper

I have a feeling the email was auto generated for everyone. Someone just got lazy programming it and set up a field for plts.

While it's unheard of to charge PLT's for the lounge, it's NOT unheard of to send emails like this out. Generally they're just worded better to focus on the room upgrade and not just the lounge. Plt benefits entitle us access to the lounge but they don't guarantee a room on that level.

I'd suggest you call the hotel, decline the upgrade option and continue with your customer care complaint. I would be shocked if you denied access to the lounge once you're on site. +

CDNtravler

Unless I am missing something, I don't think they have a club level rooms, just the club lounge...

LovetoTravel83

Why did you authorize them to charge you 9K points?

You agreed to what they want, case is over.

transparent

I would also be inclined to accept a room credit or points to forego the club lounge, but paying extra for a benefit that is clearly supposed to be complimentary for PLTs is not going to fly.

samplat

I recall receiving a similar email form Sheraton vancouver airport a couple of years ago. I was spg gold at the time but didn't really want to pay for lounge access so didn't accept. When we checked in, we were upgraded and loung access was included.

My guess is these are just generic offers ( irrespective of personalization ) sent out to everyone with a reservation and in the end, the hotel follows the SPG policy.

friedablass

I will be staying at this hotel at the end of this month and they told me that they do not have Club Level rooms (as of yet). They just have a club lounge that in my case I would need to pay for to gain access (since I am only Gold and wouldn't get free access anyway).

yvr76

The SPG terms are quite clear, and I don't believe it states "at hotel's discretion."

Instead of asking you to pay for club access, they could have offered you breakfast and drink coupons in their restaurant instead as a gesture.

Good for OP for filing a compliant with SPG right away.

ldsant

Not sure why people are "blaming" the OP on paying the points. He said in hi post that this is an anniversary trip and he wanted to do things special for his wife. I think the hotel is wrong but the OP sounds as though he wanted to make sure he had access to the lounge. I am sure that the Lurkers will sort this out for us and let us know what the "real" story is. If it is true that hotels can just do whatever they want I would wonder what's the point of being loyal to Starwood?

CIT85

Yes, but OP then agreed to the hotel's demand and authorized 9000 points for lounge access. I would never have agreed to this demand and be prepared to argue the case with the manager when checking in.