dcstudent

Hi all,
Didn't want to clutter the BRG success/failure thread so posting here.

Hotel in Question is the Westin Washington Dulles. One night stay, checked out this morning 1/6/2013.

When I checked in yesterday I provided the front desk clerk the e-mail from BRG, stating the new rate and that I selected 2000 points (just as I always do when staying on a BRG). No problems there.

Woke up this morning, no folio under the door. Went to front desk, the associate told me that they couldn't provide me a folio because they didn't know what rate to charge me. Huh? I explained that I was staying on a BRG, and pulled the e-mail up on my phone. No dice. Clerk said that SPG had told them a different rate than my e-mail contained and they needed to contact SPG to find out what rate to charge me. Huh? Asked for manager, more than anything so I could get it all sorted before I left the hotel, was told there was no manager available.

So what should I do? Contact BRG myself? Starwood customer service? I need a folio, and I want to make sure I am charged the BRG amount ($64 and change + tax) and get the 2000 points.

Thanks for any advice, I've done plenty of BRGs and have never run into this before.

travelswithmyself

I would contact the BRG team and register your issues with them, so that they are aware.

The few times I've had issues, they seemed to be the final authority which the hotel referred to, so it's best that you contact BRG.

ExpatSomchai

+1 same for me in the past

dcstudent

Thanks, I'll do that. I've got 6 more BRG stays at this hotel, at the same rate as last night, by the end of February so I hope this doesn't become a pattern.

For whatever reason, this hotel often has rates on 3rd party sites that are up to 50% off their lowest rate on SPG. I have no choice but to BRG because I don't get Plat bennies and stay/night credit if I book through the 3rd party. Of course, the 10% or 2000 points doesn't hurt either.

Flews

Wow. Good score.

Cheers,

BigBopper

I would also file a complaint with customer care.

As the Lurkers have posted here before, a hotel is required to have a manager on duty. Quite often the hotel just doesn't want to deal with people so they say no one is available. That's complete and utter nonsense! Why should you waste your time following up now when the issue could have and SHOULD have been solved in person?

yulhammeryyz

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9700; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.666 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

OP can wait and see what rate is charged before sending a complaint. For all we know, the hotel will charge the right rate as there is no mention in the post that a higher rate is being contemplated

margarita girl

I've had a couple of instances where the hotel has refused to honor the BRG rate. I just pay the bill and let the BRG people sort it out afterwards. I always get reimbursed to the BRG rate, so no need to stress about it. And I think I picked up some courtesy points as an apology once.

Often1

Don't waste a second on this now. In fact, I wouldn't have wasted a second on it at the FD.

1. Wait for the invoice. If it's correct, it's over.
2. If it's incorrect (against you), send in a website complaint noting that you were denied your rate and asking for an appropriate credit.
3. Wait 10 days. If the refund posts, it's over. If it doesn't, initiate a chargeback for the difference. Unless you've screwed it up, you'll win.

Time is money and you are spending way too much on something that may not be a problem and, if it is, can be easily solved.

dcstudent

BigBopper, I completely understand what you're saying and I probably would if I wasn't generally happy with this hotel. I'm sure they did have a manager somewhere, they just didn't feel like dealing with it.

I've sent an e-mail to the BRG team, as long as it settles correctly and quickly I don't feel a need to complain further.

Generally speaking, this hotel is very good to Plats. I got an upgraded room, full breakfast + the 500 points. Plus, with another 6 stays already booked and probably looking at 15-20 for the year don't feel like causing too many waves. Just want my rate and the points promised.

dcstudent

Thanks, margarita girl. P.S. You're my idol, And I'm only half kidding. I've already got 19 stays booked for this year and 9 are BRG's, learned just by following your posts in the BRG Success/Failure thread.

dcstudent

It's a slow Sunday, and I'm just watching live FA cup action. I'm entirely sure it will work out in my favor, I have the e-mails from the BRG team if I need to do an AMEX chargeback. Just was wondering how to get the issue handled quickly. Seems the general consensus was to email the BRG team, and I have.

dcstudent

Just to close the loop...heard back directly from the Westin. They honored the BRG rate that I had in my e-mail and processed the 2K points. All is well. Never heard back from the BRG desk, so unsure whether they got involved or the hotel figured it out on their own, but doesn't really matter as long as the result is good.

DCBob

+1. I have never heard of any major hotel chain that allowed hotels to operate for even one minute without having someone, anyone designated as the MOD (manager on duty). I would have told them "I will be calling Starwood Corporate to get the phone number of the hotel's GM. Are you sure there's no MOD? I think the GM needs to be made aware of this issue." That should quickly get an MOD to the front desk! But if you didn't feel like upsetting the apple cart, that's OK, too.

TallestHotelInJapan

This happens every once in a while. Leave your credit card/pay whatever they want and forward the case to the BRG team. They will sort it out and refund the money if you were charged too high