bamboola

I called SPG over 3 weeks ago about a stay where I had a meal at the hotel. The meal points did not post and SPG said to wait 5-7 days for the points to post.

Today, 3 weeks later, I called again to ask about the points. I was told that each hotel decides independently whether to award points for in-house meals or not. That hotel apparently does not give points for meals.

My questions:

1. Why is this information not available to the customer so that we can decide whether to eat in the hotel or not?

2. Why did SPG not respond to my initial inquiry and instead make me call back again?

sdsearch

Could it have been an "outsourced" restaurant that just happened to physically be "at the hotel"?

I've not yet run into an SPG hotel like this, but I have seen a Hyatt, for example, which had a name brand restaurant (not related to Hyatt brand) inside its building.

I also once saw the restaurant inside a Holiday Inn come up (with a different name for the restaurant) as eligible to earn miles through airline dining programs (Rewards Network). That implies its billing was separate from the Holiday Inn.

Now, an in-house third-party restaurant may have an arrangement to get the bill paid by the hotel, but it's not the same thing as a restaurant owned and operated by the hotel.

My question: Why haven't you listed the hotel and the restaurant name?

freeloader

this doesn't sound right... i'd reach out your info to the lurkers and see what they say

bamboola

Sheraton Lisboa. Not an out-sourced restaurant and certainly not a name-brand restaurant. Heck, it's where everyone has breakfast every morning.

Starwood Lurker

If you were a registered guest at the Sheraton Lisboa, could you charge your meal to your room account from this restaurant? If so, the restaurant participates whether they are run by the hotel or not.

An email, along with a receipt for a meal (> $10 before taxes/other charges), sent to Program Services usually resolves this. It can be sent to [email protected].

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

Bravada04

I'm not so sure why but most of the time for me I have always had issues of getting points posted from meals at the hotels.
There has been alot of times when some of the staff don't even know what I'm talking about at the hotel ?? I have actually shyed away from it because it became more of a hindrence than anything else.

bamboola

Yes, I was a registered guest, and yes, I charged the meal to the room.

Thanks for your help.

RogerD408

If the meal was charged to your room it will only show up as points from the property and not an additional credit from the restaurant. Check your folio and see what it shows and the points that were posted. If they don't match, then a copy of your folio to SPG should get it worked out.

Starwood Lurker

Well, yes, that would definitely do it. I thought we were talking about dining alone charges here.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

bamboola

Correct. However, the points don't compute. I paid X for the room and Y for the meal. Total points should equal X+Y, but I only got X.

Thanks to Mr. Lurker I will contact SPG again.

MSPeconomist

Assuming that the difference cannot be explained by remembering that you may not earn points on taxes, this would seem to be an obvious error.

bamboola

Good thought, but the folio does not list any taxes. Perhaps the European hotels do not separate out the taxes or does not charge them. In any case, SPG is looking into it.

MSPeconomist

In Europe, VAT/TVA is usually included in the prices. Often the same is true for service aka tips in restaurants.

TerryK

Taxes are always charged, with rare exceptions. In many European and Asian countries, it is a legal requirement to show inclusive prices. Some will break out taxes in a separate section at the end of folio. VAT in Europe is usually around 20% although it can be as high as 27% (Hungary). It is 23% in Portugal.

bamboola

Just to follow up, I have received a response directly from the hotel. My booked rate included breakfast and internet. The hotel said I don't earn points for the internet - fair enough.

It also said it used 1.04 as the exchange rate to convert from Euros to U.S. dollars. I actually paid 1.33 in the currency conversion. I don't think the exchange rate has been 1.04 since 2005. Oh well.....