craz

I dont think Hotels care about what the make up is of the people staying in the room. They want to know the # of people . So if its 2 & 2 that = 4 to the hotel, then yes a person should put down 4 people

As for the free Breakfasts, it all depends on what is said, if as aPlat you are entitled to 2 free 1 for you and a 2nd for the other party registered and staying in your room.Then if we are traveling together and have separate rooms you cant transfer the 2nd breakfast to me since Im not in your room.If you booked your room for 2 then you can get away with giving it to me. Now the rate with free breakfasts what does it say and mean, that you are entiteld to 2 breakfats and can have friends that live nearby or are staying in the hotel across the road join you or is it for up to 2 registered guests in your room, which would negate anyone not registered in the room.

I see it like the person who has 5 different ways to get their 1st bag free and trys to check a 2nd bag w/o paying. I get a kick out of it when they try to convince the agent that really they can check 5 bags. When in fact alll they have are 5 different ways to get that same 1st bag free and not 1 bag more. Could be you had 2 different ways to get 2 breakfasts for free, I dont know the language that was used, if other hotels didnt care Great youre way ahead, seems you hit 1 that does care and felt since you only had 2 registered guests you end up having 2 different ways to get 2 free breakfast for you and another registered guest staying in your room

Or it may mean that you and 1 registered guest in your room are entitled to breakfast, so again 2 different ways for 2 registered guests to get a free breakfast

This also means if you booked a room for 1 and Im staying in a different room you shouldnt be able to get me a free breakfast, that holds also if the rate for your room entitles only those in your room, of cause if you booked for 2 people and its only you well then its breakfast for you and me, since the hotel wont have any way to know who the 2nd person in your room is, but your not entitled to give it to me if I wasnt staying in your room

If each and every time you booked the room for 4 people I APOLOGIZE to you. But the techs of whom is entitled to the free breakfast depends on the exact lanuage, and may just be 2 different ways that you have to get yourself plus 1 other person the free breakfasts.

Finkface

Which hotel in Japan was it? Easy enough to try a dummy booking to see if adding 2 children to the res would have raised the price.

controller1

Yes. Because I never understood this.......

travelswithmyself

OK in this I beg to differ. They wouldn't say kids stay for free if it didn't matter. Again, these are the hotels I've stayed in as opposed to those which you may have stayed in. Shouldn't have a blanket rule or opinion for all, that's what I'm saying.



Thanks for at least addressing the issue of the breakfast which was kind of my point.

These are the exact T&Cs from the booking email:

Rate Details
Flexible rate + breakfast
Includes daily breakfast for up to two guests. You may change or cancel this reservation until shortly before arrival; please see terms & details link for cancellation policy.


T&C details do not mention anything about the "guests" having to be the adults, kids, SPG member, the one who registers, the one who pays, the one who sleeps in the room etc etc.

My opinion is that breakfast is for whomever stays in the room. If I'm alone, but my rate gives me breakfast for two and I want to invite someone to have breakfast with me, I personally think it should be OK. But I wouldn't kick if the hotel didn't let me give it to someone who wasn't staying in that room.

But if there were four in the room and it was only meant for two, why can't I decide who gets it?

Yes, I know what you mean about getting it free twice the same way.

But here I paid a higher rate for the breakfast-inclusive rate, as opposed to the plain old room rate. So I'm not really getting it free am I? It was about 75% of the cost of 2 adult breakfasts.

So, perhaps the hotel felt that since I already have it included in the rate, I can't "eat again" and don't need my platinum benefit of 2 adult breakfast. And since plat benefits are "non-transferrable" my kids can't get it.

Still feel it should be up to me to decide how to distribute it though.

Finkface

But is the cost of breakfast part of the rate? So if you had specified 4 on the booking, 2 adults and 2 children, it would have cost more and you would have gotten 4 breakfasts. Perhaps the reason it only says 2 is because you only specified that there would be 2 guests. Which hotel was it at?

travelswithmyself

I didn't want to quote it because I had a great time otherwise and call it paranoia but I didn't want to give them any negs for this.

Anyway it's the St Regis Osaka.

You can't add two kids to the res, it bumps you. But I specifically emailed them to ask if bringing two kids along would be an issue and they said no. Like I said, the only rate change was between 1 adult and 2 adults.

MSPeconomist

Yes, I would find it strange to have a room rate for four people that only gives breakfast to two of them. To me it sounds like the OP should be paying more for the room with breakfast rate based on the number of people. Perhaps the hotel was willing to be nice and not force OP to pay the rack rate for three or four (I'm confused at this point) at check in, but they drew the line on free breakfasts when the OP wasn't paying for all of the people in the room.

travelswithmyself

Yes breakfast is part of the rate, as I keep saying. But their T&C say it's only for two.

I tried booking for 4 at Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay - but it's still breakfast for only two even if you book for 4. I know what you're getting at - that I avoided paying more by booking for two. Nope, it really isn't the case.

travelswithmyself

You can try and book a room for 2 kids and 2 adults at Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay, it will let you do that but still only give you breakfast for two (it's in the booking T&C).


I'll see what StR says as to why they didn't want to allow me the meal, but I say again, it's NOT FREE. Go ahead and choose a breakfast rate vs a non-breakfast rate - it costs MORE. I PAID for the two meals. I didn't get them free. Whether they should still give me the plat benefit is another matter I guess.

Finkface

I was getting at anything, just suggesting possibilities. The hotel I booked at is the Westin Miyako in Kyoto. And the price definitely goes up a lot when I add 2 children to the res. as they don't offer the standard rooms, only the family room for 4 occupants. And breakfast isn't part of the deal in my case. So you did avoid paying more by only booking for 2 adults and thereby getting a normal room for 2 people but not because of the breakfast part. Because of the part about them bumping up the price (for a family room perhaps?) for having 4 people in the room. I am not suggesting you did it intentionally to avoid paying for the extra people (or maybe you did, I don't know and doesn't really matter at this point), just suggesting why you had a problem as occupancy seems to be strictly adhered to in Japan. Even though the hotel seemingly ok'd it, the SPG site follows the local rule. Is it fair when you can all squeeze into one room and it should be your choice to do so? Maybe not, but Japan does it that way.

craz

I agree with you if you are able to book a family room and it doesnt ask you to name or register all those staying in the room but says lets say up to 4 people , then youre 100% correct in not needing to say the # staying if the dont care. heck 1 time when was staying overnighting in CPH I booked the family room just for myself since it was alot larger then the reg rooms (it was with the chain that aligned it iself with Hilton yrs ago).

That said I dont believe any hotel offering a breakfast rate had in mind anyone other then those occupying said room. If as you say you didnt need to register your kids but the rate you booked you were entitled to lets say 6 people in the room that wouldnt transfer into having any 6 people partake of the breakfast., especially since it says up to 2 guests that would exclude anyone who isnt a guest and Im sure youd agree that would mean only those who are guests in said room.

So I understand that hotel as they see it as 2 people are registered for a room that 4 are allowed but according to them only has 2 people in it, and the rate is the same if 1 person is staying in it or if 4 are. But if only 1 person is registered then only 1 breakfast is allowed even thou it says up to 2 since only 1person is registered . Then since that person is a Plat Bingo 2 ways to get 1 breakfast free for 1 person

Id say if you are allowed up to 4 or 6 people in the room for the same price simply register all those staying in the room and as long as it doesnt specify that the person paying must be 1 of the 2 people getting the free breakfast that should solve your problem

otherwsie it seems for the Hotel in question you had 2 people registered for a room that allowed more then 2 at the same rate, and the Hotel decided to stick to the T&Cs that only those registered are entitled to be those who can get the free breakfast. Dumb yep but them the rules and the hotel decided to stick to the letter of its rules.

No different then if I booked a room at a Hilton for Mr Craz and Mrs Craz its the rate of just Mr Craz, if I booked it for Mr Craz and Ms Zarc it will cost me more WTH whats the difference its 2 people either way and some Hiltons wont care while others if they ID each person may tell me my rate is being adjusted upwards to reflect 2 people in the room and not being Mr & Mrs Craz

again Sorry but from the way I read your 1st post it seemed as if you were sneaking 2 people into the rooms, when now it appears although you were allowed to have 4 people you didnt fully register all 4 peoples names

Finkface

Ok, I think I see the problem. I did a random booking for a date in feb. At this hotel, when you book 2 adults, it give you various room choices. When you add 2 children, it gives you the pop up with the family plan dialogue that says children 12 and under stay free in the room with an adult but it will not allow you to book any room other than a suite. The room choices that showed for 2 adults, 0 children are now 'not available'. So while you don't pay extra for the children per their family plan, you can't have 2 kids and 2 adults in anything but a suite according to the website. Whoever emailed you from the hotel told you otherwise obviously, but I can see why you would book it the way you did as it didn't give you standard options if you put in the correct number of people and I am guessing you didn't want a suite.

As for the breakfast, I guess they don't let you 'double dip' as it were at this particular hotel and get the breakfast from the room rate (2 only, regardless of the room) and from your plat status, unlike other hotels you've stayed at in the past.

travelswithmyself

Well, as I have said before, this part in red is where some of you seem to
misunderstand. In both hotels which I stayed in, it is the same rate even if you bring your kids along. Because of this thing called a Family Plan, which makes it free for the kids. Which is on the website. I've already quoted the exact words and provided the link. I'm sorry but I can't make it any clearer. Free.

So I have not at any time tried to avoid paying for the "extra" people because payment isn't needed. It's Free.

Westin Kyoto, as you said, doesn't have this plan. So, you haven't got a choice but to book a 4-bedder.

Btw, you seem familiar with Japan and Japanese hotels. So you should know they are the least likely to "seemingly OK'd it". If they allow it, it's because it's allowed.

travelswithmyself

Thank you! Exactly. Which is why the hotel tells you to ignore the kids bit when making the booking. Now, if they only wanted to allow me to book the suite, they would have said so. Other hotels have done so, and I've either done that or booked two rooms etc etc.

It's probably a software deficiency. It allows hotels to set the max number of occupants, but does not differentiate between adults, teens and kids. So if the room can fit 2 adults or squeeze 2 adults + 2 small kids, they aren't able to set it as such. So they tell us to ignore the kids.


Yes! Exactly! Not quite sure I agree with the double-dipping terminology since the breakfast rate is actually higher than the room-only rate so I have paid for it, but whatever.

So I just wanted to know if others had encountered this elsewhere. Instead I get...

travelswithmyself

Well, as I said, they took all 4 of our passports. Does that make them all registered to the room? I personally think so. But doesn't matter no point going round and round about it.


Hiltons give a different rate for Mr & Mrs vs Mr & someone else? Really?? Why would the rate be different?