Eastbay1K

Don't forget that during the PK reno, the Sheraton becomes the new "low end" property in Waikiki. Their butt will be bitten, kicked, and stuffed with nothing but money and more money.

mahasamatman

During and after.

jibi

It was a rumor published in the Financial Times that mentioned the Hotel Eden's departure.

"Across Via Veneto, next to the imposing and fortified US embassy, rumours are swirling that there is potential Arab buyer for the Excelsior, currently owned by the Westin group and famed for hosting successive US secretaries of state as well as some of Washington’s vaunted enemies. Former Iraq deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz was a guest just days before the 2003 US invasion."

atomz4peace

Just booked awards for Feb 2015 for here and Westin Maui with no problem. We booked through the platinum desk so maybe that was why. So happy to learn of these upcoming changes ahead of time- thanks Starwood! ^

sdflyer04

Quote:
Originally Posted by sdflyer04
I am guessing that you and clublounger aren't planning a stay at the Sheraton Waikiki in February 2015?

It matters because it is easy to say "the world isn't coming to an end," etc. when you aren't the one that will be spending a bunch more points for the same thing.

Frankly, I find it pretty condescending for you and clublounger to mock my frustration over a hotel not following the rules in a way at costs me a bunch of extra points. It's not like I started my comments by ever suggesting the world was coming to an end, etc. Flyertalk is exactly the place where someone should be able to post frustration over something like this without being mocked for overreacting.

mahasamatman

You said, and I quoteSorry, but saying the sky is falling is the very definition of overreacting.

banzani

Very sad to see the ATH properties and Fuschl go up. With the new redemption values they will no longer be worth a visit.

sdflyer04

If you read the thread, you will see that clublounger responded to my first post by condescendingly remarking that the "sky is not falling." Of course, my first post merely complained about what I see as the hotel "gaming the system" by specifically waiting to release rooms after the category increase. My post never claimed that the sky was falling, the world was coming to an end, people were dying, etc. Yes, I defended my point later by saying that on Flyertalk being forced to spend 160K points instead of 93K points sounds like "the sky is falling." So, I guess if you twist all of the posts around, turn them on their head, and ignore context and intentional hyperbole you might be able to say that I was the person who said the sky is falling. Whatever.

What I find interesting (and, yes, a little annoying) is that on a board where people do mileage runs and other crazy things to earn or save a few airline or hotel points, that you and clublounger decide to mock a post complaining about a hotel gaming the system in a way that would force me to spend an extra 67K points (worth north of $1300 at $.02 per point). Sorry that you don't see the significance of the problem here. But, I suspect that most Flyertalkers would find this sort of thing to be worth posting and probably even a big deal.

sdflyer04

Thank you for posting this! I called the gold desk and with what sounded like a significant amount of effort the agent was able to "manually" book our rooms using this year's point values for next February. At first, he said that he couldn't do it, until I told him that I'd seen your post. I am still slightly worried because the reservations show up as "rack rate" dollar reservations on my spg.com page. But, the proper number of points were withdrawn from my account and the agent assured me that the hotel would correct the reservation some time next week.

Thanks again.

clublounger

Hence, my point. The hotel wasn't "gaming the system" in this case. The system just has limitations.

uxb

I'm sad about the aloft ORD and W SF. Aloft ORD was a good value at its present category. W SF, I'm not surprised at all about.

sdflyer04

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. When I call the hotel and they tell me, after checking with the boss, that they won't be releasing any points rooms until after the category increase, I'll call that gaming the system. In fact, the only reason I was able to get the the points rooms is NOT because the hotel released points rooms. No, I got points rooms because an spg agent spent a half an hour manually changing a dollars room to a points room. In fact, my reservation shows dollars and I still have to hope that it gets swapped to points.

Starwood Lurker II

I would not guarantee at this point of time that you can adjust your C&P award reservation after the category change is implemented.

Sorry.

[email protected]

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

jb3t

Ditto.... I was looking for this as well.

FlyAndLive21

Quite a few properties that I like staying at that are going up. Very sad about the Aloft Charleston going up. I will probably have to go with Marriott in Charleston now since SPG has no properties in actual downtown and what Aloft had going was that it was Cat 2.