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How low SPG can go? [Issues with stay at Mystique, Greece]

How low SPG can go? [Issues with stay at Mystique, Greece]

 
Old May 30, 2014, 1:09 pm
  #121  
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Originally Posted by Fizzer
Luxury is subjective as stated.However,if you review the other ratings of this hotel on TA , as well as spg.com, the vast majority of folks seem pretty satisfied. Then read the tone of the OP's TA post and posting here and, to me at least, a pattern appears. Subjective too but clear nonetheless.
I read a bunch of them in oder to see whats what.Most were satisfied with the place and Loved the location and views. I dont recall many saying what a great luxury hotel it is, I do recall many saying how great it was to sit on their balcony and take in the views and how they loved the location.

I remember a few yrs ago getting a walk about The Enchancement Resort (which it most certainly is) in Sedona,Az however once they showed us a few of the rooms that was it,not what we expected. Now The Phoenician where Ive been numerous times is what one expects when Luxury is used in describing a hotel. Camelback Inn also didnt do it.Now for some who want that type of decor both the Camelback and Enchancement works, or for those who dont care since they want everything else that is offered it works

Compared to whats avaialble in Sedona,The Enchancement has them beat but its rooms arent luxurious, yes they are in comparison to what else is in town but not on the grand scale of what a luxurious hotel room s/b, most everything else to an extent is luxurious, suppose to have a great SPA, restaurants and from what I experienced SERVICE seems to be #1. I know people who stayed there Loved the place but hated the rooms.When they go back they stay elsewhere and just go to the Spa and Restaurants. No they dont stay in a luxury room but they arent being charged up the wazoo either

Last edited by craz; May 30, 2014 at 1:15 pm
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Old May 30, 2014, 1:20 pm
  #122  
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Mystique

First thing after leaving "THE" Mystique (as we did not have the complete bearing on the situation...we were shocked and stunned to what he said to us and it happened so fast) we thought of doing the following:

1. Call the US Consulate in Greece.
2. Go to the airport (JTR) instead of finding any hotels in Santorini (we had checked the prices of hotels months ahead of time and they were nothing short of 300-400 euros). I was not willing to pay this price in this sitaution.
3. Plan to head back to Athens and spent the rest of time there (I could use my Hilton or Club Carlson points there).


While at JTR, Called UAL for plan change but was advised by them if I do that I will lose my last segment (ATH-PHL). Only one stopover allowed per round trip and that absolutely put us in wrong situation. We had no choice but to stay in Santorini. We are in Santorini and staying in a hotel that charges lot less than "THE" Mystique would and guess what we have all the good things to say about this property and I will leave good reviews about this property. We feel home away from home at this place.

Tagging some property as "Luxury" can be highly misleading. That's what we fail to understand. Views are great everywhere in Santorini, weather it is Mystique or any other hotel. Truth lies in quality of product and the basic things were malfunctioning in the room we were at Mystique. It is not too much to ask for.

As for wi-fi, we had to skype our parents (In US and India) b'se of our 20th anniversary, we could not accomplish that and that was shameful. That's how important working wi-fi was to us.
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Old May 30, 2014, 1:40 pm
  #123  
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Originally Posted by craz
I dont see this place selling itself as a luxury place
Here's the link. They're selling "Luxury" in the title of the property, in the imagery below the title, and (obviously) in the room rates.

Click the main LC home page and you see more of the same: Starwood is selling both this brand and this individual property as luxury. That is the entire point of this brand, and based on most reviews of the Mystique it actually does a reasonably good job of delivering. (In other words, the more this thread progresses the more I'm convinced that the hotel is a perfectly fine and luxurious one, albeit with occasional engineering problems just like anywhere else.)

For a contrasting but similar concept, there's Marriott's Autograph Collection. Their site has a category for luxury hotels, but also has other types of unique hotels and doesn't attempt to sell a particular star rating on the brand as a whole. Those hotels are priced lower (on average) and don't set the same expectation that LC does.

Originally Posted by ngupta
As for wi-fi, we had to skype our parents (In US and India) b'se of our 20th anniversary, we could not accomplish that and that was shameful. That's how important working wi-fi was to us.
Shameful? You're absolutely killing me here.

How did human beings survive travel eons ago when we couldn't videoconference people around the world?
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Old May 30, 2014, 1:44 pm
  #124  
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Originally Posted by ngupta
First thing after leaving "THE" Mystique (as we did not have the complete bearing on the situation...we were shocked and stunned to what he said to us and it happened so fast) we thought of doing the following:

1. Call the US Consulate in Greece.
2. Go to the airport (JTR) instead of finding any hotels in Santorini (we had checked the prices of hotels months ahead of time and they were nothing short of 300-400 euros). I was not willing to pay this price in this sitaution.
3. Plan to head back to Athens and spent the rest of time there (I could use my Hilton or Club Carlson points there).


While at JTR, Called UAL for plan change but was advised by them if I do that I will lose my last segment (ATH-PHL). Only one stopover allowed per round trip and that absolutely put us in wrong situation. We had no choice but to stay in Santorini. We are in Santorini and staying in a hotel that charges lot less than "THE" Mystique would and guess what we have all the good things to say about this property and I will leave good reviews about this property. We feel home away from home at this place.

Tagging some property as "Luxury" can be highly misleading. That's what we fail to understand. Views are great everywhere in Santorini, weather it is Mystique or any other hotel. Truth lies in quality of product and the basic things were malfunctioning in the room we were at Mystique. It is not too much to ask for.

As for wi-fi, we had to skype our parents (In US and India) b'se of our 20th anniversary, we could not accomplish that and that was shameful. That's how important working wi-fi was to us.
nice that you came back, happy to hear you remained in Santorini and things worked out.

That said nothing stopped you from buying either a 1 way flight to ATH or a ferry tkt. Ive been able to drop segments mid trip as long as I didnt change my O/D, but that would have meant spending some $s out of your pocket, and it seems you only wanted to spend miles and pts and no money (nothing wrong with that)

wanting basic things is 1 thing Expecting a room that is beyond what you booked is another, especially as a GOLD. Im a Plat and my expectations at a hotel with 22 rooms wouldnt have been anywhere near what yours was. If you have read the thread you know I fully agree with you about the use of LC or "Luxury" and can fully understand how a person would feel expecting a 'luxury' hotel only to arrive and see its not that at all. But posting a Negative review of the hotel was not the smart thing to do while you were still there.Nor was it right not to have said in your TA review how the hotel tried to fix things as you did on FT
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Old May 30, 2014, 1:49 pm
  #125  
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Originally Posted by ngupta
Tagging some property as "Luxury" can be highly misleading. That's what we fail to understand. Views are great everywhere in Santorini, weather it is Mystique or any other hotel. Truth lies in quality of product and the basic things were malfunctioning in the room we were at Mystique. It is not too much to ask for.
what i fail to understand is why would you leave such a negative review on trip advisor without mentioning all the positive things the property tried to do for you????also, why would you leave the review after the first day of your stay, especially when the manager offered to move you to a better room the next day????

Originally Posted by ngupta
As for wi-fi, we had to skype our parents (In US and India) b'se of our 20th anniversary, we could not accomplish that and that was shameful. That's how important working wi-fi was to us.
what is so shameful about that????you yourself said that they put a booster in your room & the wifi started working on the first day....so what's the problem????
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Old May 30, 2014, 1:52 pm
  #126  
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Originally Posted by pinniped
Here's the link. They're selling "Luxury" in the title of the property, in the imagery below the title, and (obviously) in the room rates.

Click the main LC home page and you see more of the same: Starwood is selling both this brand and this individual property as luxury. That is the entire point of this brand, and based on most reviews of the Mystique it actually does a reasonably good job of delivering. (In other words, the more this thread progresses the more I'm convinced that the hotel is a perfectly fine and luxurious one, albeit with occasional engineering problems just like anywhere else.)

For a contrasting but similar concept, there's Marriott's Autograph Collection. Their site has a category for luxury hotels, but also has other types of unique hotels and doesn't attempt to sell a particular star rating on the brand as a whole. Those hotels are priced lower (on average) and don't set the same expectation that LC does.
You misunderstood me or I said it wrong. I didnt mean to say they didnt sell the hotel as being a luxury hotel, as you pointed out they do in fact do that. "I dont see this place selling themselves as 'luxury' " meant I dont see how they can call themselves a luxury hotel when everything about it says it isnt. Yet I would stay there if they were the only ones that offered what I was looking for, location and views.

Seems fron the OP that may not be the case, so if it comes down to spending 300-400 euro and stay elsewhere or pony up the pts, it would depend on how many pts and if I could get a better return for them then using them here, if not then I would use my pts and stay here, knowing its not a SR or a luxury hotel

rightly or wrongly it does seem that the OP thought that this was gonna be their Shangri-la . Really no different then many folks I know who cursed out the Sheraton Princess or Marriott in Wakiki expecting a true Resort hotel only to see they are in some 1950s dated room and hotel and could be in any hotel in any big city = no resort feeling to the hotel itself. They were in a resort location just the hotel wasnt a resort

Last edited by craz; May 30, 2014 at 2:00 pm
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Old May 30, 2014, 5:26 pm
  #127  
 
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Originally Posted by ngupta
First thing after leaving "THE" Mystique (as we did not have the complete bearing on the situation...we were shocked and stunned to what he said to us and it happened so fast) we thought of doing the following:

1. Call the US Consulate in Greece.
...
Did this thought come into your mind before or after you started waving your passport around pronouncing that you are an American Citizen?

For future reference, here is a link to the sorts of problems for which you should contact a consulate for assistance - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consular_assistance. Please read it over so that someone in actual need of consular services isn't delayed the next time you run into a travel issue.
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Old May 30, 2014, 5:54 pm
  #128  
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Originally Posted by ngupta
First thing after leaving "THE" Mystique (as we did not have the complete bearing on the situation...we were shocked and stunned to what he said to us and it happened so fast) we thought of doing the following:

1. Call the US Consulate in Greece.
Ok, I need to buy a new keyboard.

Maybe I'm completely ingnorant - why in the world would anyone, in similar circumstances call the US Consulate????? Anyone?
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Old May 30, 2014, 6:20 pm
  #129  
 
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Originally Posted by fireworksboy
Ok, I need to buy a new keyboard.

Maybe I'm completely ingnorant - why in the world would anyone, in similar circumstances call the US Consulate????? Anyone?
Maybe because the altercation with hotel mgmt was a little more heated than described.
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Old May 30, 2014, 6:30 pm
  #130  
 
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A few quick thoughts that I think haven't been mentioned so far:

* Even though it's Greece, I believe the hotel owner/mgmt should have the good ol' American "right to refuse service to anyone." If a guest is showing himself to be irreconcilably difficult, I think the hotel should have the right to relocate him. He has the right to leave the hotel. Why shouldn't the hotel have the right to leave him?

* If we want this thread to go to 30 pages, the OP could mention that the cake was addressed to Mr. and Mr. Gupta.

* Honestly, what kind of hotel sends some one a complimentary cake anyhow? I would expect, at a minimum, a troop of guys with tasseled shoes carrying an enormous flaming cheese and roast lamb. Any less is an insult to one's SPG GOLD status.
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Old May 30, 2014, 7:18 pm
  #131  
 
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Originally Posted by ngupta

Truth lies in quality of product and the basic things were malfunctioning in the room we were at Mystique. It is not too much to ask for.
It seems like the hotel did a lot to try to rectify the issues. I can certainly empathize with the property owner, as I myself have refused to serve customers on many occasions who have become hostile to my staff...I'm not saying that you were hostile though.
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Old May 30, 2014, 7:27 pm
  #132  
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Originally Posted by fireworksboy
Ok, I need to buy a new keyboard.

Maybe I'm completely ingnorant - why in the world would anyone, in similar circumstances call the US Consulate????? Anyone?
You are completely ingnorant. Ignorant, too It probably comes from the school of reasons why people call 911, such as the following:

There was the guy in Connecticut who called 911 complaining that he had "specifically asked for little turkey and little ham, a lot of cheese and a lot of mayonnaise" and needed the full force of the law to fix his deli order [source: AP]. A Florida man called 911 with a similar "special sauce" emergency, then called back when police hadn't responded quickly enough [source: Reader's Digest].

And then there's Raibin Osman, the unfortunate Oregon man who had to explain to his cellmates at county jail why he was spending the night in prison: A McDonald's employee had forgotten to include an orange juice with his drive-through order. When he alerted authorities to the missing juice scandal, they informed him that he was abusing the 911 system, and when he refused to calm down, they arrested him [source: KATU News].
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Old May 30, 2014, 7:53 pm
  #133  
 
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Originally Posted by porciuscato
Honestly, what kind of hotel sends some one a complimentary cake anyhow? I would expect, at a minimum, a troop of guys with tasseled shoes carrying an enormous flaming cheese and roast lamb. Any less is an insult to one's SPG GOLD status.
Absolutely and nothing less -
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Old May 30, 2014, 7:55 pm
  #134  
 
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Maybe the hotel owner did more than threaten to call the police?

I'd probably call the consulate (and get the hell out of the country too) if the police removed me from a hotel!

IMHO, the OP is an entitled hothead. However, it's simply wrong to take payment from him and then deny him service. It seems that most here that think the hotel has a right to refuse service neglect to mention the property acceppted payment in advance. Further, the OP was left with unexpected costs so merely refunding the payment isn't sufficient.

I'm glad the OP stayed on the island. After 20 years of marriage, I'm sure his wife needs a vacation. I don't think I'm the only one who would be shocked if this is the OP's only confrontation.

Btw- I'd really like a lurker to chime in with an SPA policy on denial of service. When is it ok?

Last edited by BigBopper; May 30, 2014 at 8:14 pm
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Old May 30, 2014, 8:04 pm
  #135  
 
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I want to know if the OP has earned any of his hotel statuses or were they gained via CCs, matches, etc. Oops. Didn't mean to stir the boiling pot.
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