jabbered

The hotel screwed up having that many platinum members to walk or something went haywire (flooding of room type event).


If the hotel was a title sponsor of the conference, they may have had some last minute conference VIPs need rooms and as being such a late arrival, those were the last remaining rooms not already occupied.


No matter what, it should have been handled better.

supatight80

Yes it should have been handled better.. being offered 2300 points for being walked is a slap in the face...the rate of 781$ × 3?

Heck, brg offers 2k points and it's much less stressful than what the OP has gone through

If i read the walk out policy correctly, OP should be getting 3k + 12k points?

MSPeconomist

Did the OP use the Plat override (guaranteed reservation at least 72 hours in advance) rate? The $781 price seems extraordinary for this hotel unless the OP booked a very special roon or suite. I can understand wanting to stay where meetings will be held, but I can't imagine a room at this property being worth this much. [I've stayed here and I've been in some of their suites too.] It's even worse since the OP's rate was prepaid.

I wonder what the equivalent room category would have been at the Palace. OP apparently was given the worst room in the house there, partly because the Westin St. Francis failed to advise their sister property that the walk victim being sent was a Platinum (with Ambassador).

It also seems odd to walk a guest who has booked a breakfast meeting in your hotel. I would have expected the room reservation to by flagged by the banquet department. This makes me wonder whether a bride and groom holding a wedding at the hotel would similarly be at risk of being walked. (Yes, I know this is sarcastic and the money amounts involved would be very different.)

Now I'm having second thoughts about making a reservation to stay in this hotel again for an event next winter.

Football Fan

It's because of the JP Morgan conference. I think all hotels in the surrounding area are almost fully booked and prices are through the roof even for much worse hotels.

When I booked, the Palace was sold out and the Westin St. Francis was not - I assume it really was, but they just kept selling. I was told today that they actually walked 10 (ten) Plat guests yesterday. Someone at the Palace hotel told me yesterday that the Westin St. Francis always oversells a lot more than the Palace does - this seems to happen systematically. When I asked at the Westin St. Francis whether status is taken into account at all when determining whom to walk, the answer was "no". Same response when I asked whether they make a difference based on whether the rate was prepaid or not. They did have a Tower deluxe room for us today (which is exactly what we booked), we were told they "upgraded" us (I really don't like that).

It wasn't anything officially booked through the hotel. It was a "let's have a breakfast meeting at the St. Francis" meeting since we will be staying there anyway.

We could check in at about 4 p.m.. We had to wait for over half an hour at the Palace hotel for a yellow cab, standing there with our suitcases (fortunately, the weather was nice). When we checked in, nothing was said about yesterday or anything. I then asked and said that ambassador services had written to me that they are in contact with the hotel about the incident and if there was nothing they had to say to me about it? Answer was: "There is nothing in the notes, but I can talk to my manager and let you know". I then asked to speak to the manager. After a while, the friendly and professional duty manager came and apologized for what happened yesterday. That's when I found out that apparently, 10 Plats were walked yesterday, that status or type of reservation (pre-paid) doesn't seem to make a difference at this hotel for turnaway selection (except when one Plat and one non-Plat arrive at the same time for the last room, that's how I understood it). I did remark that no compensation as to the official turnaway procedures was offered and was told "you should already have the 12k points in your account" (I don't have them, but I guess I'll get them) and that they would be willing to listen to anything I would suggest as additional compensation. I said that I am not complaining to get more compensation, but that I didn't feel the hotel handled it well. The duty manager was quite professional about it and said she fully understands, etc. She then suggested a $ 100 credit, which I accepted. In light of the rate and the inconvenience and the very stingy breakfast benefit for plats (either 3 items in the lobby from a continental selection or $ 15 for the whole room (not per person) in the restaurant towards a full breakfast), I don't find this an enormous amount of compensation, but I didn't feel like arguing or anything. I would have been fine without any additional compensation.

The GM hasn't reacted to my message.

Anyway, we are here now and at least, we don't have to move for the next 3 days until we check out. When we came back to the room tonight, we did have a bottle of wine, some sweets and a letter of apology from a front office manager on our desk. I consider the matter closed as far as I am concerned (well, that's if and when I get those 12k points, let's see if that happens).

Everyone in this hotel is running around with their badges on and looking really important right now. As we are the best healthcare startup in the world, but are not presenting at the conference, I am considering just hanging out in the elevator and pestering everyone that looks like an investor with a quick elevator pitch (literally) . No youtube videos of that, though .

jibi

Large conferences in San Francisco command extreme rates. I've paid $800+ for rooms at the St. Regis and W during VMworld. I've paid $500+ average for the St. Francis (highest nightly rate in that average was $700+). That's just the way it is. I'm assuming the room at the Palace was more of an available inventory situation rather than not giving him an upgrade.

The last VMworld I attended, I stayed at 6 properties (6 different brands) in 6 nights (by choice ... was attempting the 9 brand cycle just in case). The St. Francis was gracious to me ... corner suite upgrade, kept the average nightly rate for a room when updating it from a 4-night reservation to 1-night (the average rate was $250 cheaper than the rate that night, and an exception to the minimum night stay policy for the conference (it was a 3-night minimum).

miloworld

It's the fact you mentioned 'Plat100' at least 3 times in your original post, once so we are all on the same page is fine, but mentioning it more than twice then I automatically hear your tone of conversation.

I understand Plat 100 is quite a big deal and I would be proud, but flashing it more than once is dykwia!! The FDC obviously knows how important you are to Starwood, but at that point, the hotel has to walk you.

They should have came up with a recovery practice especially when it happens so often.

TravelinSperry

I don't think I understand the policy. A Plat member is to get the # of points he should've gotten if displaced. So for a Plat who had a $781 room rate he should get 2,343 points or basically what he was offered). However, it says Elite members should get additional points equivalent to a free night. I assume a Plat would be considered Elite (this is where my confusion arises). But assuming this, you should also receive 12,000 add'l points, correct? For a total of 14,300 points (which imo, is more like it).

MSPeconomist

It doesn't seem like much when the OP paid $781 per night for a hotel because in this case award nights in standard rooms are only 12,000 points. If the hotel is selling $781 rooms, an award night probably costs at least 25,000 points per night, probably more.

Land-of-Miles

Do you not get the stay paid (for the first night at least) at the property you are walked to?

An award of additional SPG points is small comfort when guests are inconvenienced in this way. It should really cost the property to do this to discourage the practice. It seems there is a theme with Starwood that when things start to go wrong you are often dependant entirely upon the decency of the property.

Football Fan

Sorry if it came across that way to you. I guess it is difficult to properly convey the tone of my dealings with the front desk on an online forum. Trust me, I didn't say Plat 100 three times there . I have seen real DYKWIA many times in person in my travels over the years, and I really do not want to be like that.

jibi

This is correct. From what I read, he was already given 2300 points then later told that 12000 points were also added.

jibi

*IF* the rooms were available via points, they would be 12000 per night. This is a huge if, of course. This goes back to the variable value of a points or cash/points booking during special events.

Football Fan

So far, I haven't been given any points. But let's see, might just take time to post.

jibi

As an example, search for SFO for Aug 30 to Sep 1 this year. The WSF is $548, the St. Regis is $582, the W is $729, the Palace is $855. Proximity to Moscone is good for all of them, although you can't beat the location of the W. The WSF is the only hotel for that week that is available on points, too...

Starwood Lurker

For the purposes of the SPG Turnaway Policy, Gold, Platinum, and VIP members are considered "elite".

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Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

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