NA-Flyer

Can you provide a link where we can file the complain and how long it takes for you to respond with a positive action while the PLT member is staying at the questioned property?
@Starwood Lurker

Starwood Lurker

Complaints can be sent to us at the email address we provide in every post, via Private Mail here at Flyertalk, directly to customer service at [email protected] or calling Platinum Concierge.

You may be confused about how this works, however. We can open the file, but the hotel will be closing it within five business days.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

bigj91

Hmm, should i change to the westin rome?
Headed for a stay there in 2 weeks, platinum spg here, we shall find out, @Starwood Lurker

rbAA

I have a 3 nt stay coming up in Sept and it shows that SNA's are not accepted for this stay. Maybe because it's cash+points, but the reservation for the Bristol in Vienna is accepting the SNA's for the cash+pts. Also, the LM Vienna is not accepting SNA's on cash+pts. So, is it a LM thing?

FlyerStef

Heya -

I stayed here a month ago and had a pretty lousy experience. Here is a bulleted list of the big issues we had to try to keep this somewhat short of the actual issues we had:]

• A bright light in the closet would not turn off, despite multiple calls to the front desk asking someone to come fix it. It was enough to prevent us from sleeping. Only once we met with the GM to lodge these complaints was a piece of tape put over the light to "fix."
• shorted socket in bathroom blew out my expensive ($500) hairdryer. Not a great start for my hair on a 2 week vacation.
• TV out two days - 1st time was out in hotel for day. 2nd someone came up to power cycle our room.
• Room not serviced multiple days in a row
• The hot water was out in the morning multiple times - once there was no answer at the front desk when we called, second time we were told we were "wrong and it was working." (this was the last straw and when we asked to meet with the GM)

The more minor complaints which I didn't mention to SPG are things like it was a very small room (but that's Rome), it tended to get hot (Rome was having a heatwave though), it's the first hotel I've ever stayed in that didn't provide in room tissues, the shower was the smallest I have ever seen..near impossible to use, the elevator was crazy small and slow, half of the staff at the front desk were lovely, the other half were rude and acted like we were interrupting them while we were there.

The location of the hotel is very nice, though, and for a base for us while running all around rome playing tourist it worked well.

We met with the GM at the hotel to discuss these issues our 2nd to last day there, and I have followed up with an email to Starwood since. That was 13 days ago...I have not heard anything back. I rarely complain or ask for points after a poor stay, but am out at least $500 for a replacement hairdryer, and certainly didn't get the value we paid for at this hotel. I'm only a lowly gold, so I don't have high hopes of getting anything, but I had to ask.

Given the price of this hotel, and the number of other options in Rome, I do not recommend staying here. These frustrations aren't worth it - we stayed in 3 different SPG properties over this trip, unfortunately the longest stay in Rome (5 nights) ended up being the worst. I can recommend awesome SPG places in Greece and Malta though, we'd return to both of those.

rbAA

The place is fine, though I can see the basis for some of the compaints, especially room size (it's Rome so deal with it) and bathroom area. We were UPG'd to some kind of suite, really just added on a entry room area. Good thing too as this is the only area of the room that gets wifi signal. The bathroom area is wedged into the space between the entry area and the bedroom, but it seems to work fine. The apartment I had in China had bathrooms smaller than this. We also have a separate walkin closet, so no problem with any closet lites staying on. 1st floor so a bit of street noise but no problem sleeping as the area around the hotel is not busy at night.

There is a hair dryer in the room, so I'm not sure what happened to yours. $500 for a $20 item? What is it a classic Floby?

UKTraveller4Fun

I certainly have sympathy on some issues but unless the socket that blew out your hair dryer was reported faulty and they told you they had fixed it I am afraid I don't agree they owe you for this. Can you demonstrate the socket was to blame and not the hairdryer that damaged the socket. Also I don't think it is fair to not accept some risk if travelling with an item of that sort of expense. $500 seems a hugely expensive amount for a hair dryer and as such surely you covered it with some sort of insurance? It is certainly greater than I think a hotel would consider a reasonable price for such an item and unless you can demonstrate actual neglect by the hotel on the socket I think it is simply one of those unfortunate things that can happen in life but there is no blame here.

FlyerStef

Oh agreed, it's on me for using a ridiculously expensive hairdryer I own that completely.

I really wasn't going to complain about just the hairdryer, but when everything else happened, it was just one more thing to add to the list of issues we couldn't get anyone to pay attention to (they never did check or fix the socket while we were there for 3 more days after that happened).

UKTraveller4Fun

Sorry if I misunderstood, considering your approach it does seem like the hotel let you down and the socket should certainly have been fixed along with other things on your list that should have been put right! Does seem like an overall poor stay and considering you had contact with the GM to not hear anything after 2 weeks really isn't acceptable!

rbAA

Seems that the CS here can be a little spotty. We chose the Green Choice, which apparently here means they don't even replace the water, coffee, or glasses. I called to request these items and they sent someone with the Green Choice voucher, only. Talked to a housekeeper and she didn't have any of these items. Finally talked to the FD and about 9pm they sent someone with the water, glasses and coffee. Oh well. Like the location though.

Aventine

Was it one of those Dyson ones? ^

The device wasn't multi voltage or what happened with the plug? The hotel's insurance should cover a replacement if it was their voltage problem.

very unacceptable. OP should go higher up if they're being intransigent.

bigguyinpasadena

Four SPG Platinum members spent a long birthday weekend here and all four of us had different experiences.

1) Me-a basic Platinum lite. I was the first to check in. Given a room on the second (actual third) floor. Initial impression was that room was on the small side but well furnished. The bathroom was very small with a small modern shower that flooded the bathroom when used.

2) A friend who is a SPG 50 member: Given an "executive" room on the sixth floor. Same size room but with slightly different furnishings. His bathroom had one of those annoying showers with the half glass wall- which means his bathroom floor flooded also.

3) A friend who is a SPG 100 night member with an Ambassador. Given an "Urban Suite" (actually a nice Jr. suite)on the top floor with a massive terrace space. Huge bathroom with both a tub and a shower.

4) A SPG Plat via status match from Marriott (where she is Lifetime Platinum Premier ) was given a tiny room with a queen size bed on the top floor.This room had a terrace that looked unto the hotel's rooftop bar. This was the smallest of the rooms and was actually a locked off second bedroom from the presidential suite.Tiny bathroom.

Service at the hotel was pretty good. The staff is friendly and spoke English very well. This hotel gets a lot of large tour groups so checking in and out can take some time. And these tour groups can fill the lobby space and the breakfast room.

There is not a dedicated Concierge staff. The FDR's all assist with booking tours, making restaurant reservations etc... so it is wise to do some research before hand about restaurants

We all chose the breakfast amenity. The breakfast room downstairs is very large and provides a good selection of food, including some hot items, for breakfast. Coffee and espresso drinks are brought to the table. We had the same nice server all the mornings we had breakfast (we had to skip the last day because of an early morning departure) A few Euros each morning as a tip given directly to the server provided a good return on investment

We all really liked the location of the hotel (In the Prati neighborhood between the river and the Vatican) as it really gives you the feel of being in Rome. There are a LOT of very good and interesting restaurants and shops nearby.

We enjoyed the Museum Of Contemporary Art via the free passes in our rooms.

I would be very happy to return to this hotel.

itsaboutthejourney

WORST wifi I've encounted in a hotel in years. Never a strong signal, and it kept going in and out. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

Only one bottle of water was placed in the room at the start of the stay (with the complements of SPG tag), it was never replaced during my stay. When I asked turndown about more water they said they don't offer that.

Overall great location, helpful staff and nice design. With the wifi fixed, I'd return again.

jeremysmith

We are taking our first trip to Rome in a few weeks and are considering a stay at this property. For a first trip, is this location good? It would seem that we would be taking the bridges every day to get to central sites. Does that get annoying? We are considering the Premiere Suite. Any other considerations?

The Westin & St. Regis seem to be in inconvenient locations, but let me know if that's incorrect.

If we don't go SPG, we're also considering The First or JK Roma, but obviously there is a considerable price difference for both.

Appreciate any advice!

rbAA

We actually found the location to be very convenient and were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go: Vatican for our tour; Trevi; Pantheon; even the airport bus we took from FCO stopped a few blocks away from the hotel. One issue may be the lack of taxi's nearby so it took us a while to get to Termini for our train to Florence. Ended up sharing a van service with another hotel guest. Plus, there are many good restaurant choices close by. The bridges were no problem.