Lazarev

Hello!

Sorry if this has been covered already, I tried searching for similar issues, but was not able to find any posts.

I have one night layover in Rome coming in July and since I'm low on points, I decided to book Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center (not best of the options, but it will serve the purpose). The hotel is listed as category 3, so I'm expecting to pay 3000 points for one night. Tried to book online, got "Call to book". Fine, I call, and agent on the phone informs me that the room is 5000 points. Why? Because it is "superior" room. I commented that "superior" is the cheapest room available, why increased points, and she replied that they have "standard" room for lowest rate, but it is not available on my date. Slightly bitter, I booked. I went back to SPG website and searched whole calendar for Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center - there is not ONE single date where named "classic" room is available in this hotel. Not on SPG.com, not on booking.com, not anywhere publicly available, for any date (weekday or weekend, regardless). All throughout all the dates for next year, cheapest available room is one named "superior". No "classic", no "standard" anywhere.

So I sent email through online form to SPG complaining about this, and got response from Sheraton Roma Hotel with some standard blurb about how they are sorry that "classic" room was not available for my stay and they hope I have enjoyed my stay (which did not happen yet - another fail).

Is it only me, or is this very sneaky from Sheraton Roma? Filing phantom "classic" room price, only to inflate "superior" to go around category points limitations. Why is SPG allowing hotels to charge 5000 points for the category that gets only 3000?

CLEguy

Cursory date check shows zero award availability. I don't actually see any "standard" rooms available for sale, nor is it even listed as a room type on their site. "Superior" appears to be the lowest.

Sounds fishy. I'd contact the Lurkers.

Also, Sheraton Roma is Category 2, but that's neither here nor there.

Flews

Not the greatest property, but I'd say 5000 points is not bad value here. 3000 would be a bargoon.

Cheers,

airplanepeanuts

This is terrible. I would tell the starwood lurkers.

Lazarev

Sorry, typo - I meant Category 2.

And the reason why rewards are not available is exactly because the rewards are tied to "classic/standard" room that is not showing up anywhere...

What is Lurker's handle? I don't recognise any.

Lazarev

I must be blind... found the user named Starwood Lurker III

gregv

Not sure if you saw the email. Email may be quicker than a direct message on Flyertalk.

There are a couple Starwood Lurkers and I believe they all use the same email: [email protected]

flyino07

Perhaps call the hotel again and inquire about accessible rooms (they are supposedly "Classic" rooms) -- would be interesting to hear what they say.

Either way, this is fishy.

CPRich

Starwood Lurker
Starwood Lurker II
Starwood Lurker III
Starwood Lurker IV

(Starwood Lurker 2 exists in FT's user list, but I don't think it was ever real/active)

Or the email above that will get to any/all of them.

Starwood Lurker

The simple explanation is this:

Classic rooms are used at this hotel for standard Free Night Award redemption using 3,000/4,000 Starpoints, depending upon the night in question. These are sold out, either paying cash or Starpoints.

The only award rooms available for the date the OP wants are Superior rooms, which are Specialty Award rooms, and for the date in question, it costs 5,000 Starpoints.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

Boghopper

Nothing to see here, standard Starwood hotel shenanigans (along with "hide the suite" for those playing the advanced plat version of our game).

Boghopper

And the more complicated explanation is that they want 5,000 points for their rooms so the standard ("classic") rooms aren't "available".

Lazarev

I got the reply from SPG lurker... he was able to find the classic room... wait for it... on May 20 2017!

Nice move, SPG. Cat 2 hotel sold out 450 days in advance of "regular" rooms.

jibi

I would contact Corporate Customer Service or follow back up with the Lurkers. The fact that there is no availability of a Classic room until May 2017 should cause a bit of concern and at least warrant a little more research about the issue. The Italian Convention Bureau website provides a bit of clarity and prompts a few more questions.

Total Rooms: 640 (also published on their website)
Superior Rooms: 401
Club Rooms: 227
Suites: 12

401 + 227 + 12 = 640

http://www.conventionbureauitalia.co...raton-roma.pdf (PDF brochure author is listed as "Starwood Hotels & Resorts")

The problem is not that the Sheraton Roma does not have standard room availability ... it is the fact that they have no standard ("Classic") rooms at all. This is worse than the Hotel Pulitzer and Hotel Des Indes with their single occupancy award rooms.

That said, searches on Kayak and Hotels Combined show Standard Single and Double rooms available throughout the year, often coupled with breakfast. Nevertheless, the Lurkers should not accept the room available in May 2017 as making this a valid situation. Whether they are withholding rooms from SPG.com or classifying all rooms as Superior or above, there is an issue that needs to be corrected.

travelista

May 2017 could be right, this is a HUGE hotel for the tour companies and various conventions -- even though it's so "far" from the main attractions of Rome; so I wouldn't be surprised if they've already contracted out future stays.

You can expect lots of tour buses, people... but I do like that they have a shuttle bus service to FCO.

They have a shuttle to central Rome, but I believe there's a small fee for that.

In agreement w Flews - - it's not the best property, but the 5,000 pts will be alot less than the other properties.