Starwood Lurker

For the record, gleff sent me the email string originally, so I would be aware of the situation. Personally, I was grieved at the final response to his inquiries, but what you need to realize is that there is a limit to what I can fix. This is a Starpoints offer made by an individual property...a franchisee, in fact, and I have no power or control over how they choose to run their business.

If you want my personal opinion, writing to the corporate office about it is probably going to net a nice apology from the corporate office, but very little else. They may or may not feel it is warranted to give you 250 Starpoints "for nothing", but it would be their decision, not mine.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited Jan 27, 2004).]

jmartin

The grief counseling comment by that hotel's marketing director was indeed surprising. If i said something along those lines to one of my customers I would get in trouble (and deservedly so).

I agree with most of what was said by Starwood Lurker, which is very reasonable advice, IMHO, with just one exception re this part:

The Starpoints were not offered "for nothing" - respondents to the offer gave them information, which many companies consider very valuable from a marketing standpoint, IMHO.

Starwood Lurker

The "for nothing" was cited in quotation marks for a reason. It was a direct quote from the Sales and Marketing Director of the hotel. It was not my personal assessment of the situation, which is irrelevant.

It would be safe to say, however, that this is the personal assessment of the aforementioned Sales and Marketing Director.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited Jan 29, 2004).]

welookgood.com

legally speaking an agreement cant be entered for nothing. For example providing out member # for 500 pts would allow the party to cancel it. However they did get something. They got our name, address, phone #, and email, and we allowed them to send literature. Thus they receieved something and used the information however they are not pulling their end of the bargain, granting the 500 pts.

I was wondering how many people gave up there information and recieved literature but not the starpts. Its very important you recieved the literature or something from them as they used your information you provided

[This message has been edited by welookgood.com (edited Jan 29, 2004).]

dhacker

I have no plans to follow up personally because it just isn't worth the time and hassle for 500 points.

That SPG would ignore the matter or feel powerless to act is a surprise. An entity that would appear to be authorized agent of SPG makes an offer in exchange for personal information and then renegs without any apparent remorse. If it were my loyalty program I'd demand that they fulfill their promises and award the points. How is this any different than demanding that affiliated hotels honor normal SPG benefits like points earned for stays or platinum amenity points?

Alcibiades

Happened across this thread and then cancelled my 1 week reservation at this hotel.

TrojanHorse

Did you inform them as to why you were cancelling?

Herb687

Allow me to suggest that you send the hotel's General Manager and Sales Manager a copy of your cancellation along with a note explaining why you canceled the reservation. This should help them see/quantify the negative consequences (lost revenue) of their deceptive business practices.

king3820

I didn't received the 500 Starpoints either. I hate to be cheated. I paln to schedule a lot of meetings with them. Then, of course I will cancel every reservation later. I will lose time for doing this, however, they probably will lose money which is worth more than 5,000,000 Starpoints.

MileKing

Alcibiades, you get a gold star! Sending them a copy of cancellation is an excellent idea.

raffy

I know that I am going to get booed for this comment, but isn't your comment a contridiction. I can understand your frustration in not getting the 500 points, however, you would be just as deceptive by organizing multiple/some meetings and then cancelling just to prove your point. If you "hate to be cheated", as you mentioned in your post, perhaps you shouldn't do the same.

Cygnus X-1

Accusations extreme? Not at all. Everything is in writing as well as the "extreme accusation" from the Sales and Marketing manager at that local 4pts hotel in Norwood, the original website offer, the new website redsign and rewording, and the fact they are not honouring it. The Consumer's Affair section of the AGs office is there specifically for crooks like the members of that specific hotel. That is your local government at work, for anyone who wants to complain about it.

Lurker responded professionally, as I expected. I just wanted him to know about it. The manager at the hotel should be removed.

I think the "coverup" from that local hotel should tone it down a little and the corporate office should go after them. They are a rogue hotel from the Starwood's chain and FT proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Let's get real.

The fact is, the 4pts Norwood wants people who registered to forget about the 500 points or just not want it anymore. But what the hotel doesn't want is for those who could careless and pursue their phonie activity at no cost.

[This message has been edited by Cygnus X-1 (edited Jan 29, 2004).]

TrojanHorse

just in case anyone else is in Norwood, you can cancel the 4 points and go to the Marriott Courtyard in Norwood; ramada inn norwood, Hilton Dedham, Res Inn Dedham..

Just so you know, there are other options in the Norwood area. No need to stay at the 4Pts House of Fraud

Rolling Stone

If the hotel was really smart, they'd take all those names and information and sell them. They're good, qualified names or people who travel and are worth more way than the 500 SPG points thay'd have to pay out for them.

king3820

They initiated the "cheating" first; therefore I won't feel quilty or wrong to cheat them back. I make reservations, then I cancel the reservations; there is nothing wrong for doing this.