tormapleaf

Just received the email from Starwood:

Dear Mr.

As a valued Starwood customer, we are writing to advise you of some news relating to The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. It is with great regret that we inform you that the hotel has been purchased and, as of October 30, 2014, will no longer be affiliated with the Westin brand or managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

As a valued member of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, we are advising you of this new development as quickly as possible because the hotel will no longer be available to honor your current award reservation confirmation number xxxxxxxx arriving on December 2014 and departing on January 2015.

Our associates will be happy to assist you in reviewing availability for your booking needs. Should you wish to connect with a member of our Customer Service team, you may email us at [email protected]. You may also call us at our designated toll free line from the US 877-782-0132 or international contact number at +353-21–4539146.

Alternatively you can visit http://www.north-america.starwoodoff...florida-hotels to review our other hotels in the area if you prefer to make your own alternative arrangements.

We appreciate your continued patronage of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and we apologize for this unforeseen change and any inconvenience it may cause for you. We look forward to welcoming you to a Starwood Preferred Guest participating property in the near future.

Sincerely,



Maciej Pas
Starwood Preferred Guest




I've checked hilton.com and there is no availability over the Christmas/New Years holidays! I've got my non-refundable plane tickets. This blows.

mke9499

I received the same email and am in the same boat, without a paddle.

This is terrible, terrible timing. This is not creating any goodwill with loyal guests.

Nobody is willing to offer any accommodations (no pun intended). I can't blame SPG - not their fault. The new ownership needs to reach out to make this right!

Eujeanie

I just got the e-mail, too, but my rez is so far in the future it has minimal impact on us.

I do feel so, so sorry for those of you with reservations soon, especially over the holidays. It does blow big time.

Eujeanie

Well I'm now about to scream .

I got the e-mail, knew the inevitable, so cancelled my Diplomat reservation.

Saw the points back in my account, and booked another hotel as an alternative.

Error message.

I look and see that the points are no longer there, but the cancelled Dip reservation is truly cancelled.

Call CS. Twice. First time the girl is saying "hello? hello?" like she can't hear me, and hangs up.

Second time agent can hear me, but gets disconnected in mid-sentence.

I want my points back!

tormapleaf

Just received the email from Starwood for a second time. Nothing like reinforcement.

Starwood Lurker

My apologies for the inconvenience, but I'd be glad to assist with that. I just need the confirmation number for the reservation sent to me via Private Mail here at Flyertalk or by email to the email address below.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

Eujeanie

Just want to thank William for finding my points wherever they were hiding and getting them back into my account almost immediately.

Still sad about the Dip, though.

travellingcari

Didn't have a Diplomat booking but I'm holding (and intending to use) two rooms at the Westin FLL Beach in December and I got a call asking if I was planning to use both due to "unexpected demand".

mke9499

The Starwood property closest to Diplomat is St. Regis Bal Harbor, which is sold out end of December and very pricey. Starwood is recommending Westin FLL Beach as substitute for Diplomat, though it must already have its own strong bookings for that time of year.

This situation can only get worse, before getting better.

hackwid

So I have had my booking for the night before my cruise for months - used points for the Diplomat. I need a hotel near the port- and wanted something nice. What are my options now? The icky Sheraton Fort Laud airport. As a loyal starwood customer -I am so upset by this. My night happens to be over a holiday when the hotels JACK up their prices. So now I have to either spend 30k for St Regis, stay at the icky Sheraton or leave Starwood all together. Seems to me that Starwoods answer is - hmmm... well.... here is what there is. In what world is the Sheraton comparable to the Diplomat. Talk about being up a creek -
I stayed loyal to Starwood - guess they are not loyal to me.
What can they do? Well - first off they can get Hilton to honor the bookings and if it means that Starwood takes a bit from their wallet- then I guess that would have kept my loyalty.
When a hotel is overbooked- they put you at another COMPARABLE property even if on their dime. This is so horrible that honestly I am at a loss.
Everyone is talking about how Hotwire is offering Diplomat for super cheap - guess I know why...

haaaabs

I too am extremely annoyed with Starwood. I bust my a** all year choosing to stay at SPG resorts to attain platinum status, and for what? To be told the following when I call SPG Platinum Concierge: "Sir, we do care about our platinum members, which is we're reaching out to you now instead of having you show up at the Diplomat in December without a room". Seriously? No discounted rates/offers? Nada. Such arrogance. Starwood should be standing by and advocating for its most loyal members. Instead, they could care less. My next email is to the Better Business Bureau and I encourage everyone to do the same.

fireworksboy

When I've canceled stays in the past, it always seemed like it took spg IT hours / almost a day to credit the acct correctly - nothing worth worrying about though.

Weird though considering most major chains can do it almost immediately.

My spidey sense says this situation gets worse before it gets better. Just a hunch.

elliottfisher

Following is the email I received from Starwood yesterday announcing that my reservation made with Starpoints over the Winter Holiday were being cancelled. I wrote Starwood in response to this email. In their response back I was informed that I will likely incur costs if I reserve at a higher level hotel. There are no other hotels in the Starwood system in the Miami area that are at the same level which are appealing to me.

My vacation is in danger of being thwarted.


First email from Starwood:
-----------------------------------------
As a valued Starwood customer, we are writing to advise you of some news relating to The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. It is with great regret that we inform you that the hotel has been purchased and, as of October 30, 2014, will no longer be affiliated with the Westin brand or managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

As a valued Platinum member, we are advising you of this new development as quickly as possible because the hotel will no longer be available to honor your current award reservation confirmation number XXXXXXXXX arriving on Saturday 27 December 2014 and departing on Thursday 1 January 2015.

We will be reaching out to you by Friday, September 12th to review your reservations, discuss booking alternatives and offer assistance in making a new reservation at another of our hotels in the area.

If you prefer to make your own alternative arrangements, you may connect with a member of our Customer Service team, you may email us at [email protected]. You may also call us, unfortunately the numbers previously advised were incorrect so please use the designated toll free line from the US 877-782-0131 or international contact number at +353-21-6014580.

Alternatively you can visit http://www.north-america.starwoodoff...florida-hotels to review our other hotels in the area if you prefer to make your own arrangements.

Otherwise, as mentioned above, we will contact you to discuss alternative hotel arrangements.

We appreciate your continued patronage of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and we apologize for this unforeseen change and any inconvenience it may cause for you. We look forward to welcoming you to a Starwood Preferred Guest participating property in the near future.

tormapleaf

I've never run into a situation like this before.

However, given that an award stay is fully paid for, isn't it a liability of the hotel property which should have been dealt with as part of the transaction? If an airline is sold, surely the purchaser cannot refuse to honor future award reservations which have been paid for.

From a practical standpoint, this is a huge property and there must be lots of award bookings over the coming winter season. Is the new owner expecting that a majority of these will be willing to convert to paid reservations?

mke9499

From an article at www.hotelnewsresource.com:

Quote:

Thayer Lodging Group, a Brookfield Company, and its institutional partners, have acquired the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Fla.

The Company announced the property will be renamed the Diplomat Resort & Spa and will join Hilton Worldwide's newest brand, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, in October 2014. Thayer will also embark on a $100 million enhancement initiative for the oceanfront property later this year.

The resort was acquired from the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund, which redeveloped the property on the site of the historic, former hotel of the same name. As part of the transaction, the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club was acquired by Concord Wilshire, a real estate development company. The resort and the golf properties will work closely with each other to serve their guests and continue presenting luxury experiences.

The hotel remains open and fully operational and will continue to conduct business as usual during the transition. All existing guest reservations will be honored.