leadhead

Hey all- longtime lurker here who could use some help from those with a bit more experience than myself. I've searched the forums quite a bit but haven't been able to find any threads addressing the situation I've encountered.

I'll be traveling to Madrid in a few months and was interested in booking a room at the Principal Madrid with points. Now, the SPG site says this property has no award availability for the dates in question (April 26-29). I do understand that the availability of award rooms should reflect the availability of base level rooms (none of which are available for purchase on spg.com). However, when I go to the design hotels or principal madrid websites, the base level rooms are indeed available for purchase through those websites.

I called the SPG gold hotline to inquire, but there was a bit of a language barrier and I didn't get much help outside of "My computer shows no availability for those dates."

So my questions are: 1) Do the design hotels only release a limited number of base level rooms to spg to be available for award redemption and (2) Is it possible to inquire about booking an award stay in an upgraded room for more points if the base level rooms are gone, and if so what is the best outlet to go about asking?

Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it!

mahasamatman

Welcome to FT, leadhead!

Yes. Not all hotels offer this option, but if they do, you can book this over the phone.

MSPeconomist

You might also want to check how much it would cost to book a room through the hotel's own website or through Design Hotels. IME for Design Hotels, Starwood only offers essentially rack rates (although the hotel may offer to add breakfast at a discount) while you can get other rate plans (including discounted and package rates) if you don't care about losing some SPG benefits.

Starwood Lurker IV

We’ve shared this with the hotel who confirmed that the Executive room shouldn’t be shown on the Design website as they have none available (end of April is a pretty busy time for the hotel).

This has been rectified. Thanks for letting us know.

Alexis Lhopital
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

TravelinSperry

That makes more sense.

Lurkers to confirm... if a Design Hotel has a base room - then it should appear on SPG as well as their own site, correct? Are Design Hotels allowed to hold back base rooms on their own site without making it available on SPG (and thus not making it available for points)?

Starwood Lurker IV

There are no black-out dates at Design Hotels™. Means, if there are standard rooms available on a paid rate, they should also be available on points.

All the best,

Alice Kons
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

MSPeconomist

However, the question is whether those standard rooms must be available (for money) through the Starwood website.

leadhead

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm looking to burn some points on this trip so I'll probably just plan on converting to marriott points and try out one of the Autograph properties in Madrid instead.

TravelinSperry

Exactly. So lurkers, are they? Why do the room listings differ between design hotels websites and SPG? And what differences are allowed?

Starwood Lurker

We’ve identified a potential technical issue impacting the availability for Free Night Awards at Principal Madrid, A Design Hotel. We’re working to resolve this with the Design team.

Jrichardf

The Principal is a really beautiful hotel. And the breakfasts are just great, especially if the weather is good enough and you can sit out on the balcony. I was there for six nights last August and loved it. If you can, stay there!!!!

leadhead

I really wanted to, but I'm a broke medical student committed to doing this trip entirely on points and AirBnB's.

Starwood Lurker IV

Dear all,

We have a quick update on the availability.

The technical issue has been resolved. Please note however that there many events in Madrid during the upcoming months. As this will be a busy time for hotels in Madrid, please be aware of limited room availability.

Any questions, please feel free to email or message us.


All the best,

Alice Kons
Specialist, Social Media
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC

[email protected]

Dsm2m2

Resurrecting an old thread regarding the availability of this hotel.

At present time, SPG site is only showing award availability for the Principal in January and Feb ONLY for all of 2017 AND 2018....

How is this possible?

Kagehitokiri

if theyre showing more paid availability, its another error