SPG Not taking responsibility for their mistake. Help!
#31
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: TUL
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ILG, through renovations, transformed the previous hotel rooms to timeshare villas. So this property is no longer your traditional hotel, in either offerings or SPG benefits, as it was in its prior life.
Not sure this history exonerates Starwood from OP's claims but it does show that the many moving parts added additional risk that changes would/could be forthcoming. That risk was compounded by OP's delay in firmly securing exactly the type of reservation he was desiring.
. . .
On your first point, Starwood has management contracts with the hotel operator. These contracts are extremely detailed and require the operator and the employees at the hotel to follow defined brand standards. Some of these employees will indeed be on Starwood's payroll,
. . .
On your first point, Starwood has management contracts with the hotel operator. These contracts are extremely detailed and require the operator and the employees at the hotel to follow defined brand standards. Some of these employees will indeed be on Starwood's payroll,
. . .
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
Programs: Marriott Titanium Marriott Platinum for life.
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https://www.allinclusivevacations.co...spa-los-cabos/
Obviously this was a least until recently a service they provided.
"For a vacation with no worries, choose the optional Inclusive Plan. This plan includes: all-day dining including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, 24-hour in-room dining, International and domestic alcoholic beverages, juice and soft drinks at selected bars, waiter service at swim-up pool bar, pool, and beach, an in-room mini-bar with soft drinks, bottled water, and beer, use of the tennis courts, a fitness center, Free in-room WiFi, Free access to Westin Kids Club and applicable taxes & gratuities. Surcharges may apply on some dishes and room service."
Why don't you just pay for food at the resort as you go? It will probably be around $80 anyway.
Otherwise what do you expect SPG to do? They can't reinstate a now non-existent all-
inclusive set up and it's not like you paid for something they aren't honoring.
Final option - just cancel and rebook elsewhere
Otherwise what do you expect SPG to do? They can't reinstate a now non-existent all-
inclusive set up and it's not like you paid for something they aren't honoring.
Final option - just cancel and rebook elsewhere
"For a vacation with no worries, choose the optional Inclusive Plan. This plan includes: all-day dining including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, 24-hour in-room dining, International and domestic alcoholic beverages, juice and soft drinks at selected bars, waiter service at swim-up pool bar, pool, and beach, an in-room mini-bar with soft drinks, bottled water, and beer, use of the tennis courts, a fitness center, Free in-room WiFi, Free access to Westin Kids Club and applicable taxes & gratuities. Surcharges may apply on some dishes and room service."
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
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If you read the OP's OP, she stated that it was $80 per person per day, not $80 for both of them.
For those saying cancel, the OP probably booked flights when they booked the hotel so canceling & trying to find another location might cost them more in airline fees, in addition to trying to find another hotel that is available w/ points.
I can understand the OP's frustration/disappointment. However, I doubt the problem has anything to do w/ the merger.
Cheers.
For those saying cancel, the OP probably booked flights when they booked the hotel so canceling & trying to find another location might cost them more in airline fees, in addition to trying to find another hotel that is available w/ points.
I can understand the OP's frustration/disappointment. However, I doubt the problem has anything to do w/ the merger.
Cheers.
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Where is the OP? Folks give their advice and ask questions yet the one person asking for help is absent.
#35
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: TUL
Programs: AA EXP 2MM; Marriott Titanium; Hilton Diamond; Hyatt Explorist; Vistana 5* Elite; Nat'l Exec Elite
Posts: 6,177
https://www.allinclusivevacations.co...spa-los-cabos/ Obviously this was a least until recently a service they provided.
"For a vacation with no worries, choose the optional Inclusive Plan. This plan includes: all-day dining including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, 24-hour in-room dining, International and domestic alcoholic beverages, juice and soft drinks at selected bars, waiter service at swim-up pool bar, pool, and beach, an in-room mini-bar with soft drinks, bottled water, and beer, use of the tennis courts, a fitness center, Free in-room WiFi, Free access to Westin Kids Club and applicable taxes & gratuities. Surcharges may apply on some dishes and room service."
"For a vacation with no worries, choose the optional Inclusive Plan. This plan includes: all-day dining including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, 24-hour in-room dining, International and domestic alcoholic beverages, juice and soft drinks at selected bars, waiter service at swim-up pool bar, pool, and beach, an in-room mini-bar with soft drinks, bottled water, and beer, use of the tennis courts, a fitness center, Free in-room WiFi, Free access to Westin Kids Club and applicable taxes & gratuities. Surcharges may apply on some dishes and room service."
#36
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
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If so, then the hotel and/or Starwood did wrong, right?
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
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http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin...ropertyID=1087
Am I missing something? I t looks like the same name to me.
Am I missing something? I t looks like the same name to me.
#38
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,681
The OP posted but the post was in a queue for mod approval.
OP here...thank you for the benefit of the doubt. You sum up our situation quite well.
For the sake of brevity, I left several details out of the initial post. When attempting to contact the hotel (which we did not do at the last minute), we noticed the hotel does not have a toll free number (so pretty high rates to call them from our US cell phones)...we called Starwood and asked if there was a toll free number. They said no, that email was the best way to get ahold of the hotel. We actually still called the hotel, but after sitting on hold for 10 minutes (at $5 a minute from our non international cell plans), we opted to hang up and pursue the email route as Starwood had suggested. We then emailed the email address that both Starwood and the website for the hotel provided. No response. We called Starwood again and they said again that was the way to contact the hotel. A few more no responses and finally a bounced back email and we called Starwood again. At that point they mentioned that they did in fact have a different email address that they could use to contact the hotel. They would email them and ask them to email us. That is the point at which we finally got in contact with the hotel and they informed us that there is no all inclusive option.
Also, to be clear, I have picked up the phone plenty of times. Our dealings with Starwood have been via phone. They emailed us after I initially called and asked for their help to tell us they won't help us, and I picked up the phone after that to call them to continue the conversation.
Just cancelling at this point is not so easy. We have plane tickets, there are no other properties in Cabo we can book on points, and we have time off work and childcare arranged for our 3 small children (no small feat) so we can celebrate our 10 year anniversary.
Ultimately, we will still have a great anniversary trip I'm sure. However, as I've said, I'm finding it incredibly frustrating and out of character for Starwood to be this unwilling to accept any responsibility on the issue. It seems one of the main issues is they have a communication problem with their property...I do feel like that is partially on Starwood to communicate with their own properties and have accurate information to provide to their members.
For the sake of brevity, I left several details out of the initial post. When attempting to contact the hotel (which we did not do at the last minute), we noticed the hotel does not have a toll free number (so pretty high rates to call them from our US cell phones)...we called Starwood and asked if there was a toll free number. They said no, that email was the best way to get ahold of the hotel. We actually still called the hotel, but after sitting on hold for 10 minutes (at $5 a minute from our non international cell plans), we opted to hang up and pursue the email route as Starwood had suggested. We then emailed the email address that both Starwood and the website for the hotel provided. No response. We called Starwood again and they said again that was the way to contact the hotel. A few more no responses and finally a bounced back email and we called Starwood again. At that point they mentioned that they did in fact have a different email address that they could use to contact the hotel. They would email them and ask them to email us. That is the point at which we finally got in contact with the hotel and they informed us that there is no all inclusive option.
Also, to be clear, I have picked up the phone plenty of times. Our dealings with Starwood have been via phone. They emailed us after I initially called and asked for their help to tell us they won't help us, and I picked up the phone after that to call them to continue the conversation.
Just cancelling at this point is not so easy. We have plane tickets, there are no other properties in Cabo we can book on points, and we have time off work and childcare arranged for our 3 small children (no small feat) so we can celebrate our 10 year anniversary.
Ultimately, we will still have a great anniversary trip I'm sure. However, as I've said, I'm finding it incredibly frustrating and out of character for Starwood to be this unwilling to accept any responsibility on the issue. It seems one of the main issues is they have a communication problem with their property...I do feel like that is partially on Starwood to communicate with their own properties and have accurate information to provide to their members.
#39
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: LAS ORD
Programs: AA Pro (mostly B6) OZ♦ (flying BR/UA), BA Silver Hyatt LT, Wynn Black, Cosmo Plat, Mlife Noir
Posts: 5,992
In any case, it does seem to me that SPG really dropped the ball here, but nevertheless I hope that you are able to find satisfactory alternate plans for your anniversary.
#40
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: SPG
Posts: 5
Of little help now, but consider using Skype for these types of things - cheap international calling not only helps with entities that lack a domestic/toll-free number, but also calling certain call centers of international companies to your benefit. It's annoying to have to resort to things like Skype to get problems handled efficiently/cheaply, but it's helped me immensely.
In any case, it does seem to me that SPG really dropped the ball here, but nevertheless I hope that you are able to find satisfactory alternate plans for your anniversary.
In any case, it does seem to me that SPG really dropped the ball here, but nevertheless I hope that you are able to find satisfactory alternate plans for your anniversary.
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
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The customer can unwind from the contract--by canceling. If the customer waited so long to cancel without any confirmation of booking an all-inclusive option, then the customer is the one at fault here...which is what I believe actually happened. The customer assumed too much, never confirmed a thing with the hotel, and just hoped against hope that if nothing was said that he or she would somehow magically get what they wanted. They didn't...and now are singing sour grapes. Sorry, I'm with SPG on this one.
she booked the room through spg but could not book the 'all inclusive' package with them as she had to contact the property for that....
spg however confirmed at the time of booking that this option existed....
she emailed the property & got no response....she then called the property & got no response....
she got back in touch with spg who then offered to get in touch with the property on their behalf....
after receiving the request from spg, the property finally responded & stated that the 'all inclusive' option no longer exists....
the op called spg to confirm if this was indeed true & spg confirmed that the option still existed on their system....they further confirmed that they would get in touch with the hotel to either get them that option or in the alternative offer them resort credit to make up for it....
if the op is telling the truth then i don't see how they are at fault....so your following statement could not be more incorrect:
The customer assumed too much, never confirmed a thing with the hotel, and just hoped against hope that if nothing was said that he or she would somehow magically get what they wanted. They didn't...and now are singing sour grapes.
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
Programs: Marriott Titanium Marriott Platinum for life.
Posts: 16,974
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
Programs: Marriott Titanium Marriott Platinum for life.
Posts: 16,974
#45
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Join Date: Jun 2001
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Posts: 28,190
What do you see as a satisfactory remedy? (Don't say make the property offer the deal outlined by the res agent. SPG can't dictate services and prices.)