SNA cleared, told must check out by 2pm, denied option to move standard room
Oct 22, 2017, 9:27 pm
#106
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: HKG • Ex SFO, NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Marriott Amb; Hyatt Globalist; Shangri-la Diamond; IHG SpireAmb; Hilton D; Accor G
Posts: 3,319
Perhaps it is always the non-Starwood owned properties (especially those owned by property developers who may also own multiple hotels across various brands) that have issues with 4PM late check-out (or even SPG benefits)?
I remember staying at a (Starwood-owned?) property which always gave me 4PM late check-out if asked. However, almost every time I had 4PM late check-out at that property, I would see a note under my door on the day of check-out offering me 5,000 points if I forgo late check-out.
I remember staying at a (Starwood-owned?) property which always gave me 4PM late check-out if asked. However, almost every time I had 4PM late check-out at that property, I would see a note under my door on the day of check-out offering me 5,000 points if I forgo late check-out.
But if I'm not compensated otherwise, I will always take the late checkout.
Oct 22, 2017, 9:55 pm
#107
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: HKG • Ex SFO, NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Marriott Amb; Hyatt Globalist; Shangri-la Diamond; IHG SpireAmb; Hilton D; Accor G
Posts: 3,319
Wow. Just wow.
Anyone in any service industry will have stories of guests behaving badly.
What someone posts as a private person in no way is how someone would act on the job. To question if you are as obnoxious and aggressive on the job as you are on a public forum, expressing your own opinions, how would that be? To be in the service industry, one must be an actor. Look all happy and graceful while dealing with less-than-charming guests. Take verbal abuse with a smile. Front of the house personnel are not sitting back in a comfy office, it is literally a battlefield.
I have not been fired. Changes happen at hotels. Management changes happen. Better opportunities are offered. Have you not changed jobs? Not to toot my own horn, but I received several of those Platinum "thank you" vouchers, and I do see guests mention me in positive terms on various review sites, internal and external.
And, just so you know, I was the one who always fought for extending benefits because I was on that other side of the counter for years. You booked a room with a group block but demanded Plat bennies? I'd put down the points for you. You came with a non-status friend on their booking and demanded Plat benefits? I'd give you a breakfast coupon. You stayed with a friend and were trying to claim stay/points when it showed up on the SPG Discrepancy Report? I'd say "go ahead." If I was the one who saw a FAX laying on the printer from an Ambassador asking to "exceptionally request" something, instead of leaving it sitting there and ending in the garbage, I'd pick it up and take it to the appropriate department (and so you know, there was NEVER an ambassador phone call, always sent faxes.) I've helped the houseman clean a room at 8pm, I've run up to a room to do an inspection when no one else was available.
I only get frustrated on this forum because of the constant whining and the kneejerk reaction that, because something didn't go the way they wanted, they immediately label unfairly with the "lazy, incompetent, in need of retraining" mantra. Walk a quarter mile in the shoes of the people on the other side, please.
Anyone in any service industry will have stories of guests behaving badly.
What someone posts as a private person in no way is how someone would act on the job. To question if you are as obnoxious and aggressive on the job as you are on a public forum, expressing your own opinions, how would that be? To be in the service industry, one must be an actor. Look all happy and graceful while dealing with less-than-charming guests. Take verbal abuse with a smile. Front of the house personnel are not sitting back in a comfy office, it is literally a battlefield.
I have not been fired. Changes happen at hotels. Management changes happen. Better opportunities are offered. Have you not changed jobs? Not to toot my own horn, but I received several of those Platinum "thank you" vouchers, and I do see guests mention me in positive terms on various review sites, internal and external.
And, just so you know, I was the one who always fought for extending benefits because I was on that other side of the counter for years. You booked a room with a group block but demanded Plat bennies? I'd put down the points for you. You came with a non-status friend on their booking and demanded Plat benefits? I'd give you a breakfast coupon. You stayed with a friend and were trying to claim stay/points when it showed up on the SPG Discrepancy Report? I'd say "go ahead." If I was the one who saw a FAX laying on the printer from an Ambassador asking to "exceptionally request" something, instead of leaving it sitting there and ending in the garbage, I'd pick it up and take it to the appropriate department (and so you know, there was NEVER an ambassador phone call, always sent faxes.) I've helped the houseman clean a room at 8pm, I've run up to a room to do an inspection when no one else was available.
I only get frustrated on this forum because of the constant whining and the kneejerk reaction that, because something didn't go the way they wanted, they immediately label unfairly with the "lazy, incompetent, in need of retraining" mantra. Walk a quarter mile in the shoes of the people on the other side, please.
I think if the manager on duty had called the OP with an apology and offered some kind of resolution, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But when their response is essentially "suck it," we have a problem.
Dec 10, 2018, 7:35 am
#108
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 44
I was just met with the same issue here at Westin Osaka, today.
A SNA was applied and cleared 5-days out, but at checking was denied 4pm checkout and the FD agent cites and shows me a stack of printed terms stating late checkout is "based on availability [footnote 1]." I didn't quite inquire about the footnote and instead pointed to marriott.com that the terms clear says otherwise.
The agent then changed the argument to say the SNA and late checkout isn't guaranteed together. To me this also sounded strange, a guaranteed upgraded should be a guaranteed upgraded as if I have paid and booked the same category the SNA cleared into (if this is wrong, please do note and I happily stand corrected). Apparently, at least pre-meger it seems, I am right. After merger, I haven't gotten a response from Marriott itself, so I don't really know.
You know what? If they agent simply apologized and offered me other options, be it pathetic a devalued 1000-points or even just let me work in the lounge for those extra 4 hours, I wouldn't be posting here.
Eventually a different agent offered to move me to a room in the same category with different bed configurations, with 4pm late checkout honored. This is nice, but still, there was no apologies, nothing. The second agent just kept typing on the keyboard and barely looked at me, so yes I am still writing this post. And reading a few posts above about the Starguest profile, I wonder what he might just be typing.
A SNA was applied and cleared 5-days out, but at checking was denied 4pm checkout and the FD agent cites and shows me a stack of printed terms stating late checkout is "based on availability [footnote 1]." I didn't quite inquire about the footnote and instead pointed to marriott.com that the terms clear says otherwise.
The agent then changed the argument to say the SNA and late checkout isn't guaranteed together. To me this also sounded strange, a guaranteed upgraded should be a guaranteed upgraded as if I have paid and booked the same category the SNA cleared into (if this is wrong, please do note and I happily stand corrected). Apparently, at least pre-meger it seems, I am right. After merger, I haven't gotten a response from Marriott itself, so I don't really know.
You know what? If they agent simply apologized and offered me other options, be it pathetic a devalued 1000-points or even just let me work in the lounge for those extra 4 hours, I wouldn't be posting here.
Eventually a different agent offered to move me to a room in the same category with different bed configurations, with 4pm late checkout honored. This is nice, but still, there was no apologies, nothing. The second agent just kept typing on the keyboard and barely looked at me, so yes I am still writing this post. And reading a few posts above about the Starguest profile, I wonder what he might just be typing.