barracuda93

Me too, thought to book it as Cat. 2. What SPG did here is indeed unpleasant.

Starwood Lurker

My personal apologies to anyone who is offended by anything that was posted by me. There was certainly no intention on my part to be anything but courteous in pointing out that some may have glossed over some details in the first post of the thread.

We've done this for 20 years now and this is how it always goes down. We try to give you the best information we have at a moment in time, so members can take advantage of any possible favorable redemptions. This does not always hold through the final processes. Some that were intended to go down don't. Likewise, some that were intended to go up don't. Since the process is both proprietary and high-level, we are not going to speculate on why. However, we are glad to confirm the category status of any properties as they stand currently.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

UsernameChuck

I'm not a heavy FT guy, cannot compare with Mahasamatman with 14,000 posts. I did not learn of the SPG category changes from FT, I saw it online somewhere, I believe in connection with the Marriott changes. I think it's nice that William's colleague posted them here, and of course I think it's good that SPG announced the changes a month in advance.

But I think I am not alone in saying: it's not just "nice" to have advance warning of changes. I think it is the right thing to do. It has become an expectation of what is fair treatment. Maybe not in the past, but people's expectations change. Sometimes its places in our rooms to charge our phones (vs icemakers). Hotels react to demand because they don't want to lose business. I have to assume that SPG and Marriott giving a month notice is a reaction (at least in part) to the expectations of customers. And they hire social media folks for the same reason, to build up good will, and to address / reduce unhappiness.

So yes, we should be thankful that SPG program exists, and we should be thankful for the moon and fresh water and the teachers who helped us get an education. That doesn't mean we can't say that the water tastes funny, the legroom on Spirit is uncomfortable, or the teacher is too focused on standardized tests. It's not a good response to critiques to say: you should be happy you get to go to school for free, and that you aren't dead yet. Fair points, we should be thankful! But if the water tastes bad, and critiques can help improve it, it's an act of charity to say something. We should be thankful that we can sometimes get free or reduced nights, we should be glad that SPG hotels are nice and clean and all that. But if something bothers us, something that can be improved, I don't think it's bad to say it.

The announcement did affect my plans. First World problems - I'll live. But when you're planning for a family trip, you do tend to, well, plan. I get that that category changes are complicated, they probably affect how much money goes to the various properties, which can move to other chains if they don't like it, etc. But I just don't understand why those complexities wouldn't be worked out before changes are announced... Unless SPG thinks that its members don't mind that changes are made and then unmade. So if it bothers us, we should say something - if we don't, SPG will be fair in concluding that it doesn't matter to us.

So, I hope William will pass on what he's hearing here. I did find it annoying, and I wish SPG had a reasonable mechanism to allow people who were planning based on their announcement to book at the rates they had announced. For instance, if this happens again next year, they might allow telephonic bookings at the announced rate for people who call in the first week, asking for that rate. That would seem like a reasonable thing to do, one that would leave members happy while costing relatively little. Anyway, that's my two cents.Chuck

Bravada04

Hmmm.. I think I have to side with Chuck on this one folks. I think it becomes more on principle than anything. Starwood/Marriott is no Ma & Pa company here, they are huge with a staggering volume of customers around the globe.

Do things change and errors happen sometimes? Absolutely. Do they have the right as the T&C's say to do what they please if they so wish? Absolutely....Now I can say I literally have not went through the list to find out exactly how many properties actually didn't change based on their original announcement but it sounds like too many based on the feedback so far. No, I don't know how the system works and how they get to the final list and such, but how can you have this list and publish it and within 2-3 days there is a percentage of that list that did not change to a category that Starwood announced? What do I know but it doesn't make much sense to me or maybe it's a poor system / process on how they do this? Many are saying that who cares they have a right to do this, but c'mon, you have to admit they sure can do a better job at doing it....AND if anyone of you had plans based on a category change etc., We all know we would hear it on FT!

I know this is a huge exaggeration.......what is different with them posting something for a hotel about a restaurant or a resort fee or a cost for parking from free - could be a ton of things! Well, people would go ballistic BUT they have a right to do that and change things at anytime. We would be saying "how on earth can they just do that, I had a booking there and planned it accordingly, this is BS".

I think at the end of the day were just asking to get your act together and post something that is accurate if your announcing it to the world....and again, yes, I don't understand how a property is listed to change and it simply doesn't - someone/somewhere must know that because the other propertie category changes the next day and these don't budge so someone knew?

Like Chuck said - First World Problems - we will live..........and we will still reserve the same hotel whether the category changes or not! Not the end of the world but it would be nice if it was accurate.....and the Lurkers are truly great and I'm sure patience wears thin sometimes. They have assisted me on numerous occasions.

Maybe we are all just bitter and short tempered because of Marriott. I know I still am - probably will never get over it!

yosithezet

Several posts have been deleted and edited for violating FT rules. Remember that you are free to discuss the subject matter of a post, in a civil manner, but it is absolutely forbidden to attack fellow members.

yosithezet
Co-Moderator, SPG Forum

TRAVELBABE

I just tried to amend my reservation booked before the cat changes from 7 nights to 5. They won't let me keep the nights I already had booked before the increase at the same rate. Bummer.

margarita girl

Unfortunately, that's correct. You would have needed to book it as 2 separate reservations if you needed flexibility to cancel some nights. When doing reward nights, I always book each night individually (except in the case where you pay 4, get 5th night free).

Starwood Lurker

Associates should be able to shorten a stay rather easily as long as the original arrival date is not compromised. Otherwise, it's a rather complicated process that may take several reservations to be re-booked and days to sort out. Anything out of the ordinary such as dates added outside the original booking calls for a new availability check. Those will have to be booked at the new category level for sure, but any within the original booking should also be kept at the old category rate.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

margarita girl

Thanks for the clarification William. I did not know that.

Starwood Lurker

It's messy for sure and only available within certain parameters. Then there's also cancellation policies that may come into play. But, I would encourage anyone to ask SPG Customer Service what the possibilities are and if it doesn't sound right, ask that it be escalated to a supervisor for review.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

Star_Guy

@spgassist
Hello, The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa will remain as a Category 5 hotel for the calendar year 2018. We hope this clarifies.

TRAVELBABE

So I tried to shorten my stay at the WDW Dolphin from 6/9-6/16 to 6/9-6/14 today. The Dolphin changed from Cat 4 to Cat 5 after I booked the reservation. I was told it could not be shortened without incurring an increase. I believe that the rep even checked with a supervisor because she put me on hold for awhile.

Starwood Lurker III

Hi TRAVELBABE,

We would suggest to call again and ask to speak to a supervisor if the associate is not aware how to shorten the reservation for you.

Best Regards,

Christina Zhou
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

CPRich

I went to double-check a rate change for a reservation I'm holding and see that the list of changes is already gone. Marriott's is still available.


Also, free nights still aren't available for the same dates anymore, so the "they removed availability until the points increased" doesn't hold water (unless they free up next week....)

gregv

There is a spreadsheet available in post 51 of this thread if that helps.