craz

sorry the title doesnt explain it all. Got into LA on Sat night around midnight. I called the Plat desk its Closed, OK so I called reg res 800# its also CLOSED!! for updates. so I convinced a front desk person to do me a favor and allow me to use the internet in their office to get the tel# to 4 Pts I have a res at. He does, you guessed it its also down. So I had to call a friend at 3AM NY time to go into my place and look up for me th exact name of the 4P and its #.

I thought it was the 4P Pasedena its 4P Mavoriva, near Pasedena.

I couldnt believe it ALL reps of SPG out sleeping. Turns out theres a 3 hr gap between when the last office closes over here, and before Cork,Ireland opens up. Oh Crazy is this!!!

William I cant believe that SPG cant afford to keep even 1 person working, let that person do it from home like JetBlue does. OK I should have had the info with me but I left it behind, but theres NO excuse for SPG not to have ANY of its phones manned/womaned 24 hrs a day by even 1 person. Had my friend not have woken up I would have been a no-show and charged so let SPG keep the lights on!!

dmunz

Your wrong, there is one guy and the name he gives out is "David". But all he does is transfer you to Customer Service voice mail. (See my other thread.)

Yeah, I'm pi%#^d and I don't have anyhting better to do right now than whine...

FWIW

DLM

craz

I might have been happy with that, but i didnt even get to "david' simply 'we are closed at this time for updating ....' When I called the Plt desk and they looked into it was I told that the 3 hr gap is there. yea some updating

Foady

No offense to the OP (or others who don't do this), but when i travel, I always make sure I have my confirmations printed out with my rates, dates, and the hotel contact information. Just in case. Do other people do this or am I the only one? I always figured that it is best for me to be prepared myself than to rely on something/someone else (for things like these).

KENNECTED

NO. you're not the only person. I always put information into my treo (thank good for mobile internet access) and take printed confirmations.

This past weekend I had to whip out my Avis confirmation when the printout they give you at vehicle return was $38 more than the "estimated" total on my confirmation.

Eastbay1K

I do so approximately 95%+ of the time, but once in awhile something happens, like I've put it down somewhere, or made a res "on the go" w/o a printer.

GoingAway

Bolding is mine I'm confused ... if you had access to the Internet, why didn't you look up your reservations online? That's how I figure out what's booked when/where - for hotels and airlines.

aroundtheworld

you can chalk this up to cost-saving measures after 9/11 and the arrival of Steve Hankin.

ITT Sheraton -- and Starwood for a time after the buy-out -- used to have world-wide coverage 24-hours-a-day.

Offices that saw closures: Mexico City; Salt Lake City; Dubai; Brisbane. Yes, it's been awkward -- and not very worldly in terms of coverage -- since the changes.

No meals in first class on airlines; reduced reservations coverage in the hotel industry.

craz

GoingAway,
its very simple, once I print out the email confirmation I delete it from my box. Yes I usually do take my printouts with me, but didnt this time. Regardless, who ever thought that SPG would simply close up completely for 3 hrs.

When checking in tonight 5/10 at a different 4P I spoke with the mgr who told me it happens and many people get POed, cause either they might want to make a res after getting in to the West Coast or need directions as I did and cant get anything. e said what does SPG think that people in Hawaii which is 3 hrs behind LA dont need to speak to someone from 9pm to 12am their time!

Upon checking my acct some Pts were put into my acct because of it. Id prefer if the incident didnt happen at all. Orginally I was offered 500 Pts, I was given more in the end. I still HOPE that they do something about it so that no one else needs to be put into the same circumstances of needing directions or to make a res and cant cause they SHUT ALL ops down.

William will something be done so that a live person will be available 24/7 to avoid what happened to me from happning to anyone else? and if the Plat desk or any other # is closed why not have it transferred automatically to a call center that will be open?

GoingAway

If you log into SPG.COM - there is a Check My Reservations option on the pull down menu, or you can just check your reservations through a different link where you put in your membership number and I think you last name. I wasn't thinking email, I was thinking use of the SPG.Com site.

Starwood Lurker

Regrettably, probably not. Every Sunday morning from 3AM to 7:30AM Eastern time, the mainframe database is taken down for maintenance. This means that for these hours each and every week, no one has access to any information there-in. As a result, no one at the Customer Contact Center would have access to the information you needed - even if it was a single employee who worked from home - so why would we pay someone to answer the phone? You also cannot access any information online during this time period as it all comes from the mainframe database.

I'm sorry you were inconvenienced, but there is no solution from us that would have resolved this issue to your immediate satisfaction. I would take precautions - as suggested above - going forward, if you need information from us during this technology black-out period.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

sts603

I will have to say, with all due respect, that's a little pathedic. Airlines operate far more complex main frames 24/7 and have been doing so for decades.

craz

Had I or had I been able to speak to someone who had the old SPG directory that would have solved it. As it gives basic directions but even more the tel# of the hotel. So an employee with the book might not be able to look online at a res or book something but would have helped me or anyone else who might be lost trying to reach a hotel.

William at least a message giving us the hours it will be down would have been nice.

Starwood Lurker

Only trouble with this is that these ceased publication altogether about four years ago. Many hotels have left to be replaced by many hotels which have come into the fold since then. So, if it was a hotel that is no longer with us or one that has recently been added, you still would have been out of luck. So, we hire one person to consult a directory that may or may not have the information you need from 3AM to 7:30AM on a Sunday morning?

For anyone else who thinks they have intimate knowledge of how complex our mainframe database is, knows exatly how it is maintained, and wants to make constructive comments on how its maintenance down time can be improved, feel free to post it here and I will pass it on to the Technology Center.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

craz

I didnt really think that they would keep a person around, however since it happens every Sat night(Sun morn) why isnt there a nessage both online and when calling up. All I heard was there is a system update and we are closed. It would have been nice to have known till when so that if need be I would have known when I could have called back. NOT that it would have helped me but Im thinking about someone who might be in the same position the next time. Knowing either ahead of time or how much longer one must wait might help someone out in the future. But I doubt anything will be done with that either. Would be nice to hear Our systems are down for maintance EVERY Sun 3:00am EST time till 7:30am EST, all of our call centers and websites are down, we are sorry for this please contact us after 7:30am EST