FAQ: Starwood policy: guarantee bedding and smoking preference on paid/award stays
 

Can someone educate me? What is Starwood's policy about this? (This isn't intended as a whine -- I truly would rather know the policy for the future.)

I recently had a Starwood stay where I booked a king non-smoking room [1], but when I arrived late in the evening, they said there were no more king non-smoking rooms available any more -- they had given them all away -- and there were no upgrades available, either. I didn't give them a hard time, but since it has happened to me before, it made me wonder. What is the policy about this? (I'm Starwood Gold, if that's relevant.)

In particular, does anyone know what is Starwood's policy about room reservations? Do they give out favored rooms according to whoever books them first, or whoever shows up at the hotel first, or by some other policy? Is there any way, as a Starwood Gold, to get a specific room type guaranteed in advance? When you make a room reservation and specify a room type, is that type of room actually reserved, or is it just treated as some kind of "best-effort" request? I ask because, since I often travel for business, I often am stuck arriving late at night.

Do different chains have different policies about this?

Again, sorry if this comes off sounding whiny; that wasn't my intent. I'm primarily interested in gathering information for future reference. Thanks in advance for anything you might be able to share.


[1] When I was reserved the room in advance, I distinctly remember on the phone the representative saying "hmm, ok, I can give you a king non-smoking, but you might have to take an accessible room to get it" -- which was fine with me. I left with the impression that I had a king non-smoking reserved, but I don't think this was ever clearly stated, so perhaps my impression was wrong.

[As Lurker discussed later, my comments here are just full of hot air and I had no idea that Starwood had a guarantee policy on room preferences.]

I'd say I get my "preference" 90%+ of the time. Lots of variables can happen over the course of a day - people staying over, the "early checkouts" being the room type you reserved, and the early checkins wanting/needing rooms, problem guests demanding other rooms, and 1000 permutations of same.

Also, a room booked for 1 person for a later arrival may seem to an agent at the desk, needing to handle a "situation", like someone who would be fine, alone, in a queen or double bed (when indeed, it may not be).

Remedy - a handful of points, or a hotel amenity such as a breakfast, free drink, etc.

The only time I have issue with hotels not being able to accomodate a situation is when there are LESS beds than reserved, and you need the MORE beds - and they refuse to send up a cot at no charge.

I'd venture to bet that Starwood doesn't have a policy, but rather, that it is hotel-specific. I wouldn't hesitate to put in the reservation that the room type as reserved is very important.

This is one benefit lacking at Starwood. At Marriott if you are gold or Platinum, they guarentee it. No non smoking King bed, here is 100 dollars. As a platinum at both, I never have a problem. But I do remember the days where my status was nill.

On a paid rate, room preferences, such as bedding type and smoking preferences, are guaranteed. If you did not get what you reserved, then you should call Corporate Customer Service to report it. 800-328-6242.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

This is always my fear when I do the internet pre-paid room. "Now that we have your money and aren't giving it back, bend over..."

So, if I'm going to arrive late, I always note that in the comments along with "so please save my king, non-smoking bed." If it's big convention-type hotel (vs. your run of the mill W or Westin), I'll even call during the day and speak to someone at the front desk to "confirm" my reservation, at which point I confirm the king, non-smoking part, and inform them of the hour I'll arrive and how much I appreciate them holding my room. Sometimes the front desk agent offers to assign and hold me a specific room and/or quasi-check me in right there over the phone.

This system has worked all but once--at a Marriott! :mad:

Lurker -- I have a stay coming up that is 3 days paid (special weekend promotional rate) and 1 day on points. Because of the 1 points night, is there any way the hotel could say that my room preference is not guaranteed for the stay?

As you know, award rooms are booked as run-of-the-house (ROH). This means that if they have a room that matches your bedding and smoking preferences, then they will do everything they can to ensure that those preferences are fulfilled. However, you may have to accept an award room that does not match your preferences if none are available when you check in.

In the scenario you describe above, the hotel will have to meet your preferences on the paid portion of your stay or that is a chargeable offense. If they don't have a room available that matches your preferences for the last day of your stay under the award room, they could move you, but I think the possibility of that is miniscule, although not totally out of the equation.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

William, what does this typically mean to the customer?

That the hotel has to pay us a fee for handling the complaint and that it goes against their monthly Guest Satisfaction Index (GSI) scores. Either of which they try to avoid like the plague, if they're smart. ;)

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Since the SPG program has integrated Sheraton and Westin brands, I've had my bed-type + NS res. honored in all but one property on one stay -- a Westin and that was a very late c/i. The excuse was "we didn't have your SPG # in the res." When I asked to speak to the MOD and showed the Starwood booking printout with my #, all of a sudden, a reserved room type was "found" in hotel inventory and the manager made things right. His initial position was that it was a computer problem in getting res. info reliably from *wood. My answer was that if his property was having computer problems of that type *wood needs to know about it ASAP because its corporate HQ was going to be calling when increasing #s of Plats get stuck in smoking rooms on the 3rd floor, contrary to their res. confirmations.

Despite this stellar record of Starwood compliance, I do what EnvoyBoy does if I am going to arrive late and just call the property, mainly so I don't lose any u/g that may be available.

Got it. Thanks! That's very helpful. I appreciate everyone's responses -- truly enlightening. (Gosh, FT is amazing...)

I take it the room type guarantee is still in effect? I checked in today, and was given a room with two doubles. I called down to the front desk, and was told that room types are not guaranteed, and are "preferences". I went downstairs, and got a different guy. He apologized that no kings were available and said that next time I'm in town, drop him a line and he'd try to give me a suite upgrade. I'm only staying for 2 nights so I didn't push it.

Hi Condition One,

As William has mentioned earlier, on a paid rate, room preferences, such as bedding type and smoking preferences, are guaranteed.

[email protected]

In addition, it should be reported to Corporate Customer Service. 800-328-6242 or [email protected].

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Would it still be worth the effort to notify Corp Cust Service if I had a stay during the middle of October where the hotel gave me the "its only a preference" line? I was a Gold at the time, and I'll admit I'm really new to the SPG rules, so I just took their word for it and went about my business.

But if it is helpful to let Cust Service know, I can call them. (Note I have since stayed at that same property 3 times since and haven't had a bedding issue.)

That would be your call, but any issue that is less than a year old can be run by Corporate Customer Service. And, it might help them understand that it isn't a preference...it is a guarantee, unless the room type is sold as a Run-of-House room.

If you do file the complaint, I would mention that you've stayed three times since and the issue has not come up again, but that you felt that this needed to made a part of the hotel's record.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

It's only happened to me once that I got one bed and not two, but that's enough that I'm going to start calling if I'm arriving in the evening! Anyway, I just called the platinum concierge (so that the incident could be made part of the hotel's record, as William suggested above) who directed me over to corporate, and they both said that bedding type (even as a gold or platinum SPG member) isn't guaranteed. I was confused, and the lovely woman with a British accent at corporate said that if you arrive past 8 or 9 then the chances of your not getting your bedding preference greatly increase. She said the only thing guaranteed is the room type (standard room, club room, etc).

She's dead wrong about bedding types and smoking preferences not being guaranteed on paid rates, unless your room type is Run-of-House; however, she is spot on regarding the chances that you may not get what you guaranteed the later you check-in.

Otherwise, why would an RTD file be a billable offense? It is precisely that to prevent these things from happening or the hotel has to both pay and suffer the consequences on their GSI scores for not delivering what the customer ordered.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

You're preaching to the choir! I had booked a twin room on the club floor, and didn't get two beds during that stay. While she wouldn't say that the room type is guaranteed, she did take the information and said she'd send it over to the hotel manager for a response. Not sure if this is how they log billable offenses...

Precisely so...but she did not code it correctly, which I fixed. ;)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

My stay posted this morning, so I called up customer service. A British lady confirmed that the room type booked was guaranteed, but sometimes rooms are given away if you arrive late. I also mentioned that I had some room service issues, which she noted.

She said that she would forward my complaint to the manager of the hotel, and things would be conducted via email.

As a side note, she also said that Hilton Diamonds are now matched to SPG Gold (instead of Platinum). I hope she's wrong!

Checked into the Sheraton Crystal City at 11:30 PM on Saturday night, reserved a King Bed room. When we got up to our room it was a double bed accessible room, much less than ideal. I called down and the woman who checked us in said it was the room we were assigned and was allegedly the last room available. I said that I expected a call in the morning from the manager to explain what happened that I didn't get the room I reserved.

In the morning a manager calls and explains that room requests are based on "availablity" and then she says there were lots of platinums at the hotel. She repeatedly insisted that room type is not guaranteed. She also said something about the Club level, I asked her if the lounge was open on the weekend, she said no, so I simply told her why would I care about the Club level then, I want the room I reserved. She later in the same phone call said "I may not have gotten my room type even if I checked in early", which was different than what she told me earlier in the discussion (that there was no way she could have accomodated our reserved type). I told her I would complain to corporate and she honestly didn't care. Finally I just came out and said, "So you aren't even going to try and make me happy", and she offered free breakfast or points, I said "A couple thousand points would be acceptable," and she agreed.

Since they "paid me off" I'm not sure if I should complain to corporate or not ... the thing is there doesn't seem to be anything on the website about this one way or the other.

I think it is inexcusable for the property to use the excuse that there are a lot of platinums at the property. The hotel obviously violated the guarantee and although they offered you points(only after your prompting), I would personally still file a complaint with corporate. To me if they did not have the room with the bed type you booked you should've been walked to an equivalent type of hotel.

Almost to the letter, I had this same experience at the marginal Sheraton Framingham MA just last week. This front desk never ceases to disappoint, but I got the very same line from the night FD Mgr (which made it even more maddening). I was told that all reservations are merely "requests only" and that the hotel is unable to guarantee room types for anyone.

I wasted no time messing around with them and I simply called *wood directly to report it.

Had the hotel apologized to me at check in and alerted me to the room type change, I frankly wouldn't have cared. But knowing they had changed my room type and not bothering to clue me in was not acceptable. But being told I was wrong was what pushed me over the edge.

I really suggest that each person who finds themselves in this sort of scenario kindly take the time to contact *wood Customer Care to ensure that it's documented. Hotels that attempt this sort of thing are operating outside of the guidelines of the SPG program!!!

Is this also true for Cash & Points? We have two rooms at the Westin Paris and non-smoking is requested (and necessary). If they can't guarantee non-smoking I might use $ or book at another property.

Thanks.

What was the response from *wood?

No, Cash & Points is an award room, so it is sold as Run of House...unless of course you book an upgraded version at a Starwood Vacation Ownership property that sells them in addition to standard Cash & Points.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

It was worth my while, let's just leave it at that. The Customer Care agent I worked with was exceptionally professional and thorough -- she spoke with me three times over 24 hours to let me know how seriously she was taking my report.

Alright guys, I sent them an email and explained the situation and that I was not seeking compensation since the hotel did compensate me at the time, only requesting that they make sure the hotel's staff is aware of the proper policy.

^^ I think the majority of us appreciate you did this as it will hopefully ensure that this property abides by the guarantee. Let us know how it turns out. I'm sure it'll entail in some sort of apology from the GM of the property and although you did specifically state that you weren't seeking add'l compensation (which shows you're the better person in the situation) you may still be rewarded some add'l points or refund IMO. We shall see though!

I am looking on the T&Cs and can't find the bedding guarantee anywhere. Is it still in effect?
Thanks in advance.

I think it's a corporate "requirement", but is not listed in the T&C anywhere. But it all depends on the hotel - as you can see above people do get denied.

I posted in a different thread about a recent stay that I had at a Luxury Collection property where they were not able to give my reserved bed type upon check-in. I was much less upset about the two beds than the fact that the check-in agent flat out lied to me when I questioned whether or not I had booked a room with two beds or a king. At the time, I lamented that I wasn't staying at a Marriott property - as they back up their guarantee with some regular-spending American greenbacks. I, too, believed that at Starwood that room/bed type was just a preference. While I am glad to have stumbled onto this thread - and do plan to follow up with Corporate Customer Service - it would be nice if Starwood had a formal written policy with respect to what compensation one is entitled to based on this guarantee.

I think we all believe that a guarantee is not much of a guarantee without there being some repercussions. Unfortunately, it seems as though the easiest way to solve any customer service problem is to throw points at the situation. I am not sure that actually solves the problem - and paints some as just chasing freebie points. Now, at the end of the day, it seems as though the only point in complaining is to see what you can get for nothing.

AZ Travels the World and I were attending the same meeting in LA this past weekend. We were checking in for our respective rooms at the Westin LAX. One of us was not initially given the room type that was booked. The front desk clerk changed the room to the preferred bedding, but adamantly insisted there was no guarantee on bed type. Yes, we were each on paid stays. I just found it interesting that the clerk was so adamantly wrong.

I've had three such denials in the past year.

As I posted in another thread within the past year, I stayed at a Sheraton last fall where they went so far as to hang a framed placard sign to the left of the front desk announcing that "reserved room types are always 'requests only' -- room types are never guaranteed."

I reported it to Starwood Customer Care after the front desk manager told me that policy was correct.

In fairness, I'm experiencing this issue a lot less frequently than I used to. Five years ago, I was dealing with this about 20% of the time, it seemed.

You can report to me to if there are such issues.

Thank you.

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

I handled one case myself through insistence, and reported the other two cases to Customer Care because those hotels could not be convinced. One of those (where they denied both smoking and bed type) was eventually addressed satisfactorily, and the other (bed type only) was not, but I'm not dwelling on that one. When it happens again, I'll let you know. As always, thanks.

Though a published policy on the web site would take some of the burden off of you, William, and rest of the Customer Care team.

Thanks for giving me a brilliant suggestion.:)

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd