mbreuer

The issue isn't the interest... it's that to preserve your rights under the federal credit laws you have to dispute the charge within a specific time period (I believe it's 30 days from when you receive the statement... but I could be wrong). If you wait until after the time limit, Amex is under no obligation to do anything. So if the hotel comes back after 60 days and says, "too bad," you're out of easy options.

disneyf

I totally agree. Sometimes things happen, but I don't understand why they couldn't handle it better especially when they are the one who made the mistakes. I had similar problem, and same thing, after calling the main customer service, I was told to contact the hotel directly to have the issue fixed! but it's still not straighted yet.

jtkauai

my recent experience is that amex and visa ask and want you to have tried to resolve with merchant first.

i just had one with a las vegas hotel. i called and called the hotel and the chain's customer relations and never got anywhere. even emailed them a copy of my cancellation confirming email. eventually i went to the credit card company and did a dispute. i ended up getting the dispute $ and then the hotel credited the money as well. a bonus i'd say.

i have become quite meticulous about keeping good records of all reservations and cancellations.

Letisko

The most ironic aspect is that if they would just fix the system, it would probably save them a lot of money. I posted this a few hours ago and already so many other people have said they've had the same experience, and at different hotels - imagine all of the Starwood employee hours that are spent dealing with all of us and what that probably costs them. To make a programming change so that when you tried to cancel hotels that were non-IPS converted you got a screen that said "I'm sorry, to cancel this reservation you must call the hotel directly at XXX-XXXX" would probably cost far less than dealing with all of us on the phone (and having pissed-off customers)

choptliva

It's disappointing that spg would take the approach that online cancellations don't really count, that the customer would have to deal with the hotel directly. As far as we, the customers, are concerned, we booked the darn reservations with spg, and we cancelled with spg, even got a cancellation number, and well within the time limit, what more does one need to do?
By the same token, they may someday say reservations don't really count either. Or anything for that matter. I look forward to William's return and see what his thoughts are on this.
This is most disconcerting.

Sunny Day

For a paid stay you can cancel your reservation online at SPG.com but what about for an Award Redemption stay? Has anyone notice that while you can make an Award Redemption online and it shows up under your reservation, yet you cannot cancel it online? You must phone SPG to cancel an Award redemption. Why isn't the cancellation feature available online?

I experienced this problem when I was in South America. I redeemed one night at the Santiago Sheraton 4 Points using the SPG website. But when I arrived I changed my mind and decided to stay elsewhere. It would be so easy if I could cancel it online at an internet cafe. But you can't do that online. Well I was forced to find a payphone and tried to call SPG Global Toll Free # when I cannot speak Spanish to the operator or understand the payphone dialing instructions posted. I was so frustrated and ended up walking into a bookshop and asked the owner to help me call the local hotel directly to cancel. In North America phoning SPG toll free is very easy but if you are in a foreign country and don't speak the language, making that toll free call or collect call at a payphone isn't that easy.

Why can't SPG include the cancellation feature for Award Redemptions on its website?

derpelikan

at hilton you can cancel it online.

but sometimes we can not have everything

may be st. lurker can comment on this?

dp

bigjim

When did you get promoted William?

Letisko

When I'd talked to the customer service supervisor yesterday, she'd called back and promised that someone from the hotel would call me by the end of the day to fix this. Needless to say, this did not happen. Why promise it if you're not going to be able to deliver, people?

vdb seeker

Uh oh, I've used online cancel a couple of times earlier this year and didn't check my credit card bill. Does anyone have experiences where online cancel DID work, or can I pretty much be sure of a surprise when I go back through the old bills?

SWG

It works just fine, most of the time. My one bad experience is out of about 20 cancellations this year. I have even cancelled online with the same property that I am having a problem with now with no issues on other occasions.

choptliva

I guess I've been lucky so far. I've encountered no problems whatsoever, so I've always assumed that as long as I get a cancellation number, all is well. It would be bad if we can't take a confirmed cancellation online for real.

Letisko

I'm bumping this up so William will hopefully see it now that he is back. Thanks!

Starwood Lurker

Like gleff said, this is a regrettable situation and you should be working through a solution with Corporate Customer Service by calling them at 800-328-6242. I wouldn't bother with email on a billing-related issue as they are going to need your credit card information to pass on to the hotel.

As for non-IPS converted properties, there is no "fix" available other than for them to become IPS converted. TahitiBoy is right. We send these properties updated information on a daily basis and they are responsible for checking their reports every morning and acting accordingly.

Calling Corporate Customer Service will ensure that this situation gets the attention it deserves.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

SPG is Starwood Preferred Guest, which is the frequent stay program for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. SPG has nothing to do with setting hotel policy for billing-related issues.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]