Getting a hotel room for a month, experiences?
 

I will likely be starting a new job in CA in about a month or so. I won't have a chance to find an apartment there right away, so I wanted to hole up in a hotel for the first four weeks, be close to work, see the area, and get my bearings a little more. I have a few questions about doing such a thing, and any possible experiences.

1. What will I likely be able to negotiate? I will need a room for four weeks, and will need maid service twice a week, instead of daily. I am wondering as a percentage off of the company's corporate rate, not a dollar figure.

2. Do I just ask for the sales manager to do this?

3. Any chance of negotiating for Plat by the end of my month? I have 11 stays and 14 nights already this year, however a 30 day stay won't get me to the number of nights needed, nor will it count for enough stays. However, I have to believe that this is atypical enough that someone would at least consider it on an individual basis.

4. Regarding number 3 above, would I ask the sales manager about this, or plead my case to SPG customer service.

Thanks.

Yes, for several reasons. First, I have stayed at this particular hotel before, but even if I hadn't, I'd want something I can feel completely comfortable arriving at the first day, knowing I'll get what I'm expecting, and I won't have to search it out. Also, being an all-suite hotel, and me not being much for cooking, the accomodations are pretty good. Having housekeeping once or twice a week (which I'll pay for when I have an apt.) is also worth a couple hundred bucks over the month.

A 30 day hotel stay is not as atypical as one might think.
I had a job transfer from Washington D.C., and we lived in a Hilton Hotel for six months straight. We did not earn HHonors points for 180 days, BTW. The room rate was definitely negotiated, but since I wasn't paying out of my own pocket, I don't know details.
I think short term corporate apartments might work better for you if you are bearing the cost of this job change.

The company hiring you might well have a policy regarding housing for the first few weeks. I worked for a company that was actively hiring; it had corporate apartments on reserve. New employees did not have an option of staying in a hotel. The apartment was perceived as having more features for the employee and was more affordable for the company.

Just noted your preference for the all suite hotel.
We stayed at an Embassy Suites for six months, and so had the free hot breakfast every day. Obviously, having free popcorn at the so-called "manager's reception" in the evening was fairly useless, but at least we only had to think about finding dinner every day.

When I changed jobs (once in NC; once back to SEA) I stayed at *wood for approximately 60 days. I didn't negotiate any special rate and actually paid a daily rate. However; please remember - you do not earn *wood points or stays if you stay 30 days straight - *wood is VERY adamant about this. So you will have to check-out/check-in several times during the month to ensure you get all of your stays and points. I believe this has something to do with tax purposes as well.

I found that staying at *wood (depending where you stayed) actually turned out to be comparable to the Oakwood Apartments (when you count in linens, maid service, cable TV, etc.). You may want to ask about getting free internet though when you get there and show how many days you're staying.

Well, I hope your corp rates are good :D

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promot...egory=GENDRE_H

does NOT apply to either of the two hotels which I presume you're talking about. :(

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promot...SO_DISTPROPDRE

doesn't apply either.

In terms of max stay, doesn't it say "OVER 1 month" not allowed?

14+30=44=pretty close to 50 req for Plat. Maybe toss in a couple 1 night stays at other properties. I would think you might be able to get some leeway as well..

Also, was I wrong to suggest contacting corp sales manager at the hotel? I would think they would indeed be the person to talk to. The only thing, as I said, was it might be good to talk to William first, to see if there are any standard operating procedures at the managerial level in terms of handling long term stays. If there ARE, (not sure how often it happens at *wood properties, since none target long term markets) then it would probably be advantageous to know about them, in order to negotiate more effectively.

First of all, the OP doesn't mention which hotel he/she is considering. Not sure how you determined that there were 2 properties since there are well over 30 *woods throughout the state of California.

*wood does not grant "leeway" when giving Plat status - you either have the 25 stays/50 nights or you comp in (once in a lifetime) based upon status in another program.

Talk to the in-house sales manager. They should be able to negotiate an extended stay rate for you. Make sure you let that person know you want the rate to earn *points/stay credit. Also, I'd book in 15 day blocks with a weekend elsewhere to avoid running afoul of the SPG 30 day limitation. Stays over 30 days DO NOT earn points or stay credit. Not good.

I could easily be wrong actually, I took the OP to mean California, when he might have meant Canada. There are only 2 all suite hotels in California, as far as I could tell.

If there is never any leeway, then he simply has to take 6 side stays during his 1 month stay in order to reach Plat by the end of it.

kanebear's suggestion sounds pretty good. It gives him the flexibility of adding onto the second stay. And to be completely safe whether its 30 days or over 30 days, and not just checking out and checking in, as that sometimes doesn't create a new stay, right?

He could also get a few stays in at a cheap property near him in Boston as well. Like Sheraton Colonial Hotel & Golf Club Boston North.

Hi. The Terms and Conditions that are at stake here are:

5.11. You will not receive any Starpoints on any Eligible Charges for any portion of a single stay in excess of 30 consecutive days, whether or not you check-out and check back-in during such stay.

By my reckoning stays of 30 days in length would be eligible (all else being equal), but stays longer than 30 days would not be.

SPG cannot make exceptions to these Terms and Conditions, so yes, the program is a bit immovable in that regard. However, properties are free to do whatever they wish. If they want to and can make an exception, then we do not interfere with that.

If I was going to try to negotiate a long-term stay such as this one, I would contact the property's revenue manager. I would also be sure to mention that I was interested in earning stay credit and Starpoints for all eligible charges. This may mean paying a higher rate than might otherwise be offered. It also might require some extra work on the hotel's part if the stay is longer than 30 days to see that it gets credited properly.

Finally, I would get any agreement in writing so there are no questions afterwards. Not that I think a particular revenue manager would ever renege, but they do sometimes change hotels and that means that there may be no one at the property where you stayed who is aware of your special arrangement.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

I just recently tried to do this as I am relocating to LA for between six months to one year and rather than waste money on an apartment and get no points I investigated trying to do an SPG hotel.

I called virtually all of the properties in the LA area and had no luck. Most of the time the rates they offered were horrific (at least when compared to my corporate discount) and so if you have a good corporate discount take that instead.

A couple of things I learned in the process.

1) if you want to earn points, make sure you spell that out in advance. To do this they will generally want you to settle up your bill once a week or once every two weeks. Each of the times you settle up it will count as a different stay and you will get the starpoints then. Sometimes they will want you to prepay, other times they wont.

2) There are some things called STarwood-14 and Starwood-30 which are for differnet length of stays (two weeks vs. one month or more) and some hotels have them and some dont. After 30 days you get your occupancy/hotel tax refunded and you are an actual renting agreement with them. this is of course assuming you do not settle up every two weeks. If you do do the 30+ day thing, you get no star points, so make sure to do the settle up things.

3) Most hotels will offer you the elite benefits for the entire stay (assuming availability). I will be PLAT soon and so the hotels I was talking with said they would give me a suite (if avialable for my entire length of stay).

So you would be upgraded before you actually reached 50 nights?

"Starwood-14" "Starwood-30" so some props do have such things in place. Good to know.

But you're saying you found that your corp rates were better than those above discounted rates?

No, I would actually reach PLAT before I started the stay at the hotel, but when negotiating the contract the hotel said they would assume that I would make it before starting at the hotel.

Yes, I found that my corporate rates were better than the long term discounts they offered. Kinda pathetic if you ask me :)

Thanks for the clarification. Based on what others said, it sounds like at the 30 day mark I get to save a lot on taxes, which might be worth it to me. I would also be more than happy to negotiate something (if possible) where I earn only stay credits, and no points. My Starpoints are all on that direct deposit to AA, so a few thousand AA miles aren't that valuable. Plat at SPG is. I will just call the revenue manager and see what can be worked out with this particular hotel. Thanks.