Starwood Lurker

I would like to be able to answer this with some certainty, but I am not a contract lawyer and neither do I play one here on Flyertalk. So taking any officiality out of it, I can only offer speculation that each contract can have elements added or deleted from it to suit the parties involved. It could well be that what you suggest is on one hotel's contract and not another's.

That being said, there are usually no restrictions on the hotel as far as what and when they want to say something, but that does not appear to release us from being restricted. For example, when The Westin Bohemian left, they issued a press release about 6 weeks before departing, but we were prevented from contacting any members until the day they actually left.

Same situation here really. Most FT'er's have known for months that this hotel was becoming a Wyndham, but I could not verify that here or anywhere else for that matter. Some took the step of calling customer service and associates then called the hotel to find out information which they then revealed to members, but, IMHO, that puts us at risk should someone at the hotel take exception to that information being released in advance of their departure.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

sc flier

Thanks, William! I think that the thing that seems most unusual to me is that the hotel's website on starwoodhotels.com often has an announcement such as "This hotel will no longer participate in SPG after 5/9/2007." Yet I don't think such announcements are ever included as part of the reservation process.

Is this allowed because the hotel's personalized part of the website (including its announcements) are under total control of the hotel itself?

gleff

Just be careful not to merge those email addresses into the CC: field when you send 'em... <duck>

Starwood Lurker

When you see that message online, it usually means that a deactivation date has been set and you usually would not be able to book the hotel either online or over the phone for dates beyond that time period. I'm fairly certain that when you see such an announcement that the language has been pre-approved by both parties and that they are mutually fine with it.

But, yes...the hotel is in control of what goes online, either directly or by communication with us.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

ihdihd

hmm, i always like this property. It'll be interesting to see what happens with it.

fly co to see the yanks

oh, well that's easy.

1) the property is becoming a wyndham
2) the property will still stink if they don't replace the incompetent staff (that all of a sudden forget english as soon as there is a problem).

dukenilnil

I received a response from Customer Care. Customer Care indicated that the Westin Rio Mar did improperly handle my reservation. The Customer Care representative apologized for the experience (appreciated) and also offered to credit my account with 2000 points for the mistake (also appreciated and unexpected). The points are nice but I mainly am glad that Starwoods responded to the situation and is aware that at least one property was not following company protocol.
Thanks for the help Sbtinme.

bananax119

I checked into the hotel on May 9 with no knowledge that the hotel had just switched to a Wyndham. The staff members were incredibly nice in explaining what had happened, and upgraded me to a great Ocean Suite even though they didn't have to. However, my friends that checked in on May 10th and May 13th (both Plats) were NOT upgraded.

If you have upcoming award reservations, I think it's safe to say that you won't be upgraded to a suite, if that's a dealbreaker for you. However, I can say that the hotel is much nicer now that it's a Wyndham. They have put/are putting in over $100MM in renovations to rooms, pools and casino.

Also, they were in the process of building what looks to be a beautiful Sheraton resort property right next to the Rio Mar Wyndham. No idea of when it will be completed, but it is on top of the rain forest area with AMAZING views.

catonis

Thanks for the update. I have a reservation here for 2/08 using Starpoints. I hope that other members will continue to let us know what is happening with the property.

estogo

Bummer! I was thinking of taking my baby there next summer.

Any other recommendations for high quality properties in Puerto Rico?