dukenilnil

I recently stayed at the Westin Rio Mar in Puerto Rico. I booked a room on spg.com. At the booking screen, I was given the option to select either a king bed or 2 double beds at a given rate (an example, but not my booking screen, is copied below). There was no obvious (or perhaps any) indication that the selection of king bed or 2 double beds was irrelevant and not guaranteed. Upon checkin, I was told that the booking was for a view only and not for bedtype, despite selecting king bed on the website. The room was fully prepaid so I was stuck despite the inability to honor the king bed selection. Is this standard practice for Starwoods hotels? It seems deceptive to have an option to select a bed type and then not have any clear indication that this request is not guaranteed, especially on a fully pre-paid room.

sbtinme

Dukenilnil --

Starwood Lurker posted here a few months back that room bedding reservations were guaranteed within the Starwood network. That was news to me, but others agreed.

If you're quite certain you booked a KING room and didn't receive one while on property, then I'd say you have a case with Starwood Customer Care.

Reference one of the stickys at the top of the Starwood thread page for contact info. Keep us posted.

trtfsr

Effective today it's now a Wyndham. Got an email today:

As a valued Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) member, we would like to inform you of a change in the status of The Westin Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort & Spa in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Regrettably, as of today, The Westin Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort & Spa will no longer be part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and will no longer participate with the Starwood Preferred Guest program. If you have questions regarding your reservation, confirmation number ----- on June --, 2007 for five night(s), please feel free to contact the reservations department at the former Westin Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort & Spa.

Please note, should you choose to keep your reservation intact, you will not receive any Starpoints, earn stay credit nor receive any additional benefits for being a Starwood Preferred Guest member because this hotel will no longer be a participant in the Starwood Preferred Guest program during your stay. If you wish to receive these benefits, you should re-book your stay at another Starwood Preferred Guest participating property in Puerto Rico, subject to availability at the time you call or try to book online.

We appreciate your patronage of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and your participation in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact one of our Member Service Representatives at the number listed on the reverse side of your membership card.

Starwood Lurker

Thanks for confirming that the mail merge worked. Man, there is just something so powerful about being able to send 2,000 emails with the click of a mouse. Got to be sure to not let that go to my head.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

JNelson113

Bummer! I've enjoyed this property and have gotten some great upgrades here.

catonis

I have a reservation for Feb '08 using points. Will I be affected by the change?

Starwood Lurker

That is still yet to be determined. Once we hear from the hotel directly or the director of franchise operations for the property, we will be notifying members who have award reservations.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

gsimmons2005

Thats a bummer - the westin was the only non san juan place on the island with any charm...

BOOO starwood

fly co to see the yanks

wasn't there an existing thread discussing this change? perhaps the confirmation could have been added to the end of that thread....thereby creating a nice resolution (big red bow on the box, in a matter of speaking). not sure why the confirmation necessitated a new thread.

regardless, i am thrilled to see this property go. thrilled. buh bye.

Starwood Lurker

Hotel representatives confirmed late yesterday that they are honoring award reservations, so communication of that to members who are holding such arrangements at this property will be sent later today.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

Hotel representatives confirmed late yesterday that they are honoring award reservations that were booked prior to their deactivation date for arrivals after they left the Starwood family of hotels, so communication of that to members who are holding such arrangements at this property will be sent later today.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

cl.lurker

I'm not very happy at all with this...

We received the email yesterday as well, but we had a reservation for Memorial Day... I thinks it's unreasonable to notify us 2 weeks prior to a holiday weekend, and leaving us to find another place....

catonis

Thank you for this response; I've been wondering since I heard about the change.

Starwood Lurker

I'm sorry if you feel that the notification was short notice to make other plans for a holiday stay, but there are contractual (legal) restrictions that prevent us from notifying members until the hotel has actually left the Starwood family of hotels.

I have petitioned many times in the past for us to be able to do otherwise, but the legal team will not budge an inch because of the possible liability issues it would create.

So, it is what it is. At least we take whatever opportunity we are given notify you. Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton don't do that and two weeks is two weeks longer than the people arriving on May 9th had, so there is some (minor) consolation in that.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

sc flier

While I think that it's unfortunate that this is the way things have to work, I've witnessed a number of cases in which the hotel has decided at the last minute to continue its relationship with Starwood. So, IMO, the fault in this is usually more in the hotel's side of the contract -- not SPG's side.

William, I'm curious here. According to the typical contracts, would the hotels have the right to contact guests in advance to let them know that they would be leaving SPG? IOW, does this restriction apply to both parties in the contract?