itsaboutthejourney

(seeing confusion on a spg.com revamp in the repeated login thread made me realize I should create this thread, MODS: feel free to combine or move)

As many of you know, I’ve been a big critic of spg.com; specifically it’s functionality and reliability.

Many of you also know that last year I offered to do a PowerPoint presentation to Starwood documenting my problems. Well, thanks to Lurker I found myself giving my presentation via a conference call to a team of Starwood executives, including the VP of Global Web Services and folks with titles such as Director, Interactive Marketing, user experience, quality, etc. This was October 2006.

I showed them screenshots and listed most of the flaws that are also and repeatedly listed in the FT spg.com issues thread. I also presented them with suggestions that I explained were also desired by many in the SPG FlyerTalk Community.

After I was done, there was “dead air” so to speak. I had just (politely) told the team responsible for Starwood’s website that they had the worst site in the hotel business and given them several examples why. Finally, they asked a few questions about my browser & computer and thanked me for my time.

The follow-up since has mostly originated from me, and an invitation to join a web focus group never materialized. I offered, but no one has ever called to ask for clarification on my presentation or solicit feedback. (And no, I wasn’t compensated nor did I expect to be.)

But after 6 months of frustration using the site, I started reminding them that the spg.com issue thread continues to grow and no meaningful improvements have been made.

They recently did give me a sneak preview of the new site, which I like to call spg.com 2.0.

It looks great. It has some ways we can customize our experience and first page preferences, sort search results w/different payment options, ability to track Starpoint “dreams”, etc. I was shown a beta version but it was over 1 month ago, so refinements have likely been made. When I asked, I was told not to expect booking SPG 50’s online, and no method to track registered promotions and activity against them had thus far been planned.

The proof will be in the pudding. This summer is the expected roll out.

Website improvements are long overdue, but I applaud William for once again showing that Starwood does listen to it's customers and has "clout" with people at the VP level. Of course, FlyerTalk continues to facilitate this communication. So far I’m not impressed by the web group, but remain hopeful they will get their act together.

fireworksboy

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

I know this isn't the time or place but the one thing the competition does better is the ability to search things like "AAA" rates for a city at one time instead of having to do it individually for each hotel. It's called functionality. I could care less about "Dream vacations", what the site looks like, etc. I want a site to be functional for my searching needs. Hopefully the new site will improve this area.

NJUPINTHEAIR

This may be true of Marriott, but it certainly is not true of the Hilton website, so SPG is hardly alone in not having such a functionality.

I for one, being a new user to SPG, would just be happy that I would not have to continually clear my cache of cookies and web page history in order for me to easily research the various hotels in a city and the prices for same before my web search yields a blank page that never makes it to completion while the URL continually repeats with the words "account verify."

I don't know if others have mentioned this problem -- the thread is just too long for me to search -- but it might have something to do with my using AOL.

In any event, I welcome the upcoming changes.

Now, how about getting rid of that horrid orange background color from Sheraton.com? @:-)

fly co to see the yanks

don't count on it. the orange is relatively new.

for the life of me, i just don't see what is so tricky about SPG50.

prosen

End users always underestimate just how complex a site like SPG is. The functionality that everyday users and advanced users see is quite straightforward, but under the covers things get incredibly complex. Inevitably there is modern technology running the front end, but a tangled web of messaging protocols and dated mainframes coordinating all of the most important data.

All I am saying is go easy on these people. Sure the visual design is easy to improve and replace, but anytime you are looking for functionality around data that isnt already present assume that things are 100x more complex then you think and cut them some slack. Creating a modern replacement for SPG's online presence is something that could appropriately take years.

Starwood Lurker

We've discussed this before. Live and in person, IIRC. Didn't like the answer I take it?

It was the real McCoy, so don't expect to see SPG50 booking availability on the new version of spg.com either.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

KathyWdrf

On the one hand, I applaud your effort. ^ On the other, I'm really shocked by your condescending attitude towards the web group, as evidenced by the statement I've quoted.

Just curious: Are you at all familiar with the "innards" of the software yourself? Do you know enough about the software to actually make the changes yourself?

fly co to see the yanks

we discussed it some time ago. yes, i remember.

i still think if they can put a man on the moon, starwood should figure out a way for spg50s to be booked online. just me....

so, yes, i didn't like your answer. but, i still appreciate your efforts.

Starwood Lurker

LOL. Okay...I can live with that.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

KathyWdrf

Resource limitations, perhaps? And/or other reasons?

No doubt there IS a way to do it, but 1) it's too costly to implement and/or 2) Starwood actually does NOT want too many people to be able to use the SPG50 certs (i.e., a certain % of "breakage" is expected).

Unfortunately, I think the inevitable result of being able to book SPG50 online would be 1) fewer certs issued/higher points cost to purchase certs; 2) even less availability of the rate than there is now.

fireworksboy

Agreed. But if Marriott has had the ability on their website (for at least the last 5-6 YEARS) to search for things like AAA rates for all hotels, it's not like we're talking about something that has the complexity of the Microsoft soure code. I'll cut them some slack but I'm losing patience.

KathyWdrf

But the Marriott site and the SPG site are starting from different points. The internal workings may well be completely different. So it's not logical to say that because one set of software can do it, the other one should be easy to change to do the same thing. @:-)

Also, it's possible that Starwood does not WANT to make it too easy for users to find the cheapest rate available.

gfowler-ord-1k

I hope Starwood does a better job in the revamp than United.com did. They were promising a great new site and all they did besides cosmetic changes was add a some buggy features (e.g. seat selection and variable date search). My impression is that overall site reliability has decreased since the changes.

The UA site was released last fall with lots of bugs, some of which have been fixed but the majority still remain.

derpelikan

well, i dont get it why they dont offer the SPG50 online.
or at least even you can book it, to see how much it will cost would be enough.
the point is, if we call in we block the rep for two minutes. the two minutes could be used for other users if we could see the prices of the spg50.

starwood could mark the SPG50 rate with a CALL Callcenter to book.
but to have to call to see the availability is really ....

i have the same issue with the relogin thing, what i would prefer is if SPG allows to set some codes like ZR3 etc. in your profile and that all rates for the hotels you are looking show up in one search.

dp

DivMiler

I'd love to see a map of all Starwood sites in a metropolitan area. One feature of Starwood is that there are few properties (compared to Hilton or Holiday Inn) to place on a map -- no clutter!

Seriously, I don't think I should have to go to travelocity.com or a AAA Tourbook to find relative locations of Starwood properties (which is what I had to do a couple of days ago for a trip to San Francisco). What I would like to see (if I put in a city like Washington, DC) is a map of all the Washington, DC metropolitan area Starwoods. The list of hotels in Arlington, Washington, etc. comes up. Why not a map?