eastcoastcan

I can understand less, or even no, benefits on a priceline/hotwire stay, as the hotel is not seeing any real "loyalty" from the guest on a booking like that (although, the hotel does choose to offer their rooms through these channels, and I think should accept the fact that even otherwise loyal customers are willing to use them sometimes)., but I find it hard to see why benefits would be denied on an Expedia, et al, booking. If the user chooses the Starwood property, and pays more to do so (as you do on expedia, travelocity, etc), then the hotel should respect the fact that they themselves chose to offer their inventory through that site.

ldsant

Because the woman at 1800westin1 told me I would. (very long story). . .

bigjim

I know that has to be frustrating. For me personally though, I always count on what I know and have in front of me versus what somebody is telling me. The Terms and Conditions in the SPG program are pretty clear on this one.

wildblueyonder

I will never travel using expedia again... I got to Buenos Aires and found that I had no hotel. In the end, they reimbursed me for some ridiculously small fraction of the cost I incurred to stay there (less than 50% of my actual expense to stay at 3 different hotels that Easter week). But the small amount I got is probably the same $$$ that Starwood gets, which is probably why they aren't happy with the arrangement.

Anyway, thank God for Starwood... I was able to use points and my plat status to get (nice) rooms during an extremely busy Easter week.


Personally, I would like to see Starwood pull their properties from Expedia. Expedia's poor business practices, combined with the slim margins to Starwood (vs. $9/diff in your case), seem like good enough reasons to me...

gleff

Actually, they're not.

We all know (kinda) what Starwood means in their T&C. But the plain language is hardly clear that a regular, cancellable/changeable reservation booked online through a source other than SPG.com won't yield elite benefits:
(Bolding mine.)

I read this as quite clearly saying that pre-paid reservations booked through a source other than Starwood won't receive in-hotel benefits.

But what about a reservation I make at, say, QuickBook, that is not pre-paid?

What if I go to BoardingArea.com which is not by any stretch of the imagination a pre-paid channel (I guess someone might say that Expedia is a pre-paid channel since they offer pre-paid reservations, even if you book a non-prepaid reservation with them)? Shouldn't in-hotel benefits be provided then at least according to SPG's terms and conditions?

Like I said, the T&C are far from clear on this point -- except as they apply to pre-paid reservations from non-Starwood sources.

tomcat

Based on what I was being told. SPG CSR can not modify rez made through Priceline, Travelocity, Expedia ....

bigjim

Good point - I guess that in order to avoid any confusion/conflict, if I'm expecting platinum benefits and stay/night credit, I book on spg.com. If I'm just looking for the cheapest rate, I'll go to priceline...

I would also think that if you are able to use the BRG that those stays would be eligible for all Platinum benefits as well. Perhaps that should be a clue - if you can't get the BRG, I don't think that you should count on getting all of the other benefits of membership/status. @:-)

eastcoastcan

I just had my stay on a priceline reservation. The staff was pleasant, I received evening Gold Member turndown, but was places on a low floor (although, I did request a corner room at the last minute, I may have been in a preferred room before that, no way to know).

I had to call to complain about some kids making an incredible amount of noise outside my room and the staff were great and offered to put be in my originally reserved room which I was told was on one of the top floors.

All in all, everything I expected from a Starwood property. I will probably go back to booking at SPG.com even for properties I know I can get through PL, so there will be no questions and I can get my SPG points.

elliscm

I also just completed a very nice Priceline stay at the Sheraton Toronto Centre with SPG Gold status. I had written a letter about two weeks ahead of time to the GM requesting that my # be added, non-smoking, and to add the names of another couple to the second room. We were placed on the SPG floor in the main tower (our friends were on a regular floor with smaller rooms, same tower.) Our room was extra-large and had a bottled water amenity, robes, etc. Everything else seemed to be Sheraton standard, including Sweet Sleeper. It’s a great hotel, we are always treated very well there. They did mention at check-in that it was Priceline, therefore no stay credit, but that our number would be for incidentals (which we did use.) So it looks like the main benefit was staying on the SPG floor with the bigger rooms.

I prefer the letter-writing method, as I think it is more formal.

tripmaster

is there a way to ensure you get a *wood hotel (or any hotel) through priceline?

b

bocastephen

there is no way to ensure you get any particular property or brand when using the priceline bid function (I believe they offer a higher priced search and compare option for hotels) - however, by using resources like biddingfortravel.com, you can research the various zones and star levels in the cities you want to visit to see which zones and levels offer the highest probability of snagging a starwood property.

SkyTeam777

I always get a handicapped room when booking through priceline, anyone know why this is? Are these less desirable rooms and they dump them on PL bookings, on the contrary they have more space, so youd think theyd be better!

Any other experiences with getting handicapped rooms all the time?

pinniped

Not a 100% guarantee, but you can tailor bids to zones where either (a) no one has ever posted a result from anything other than a Starwood, or (b) zones where you can tell the recent trend is that the winner is getting a Starwood. (This could indicate that a property is either no longer selling rooms to Priceline or selling them at a higher rate.)

There are a couple of different sites for researching bids. Betterbidding.com, etc...

pinniped

Frequently they are on the first floor or near the elevators. Unless you have a physical need for the room, they are the least desirable in most cases.

If the hotel is close to selling out that night, it probably makes sense for them to stick you in one of those. That way, they have a bit better chance of selling their better rooms. (I know when I need a last-minute hotel room, I call the property directly and confirm exactly what type of room I will get before I book. If all they had was a handicapped room, I would call another property and only take that room if everything else was sold out.)

FourWheels

I stayed at the Sheraton New Orleans via Priceline. I know enough from reading what to expect as a PL customer and never make any requests.

When I checked in I was asked if I needed an "accessible" room, which unfortunately I do. And when I handed the desk clerk my airline credit card, she asked for my frequent flyer number. Instead I gave her my SPG number I'd just signed up for last week. I was assigned an accessible room on the 40th floor, an SPG floor. Not a river view, but nice. No complaints. Thank you, Marlo!

So I've pondered whether my SPG number got me placed higher up or was it because the 40th floor just happened to have an accessible room? Or maybe it was either and the fact that I checked in at midnight. Whatever the case may be, I always feel fortunate to have gotten a great room booked through PL. (I know you dedicated SPG'ers work hard for your status.)

As I was reading threads here this morning, I remembered my status is (comped) Gold through an airline promo. Did Marlo see "Gold" on her computer screen? (I read a post somewhere in this forum that the screen doesn't actually show number of stays or points.)

Anywho, the promo's doing it's job... I think I'm falling in love with *wood. ^