I checked into a Westin this afternoon (curious to see how many of you can figure out which it is based on the above picture), and decided to follow the advice of the majority. A couple of weeks ago I asked you guys whether you carry around your elite cards, and whether you present them when checking into a hotel. I did for the reasons outlined in that post, though I decided not to today.
The conversation at check-in went something like this:
Agent: “I have your Starwood Preferred Guest membership on file.”
Me: “Great, do you by chance have any room upgrades available today?
Agent: “Yes, we have you in a king deluxe room.”
Me: “I appreciate it, but do you have any suite upgrades?”
Agent: “That is a suite.”
Okay, I assume she knows more about the hotel she works at than I do, so I wasn’t about to argue with her. For what it’s worth there at least a dozen suites left for sale on the hotel’s website, so I had no reason to believe she wasn’t being honest about the upgrade.
But I went to the room only to find the deluxe room pictured above. For what it’s worth she also didn’t offer me a Platinum amenity, so I said “and could I also get the continental breakfast as the Platinum amenity, please?” She responded with “well you do get free high speed internet access, but yeah, you could get that too,” as if I was somehow asking for a favor. Interestingly even though they had the Platinum key cards visible on the desk, she gave me a regular one.
At Starwood hotels I’m usually lied to about the availability of suites, and not whether or not I was assigned one.
This is a case where I should have called her out on it but at the end of the day I’m staying alone and had a schedule to keep up with this afternoon, and didn’t want to waste more time. Blogging about it is a whole different story, of course. 😉
Has anyone else ever been lied to about being assigned a suite? Still not sure whether it’s because she didn’t think I was a Platinum or what…
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.