I am staying in the Sheraton Noosa in Australia for 4 nights - Jan 7th to Jan 11th - using starwood points - 12,000 per night.
I contacted the hotel as my reservations were done as four separate nights and I was showing 2 nights in a superior room and 2 nights in a Pool/River view room (next category up) and I emailed them to see if they could make all 4 nights Pool / River View.

By the time the reply came they had downgraded my 2 nights in Pool/River View and told me it is 1500 points per night ( so 6000 ) for Pool/River View upgrade

Thoughts ? Do I have any rights to be a bit ? I am only supposed to get a superior room for the 12,000 points

 

You got what you paid for, so why should you have a right to be angry?

Are you Platinum by any chance?

 

What did you book? That is what matters, not what is showing and may change several times until check-in time as the hotel does its rooms management work.

 

If you have a written confirmation for the better room for 12,000 points for two of the nights, then the hotel must (at least) give you the better room for those two nights. Forcing this might mean the inconvenience of moving, just as having made reservations for different room types could mean that the hotel forces you to change rooms whether you want to do so or not.

 

12,000 Starpoints is what it takes to get a standard award room at the Sheraton Noosa. Since standard award rooms are booked as run-of-house, the actual room type, bedding, and smoking preferences are not guaranteed.

Starpoints rates listed and no blackout dates are for Free Night Awards only and apply to standard rooms only (as defined by each property).Upgraded rooms, including upgrades based on size, view, services, and/or suites, are available at a higher Starpoints cost, as determined by each property, and must be booked through your local customer contact center. Starwood Preferred Guest does not limit the number of standard rooms available for Free Night Awards. Free Night Awards are each valid for one free night, single and/or double standard room occupancy at participating properties, and include the cost of your hotel room and room tax/service charge. All other hotel charges are the responsibility of the Member. When using a Free Night Award, bedding and smoking preferences may be requested, but are not guaranteed.

If you want to guarantee an upgraded room type, bedding, and smoking preferences on an award reservation, you would need to call the Customer Contact Center nearest you and ask for availability of a Specialty or Specialty Select award.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

 

I am pretty sure that's not the case unless you have used extra points or SNA.@:-) Some hotels move room categories around a few days prior, I don't think you have any entitlement even though you can print a screenshot.

 

very true , we went thru this a few yrs ago when some folks saw they were preUPed to a suite when looking at their res online, only to find out at checkin that they were in the type of room they booked and not a suite. Turns out the Hotel was able to sell the suites and did so and in the end the person got Zilch since they ended up with what they booked, so even with a screenshot showing the UP wont help any Compensation = Zilch

 

I'm not thinking of the case where a hotel pre-assigns rooms (where the property can renege until you check in) but where the person makes a reservation for a particular room type at a particular rate. In that case, the hotel should honor the reservation as it was originally confirmed unless it's a clear mistake rate. Since sometimes more that one room category can be sold at the same rate, it's not clear to me that this should be viewed as an obvious mistake, although someone who knows the SPG rules about booking standard rooms for standard points on line might have been suspicious.

I wonder whether the reservations were originally made by a Plat Concierge agent or through spg.com.

 

I am not reading any anger from the OP
just a little grumpy

and yes they have a right to give you the basic room booked.
just shows, stay away from reservations until checkin then negotiate.

 

For the record, the OP seems to be Gold, according to the information under the username.

 

hi yes im a gold starwood. and yes i am not grumpy !
the reason i have not booked the 5th night free is trust me something i have thought a lot about. These rooms are very expensive at the paid rate for my dates (495 AUD so basically $495 USD a night) this is why I am using 12,000 points per night. I have just under 3 weeks to explore Australia and 5 days in Noosa is too long - it would mean a day less staying with friends (for free) in Torquay on the Great Ocean Road , south of Melbourne.
(I am staying in Sydney then Whitsundays then Noosa then Torquay then Melbourne then Kuala Lumpur)

I had 4 nights in a standard room booked for 12,000 points but my reservation had since a day after i booked showed 2 nights in the standard room and 2 nights in the next cat up(river/pool view). i was just making the point that the minute i mentioned this they downgraded the better room back to standard but offered the room upgrade back up to the better room for the 4 nights @ 1500 points per night. This is purely an observation I am making and I am sure well within their rights..

1500 points would guarantee the upgrade or else i can request the same room subject to availability when i arrive (hotel will be busy)

 

You could book the 5th night for free and leave after 4. You are entitled to it for the same amount of points. Perhaps you could use it as negotiation leverage with the manager when you arrive. I am willing to give up my fifth night if I get a better room... If they are busy I bet they would rather have the room open on that night.

 

The 5th night at the hotel would also be free though... "5th night free" applies to free award nights, see here: https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...ee_nights.html

Your choice whether to spend the "free" night at the hotel or at your friends' place, but it's a free night either way.

 

And don't forget that award nights count for status, so if you're expecting to be close to a status level next year then...

 

in hindsight i should of booked the 5 nights . initially i had 7 x 1 nights booked until i new my exact dates. i cant cancel and book 5 nights now as there is no availability. its the first week of january and peak time in Australia - they are booked out of standard rooms on spg website