Great hotels, gimmicky website
Written: Jun 09 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| How informative was your tour? |
 |
|
| How strenuous was your tour? |
 |
|
| Knowledge of tour guide(s): |
 |
|
| Transportation quality: |
|
|
|
Pros: "in" "fun" "hip" hotels.
Cons: Expensive, and some would say snobby
The Bottom Line: starwoods is tricky
|
|
|
| lwinner's Full Review: Starwood Vacations |
The Starwood hotel system ranges from cheap mediocre hotels to hip locals to ultra-luxury. I have stayed at a number of Starwood hotels, including the following: Two different W’s in NYC, the W in Los Angles, The Westin in NYC, The Westin in Ft. Lauderdale, and a few Sheraton’s in Florida. As expected, each hotel has its good points and bad. In booking these hotels, I typically utilize Starwood..com The Starwood website is often difficult to use, and often has technical problems.
I have accumulated a moderate amount of Starpoints that can be applied to future hotels stays or other perks. The amount of Starpoints needed for a free night depends on the category of hotels. The cheapest category only requires a couple of thousand point for a free night. These are typically for hotels you don’t want to stay in. The ultra-luxury hotel (category 7) require 25,000 Starpoints for one free night. Recently, I attempted to use another feature on the Starwood website that I thought might significantly reduce the rate of a hotel room. According to its website, Starwood will knock 50% of “the rack rate” of a room for just 1,000 Starpoints. This sounded like a great deal, however I was skeptical about the term “rack rate.” The website doesn’t allow you to book these 50% off room through the internet. You have to call the Starwood number and speak directly with a representative. At this time I was trying to book a two night stay at the W in Los Angeles (Westwood). Typically, these rooms list for $350+ on the website. After confirming the cost of the hotels through the website, I called 1-888-625-4988. The phone was answered by a computer where you are told to type in your account number (An eleven digit number), and then you chose from a number of selections so the computer can route your call to the correct person. Once I was connected to a person, the representative again asked for my Starwood number (I always wonder why bother typing these numbers in, when the first thing they always do is ask you for your number). The representative was extremely courteous and nice on the phone. When I explained to her what I wanted to do, she checked the rates, and told me that a room at the W in Los Angeles at the 50% rate would cost, $330.00. I asked her how in the world this was 50% off of anything. She explained that she was reading me the rack rates. In other words, the 50% off deal is basically a scam. I then tried to check one other hotel, and found the discount rate to be closer to 10%.
Overall, Starwood hotels are some of my favorite hotels, but they are typically more expensive than they should be. A lot of the “in” or “hot” hotels really don’t offer anything more than a typical upscale hotel room (accept they always have Voss water in really cool bottles.) It is my belief that the Starwood point system is almost useless unless you spend a fortune at these hotels (Corporate America can come in handy). I have almost always received decent service at any Starwood hotel, but the website has been basically useless, and the 㦞% off discount” just led me to looking for another hotel since I was aggravated at the gimmick.
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Couples
Tour type: Individual
Tour format: Various
Tour length: Several Days
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
lwinner
|
|
Member: Louis Winner
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 16 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.