Question for SPG (Starwood) Members...

[LSUmom4kids]

We are considering staying an extra night at the Sheraton Safari - we have enough for the Fri. night 2 Queen Beds room (3,000 SPG points).

My question (which I forgot to ask when I called), can I use another 1,000 of my SPG points to upgrade to a suite (if available)?

Or would just being a SPG member automatically qualify me for a free upgrade - if the room is available?

We have 4,600 points but I don't know if paying with points will allow you to upgrade...

Does anyone know?

 

[happymommy]

I just checked on the SPG website - it's an additional 4,000 points to upgrade to a suite for a category 2 hotel. You may luck out, and get one anyway (?) but I don't know. I've only stayed at the swan and dolphin on points before, and it's a similar thing: for a suite it's basically double the points. You can get a room upgrade, it's between 1,000 and 1,500 points at the sheraton safari. At the swan and dolphin, I got a balcony room for the extra 1,000 and a corner balcony room for 1,500 (on top of 10,000 per night). It would have been another 10,000 points per night for a suite upgrade, not worth it to me.

 

[Part of Your World]

We stayed there for 3 nights on points last year at this time. I contacted the manager prior to arrival to express concerns about negative reviews on his hotel. He assured my stay would be pleasant. The room they assigned us was on the SPG floor. It was quite small with a palm tree fully blocking the "view" of the pool. The closet door had been freshly (I mean minutes before) painted. The fumes were strong, so I called to request a different room, perhaps with a little more room. They assigned me to a "suite". It was in another motel-like building. The extra room was terrific, but not without problems. The first suite's sink plumbing was laying in pieces on the sink top. The a/c, when turned to cool more, instead started blowing smelly, burny heat. I called to ask them to fix both. When we returned from the park that night, they hadn't fixed anything. The front desk moved us next door. It was better, but in need of refurb. Loud people kept running by outside all night. I sent the mgr an email thanking him for his attention to our reservation, but telling him of our difficulties. He sent an apology, along with a promise to return the points, which was done promptly. Not a great place, but not bad for the price! The moral of the story: don't hesitate to ask for a room with a little more room!