Swan reservation issue?

[blondietink]

We recently stayed 2 nights at The Swan on our Starwood points and even paid extra points to have a balcony and 2 queen beds. Well, upon check-in (we were right on time) there were no queen bed balcony rooms available and we had to settle for a king bed with pull-out couch for the 4 of us. The pull-out was not a full size bed either. They offered to bring up a cot for the 4th person, but honestly I don't know where they would have put it, the room was so cramped already. So, we did without. We loved the hotel overall and the pools are terrific. In speaking with other people both at the resort and in the parks it seems that not getting the room you booked at The Swan is the norm. We would love to stay there again, but if we can't get what we book, then we probably won't. Anybody else have this problem?

 

[Robert P]

We recently stayed 2 nights at The Swan on our Starwood points and even paid extra points to have a balcony and 2 queen beds. Well, upon check-in (we were right on time) there were no queen bed balcony rooms available and we had to settle for a king bed with pull-out couch for the 4 of us. The pull-out was not a full size bed either. They offered to bring up a cot for the 4th person, but honestly I don't know where they would have put it, the room was so cramped already. So, we did without. We loved the hotel overall and the pools are terrific. In speaking with other people both at the resort and in the parks it seems that not getting the room you booked at The Swan is the norm. We would love to stay there again, but if we can't get what we book, then we probably won't. Anybody else have this problem?

We've never had a bed issue there, only a 'balcony room' not being available.
Was the king room with a balcony?

 

[ImprovGal]

It's because you booked an award with points. If you have a paid reservation, bed type is supposed to be guaranteed (unless you let them know otherwise that it's ok to switch). However, when an award stay is booked (either all points, or cash & points), the bed type is considered to be merely a preference and is not guaranteed. The room type itself should be at least at or above the level you booked.

 

[blondietink]

Yes, we did get a balcony in the king room, after waiting an hour and a half after the stated check-in time. I did look at my reservation confirmation, and there is nothing stated about the room type not being guaranteed. I will have to remember this in the future. My DH was also irked that we had to wait in the Starwood line forever (we were the only ones in that line) to get the room thing straightened out, when there were at least 30 people that went through the regular line and got their rooms right away. We thought being Starwood members would give us some benefits in the check-in process, but this is apparenlty not the case at this hotel.

 

[ImprovGal]

Yes, we did get a balcony in the king room, after waiting an hour and a half after the stated check-in time. I did look at my reservation confirmation, and there is nothing stated about the room type not being guaranteed. I will have to remember this in the future. My DH was also irked that we had to wait in the Starwood line forever (we were the only ones in that line) to get the room thing straightened out, when there were at least 30 people that went through the regular line and got their rooms right away. We thought being Starwood members would give us some benefits in the check-in process, but this is apparenlty not the case at this hotel.

Hmmm.. I'm SPG Platinum and I've nearly always had the priority service when I've used the Gold/Platinum line. However, sometimes the check-in line gets slammed and I've had to wait a guest cycle for a clerk to move over to the preferred station if they've been assisting a guest from the regular line. If I've had to wait, however, I've always received an apology.

The room type not being guaranteed may not have appeared on the reservation itself, but it's in the SPG program terms & conditions in section 9.2 "When using a Free Night Award, bedding and smoking preferences may be requested but are not guaranteed."

 

[blondietink]

Hmmm.. I'm SPG Platinum and I've nearly always had the priority service when I've used the Gold/Platinum line. However, sometimes the check-in line gets slammed and I've had to wait a guest cycle for a clerk to move over to the preferred station if they've been assisting a guest from the regular line. If I've had to wait, however, I've always received an apology.

"

Well, there was a clerk in the Gold/Platinum line the whole time and we were the only people in the line. He just couldn't find a room for us. It was noted on our reservation that there were 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 teenagers, so I think this was the big issue .... they didn't have a room big enough for the 4 of us. Do they not look at the incoming reservations in the system to assign rooms accordingly? I am just glad we arrived at the stated check-in time of 3 pm as I fear that if we had arrived later, say 6 pm, we might not have had a room at all. We were also questioned on how many points we used to reserve our room, which I thought was odd. I explained that we used extra points to get a balcony room and showed him my copy of the reservation stating such. I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that since we are Starwood members with Platinum status, we would have received faster service and maybe an upgrade of sorts. Guess that doesn't happen at this hotel.

We did receive a survey after our stay, and I noted the issues with the room and long wait to actually check-in and get a room. An hour and a half to get a room is entirely too long. If we had been early, I would have understood, but we were there at the stated check-in time. If we ever attempt to stay there again, I think we will call the hotel directly to make sure everything is ready when we arrive.

 

[IloveDisney77]

Well, there was a clerk in the Gold/Platinum line the whole time and we were the only people in the line. He just couldn't find a room for us. It was noted on our reservation that there were 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 teenagers, so I think this was the big issue .... they didn't have a room big enough for the 4 of us. Do they not look at the incoming reservations in the system to assign rooms accordingly? I am just glad we arrived at the stated check-in time of 3 pm as I fear that if we had arrived later, say 6 pm, we might not have had a room at all. We were also questioned on how many points we used to reserve our room, which I thought was odd. I explained that we used extra points to get a balcony room and showed him my copy of the reservation stating such. I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that since we are Starwood members with Platinum status, we would have received faster service and maybe an upgrade of sorts. Guess that doesn't happen at this hotel.

We did receive a survey after our stay, and I noted the issues with the room and long wait to actually check-in and get a room. An hour and a half to get a room is entirely too long. If we had been early, I would have understood, but we were there at the stated check-in time. If we ever attempt to stay there again, I think we will call the hotel directly to make sure everything is ready when we arrive.

I'm SPG Platinum as well and have been for 4 years now. We just stayed at the Swan this past weekend using the free night vouchers earned through their summer promotion. Upon check-in we were upgraded to a Deluxe Alcove with Balcony and Park view. So I guess this hotel does upgrade based on availability. I'm sure it helped in that the resort appeared to have a low occupancy rate.

With that said, what happened to you should not have happened, especially as a Platinum member. One of the pp's is correct in that using points doesn't gurantee the room type you requested. However, it is my experience that when using additional points to get an upgraded room that they bend over backwards to get you what was requested especially if the number of people were noted on the reservation.

I would recommend calling the Platinum Concierge Desk (they have always been extremely helpful in resolving any issues that have ever come up...few and far between by the way) to explain the situation to them to see what they can do to rectify the situation. Good Luck!