I stay at the Westin as much as possible when I am in Sydney on business. The location can't be beat. I was in Sydney last week with three of my colleagues and I recommended the Westin.
When booking the room, one of my colleagues, who sits next to me, was booking on the Westin website at the same time as I was. She got her rate at around 280/290AUD per night. I decided to be smart, and use the SPG website. My rate ended up at around 320 per night, but I assumed that because I was there on the Wednesday night , and my colleague was not, this was the difference.
When I clicked the submit key, I received an error message telling me to try again later. I needed to get a confirmation, so I went to the regular Westin website. I received a rate of 360 per night. Calling Westin customer service did not help, as the people on the phone, even the service manager, just kept repeating the same line - The room is no longer available. the manager, even suggested that this is similar to an airline website, where the prices change, depending on availability! I'm sorry, but a time differential of less than 5 minutes should not make a difference, in my opinion But then, what do I know? I'm only the customer.
She said that she would do me a favour and call the Westin, who also told her that the room rate was no longer available. I could have the room for 360 per night. Seeing as all my other colleagues had booked already, I said fine - if there's nothing you can do for me, I have no choice - I'll take the room.
When I finally received my email confirmation, imagine my surprise when i was being charged 370 per night! I just shook my head, realizing the uselessness and futility of calling up .
Is this service? All people seem to be able to tell you is NO. And then to quote a rate, then confirm the room at an even higher rate, it is just ridiculous, and smacks of the worst example of price gouging. With other hotels, they will apologise and give you some incentive - a nicer room at that rate, free internet, something. The attitude that I received was - take it or leave it.
I realize that this is already long, so will just quickly list the other issues:
-no more free water in the rooms
-housekeeping coming in to service the room, even if I had the Do Not Disturb sign lit
-no electrical outlets near the bed (brought this up before, and this is something that I don't understand; other hotels have them for the convenience of their guests)
The only things that this hotel has going for it are:
-the fitness centre, which is a full gym, not one with machines and a few weights
-the location
Other than that, I am seriously looking around for another hotel to stay in in Sydney
Sources
No comments:
Post a Comment