Starwood Hotels & Resorts Reviews

As far as the ownership goes, I have experienced all the same things previous writers have. My fees (not tax) is $1200! Also, I can't ever get what I want, and I was told being Platinum, I could book anytime. BUT, after a certain date, you are behind people off the street. Last year My family was stuck in a handicap room with broken furniture, wrong type chairs to sit at the table, loose dishwasher, and a counter that nothing could fit on. The Majority of appliances were in drawers! I was told they would erase some charges to make up for it, and after I returned home, they put them back on my card!

IF YOU ARE TEMPTED OR PRESSURED... TELL THEM YOU NEED YOUR LAWYER TO LOOK AT IT BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING!!! It is an absolute scam. We bought timeshare that we should use every second year... And were lied to about the fees involved. We pay EVERY YEAR approx $1000 with fees going up by a lot every year and all kinds of extra fees thrown in. Trying to book a place... Impossible to get what you want, where you want. Plus they don't tell you about all the rules (must be over weekend, 7 days only, etc, etc, etc) which make it impossible to use what you are paying for. As one of the other reviewers shared, we missed the date when you were supposed to "roll over" the points we did not use due to my husband's very serious illness and their "Resolution Dept" is a joke... Actually an extension of the vulture-like tactics they use at the sales centres.

Once they have sucked you in, they simply take advantage of their position to squeeze the life out of your wallet while offering nothing for their owners so don't expect any resolutions if you have any issues other than the choice of which credit card you want to use for the never-ending fees and new charges and rules they come up with. Also note how it is virtually impossible to extricate oneself from these bloodsuckers without incurring even more expense. One of the big selling points they like to use when customers are skeptical of timeshares is the Starwood brand and how reputable they are.

After my experience I am disgusted that Starwood has joined the ranks of timeshare scammers. I will go out of my way to avoid all Starwood properties as a result. Shame on you STARWOOD!!! I hope this helps others out there to be aware and mindful of how awful this company is! I will let as many people as I know about how they operate. When I visit the property, I will make it a point to let all potential customers know exactly what they are trying to suck them into and hopefully prevent them from being scammed.

Well after 2 nights, we had an unfortunate incident and needed to get back to NC immediately. So I called to try to arrange to change the presentation and was told that it would be fine and I just needed to leave a voice mail with that department and they would get back to me. Well, we didn't hear from anyone and had to check out 2 days early. I asked about it at checkout and was told that it would be fine. Now, 2 weeks after returning home, I find that my debit card has been charged $600 by them without my knowledge. When I called to inquire about it, I was told that it was because we didn't attend the presentation for a 2nd time. That was not in our agreement, nor did I see it in writing. And to make it worse, we had already paid approximately $1500 prior to this stay! We had considered actually continuing with the purchase because we enjoyed it very much, however after this, I don't think I'll ever do business with them again.

I am shock by the lack of customer service I received. No consideration at all for an owner for more than 15 yrs. So I basically gave them $900 for nothing. The lesson I learned was I would have rather not send them the money and had them give my week away than to pay the money and have them take my week away. Do not buy with Starwood. They rip off their customers. I am definitely selling my timeshare. It was much better when it was maintained by Vistana... They knew what customer service was.

The staff are so arrogant that I am ready to sell all 3 weeks off. They are truly so ignorant when it comes to making a better business plan that they would rather go belly up than to pull my internet week into the program. I pay the taxes and maintenance fees. I am doing them a favor but today they cross the line telling me if I let go of my timeshare they would go after my credit. When I get the chance, I'm moving over to Disney!

I called customer service AGAIN and the woman told me that she would try to help. She called me back a couple of hours later and informed me that she couldn't honor my rate and that since they booked me at the Brooklyn location, they were not refunding my money. After a long angry conversation, they finally agreed to refund my money. The night before we leave, I was stuck searching for another hotel and was forced to pay $500 more than the rate we booked. The lack of customer service has been inexcusable, and I think we would have arrived in Manhattan and shown up to a construction site, had I not clicked on the link. I wonder how many other people have booked the same hotel and will have no idea until they show up to check in. I expected so much more from a Starwood property and will NEVER book with them again.

Then I called customer service at Starwood; they also hung up in my ear, cuz she told me to call FedEx and I kept insisting that the hotel call FedEx since I didn't make the mistake, but the hotel did. Since I would not accept the proposed solution of calling FedEx, she hung up on me. I was so distressed, I broke down in tears. I couldn't understand why people would treat another human being this way. They had ignored emails I sent and then flat out lied to us about contacting my family and when I called Customer Service at Starwood, the Aloft South Beach flat-out lied to her too about something my husband never said. They have achieved their desired goal I guess: I'm never ever staying at another Starwood hotel and I'll make sure my associates won't either.

Original Review: July 24, 2015

I find it completely unacceptable when you are loyal to an organization (Starwood), working toward collecting points then come to find out if you have not stayed with one year the account is closed and points are deleted. After contacting Starwood they advised as a courtesy they will refund half the points back to account. Hilton and other quality hotels do not let your points expire and I would not recommend devoting your stays to a company that treats its customers in this way. Your travel would be better served using a resort that truly appreciates your business.

In my case, having book a night stay roughly averaging $3,000 for the Palisades Suite, I with reason expected top notch service and get what I'm paying for. A Suite that is honestly outdated that reminds me more of my grandmother's living room, over priced food and horrible wifi connection, could have been turned a blind eye and swept under the rug until my call with Rick put everything over the top. He answered the phone with attitude, was rude and had condescending remarks. By the time I hung up, I was shocked as to what took place, it was then I thought I would much prefer to rescue shelter in Louisiana where everyone was polite, attentive and accommodating, all during a hurricane!

It's unfortunate in my opinion that Westin and Starwood puts so much effort to train how to offer the "Westin Experience" to their employees, who clearly missed the class or just didn't pay attention. My review is a poor 50/50% for the simple fact that if an agent like Rick can't even have decent social skills over the phone, how could anyone expect anything better in person. You're really rolling the dice at the Bonaventure, book your stay only if you're feeling lucky.

I contacted Starwood today (am a Gold member of the Preferred Guest program) to inform them that this was a very disconcerting way to find out that we have nowhere to stay, especially given we have transferred air miles to cover the airfare. I was told the original plan was to have things buttoned up much sooner, but they did not make it due to problems in closing. The revised deadline was the 4th, but they did not make that one, which is why I got the email so late. The new deadline to have all reservations moved to other hotels on the island is now today, the 5th. It is now 10:30 PM and no contact from Starwood. Seems they missed another deadline.

Knowing the island and its hotels (I have been visiting for nearly 20 years), there are not many hotels that are of the caliber of the Westin, so I am concerned about the quality, location and value of the purported replacement. Up until now, I have been marginally okay with the Starwood brand; based on this experience, I would suggest other options to those traveling.

I immediately contacted my credit card company in the UK who informed me that a charge of $750 had been made to the card. This almost wiped out the remaining credit on the card and as I did not have any other credit cards, I was forced to use the limited cash I had on me. As a consequence, I did not have the greatest two days in the city. I was unable to rent a car as I had planned to do plus I was also restricted to eating "budget" food.

After two days, a security supervisor from the credit card company called to inform me that they had been in direct contact with the Four Points Hotel and the Customer Services manager had confirmed that a desk clerk had been fired as a consequence of a number of thefts. When visitors settled their hotel accounts in cash (as I did), the offending clerk would simply charge the amount to the registered credit card, then pocket the cash. The credit card company immediately credited the funds back to my account which had been stolen.

When I reported the matter to Starwood Hotels, they did not even apologize to me. However, after a number of letters and emails, they agreed that they would provide me with some level of "compensation" which was in the form of either a free stay or at least vouchers.

It will shortly be the fourth anniversary of the stay and I have still not any vouchers or indeed any physical confirmation that I would be provided with a free stay upon my next trip to the United States. The reason this matter came to mind again is because I am flying out to Los Angeles later this month and I would like Starwood to provide me with what they promised. I have sent them two letters over the last few weeks but they have failed to respond to any of them.

To say I am disappointed with the outcome of this matter would be an understatement. Not only was I the victim of theft, but the premeditated criminal actions of a Starwood Hotels employee robbed me of a relaxing stay in Las Vegas, and a trip to the Grand Canyon which I had always dreamed of. Needless to say, I shall never stay with any of their hotels ever again, and I would like to warn all visitors of the possibility of becoming a victim of theft whenever you stay with Starwood Hotels.

I did know that upon leaving the room, I had pulled a "surprise" I had hidden in the dresser for my children for the ride home which was a box of crayons and coloring books. My young son had pulled the one drawer out to see if there were any more in there. I took the drawer from him and placed it on top of the dresser as he had just pulled it off its track and it only needed to be realigned. After turning around, I realized my youngest daughter had taken her new yellow crayon and drew a few lines (3) on the TV stand. I picked her up and chose not to wipe the TV as I knew that housekeeping was near and would soon be cleaning my room. This would of course be wiped up as they dusted as it was simply just a few nicks of a crayon. But again, I felt all would be resolved when Ms. ** would see the room for herself.

As we walked in, she again informed me of the severe damage. I had brought with me my box of diaper wipes as I thought maybe housekeeping saw the crayon marks and didn't know to just wipe the crayon with a dry tissue. I got down on my hands and knees and simply wiped the 3 marks up with my wipe. This literally took me less than a few seconds. I then walked over to the dresser and placed the drawer back in track and shut it. As I did this, I waited for Ms. ** and Ms. ** to finish stating how children were not welcome in a hotel when they were allowed to get away with this sort of behavior. I immediately felt alarmed by what they were accusing me of and began to explain that my children were just 19 months old that had done this and apologized for not being the business executive that they must've been used to having stay at their hotel.

My dad, who had followed me into the room, had also felt the prejudicial nature of their accusations and had raised his voice to explain how we are a very respectful family and how I had left the room quite tidy with garbage in bins, towels in a pile, nearly everything in its place with the exception of one drawer and not all of them all over nor all of them broken as was explained. Ms. ** again reiterated how children were unwelcome here at the same time that Ms. ** had asked us to remove ourselves. My dad then reiterated what she had exactly just told us to do using her exact words. She again asked us to remove ourselves and explained how she was done with him talking to her in the tone he had used. As he turned around to leave, he had explained how he was appalled by her accusations and thoroughly embarrassed by her behavior towards me and asked her for her supervisor's information. I had stayed in the room and tried to reason with her as I felt she was overreacting.

Again, I felt ganged up on by both Ms. ** and Ms. ** who had again reiterated how families were not welcome at their hotel and how they were appalled by what I had allowed my children to do. They also made other accusations of my personal judgment and character which were made in front of other hotel guests as we were in the hallway. This is when I realized that they had obviously singled me out and were not interested in working things out. I had responded to their insults by calmly stating how I would like to get the supervisor's information as I didn't feel she was open for a calm discussion. She told me to go to the front desk and said she would give it to me there.

I waited for at least a good 15 minutes when I had to ask the gal at the front desk for Ms. **. That is when Ms. ** came out of her office and handed me a scrap of paper that she had written contact information for ASM Hospitality as her management. I asked her for a contact name or phone number and she replied stating how they are owned by over 40 people by which it would be impossible to convey a name after all it would be coming across her desk anyway. As she walked away, she said good luck and smirked. A week later, I had to call her for the same information again as I had given that slip of paper to my dad and I would like the information for myself to which she had replied, "What did you do, lose it by giving it to one of your kids?" I could not believe how insulting this woman was! What did she have against me?

Looking back at my stay, I can only run through the entire 24 hours again and again and I can honestly say that I feel victimized by the mere fact that I was staying without my husband and that I was there with a young family to which the management at this particular hotel was not welcome to. In fact, they did everything they could to insult, embarrass, harass, shout false accusations personally against me as well as making sure that my stay with them was anything but satisfying or comfortable. Quite frankly, I am surprised that anyone would see them able to have any relations with a consumer.

When I found out that Westin is part of Starwood, I told then I did not want to buy a villa from them. When we were leaving the tour, we were treated very badly. The cart that would take us back to our room darted out so fast that my 5-year old daughter fell out of the back of the tram. My wife caught her just in time before her head was slammed to the pavement.

I know that the CEO turned a failing company around to be profitable but this appears to be at the cost of treating the guests as if they are insignificant. I have learned from past dealings with Starwood that anyone's concerns will go unnoticed. Obviously, my concern that they nearly killed my 5-year old daughter will go unnoticed by Starwood and the CEO of the company.

Their pressure to buy was extensive. The salesmen acknowledged that I may have been treated poorly at Sheraton, but if we buy a villa that bad treatment will end. Well, I do not need that kind of threat to buy. If they plan to continue the bad treatment, I just will not ever use any of their hotels. After we said no, we were sent to some kind of closer that added more pressure. It was disguised as checking up on the sales agent, but it was clearly a forceful sales. The closer stated if we did not buy today, the incentives will not be given at a later date stating that it was illegal to extend the incentives. But if we buy into a special program for nearly $1600, we could reserve our incentives.

As it turned out, I had to cancel all the reservations Id made at the Sheraton, and I systematically went through and cancelled each one online. One reservation that I had a record of, though, did not show up when I searched for it. I looked for it by reservation number, by my name and Starwood account number, and by the other guests names; the site consistently informed me that there were no reservations listed. Thinking that I had cancelled the reservation earlier, when I had made other changes, without writing down the cancellation number, I believed that I had no existing Sheraton reservations.

We were billed for those three reservations that the online site said did not exist, however. I sent a letter explaining the problem to Discover and to Starwood, and eventually someone from the Sheraton New Orleans called me. He clearly had no understanding of the problem I described, and even though I explained the situation multiple times, he kept asking me for a cancellation number. Since I couldn't provide one, our request to not be billed was rejected, and we were charged for the three rooms.

I then wrote a letter to Starwood customer service (the first letter went to Discover). We received a reply from Angeletta Anderson, again from the Sheraton New Orleans, who blamed the charges on the Starwood reservations website (just as I had done in my correspondence) and then proceeded to hide behind the Users Agreement, claiming that problems with the website were in no way the responsibility of the company running the website.

This latest reply was especially irritating, since it acknowledges that we were, in fact, charged for three rooms because of a problem with the reservations website, but then it claims that the company has no responsibility for those problems. I would imagine that any company truly interested in good customer relations would take responsibility for its own errors, instead of referring to deliberately vague legal language to shirk that responsibility. Worse, Ms. Anderson went on to encourage us to stay at the Sheraton New Orleans in the future as if we would stay at any Sheraton Hotel again after the treatment we have received in this situation.

After this letter, on March 5, I wrote to the president of Starwood, expressing my frustration, but I never heard back. Our charges for these rooms were $433.44. I find it absurd that a company would acknowledge problems with its technology and then refuse to take responsibility for the results of those problems.