There is one thing about the OneWorld Frequent Flyer Program that airlines such as Qantas and British Airways are members of, it actually works, the same cannot be said of the Starwood’s Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty program operated by the Sheraton,Westin and Marriott Hotels group.
This year I have clocked up several nights staying in their properties, yet my app reports that I have only done 1 night despite stays in New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Costa Mesa in California.
Upon arriving at the Sheraton Hong Kong for a 7 day stay the Hotel refused to recognise any of the days I have stayed in their properties this year, because their SPG app appears to be malfunctioning by only displaying 1 nights stay this year.
A simple visit to the previous bookings page clearly reveals the amount of bed nights (15) that I have stayed in their properties this year. I also did 14 in December 2016 alone.
After three visits to the front desk of the Sheraton Hotel in Hong Kong in an effort to resolve the issue, I simply gave up with Sheraton management not even coming back to me or even accepting that there was a problem with my profile.
I also discovered that unlike the Qantas Frequent Flyer program individuals who have nominated to stay at a Sheraton, Marriott or Westin property do not actually get points unless they have used their own credit card to pay for the stay.
With Qantas points are allocated to the flyer.
With the SPG Awards program the operator pockets the points if a stay has been paid for by a Company as was my case in Hong Kong.
When I raised this with the Sheraton Hotel in Hong Kong the receptionist said that my app had to show that I had done 15 nights in their hotel to qualify for an SPG Platinum room. What I ended up with was a room that looked out onto a ventilation shaft and the backend of the hotel.
It appears that these images don’t make it to the Sheraton Hong Kong web site or their Facebook page.
