I am using my Starwood points for the Princeville Hotel on Kauai and the Kapalua Bay Hotel on Maui in October. I was wondering if there are any other Starwood members out there who have done the same. I am Platinum but unsure how upgrades work on points since this is the first time I have cashed Starwood points in for stays. Were you upgraded? How was the service? What can we expect to pay at the hotels for breakfast, lunch and drinks? There seems like there are many good places to eat dinner so chances are we will be going out for dinner each night.

Any help anyone has or can recommend would be a bonus.

Thanks!

I am also a Platinum Member and also used Starwood Points for my honeymoon trip to Argentina. As you probably know upgrades are based on availability when arriving. I would recommend the following. 1) Call the Platinum line and ask the rep to make a courtesy call to the hotel on your behalf regarding an upgrade. 2) Find out the name of the GM at the hotel and contact him/her directly prior to arrival.

Aloha.......

Celeste, Please read my thoughts about Starwood on these forums. It is entitled Starwood Preferred Program Lacking. Right now it is around #26 in this column or do a search above in the text search by putting the word Starwood in. Many other people also responded. Some were bad and some were good but that is what these forums are about..people's opinions and experiences. You can judge for yourself. Honestly, in my opinion if you are looking for service Starwood is not the place to spend hard earned dollars. Breakfast is about $18-20 per person. Lunch depends but we usually pay around $40.00. Dinner for us usually ran around $100-150 if we had wine. Good luck to you and I would love to hear your opinion after you read the articles.

Pete,

Thanks for the input. I have been a Starwood member for around 4 years (Platinum for 2 years). I am also Diamond with Hilton and also have status at Fairmont, Marriott and a various array of others.

I did read through other postings and have to say, so far, I have been very lucky with Starwood. I get upgrades around 95% of the time, the Customer Service reps over the phone are gernally nice and professional around 80% of the time. But, this said, my ratings are based as an previously VERY loyal Hilton member. Hilton has so many problems, it makes anyone look good. Hilton's bad service is why I moved a lot of my stays to Starwood.

I am just hoping that my stays in Hawaii will be excellent as I expect this service from Starwood. Hopefully it is not wishful thinking but only time will tell. I just hate to go all the way to Hawaii for my anniversary to find out we have a room over looking the trash dumpsters. We have always had ocean front or ocean view rooms in Hawaii (all via paid stays) so I don't want a dumpster!

Thanks for the reply,

Celeste

Does anyone know if you can get Starwood benefits (i.e. upgrades) at Kapalua Villas? Have 2 -1 BR oceanview villas about mid-month. Any help is appreciated!

Princeville Hotel is lovely. The first time I stayed there I had a lovely room overlooking the ocean. I believe the majority of rooms there overlook the water. The second time I stayed I requested a garden room. I had a view of a greenery and no ocean, but I had a balcony. The ocean view rooms do not have balconies with the exception of just a few. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful hotel. Restaurants costs will be high, but there are reasonably priced restaurants close by.

The only time I used Starwood points was to stay at the Frankfurt Airport Sheraton for one night. There were three of us. When I called originally to make the reservation over the phone there was to be two of us. When I called to change the reservation to add a third person, they said it would be an additional $50 to have a cot brought in. I did not change the reservation. Once at the hotel we were upgraded to a huge room with three single beds at no additional charge. We did not ask for an upgrade either.

HI Celeste,

There is a wealth of information on Starwood on www.flyertalk.com
Click on miles, then scroll down to Hotels and Click on Starwood.
Searching is free and if you want to resgister to post a question it is free too and you should get a lot of replies as free stays in Hawaii are a popular subject.

Regards
Gregory

Celeste -

I'm with you on Starwood versus Hilton. None of the programs are perfect, but compared to Hilton, I've found Starwood service much better (Hilton's hotels are also sorely lacking in maintenance and renovation).

I think your best bet is to call the hotel the morning of your arrival (their time). That way the rooms are turning over and they can probably reserve you a nice one at that time (even if not an upgrade, at least you can get a nicely located room that's away from the elevator, corner with two windows, etc.). I've had good luck with this and then make the same request when I arrive. Often they will comment that a nice room has already been reserved (per my earlier phone call) or they may help you out at that time. I find if you simply wait until arrival, often it's later in the day and the selection of available rooms is limited. Regarding the customer service, they helped me immensely switch two paid nights to a points night and a "free friday" but typically, I contact the hotel directly as you have better luck. To save phone charges (and to have your request formalized), I often send a fax to the front desk rather than speak with someone live. This way you can be polite, specific and note your Starwood status.

Thanks to Diane, TJ and Gregory for your replies.

Gregory, I just discovered flyertalk.com last week and am addicted (not a good thing; I am spending way to much time on it!) Do you know of any other websites similar to flyertalk.com that I can have fun on and keep up to date on points promotions, etc?

TJ, great suggestions with your reply. I will fax and call the day we leave. Since we do not fly into Maui until 9:30pm, I was afraid all the good rooms at the Kapalua Bay would be given away. Also, thanks for your support that Starwood is better than Hilton. After reading some of the postings on flyertalk.com, I was starting to think that I was in the minority!

Thanks to all,

Celeste