Triangle Trip

The Westin snack and minibar sensors are way too sensitive. I was recently at Westin and accidentally knocked over a can of peanuts on the snack tray. I picked up and placed the peanuts back on the tray but apparently did not do it fast enough. The next day I noticed charges for peanuts and cookies on my hotel bill – apparently I also knocked the cookies off its place on the sensored tray.

I had to talk to the front desk to  straighten out my bill before I left the hotel. Due to the long line, I  wasted 15 minutes of my valuable time – luckily I didn’t have an urgent meeting or catch a flight. The front desk agent was very nice and removed the charges without question. However, this inconvenience gave me the feeling of Westin trying to tack on extra charges to my bill. Had I not reviewed the bill before leaving the hotel, I would have been charged $20 for the peanuts and cookies.

Westin could have prevented this inconvenience had they done the following:

1.  Had the front desk warn me about the minibar and snack sensors. The front desk should have to told me I had x seconds to put the snack or drink back or I will be charged for removing the item off its place. What if I only want to see the packaging or read the ingredients?

2.  Have a very large sign on top of the snacks and on the minibar door clearly stating that their is a sensor tied to the drinks and snacks. The tray holding the snacks had a sign on the edge of the tray which was way below eye level. The sign on the door was so small I couldn’t even read it with a magnified glass.

Most hotels charge $10 to $15 per night for Internet service. Furthermore, the Internet connections at hotels are spotty – especially wireless connections. Companies and consulting firms generally reimburse their employees for in-room Internet access because it is work related or expects the employee to be doing something billable when they are in their hotel rooms.

If you are frequent traveler staying at hotels and accessing the Internet for at least 5 nights a month, you have enough budget to get a mobile broadband card from Sprint or Verizon for the same price ($50 a month). The mobile broadband cards from Sprint and Verizon offer faster service and allow you to access the Web or your corporate network when your clients doesn’t allow you on their network. Additionally, you can access the Web and your corporate network while you’re idle at the airport or at a Starbucks. A full day Wifi pass at an airport or Starbucks is around $10.

So internal finance team or auditors, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Let your consultants and employees charge in the $50 a month for a mobile broadband card because it actually saves your company and clients money. Five Internet access at a hotel, Starbucks, airport or any where for paid wifi will pay for the mobile broadband card monthly fee (of $50). Clients should also realize they are paying their consultants less when they reimburse for mobile broadband cards vs paying for the nightly Internet charges. I have used this business case at my prior employer and was able to get this through the corporate bureaucracy. I urge our readers to try the same. FYI, I own a Sprint card for nearly 3 years and love the freedom of mobile broadband.

If you are a Starwood Platinum member you have one of the best free tools out there at your disposal: The Platinum Concierge.

• Need tickets to a Broadway show?
• Need the name of a restaurant in South Beach Miami and have someone book it for you?
• Forgot to cancel a Starwood reservation and got charged a penalty?
• Need to get a room when the hotel is sold out?
• Need to escalate an issue you have with a hotel like bad service or being charged for goods inside the room?

I’ve used the Starwood Platinum Concierge service to find resolutions to all of these. The Platinum Concierge number is: 888-625-4991. Starwood’s excellent and responsive customer service makes them my favorite hotel loyalty program.