BEWARE: Westin St Francis Hotel SanFrancisco
Warning to anyone taking the John Muir Yosemite/Sequoia tour ; beware of the Westin St Francis hotel in San Francisco . I have been dealing with them for 21/2 months on a billing charge .
The original trip was cancelled due to snow in Sequoia . We were cautioned by the tour director to make sure there wehad no outstanding charges on our credit card ,which I did . Lo and behold don't they charge me for a breakfast that was supposed to be paid by Tauck .
After, countless e-mails and phone calls to Westin Hotel & Resorts billing that is on a foreign shore trying to straighten this out I finally got a name for someone at the Weston St Francis who has strung me along for another month promising a refund that they agreed to a month ago
Today, the quest services at Tauck said please let them handle this from now on. Tauck hasn't been able to fix it yet .Hopefully, they will soon .I have informed Tauck that if they ever have a tour that stays at a Westin . I'm not going .
PS: After looking at previous discussions it looks like someone had issues with the Westin St Francis in 2013 . Hey! Tauck are you paying attention !
Comments
How about your credit card company? I’ve always gotten the credit card company to sort out a disputed charge. Always worked for me, but 2 1/2 months might be a bit ‘long’.
So someone had a problem at the same hotel 6 years ago? That’s quite a few complaints!
I was working with credit card Company . Filed a dispute. They dropped the ball after the Westin St Francis said they would give me a refund. I waited 10 business days for the refund.
I called the Westin after 12 business days . Westin St Francis said they sent it . Guess what? No they didn't .After another e-mail & phone call today they said your right the refund wasn't processed . Stay tuned .Have to say I c.c.ed Tauck on all correspondence and they didn't follow thru like I thought they would .
I would have started with Tauck.
I would have spoken to my CC and called Tauck too. Hope you get it sorted soon
I have been in contact with Credit Card company who dropped the dispute after the Westin St Francis originally said that they would provide a refund.
I have copied Tauck in all correspondence and have to say I am disappointed with the results
What a shame that you're having problems with such an elegant and historic hotel. Perhaps Tauck should move to the Fairmount or the Palace.
I’m very sorry you have to deal with this, hotel billing errors are a pain to deal with. I would suggest two things. File again with the credit card company. They should give you an immediate provisional credit and give the hotel X days to dispute. I would also send an email to the general manager of the Westin. For former SPG properties you can generally google to get the name. The executive offices are often helpful with these sort of issues. Good luck!
Just a follow up. I received the refund of all the erroneous charges on my credit card three months after numerous phone calls, and emails 3 months after i was charged . Why Tauck continues to deal with the Westin St Francis is beyond me .
Let me make it clear ; Tauck was given the opportunity to clear this matter up. I have sent all correspondence to Tauck Guest relations and have talked with them all along the way . They have just followed along ,not taking the initiative as I hoped they would. They have a much bigger "stick" then I have .
I don't understand why TAUCK uses Westin St Francis Hotel .There are many fine hotels in San Francisco . If you look @ Trip Advisor the Westin St Francis gets over 70 terrible ratings out of 700 . That's pretty high .
Many hotels get terrible ratings. We recently stayed at such a hotel that we were really nervous about booking, but the location suited our family perfectly. We had a wonderful time, staff were lovely to the grandchildren, the buffet breakfast was the best buffet breakfast we have encountering anywhere in the world and so on.
If Tauck has been using the St Francis for so long, I am guessing just you and the other person six years ago are probably the only people who have complained to Tauck, that’s a really low figure. It sounds as if it is in a great location and must have other advantages that Tauck likes. Maybe it’s better the devil you know than the one you don’t. We have had a few hotel bill discrepancies with hotels but they are usually resolved at checkout and they are not withTauck. Recently, we thought we had been charged twice for overnight parking but it turned out we had been parked for just over 24 hours, so had to pay the second night. If we have any concerns about wrong charges, we always call our credit card company and they have generally been excellent.
Tauck travelers have different standards than the average hotel guest. Therefore, I find the negatives a lot more useful than the positives.
Kfnk, I have read you comments on TripAdvisor yet you say you don’t look at it. How was breakfast so expensive at that hotel.
Then somebody else called Tylerspapa had exactly the same problem as you at the hotel on a cancelled Tauck tour, probably on the same tour as you. Charged for breakfast and disputing with them since July and dealing with Tauck too. Maybe it happened to everyone on the tour? Now that’s alarming.
I personally do not visit websites such as Trip Advisor because the reviews are typically not written by astute travelers.
Hmm. I write reviews for TripAdvisor. Fifty cruises, eight Tauck trips, two more booked, Silversea, Windstar, Ponant, Celebrity, Princess, RCCL. I’ve owned two homes in San Francisco, and my wife has spent all her life either in or very near SF. The Westin St. Francis is a great hotel. That is why Tauck ‘uses’ them. The vast majority of ‘happy’ travelers don’t write reviews. It is mostly the Yelp crowd who write reviews, and they write everywhere ... even here. I actually only write reviews on places that I find exceptionally good or convenient. I’ve never actually ‘stayed’ at the St. Francis, but I’ve been there a number of times. Nice.
I see I confused two people on this forum, apologies.
My first sentence was copied from ‘kfnk’. I don’t know how to properly quote on this new venue.
But, my question is this. Am I confused?