OU812

On January 15, 2013 I made a two night reservation at the Sheraton Pasadena using points for December 31, 2013 - January 2, 2014. When I made the reservation, rooms were available for cash @ $299 per night as well as Starpoint awards. This evening I received a message from a manager at the Sheraton Pasadena telling me that my starpoints reservation was cancelled because of a system glitch that allowed me to book using Starpoints, when the hotel was really sold out. No offer of alternative arrangements was made (probably because all of the other major hotels in Pasadena are also sold out!)! We were heading to Pasadena to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1. I have already secured airline and parade tickets for my family based on what I thought was a confirmed reservation.

According to the message, they were letting me know as soon as possible so that I could make alternative arrangements while there is still plenty of time. Yeah right. The only accommodations available in Pasadena for those two nights are 1 star motels asking $400 per night. The closest Starwood property is the Bonaventure 10 miles away! The whole reason I booked the Sheraton was so we could walk to the parade and wouldn't have to fight LA traffic to get in and out of Pasadena!

In 10 years with SPG, this is my first time using Starpoints and I am not happy at all with the results. Never had any problem using points at Marriott for desirable dates and locations such as the NYC Marriott Marquis on New Year's Eve, Hawaii during Christmas or New Orleans two months ago for the Superbowl!

Anyone have any ideas? Do I have any recourse or am I screwed because I made a reservation using Starpoints and the Sheraton Pasadena would rather have paying guests?

Sorry for the rant!

Regards,

RIP...

rooivalk

I think you have a valid case here but let's see what the Lurkers say.

Starwood Lurker II

I would advise the OP to contact Corporate Customer Service by toll-free at 800-328-6242 or by email at [email protected].


Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

LovetoTravel83

If they're sold out then and you have a booking then you should be walked to a nearby hotel. In my opinion, it wasn't a system glitch and the hotel is just trying to pull one on you.

skyvanman

Looks like they're screwing you, hopefully SPG Lurker can help make it right.

OU812

In 10 years of staying at Starwood properties, I have never been walked. I know when a full service Marriott walks their elites, they have the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee which provides $200 cash and certificates good for a free night at any Marriott property worldwide. Does SPG have something similar? Or are they just liable for finding a comparable hotel and paying for transportation to the Sheraton Pasadena?

After posting here, I called the hotel and spoke with the Manager on Duty. According to the MOD, the hotel was not making any alternative arrangements for any guests impacted (he would not say how many reservations were cancelled) and that is why I was being notified now instead of closer to the event (gee, thanks)! He also said since it was a system glitch it was not the hotel's fault and therefore not their responsibility to find me a room for those two nights! He did say he thought I would be getting 5000 points for the inconvenience! I told him, that doesn't even begin to cover it! He couldn't help any further and he transferred me to the GM's voicemail.

I will post an update after I speak to the GM today


Regards,

RIP...

rooivalk

did you contact Corporate? these guys usually whip the hotel into shape.

bigguyinpasadena

You need to follow Starwood Lurkers advice here-stop dealing with the MOD

dcstudent

The GM is not going to help you, you need to contact Starwood Customer Service. In fact, the Sheraton is still selling room for your dates, just through tournamentofroses.com. Check-in December 29th and out January 2nd. I think the "glitch" was that they decided to sell the hotel as a block, and forgot to pull availability off of starwood sites. That's the hotel's problem, not yours.

BTW, the package is 4 nights at $3000(couple), or $2500 (single). Check-in December 29, out on January 2nd. Includes some extras, but clearly they cancelled out your points reservation to make big $$$ another way.

Sam P. Goodman

I'm in a similar boat to the OP. I reserved two rooms for the Rose Parade (one two night reservation and two one night reservations) with the intention of taking my in-laws to the parade as a birthday gift. I booked my reservations on 1/1/2013 (while watching the parade on TV) for $169 per night and have since bought tickets to the parade at a cost of nearly $400. Last week, we got a voicemail from one of the managers at the hotel saying there was a "booking error" and that all of my reservations are being canceled, but they would send me $169 per reservation. The reservations disappeared from my account within a couple of days.

My wife called and spoke with one of the managers a few days ago and he said the entire hotel is taken over by Tournament officials during that time and there is nothing they can do for us. She explained that we already purchased parade tickets and he offered to buy them off of us, which we are considering.

The $169 checks haven't materialized yet. If they do, we may just sell the parade tickets to the hotel and do something else for my father in law's birthday...or, now that I'm brewing on this, I may just raise a big stink with corporate.

rooivalk

If I were you, I'd raise a big stink with corporate. And if enough people do, then I'm sure the hotel will be hit hard with penalties. But before you do that, I would also squeeze as much compensation out of the hotel.

RogerD408

Yes, absolutely raise the issue to corporate! Although the rooms may be promised to the group and still being sold, there is nothing that prevents the property from buying back rooms for those that were able to book via SPG.com due to their error and it's NOT "a system glitch"! They are in CYA mode and hoping no one pushes the issue.

Starwood Lurker

Yes, but it does not apply in this instance as this would not be considered a "walk" in the classic sense of the definition.

A lot depends upon what the Innskeeper Laws of the state of California say regarding a situation such as this.

My sincerest apologies for the issues that caused this.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

PTahCha

The best thing to do is to initiate a Corporate Customer Service case against the hotel and let it play out, since the hotel is clearly not interested in rectifying the situation.

RAPC

Good luck to those who have been hit with cancellations. Hopefully SPG Corporate can act to resolve it. I certainly wouldn't be happy to be in the position of the OP. SPG Corporate come through more often than not, so hopefully this will be one of those times.