Land-of-Miles

Surely the lodging laws don't override your individual contractual rights?

OU812

I know it is a financial decision the Sheraton Pasadena has to make and I appreciate that. The GM has a choice, piss off 50 or so guests who you may never do business with again, by canceling their reservations; or lose a long time relationship with a tour operator who easily brings in $500K+ to your hotel over 4 - 5 days.

Under Section 4.2.2.2 of the CA Innkeeper's Law it states:

If a prospective guest has a valid reservation contract with the innkeeper, the innkeeper is bound to honor it, and if the innkeeper cannot do so because there are no vacant rooms available, the innkeeper has breached his/her agreement with the arriving guest and is therefore liable for damages for breach of contract. Generally speaking, the measure of damages for breach of contract is the amount necessary to compensate the injured party for all reasonably foreseeable losses, plus expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by the injured party. Where a guest is excluded due to a lack of rooms—whether due to overbooking, holdovers,xv or for some other reason— the amount that it will take to put him or her in the same position he/she would have been in had the innkeeper not breached their agreement ordinarily will be the difference, if any, between the price of the reserved accommodations and the higher price of substitute accommodations. The measure of damages will also include reasonably foreseeable incidental expenses, such as for transportation to the other hotel, telephone calls to advise family and co-workers of the new location, and the like. ...But where overbooking practices are intentional or otherwise flagrant, the excluded guest may be entitled to additional damages for such elements of injury as fraud or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Also, it is possible that punitive damages might be awarded.

The Sheraton Pasadena has offered the additional points necessary to stay at the Westin Bonaventure. I am not sure what they are doing for those with paid reservations since the Westin Bonaventure is now at $409 per night. Apparently, they have also offered to buy parade tickets from some posters here who decide not to go based on this debacle, this offer was not extended to me however. So it would appear they are following the CA Innkeeper Law. In reading some of the case law, since the hotel is trying to make things right, it would be difficult to pursue the matter in court and win.

I am angered by the fact that I had what I thought was a confirmed reservation that the hotel cancelled nearly 90 days later. I made flight arrangements and purchased parade tickets based on this confirmed reservation. Making these arrangements was based solely on getting a hotel in downtown Pasadena so that we could walk to the parade on New Year's Day. I didn't want to worry about getting up super early New Year's Day and navigating LA traffic to and from the parade. The location of the hotels available now is irrelevant. If the Sheraton Pasadena would not have been available, I would not have made any other arrangements and would have tried again next year. Based on this incident and the lack of assistance from Starwood Corporate Customer Care, I have no confidence that confirmed reservations at a Starwood Property for a desirable location/event will be honored in the future and I will have to take that into consideration when choosing hotels for work and leisure going forward.

Regards,

RIP...

allbrosca

If you want to pursue it, I think there is a lot of room in that statutory reference to do so, but I have not read the case law. I would think that the difference in the rate incurred through the purchase by the plaintiff of a room at the same hotel he is turfed out of would be a good measure of damages but a court may have a different view. The section refers to "ordinarily" in determining damages. These are definitely not ordinary circumstances. Witness the fact you do have the ability to purchase a room at the same hotel because the innkeeper decided to sell rooms at a higher rate to a tour operator after the tour operators original allocation of rooms sold out. A perfect substitute for what was denied you in the breach of contract. The statute also acknowledges that the innkeeper's conduct will be a factor in assessing damages - "But where overbooking practices are intentional or otherwise flagrant, the excluded guest may be entitled to additional damages for such elements of injury as fraud or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Also, it is possible that punitive damages might be awarded". In this case, based on the evidence cited above, it appears there was no error. The innkeeper blatantly attempted to cancel confirmed reservations to sell rooms at a higher rate to the exclusion of the original reservation holder.

Football Fan

I think you should pursue it. Also report them to the Better Business Bureau. This is scandalous. Good luck.

IceTrojan

Screw the Bonaventure... I would say calculate the amount of damages caused to be that of what the Tournament of Roses package is worth. Starwood Corporate should have to at least buy one of the Tournament packages for you to set you "whole" again.

mikeef

Because people (i.e., voters) get more p*ssed at airlines than they do at hotels. Sad but true.


"I'm so glad to hear that! Would you mind emailing that information to me so I can send a letter of praise to the hotel and Starwood?"

Mike

Land-of-Miles

A property can calculate that the profit they will make from shafting customers like this will outweigh the hassle for a few guests. However it is 2013 and a sustained social media campaign which hurts both the property and the brand whose flag it flies, can ultimately cost it much more than the super normal profit it would get from the additional room nights.

If I were impacted I would probably go beyond the social media and reach out to the conventional press too. Evil corporation tramples over small consumer is a narrative most press outlets just love. Throw in a bit of human interest too and you have a winner.

itsaboutthejourney

I know you chose the Sheraton because it's in Pasadena and close to the parade and all the action, but if it helps at all the Metro Gold line goes from Union Station (downtown) to Pasadena and that is what i'd take to get to Pasadena no matter where I stayed as traffic can be a mess.

I hope they work this out for you, but there may be a silver lining if they make it worth your while to stay downtown. (Points, breakfast, money for taxi/trains, etc.) Bonaventure has a nice brunch, and i'm sure its even nicer on New Year's Day.

RCyyz

By cancelling the room reservation the Sheraton has demonstrated a clear lack of principled behaviour. The offer to buy tickets is even more heinous as they will undoubtedly resell them at a profit to other unsuspecting guests.

I maintain that this property is not in keeping expected SPG standards and should be unceremoniously delisted from the chain.

neuron

Good luck to the OP and anyone who had their reservations cancelled! Very unprofessional of the hotel to cancel the reservations a) given the delay from when the reservation and b) in light of the ToR email re: hotel availability.

I am disappointed that SPG Corporate has not been more helpful and forceful in reinstating the reservations but hopefully the ToR communique would move them to act.

wobbly wings

This is scandalous practice. I'd pursue it on social media and through the courts.

I have been at the property in question a couple of times in the past two years. Never again.

Also very disappointed to see SPG is not putting this right straight away. I will monitor the thread for a resolution and consider this among other things in deciding where to hold status for 2014.

craz

True but if the Hotel is acting within the Innkeeper Laws of Cali and thusly can get away with doing it, how can Corporate tell them we dont care what the Laws out there are? All Corporate can do is make sure any Hotel lives up to the T&Cs of its contract with *W and is within the Innkeeper Laws of that area

Unfortuantely it looks as if the Hotel wins this time as they can make alot more $$$ off the TRA then those who booked on their own, and seems they are within the Innkeeper Laws, so Corporate wont have to stand on

Yea It Stinks but somethimes thats how the cookie crumbles unfortunately

Tolarian Wind

I think maybe the OP should let the event organizer know what The Sheraton did. I think they just might be troubled enough they might do something...... not sure what....maybe turn back some rooms with instructions to reinstate the affected parties reservation.....

TW

InHouseCounsel

This issue is bigger than just this property. The more the outcry, the less likely another property will do the same thing. It is inconceivable to me that corporate can not put pressure on a property when it does something that devalues the brand so much- it would make me think twice about the chain as a whole.

reft

OP booked his stay via Starpoints. Details on what the hotel gets during a redemption came out 'ala la Le Méridien [NYC]' recently. If I recall, a hotel does better when they have a redemption when they are full versus when they are not so.

If the hotel held back a few rooms including for OP, for Starpoint redemption, I'm wondering where they would have come out on this deal. Closer to rack? Did the shoot themselves in the other the foot here too?