Sprinklers in a building like a hotel are not triggered by anything other than heat at the site of the sprinkler, or possibly mechanical damage like someone knocking the head off. Inside the sprinkler head, there is a glass bulb with liquid in it, that is physically blocking the flow of water. When there is heat, the liquid boils, causing the bulb to break, and the water to flow out. (Or, someone knocks the head off by mechanical force and water flows out of the open pipe.) The flow of water is detected by (drum roll) a flow detector, attached to the sprinkler system, which triggers the strobes and buzzers.

Fire sprinklers are NOT, I repeat NOT, triggered by a pull station or by a separate smoke/heat detector false alarm, except in certain VERY special systems like a gasoline-tanker filling station with an industrial foam deluge system that might have a panic button feature.

An alarm tripped by a sprinkler flow detector is presumed to be a fire -- taken more seriously than many other alarms that may be encountered. It requires people out of the building -- until the investigation proves there is no fire. Furthermore, the alarm cannot be reset until either (1) the flow of water is stopped, which, if the sprinkler head is busted, will require someone to fix the sprinkler head or (2) the entire sprinkler system or the fire alarm system itself is taken out of service. This is the likely explanation for your 30 minute wait.

Regarding compensation, do you have inside knowledge that the property is neglecting maintenance, or do you just want to spank them for knocking the head off by accident and/or lack of timely updates as to the fire investigation? Once the alarm goes, and the fire department responds, it is out of the hotel's hands as to when people are let back in the building. The few people who knew what was going on -- maybe they were working with the F.D. to find the source of the water flow and/or contacting maintenance so it could be fixed?