Is that what happens generally?

Of the most extensive bookings with which I've been familiar (or gotten in on) -- I'm thinking of people who booked months upon months at $0.01 - $20/night -- they had no more or less issue with getting their bookings honored than others where the hotel didn't have months upon months of bookings at dirt-cheap rates. I've yet to discern a pattern but have only gotten in on a handful or two of these "specials". That said, my gut feeling is that LeMeridien deal won't be honored regardless of how many no-shows there are likely to be on these glitch rates. Hopefully, I'll be wrong. :)

I don't think this one is going to go to court anywhere. Even the Starwood-Lanesborough debacle didn't go much that way .... and there was more facility in such pursuit than there'd be with this.

Still only pricing in USD for me :(

No, managed to find some, even a Villa for a few nights...

What to do, what to do.....

Funny Update:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=480 :D

Serious Update:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=489 :eek:
Seems like a cop-out from Starwood to me. As far as I'm concerned, I have a contract and Starwood are obliged to fulfil their side of the contract. End of.

$50 per night seems like a good deal to me!

I totally agree, booked a room for me and one for the folks, and I would still be happy to go at $50 a night, as long as I still get the suite that I booked, not some crappy room overlooking the bins.

MCS? although you are right about the fact that there is a contract, there is something in law about Mans Rea (I think thats how you spell it) - means 'in guilty mind'. It could be argued that we have acted in this way here, as I certainly would not have booked it should it not have been for the rate that we got.

MCS? stamps foot. :mad:

I know you guys are right and $50 does sound fair, but, well, it's not fair!! How come when we book a non-changeable fare on spg.com and then need to change it, they don't want to know? :rolleyes:

Oh, and regarding Mans Rea, does that mean I'm committing an offence everytime I buy two packs of pringles when they're on BOGOF? I wouldn't have bought the pringles if they weren't on that deal... ;)

Meerkat, I couldn't agree with you more.

Well, it's not too different than asking "why do European companies price hotel rates in Thailand in US dollars?" Yet it happens. :D Just that UGX isn't a standard currency for pricing in markets beyond it's home market or perhaps neighboring ones.

This was seemingly a case of UGX being next to USD in the currency listing selection. Human error, that is. Too bad that doesn't as systematically apply to those customers who try to cancel mistake bookings made through an American company for EUR-denominated hotel rates in Africa. :eek:

This looks to me like a sincere effort - not a cop out. 25 quid a night is ridiculously cheap, and if I saw this rate, I'd still think it was a fare error!

Given that SPG could have (unwisely) turned around and cancelled your reservation because it was clearly a pricing error, what they've offered is in my mind as good as if they'd honoured the error rate.

$50 a night for the Royal Suite (as some have booked) sounds like a great offer to me!

Has Starwood or the hotel itself yet said that the $50/night rate is for the suites and villas? No. And $50/night for the regular rooms isn't much of a great offer.

I was going by SPG's e-mail to Jim Liu which seems to imply this:

$50 a night for a fabulous 5* resort on a fantastic tropical beach isn't much of a great offer!!! C'mon!!!! ....... and people expecting to get the Royal Villa (and there's only 1 of them!) for that and then complaining they might only get an "ordinary" room. There are only two 5* resorts in Khao Lak (remember the area in Thailand that suffered most in terms of death and destruction by the Tsunami?). The other is more expensive and you won't get a 3* for $50 in High Season!
If SPG honour their mistake by giving Deluxe rooms at $50 a night when the rate is usually $150, you should snap their hands off. To expect more is a tad unrealistic, don't you think?:confused:

Who said the Royal Villa will be given for $50/night? There's been no such mention by Starwood or the hotel that such will be the case even for those accepting a $50/night rate at the property. That is, there's been no mention that the accomodation booked will be the accomodation given at that amount. Getting an offer for $150 for 3 nights in a typical room is not such a great deal when 3 nights being provided for $200 in compensation is available.

Even before the tsunami, the hotel was getting paid c. $50 for a good number of regular rooms at the property at various times of the year. It may even still be the case for a number of rooms.

[And yes I remember the tsunami. After all, Sweden lost quite the number of people and it was all the news here with friends looking for family and friends and then having to plan their funerals.]