FlynGyn

What is "fair compensation"?

They flew into Sarasota from Philly holding reservations made several months ago. The Ritz Carlton staff acknowledged their reservations but told them there was no room at the inn. They got offered a stay at the Hotel Indigo a few blocks away -- a substantial leap down the food chain IMO -- and were told that they would "get some of their money back".

They were not keen on the Indigo when they walked in so they called us and are crashing here for the night. What is the "fair compensation" they should request -- free night certs?

cw082350

Did thet notify the Ritz right away that they were not staying at the Indigo. If so I would have asked for a complete refund.

srirams

They should have either gotten "walked" to a better establishment or gotten a full refund.

Very shady from a place like the Ritz Carlton.

FlynGyn

Totally agree...
They had prepaid for three nights on the Club Floor @ ~$460 a nite. At check in, they were told that the previous guest never left the room and walked them to the indigo. She is traveling with her teenage daughter and the Indigo's neighborhood is not one I would want my daughter meandering so they called the RC and said no dice to the walk.

Their MR number is on the rez but they are non-elites. But still it seems very hard to imagine that they would walk someone from the Club floor booked on a solid fare. Seriously, they couldn't find someone on a regular floor who booked on PL, was checking in late, etc.?? I have been put in a STD room but given Club access before -- that is understandable, but this clearly is not.

I am quite certain that they WILL get a full refund but they are not getting anything CLOSE to the Mom / Daughter pamper-fest they had planned. The RC needs to step up & do a whole lot more, IMHO.

happymommy

That is awful. Tisk tisk, Ritz.

One time, many (over 15) years ago, my husband and I had a weekend booked at a local Ritz, for a nice quiet club weekend to do some shopping and relaxing. I got a call from the hotel a few days prior, to be told that their entire club level had been booked for a couple of weeks. I was offered a suite instead, plus a free weekend on the club level in the future.

That was a nice offer - we enjoyed the weekend in the suite (although we do love the club level and did miss it) and later did our Christmas shopping weekend trip back again, for no charge.

I can't imagine waiting until the guest arrived, then sending them to a lower quality hotel.

I don't know what happened, or what compensation they could get, other than of course a refund. It's not like they can just fly down again at whim, if they are like normal folks who have a life, and plan their trips away! And airfare is going up. I just hope that they get some sort of apology.

NDDomer86

Unfortunately this sounds par for the course for the Ritz Carlton Sarasota

DillMan

+1. While I've never seen anyone get walked before this is certainly a strange property. The one thing that stands out in my mind from my stays there is that this hotel seems to be in a perpetual state of panic. Whether they have 10 guests checking in or 2; whether they have 3 room service orders or 30; whether the hotel is packed or you go hours without seeing another guest they always seem, to use restaurant vernacular, "in the weeds" at every level throughout the hotel. I've never had a horrible stay here, rather, I've just had tons of little things wrong with each stay.

I'd still go back. I do love the grounds and the proximity to TPA.

Based on the information the OP posted, however, their experience is appalling. The RC needs to step up here in a major way. OP please let us know how things turn out.

FlynGyn

So why would the RC walk a prepaid 3 night Club floor MR member? Maybe because the NY Yankees were in town playing the Orioles? My big-wig neighbor sat next to Cameron Diaz at the game last night & she confirmed that she & A-Rod and others were staying at the RC. Hmmm... the plot thickens.

DillMan

Your point about why the hotel didn't give your friends a non-CL room with CL access instead still presents a problem. I could see a handful of A-list celebrities coming in last minute and disrupting a hotel to a certain extent, but I highly doubt so many celebs showed up last minute, without reservations (keep in mind it isn't as if this game wasn't scheduled), that the hotel had to bump every CL rez and couldn't find a non-CL customer paying less than your friends. Really is weird. Please let us know what they end up doing in the way of comp.

FlynGyn

I have to admit that I got this part of the story wrong. Mr. Big Wig's story was substantially shot down by Mrs. Big Wig this evening -- they DID in fact sit next to Ms. Diaz at the game but she (& presumably her BF and the other celebs -- aka Yankees) drove back to Tampa after they pulled the starters after six innings.

I agree that this episode is very odd indeed -- were it not for reading the written reservation confirmation and subsequent phone conversations she made from my own living room, I would be hard pressed to believe that there was not more to the story. I will definitely let you know how this ends.