Marriott Sued Over Management of Eden Roc Hotel
 

Searched and didn't see this posted. According to this article in USA Today:

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/po...8/1?csp=Travel

The group that owns the Eden Roc are suing MI for $75 million alleging gross mismanagement and argues that Marriott's discount bookings (bolding mine) resulted in the hotel failing to generate close to the $30 million in profit projected for 2011.

Interesting...

Regards,

RIP...

And thus explains why Marriott Rewards is having trouble getting the BOGO Certs reinstated.

Unfortunately anyone involved in the management of real estate is at risk of these type of suits....even more so over the past few years as the economy as tanked......unfortunately this type of publicity can't be good (even as the economy in SoFL is greatly improving)

You can find the complaint on the court's site by searching for index number 651027-2012.

It's interesting that the hotel owners (Eden Roc LLLP) are accusing (Marriott's) Renaissance Hotel Management Company LLC of, among other things, “derogation of … the standards for the Renaissance brand.” But mostly they want more profits.

Interesting parts of the complaint (keep in mind these are allegations by Eden Roc LLLP):

Nowhere does the complaint specify exactly what the plaintiffs consider “abuse” of Marriott Rewards, but they imply in ¶120 that the rates were too low.

That implies an occupancy rate of 90.9%.

So, a bunch of people invested in Florida real estate with visions of great success and fabulous wealth, but it didn't turn out that way. This has to be one of the oldest stories around.

Dupe post - sorry - on a train with crappy internet

Boy, nothing says "it was once hip but ain't anymore" more strongly than the article citing Elizabeth Taylor as a past guest.

Hard to imagine that MI unilaterally implemented a revenue management strategy without the ownership group having a seat at the table. I know nothing about management contracts with hotels, but it seems very unlikely that they created a rate structure on their own.

Good luck getting $200/room night on Govt/Military rates. Especially in today's economy. And even more especially after the GSA Vegas incident.

USG per-deim hotel max for Miami Beach is between 105 and 152 a night depending on time of year.

"13. From the outset, the Renaissance brand of hotels was presented to Plaintiff as Marriott's boutique and lifestyle brand, capable of competing with Starwood's lucrative W Hotels. "

2 things:

* I thought Marriott had another brand it was starting/touting as equivalent to W hotels.
* The people suing obviously didn't do their homework if they thought Renaissance was trendy.

Cheers.

BOGO was never accepted here. Had a fight back a few years ago with Marriott when they dropped "Resort" from the Title.

$105 - $152 sounds about right. My tax dollars (through USG employees) should go to Holiday Inns, La Quintas, and Fairfields...

Eden Roc must have had much lower occupancy than expected if they have to accept USG rates to fill up rooms...

:)


I think I am actually the problem... I had a reservation at the Waikiki Edition, look what happened. (Marriott resolved this issue to my complete satisfaction, and we will be staying at the Waikiki Beach Resort instead.)

I have a reservation in May at this property, and look what happens...

I was eyeing these two properties (tell me they are trendy Sharon!), so probably just switch to one of them: Winter Haven or Blue Moon

I stayed there a couple of years ago; they did a good job on the renovation. I did stay under the government rate of $107 per night but although infrequent is not outside the norm for Miami Hotels. I have stayed at the JW Marriott, JW Marriott Marquis, South Beach Marriott, Conrad Miami, Doubletree Surfcomber (When it was a doubletree) and a bunch more for the same price. I see it as a way to fill up rooms without having to dicount the rates for the general public. Being that aside from my government job I am also a consultant for a management company - that is exactly what I suggest to be done in order to maximize occupancy and revenue. What I think happened was that whenever the last renovation occurred the numbers that were presented to the group were different, they invested a lot of money renovating the resort, real estate market went belly up and their investment considerably depreciated in value, people had less money to spend therefore that $400 per night customer was very elusive and the rates had to be reduced to attain occupancy to a little over 200. Have in mind this hotel was also closed over a year fro renovations so I understand that this people has lost a ton of money Marriott's fault? not necessarly. In regards to the employee theft, I am sure that was replaced by the insurance as that is something my company has experienced.

I just recently stayed at the Eden Roc for the second time and would hate to see it loose it's association with Marriott. The rates I've seen haven't exactly been cheap but they are in no way near what the W South Beach is getting. (the rates at the W are mind boggling IMHO but then again it has a better location and is closer to the action) Would be interesting to compare the rates of the Eden Roc to those of the Fontainebleau next door.

Not surprising given that the best deal of my life was at this hotel. Priceline (the regular site, not the name your own price) had regular rooms there the week before Christmas two years ago for $62/night. Cheapest rate was like $229 on Marriott.com. Called Marriott so they had to match the $62 less 25%.

Wow. That is incredibly cheap, opaque booking or not. However, it is true that between Thanksgiving and Xmas, sometimes things get lighter down there. Still, wow.

The part about the spa I disagree with. They should go look at Las Vegas, where some of the strip hotels convert less than 10% of stays into casino gambling.

The general complaint is interesting, though. Every manager faces the choice of cutting rates to fill the rooms, or holding the line and leaving rooms empty. 20/20 hindsight is easy.

I wonder, does anyone know what Marriott reimburses for award stays? Is it really low? The Eden Roc is a Cat 7.

(I suspect the lawsuit is posturing to get out of a contract early.)