awymore

Here's the situation; last spring in March of 2009 I booked two reservations at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre for Final Four weekend, this coming April. One reservation for check in 4/2/10 and checking out 4/6/10 the other checking in the next day; 4/3/10 and checking out 4/6/10.

At the time of booking I had many options in downtown Indianapolis, but booked the Sheraton-- in part-- because no deposit was required and they allowed a 4:00pm day before arrival cancellation without penalty. The rate plan description on my reservation confirmation is labeled as, "Indy Race" and is an inflated rate.

Fast forward to October 2009, I received an email from a sales manager requesting that I call her and place a full, non-refundable deposit on a credit card. I promptly returned her message, explained that my confirmation clearly states that my reservation is guaranteed with my VISA card and that I did not wish to place a deposit. She apologized for bothering me, said that there was "some sort of a glitch in the system" and "some reservations required a deposit, but had not been charged... but mine was fine and confirmed.

Fast forward to yesterday, I again receive a call from the same sales manager and she is again requesting a full, non-refundable deposit. I again told her that my confirmation very clearly states that my reservation is guaranteed with my VISA and that I have until 4:00pm, day before arrival to cancel without penalty. After a little more objection by her, she again agreed that my reservation was fine and again apologized for bothering me.

Then this evening (at 8:00pm) I receive a call from the Director of Rooms. He is much more insistent that I MUST place a full, non-refundable deposit, OR ELSE he is going to cancel both of my reservations. He then (rather insultingly IMO) offers to make alternative accommodations for me at the Best Western Airport. I declined his offer. After much back and forth he offered me 10,000 SPG points per reservation. I again declined and asked for the name of his General Manager and instructed him to have him call me in the morning. He agreed that he would not do anything to my reservation this evening and that we would "get everything smoothed over with the GM in the morning".

So my question is this: can a hotel just unilaterally cancel a guaranteed reservation?

Had they notified me of this immediately after booking, I could have rebooked at another hotel. Even last October (when they "discovered" the glitch) would have been better than now! At present there are few to no options in Downtown Indy for Final Four weekend. I should also mention that I am an SPG Gold.

So... what are my options here? What are my rights?

longtimereader

You can probably send Lurker a message to see if he can assist.

awymore

Done. Please help, Lurker!

Starwood Lurker II

Erm?

(Or you can send to this lurker if you like.)

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

longtimereader

Always working, you guys are the best.

chanp

I had the same thing happen to me, but since I wasnt going to make it to the hotel, I agreed to cancel it. Looking forward to see what happens.

awymore

OK, I emailed [email protected]

chanp, are you saying that this happened to you at this hotel for the same weekend?

A couple of additional points I thought of that may be relevent:

My reservation was made through StarwoodHotels.com

During the Tuesday phone call with the sales manager, after agreeing that mine is a confirmed reservation, she mentioned that "in an over-sell situation, there is always the possibility of being walked". I replied that, "so long as I was walked to a comparable hotel, in the same area, then that would be fine".

After agreeing on these points, she went into an explanation saying that the NCAA has so many rooms and for whatever reason, transient reservations were allowed like normal, when they shouldn't have.

Indianapolis was awarded the 2010 NCAA Men's Final Four on July 1, 2003. This isn't some sort of last minute event.

Furthermore, the hotel was clearly aware of the Final Four, as they had a special event rate (though they called it an "Indy Race" rate) loaded into their system.

Finally, and I can't emphasize this enough, had they started this stuff back in March, right after I made my res, I would have been upset... but at that point the situation could have been rectified. If they had done it in October, I would have been more upset... but alternative arrangements may have still been possible. NOW?? Six weeks before arrival on a VERY busy weekend? NOTHING besides status quo is adequate.

soitgoes

I agree that this is unacceptable for a hotel to try to pull stunts like these. What would especially bother me is the fact that there were three calls with different "stories" of the situation.

Also note that, as a Gold, if you were walked, SPG policy would require, in addition to your first night being free, Starpoints equal to one night at the offending hotel to be deposited into your account.

Keyser

its very irritating when something like this happens....hopefully you should not have a problem now....

ONLY_no_One

I'm not sure that im comfortable reading that a hotel is trying to change the terms and conditions of payment. I would be reading this thread carefully.

craz

Well from the way the Hotel has handled it ,it seems the City is in a Sold Out situation and thusly the Hotel feels they can get people to pay way more then the OP has. Thats why they offered the 10k in pts for the CXing of the res

I understand that the Hotel doesnt want to find in the end that the OP CXs thier res/s and then cant get it sold or get a smucha sthey can now for it.

But that should be their problem and not the OPs

BTW Id love it if it was me and they walked me. End up with a free night and the amount of pts it takes for a free night at the Hotel, plus transportation

I wouldnt be surprised if the Hotel will do just that , thats if they can sell the room for an amount that will cover all of that Plus still leave them with more $$ in their pocket then what the OP will be paying

awymore

That may very well be the case, but as I mentioned, it is a Special Event rate, and far higher than normal for this property.

They may be able to fetch a higher rate than what I'm confirmed for... but I can't imagine it would be much.

7Continents

First - I fully agree with the OP's point and opinion that if the res. requires no deposit then one doesn't have to be given and there should be little fear of a canceled res.
BUT - just out of curiosity, if you fully intend to use the reservation, why not pay for it? A hold until the last minute just in case is not fair to anyone seeing as you have two different and overlapping reservations, unless there are two parties, one arriving a day later....

tylorcl

The OP is not sure if he can make it so he does not want to make it a non-refundable reservation.

CanuckFlyHigh

Finance 101 - Money today is worth more than money tomorrow. Why should the hotel get to earn interest on his money? ( I know this is a small amount - and interest is slim to none, but its the principle)