tcook052

I noted this article while roaming around the web tonight:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...skdBSQXATU1b9K

Suit: Le Meridien & la scam

and wondered whether I should be concerned regarding an upcoming award stay I have at LPM in 2 weeks time.

The suit says Starwood is seeking to cancel exisiting licencing agreements to use the Le Meridien name but how quickly could that happen? Could this case take months or years to wind it's way through the civil justice system and not be a concern for those of us with reservations in the immediate future?

I picked LPM in part because of the location and the pool with a view which held much appeal for this Canadians coming from the chilly climes up north but don't want to get caught in the crossfire between hotel & Starwood and could book at another cat. 6 hotel if I had to.

Is anyone else in the same spot or has this suit gone under the radar? I checked and found no mention of it here on FT, though the suit was only launched in recent days.

travelswithmyself

Wow, such scandal :P

If it were me I would change hotel.

3544quebec

Rip off your business associates, Rip off your guests
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...idien-nyc.html

What's all the fuss about? A bit of shonky accounting never hurt anyone.

Antonio8069

2 weeks from now?.............I would not be worried. Reminiscent of Le Meridien King Edward in Toronto (now a Skyline) where they gave 2 months notice.

I am more concerned about what this means about the future branding of the property? (I have never stayed but plan to in May!). fyi, as an SPG PLAT, I receive 6+ special offers/year for this property. (The latest is for $199 for weekends in January). Starwood is a BIG source of their business. (Biting the hand which feeds you?)

I also suggest posting this on the thread for the Palm Springs property.

Flews

Wow. Sounds ugly. From the sounds of the LPM thread, it won't be missed. Our own recent stay was mixed, at best.

Cheers,

Out of my Element

I understand from an LPM spokesperson that this additional charge to SPG was actually for additional benefits, and that SPG will be happy with the additional services provided to them for the money and that most of SPG will actually be SAVING money with this program.

KENNECTED

Did you really read and understand what was posted in the referenced (post no. 3) thread??

Without taking this thread off topic, could you answer in the referenced (post no. 3) thread how this saves elite members and what additional benefits elite members will have?

Out of my Element

Leave out a sarcasm emoty and get Kennected using red letters!

It was just my little way of trying to parallel this apparantly backhanded way of increasing revenue with the one you linked, where an LPM spokesperson promised us that the increase was in the best interest of the payers!

I'm sure when we get the down and dirty on how the $10 fee is a good thing, we'll also find out why this scam is good for SPG.

vandalby

HAHAHA! Hysterical! ^

Honestly, I almost lost it reading this one - well done! I am looking forward to seeing Lisa's spin on this one though...

KENNECTED

Ahhhhhhh. Now I understand, the way I initially read it, it came across as you were trying to defend the LPM for doing this. Thanks for the clarity. ^

Out of my Element

I gotta say, I've enjoyed my stays there, and will probably stay again, when circumstances warrant it. But they have to be significantly cheaper than the alternative for those conditions to occur.

RogerD408

Talk about hysterical... Do you really expect her or anyone from LPM to return here let alone post here?

Sounds like SPG will be better off without these properties and it sounds like they don't want to be SPG either.

vandalby

Of course not, at this point it's a pending legal issue, so I expect that LPM's attorneys have everyone on lockdown. Just a humorous comment.

Wow...this thread is suddenly wrought with literal interpretation.

Rusty65

I think this is revealing in tying our usage of free stays to whether Hotels benefit by our stays. We have heard on flyertalk that occupancy drives the rates at which hotels are compensated. It seems that Le Parker had been artificially inflating the occupancy rates to receive more from Starwood.

It seems hotels can sell out the available rooms for cheap and get more revenue from the starwood for the rooms redeemed using points. Or in this case, not even sell those rooms but pretend you did. Allegedly. If true, I don't see how Starwood could continue to do business with the owners. That is a shame because despite the questionable business practices here and with the additional fees, I liked Le Parker Meridien for its location in New York and had been treated well enough to continue to utilize it.

tcook052

So to bring the topic back on track should I and others staying at LPM in the short term have cause for concern?