mlm

I'll play around some more to find it, so far find numbers more for booking, customer service and travel agent info.

I did post my experience on the Sheraton Pasadena facebook page and on Tripadvisor (not showing on website yet). I hope others here will do the same.

DCF

I know this won't be popular, but I find this case much less abhorrent than the Sheraton Maui one.

Come on. Everyone knew that it had to be a mistake that there were award rooms and cheap paid rooms available for those dates. It's like getting award rooms or cheap paid rates for the Superbowl.

I agree that compensation is the order of the day, but not a particularly large amount of it.

3544quebec

I always book a points stay for Carnival in Rio and the hotel is always sold out at rates 2-3 times normal. But its good that we have posters on Flyertalk who not only know everything but can also tell us all what we know as well.

There are special events somewhere in the world every day of the week. Starwood has a No Blackout Policy on standard awards redemptions. I for one would have had no idea that this hotel had made a mistake in loading inventory. But maybe I am the exception that proves the rule and everyone but me knew it had to be a mistake.

DCF

No Blackouts excludes special events, such as the soccer World Cup, Superbowl, European soccer championships etc etc.

I am surprised that the Rio hotels don't apply it to Carnival, but good luck to you, while it lasts.....

3544quebec

And my understanding is that the hotel in each case needs to apply to SPG for approval of the Special Event status. The Sheratons in Rio do not do it for Carnival, Sydney hotels do not do it for New Years Eve when there are similar pricing/minimum stay restrictions. There is no way that the majority let alone everyone on Flyertalk or even everyone looking to stay in Pasadena at the time would have any idea whether this particular hotel applies for/gets/implements the Special Event exception for this Parade and therefore that the availability of Award reservations was a mistake.

Yul_voyager

There is a difference between special events like World Cup, Superbowl which happen only once in a special place, and a event which takes place very year.

Land-of-Miles

I think this underlines the impotence of Starwood in relation to the most egregious actions byte properties. Starwood will do little to help if the property won't play ball. I would book the closest alternative property on a flexible rate regardless of cost and sue the Sheraton Pasadena for the difference in cost (giving A fair monetary value to the Starpoints).

I suspect that will get a better result than continuing to argue with the company. The property is gambling here that few will sue, prove them wrong.

Also look at your recourse via other channels for instance Amex typically guarantee reservations held with an Amex card.

mikeyyz

Am I going to be the lone voice here saying that I think the compensation is relatively fair? Those affected are essentially getting free accommodation elsewhere (14,000 points with 12,000 needed) - so you are paying nothing for your stay. It also seems like the hotel is willing to buy your tickets/etc. so if you change your mind and don't want to go anymore you're not out of pocket. So yes, it sucks that someone there made a mistake and sold inventory that had been committed by contract to someone else, but 8 months notice and a free stay somewhere else isn't too bad IMHO.

jibi

Mike, it all depends on how you value the experience. Have you ever been in a major city for a BCS bowl and associated events? The ToR Parade is massive and being outside of Pasadena would royally suck in this case. In other words, the package is every worth every bit of the $3,000-4,000 it is being offered for if you like special experiences coupled with extreme convenience (which goes a long way to making that experience "special"). The compensation offered was crap.

IceTrojan

Yes. At least from those who know what it's like in Pasadena around that time, like jibi says.

SensFan

They are willing to buy the parade tickets because they know they can resell them at a profit.

If the hotel really wanted to help make things right they should look into offering transportation to the parade from wherever they are relocating people to.

As others have said, this is an annual event, the hotel should know better than to have bookings open for those dates. I do have to remember to try to book that hotel every January though in case they mess up again. Could be a nice way to get free points...

jmastron

?? "Everyone" had no way of knowing this was an alleged "mistake". Availability often opens up at cheap or award rates right at the beginning of the window, and is just taken up sooner. I booked low-mileage awards on United for next Thanksgiving, by booking right as they made those dates available, with my choice of flights. All of those are now booked up. Should I "know" that was a mistake and United will tell me in October, "sorry, better luck visiting your family next time"?

A published corporate-wide blackout date (which I doubt this is) just means to know that they won't load availability in the system; clearly it isn't and they did.

Since there is actually room availability at the hotel (as shown by the package booking site), the solution here should be simple -- the hotel buys back enough rooms to cover their bookings. If they won't, *I* would hold it reasonable for the affected customers to just purchase the package and demand full reimbursement from the hotel, with the hotel given the additional nights and other benefits to sell as they please. I don't know if a small claims court would agree, but it seems like the fairest way to make the customer whole.

dcstudent

I agree completely with the first part. I'm not from LA, I wouldn't know that the Sheraton always sells out to this large group every year. Also $169 (or the usual points) isn't a mistake rate. It's not something so outrageously low to stand out as a mistake.

If the hotel doesn't want to buy back rooms, there's another route they could take. Points given for however many nights people had reserved + Sheraton Pasadena pays for a room at a comparable (quality, not location as I imagine there isn't anything left near the parade route) property, and pays for transportation (cabs, private car, minibus (if a large number of people are effected) to the parade and back. I think this would be a fair outcome.

Just telling the customers to take 14K points and screw themselves is not only unfair, it's going to leave a decent number of people thinking quite negatively about Sheraton as a brand, and I'm not really sure sometimes that SPG understands that bad actors within their portfolio and the weak ability or desire for SPG to step in can hurt the whole brand. How many people will not book at Sheraton again, and will tell all of their friends/family/colleagues/facebook friends/tripadvisor/twitter/blogs, etc...

SPG has to work on their service recovery.

bigguyinpasadena

I am very disappointed in both the Sheraton Pasadena for the awful way they have treated a guest, and SPG higher ups for not putting a little more effort into making things right.
If we cannot count on our reservations at hotels then what is the point of making reservations at all.
Pure ugly greed on the hotels part. And lack of backbone on SPGs

AJLondon

I would give corp/SPG some time to correct this and cajole/convince the hotel to do the right thing. If in a weeks time it is still the same story, then yes, I will agree with you.