Worst hotel stay experience ever
A friend and I went to Sheraton Buganvilias in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a 4-day stay in Dec 2008. We both have a lot of Starwood points and we decided to use our points for the 4 days (note: they charge 7000 points but more than $600 per night, so it is a no-brainer to use points), with first 2 nights under my friend's name, and the other 2 days under my name. Long story short, the hotel stay was not smooth (like air conditioning not working, shower not working, etc) but we did not expect much either. What made this trip terrible one is that we ended up being charged $1,250 for the last 2-night stay. To make matters worse, there was no issues during check-out, and the stay was settled with points, however, the hotel decided to charge my friend's credit card for the 2-night under my name several weeks after we left. They said (lied) that "it was always a cash reservation"; they further lied that the reservation was transferred to my friend's name, despite the fact that I personally called to confirm the reservation under my name and that they also credited my Starwood account for the stay. We have tried our best to talk with the hotel and Starwood (which I am a Gold member) and credit card company to reach a solution, but in the end, we were told it is what it is. We asked them to listen to our reservation record and they told us it is not available. So my friend and I had to give up in the end and split the cost. We understand sometimes in life we will be screwed up by this and that, but as a world traveler, it certainly made this experience the worst ever. Be aware of this hotel!