4 March 2012
I regret that your impressions are so terrible though I understand that the experience in the middle of the night is one that is impossible to enjoy.

There was a general alarm that was caused by a sprinkler head letting go and creating flow. This triggers a general alarm and as you mentioned the correct action is evacuation.

The systems for both sprinkler and alarm are brand new, the alarm portion having been cutover a couple of days prior to the event. The 10th floor was the location of the greatest accumulation of water and that is why the fire protection officer asked you not to disembark on that floor. I agree that the process could have been better and have taken measures to assist in improving response, specifically in automated redundancy of the public address system. The evaluation of our actions is something that we do after all events, as I believe most responsible organizations do. You need to research cause and effect then discuss what could have been done more efficiently and how could we get guests back to their room more quickly. in this case the timing was unavoidable due the sequence required to re-establish a secure environment.

Your concern that no coffee or compensation was offered is understandable, however we cannot take immediate measures for compensation under circumstances of this nature. Reflection, discretion, investigation & discussion are required. For the coffee, it's tough as well, no activity is permitted in the kitchens without the ventilation systems running and this cannot happen until the life safety system is in normal mode.

Our priority is to get all of the guests back to there rooms and restore life safety to normal status. This is also the priority of the fire department and while they are onsite, they determine our priorities. Many things were occurring behind the scene during this event that includes wait time for the sprinkler and alarm company technicians to come to site.

You have received verbal communication & correspondence from us for a return visit offer at a greatly reduced rate with no restrictions or no blackout dates. I truly regret that anyone was inconvenienced and wish that you could appreciate that our goal is to provide a comfortable and secure environment for you.

Renovation notice has been posted on the brand site since we started in September 2010. The front entrance opened Friday March 2nd at 4:30PM and it looks great, skylight, muted up-lighting, new hardware for accessibility, as matter fact, it is all new! The temporary front desk still is however the new millwork is in, we are working on the granite throughout the lobbies and should be done shortly. You mentioned the pool I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy it, as it also came back online in January after extensive renovations.

Again I sincerely apologize for the problems that you had, though I am quite relieved that all systems functioned as they should and that my staff were able to follow procedure and limit the water damage.

Michael Lucas