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The saga continues with Embassy Suites (ES) cancelling rooms of those commoners who had reservations for MotoGP. I first opined about the ES cancelling reservations about a week ago (June 15) through several links at Roadracing World. Guess what? They have become the outlet, support center, and possible hammer for resolution.

I didn’t know this, but that particular Embassy Suites is ‘the Official Hotel of Laguna-Seca”. It looks like RRW’s involvement got the attention of the CEO / General Manager of Laguna Gill Campbell. Check it out…

From an e-mail sent by Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca General Manager Gill Campbell to Roadracingworld.com reader B.J. Worsham and copied to Roadracingworld.com regarding Worsham’s reservation cancellation at the Embassy Suites hotel in Seaside, California:

Dear Mr. Worsham:

I was forwarded your frustrating situation by Road Racing World via our Press Officer and am personally taking this on to get resolved.

We, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are appalled by this situation and together with our Monterey County Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce have put together a task force and are going all out to do everything that we can.

I have personally requested a response from the general manager at Embassy Suites for you and will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that this situation is resolved accordingly.

I can only apologize - this is not how we want our visitors treated, this event has been overwhelming, but we all hope to maintain common courtesies, no matter what the situation may present.

Gill Campbell
CEO/General Manager
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

This could be lip service and only time will tell.

The reality is that I am sure that the general manager of ES is taking orders from somewhere else, but in the end it does not matter. People are getting screwed out of their rooms w/o an equivalent accomodation.

After watching the F1 debacle at Indy this past weekend, I was visibly disturbed. I don;t really even watch F1, but knowing that all the folks that traveled the globe to see a race simply got the middle finger. I don’t even know enough about F1 to have an opinion whether Michelin, FIA, or both are responsible. I just can’t stop thinking about all that time, effort, $$$, vacation time, etc. that git torched that weekend.

We started making reservations and plans for MotoGP once the rumors started (read: before the dates were confirmed). I signed up for vacation back in September of last year. We got our Flag Room tickets within an hour of going on sale. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to this event. I simply cannot imagine getting a call from the Hoilday Inn Express on Cannery Row telling us…”Sorry, you’re out of luck”.

Hotel reservations are one of the first things you secure for an event like this and no thought is given to alternatives once the reservations are in hand. I feel for my racing enthusiast bruthas and sisters who are getting the shaft by ES. You know for every one that makes noise, an additional handful don’t.

It is not like me to call for a mass boycott, and I certainly won’t start now, but on a personal level I spend my money with companies that support what I beleive in. I do (did) use ES and the Hilton chain of hotels when I travel at times. I guarantee you that I won’t from this point forward on personal stays and if at all possible within company functions. I’ll probably knock off a letter to the main Hilton website ‘contact us’ section and I recommend that others do too as you never know until you try. Even though that revenue may ultimately help Paris Hilton get naked one more time on the internet, I have my principles.