You’d think that hotels in Puerto Vallarta would be pretty gay-friendly, because, well… it’s basically the Mykonos or Palm Springs of Mexico. However, one exception seems to be the Sheraton Buganvilias Puerto Vallarta, which has been caught discriminating against gays, again.
In this post:
Sheraton Puerto Vallarta charges more for gay weddings
View from the Wing flags the frustration that a gay couple shared on Reddit, while trying to plan their wedding at the Sheraton Puerto Vallarta. The engaged couple have been planning their wedding for 2026, and had been eyeing the Sheraton Buganvilias in Puerto Vallarta as a potential venue.
When they reached out to the resort for pricing and availability, the numbers the resort came back with were unusually high. They were a little suspicious as to what was going on, so they decided to run an experiment. They had a friend (a woman) submit an identical request for a wedding package with a male partner, with the same number of guests, same dates, and same everything.
The woman was quoted a package that was significantly cheaper, and offered much better availability than what the couple was promised. The couple points out how this quiet, behind-the-scenes discrimination still happens all the time, and it’s usually hard to prove, but not this time.
Below you can see a video that the couple uploaded to TikTok, which even shows a comparison of the quotes that were provided.
This isn’t the Sheraton’s first gay wedding run-in
You might be tempted to give this hotel the benefit of the doubt, and assume that maybe there was a misunderstanding, availability changed, or something.
Well, unfortunately I featured this exact hotel in a 2019 story. At the time, a gay Canadian couple was going through the process of planning a wedding at this resort. However, when the hotel found out that this was a gay wedding, they informed the couple that they wouldn’t be able to host it, because their staff aren’t “specialized to carry out an equal wedding.” As the email explained:
“I am infinitely grateful that you have thought of Sheraton for your big day, however, our hotel and our staff is not specialized to carry out an equal wedding and we would not like to take your wedding as a trial and error, and our service could be poor compared to what characterized Sheraton, because we know and we are aware that is your special day for you and your fiance, and do not want that by our non-specialed service some conflict can be generated on your big day, my apologies.”
In response to this, a Marriott spokesperson issued the following statement:
“Marriott has long been committed to providing an environment where all are welcome including our LGBTQ guests and their loved ones.”
The cool part of the story was that the Hilton Puerto Vallarta stepped in, and offered to host the wedding for free. At the time, I tried to give the Sheraton the benefit of the doubt, and hoped that maybe something was truly lost in translation. But clearly that’s not the case.
Obviously I think this is terrible. I have to imagine that the hotel owners are setting the tone here, and not Marriott corporate. I’d say that Marriott corporate needs to step in and set this hotel straight (or gay), but we also know that Marriott has no control over its hotels, so…
I guess the silver lining here is that we should sort of appreciate the hotel’s warning. I wouldn’t want to plan such a special event, only to find out on my wedding day that the venue seemingly has a problem with me. People should be able to vote with their wallet, so really this is just a warning for anyone who may be considering planning something like this.
I suppose the Sheraton has evolved, though. Six years ago, the property wasn’t “specialized” to carry out an “equal wedding.” Now the hotel is able to do it, just at a much higher cost.
Bottom line
A gay couple considering the Sheraton Puerto Vallarta for their wedding discovered the hard way that the hotel was discriminating against them. The quote they received for the wedding seemed high, with very limited availability.
They were so suspicious that they had a straight friend submit an identical request, only for a straight wedding. She ended up getting a much lower quote, with a lot more availability.
This isn’t the first time that the hotel has been caught up in a gay wedding scandal, because in 2019, they outright refused to host a gay wedding, arguing that they weren’t “specialized” in this.
I appreciate the couple for finding this out. Although I’m already married, good to know our collective crowd can vote with our money appropriately. OTOH this is not a hotel I’d consider for PVR anyway - many better choices.
Gay couples have higher median household incomes than traditional couples, and quite significantly so, according to the Census Bureau figures as of 2023. I can see a hotel being well aware of this fact (which is no big secret, after all) and try their luck squeezing more $$$ just because...they can. It really sucks, but there you go. As for claiming this hotel "hates" gays, well that's a pretty big claim to make with very...
Gay couples have higher median household incomes than traditional couples, and quite significantly so, according to the Census Bureau figures as of 2023. I can see a hotel being well aware of this fact (which is no big secret, after all) and try their luck squeezing more $$$ just because...they can. It really sucks, but there you go. As for claiming this hotel "hates" gays, well that's a pretty big claim to make with very little (actually no legally admissible) evidence beyond wedding quotation.. 'Hate' would be telling them to f**** off and don't come back f****ts. Now that would be legal gold.
I mean, Marriott allowed its hotels in Saudi Arabia to become prisons.
The hotel's behavior is illegal in Mexico, against Mariott standards, and unethical broadly speaking for that type of business. They need some serious management change (or, no business). They're not even a particularly fresh or "best anything" property for PV, so hopefully they suffer for this gaffe.
Nothing that Sheraton can say or do will make me want to stay there, but I need to also understand why a gay couple would choose it for their wedding over the Zona Romantica.
Obviously, the hotel management and some staff hate the gays. They have every right to personally dislike/hate gays, blacks, whites, asians, jews, women, even those from other Latin American countries.
But that should be kept to themselves, and they should act professionally.
I'm stunned that people do not do their research and go elsewhere.
Since this hotel likes to discriminate, why take a chance if you are on the above list, regardless of sexual orientation?
My (ex) partner and I stayed there 3 years ago. The hotel is an absolute sh*thole with some of the nastiest and most incompetent customer service I’ve ever had. Even with my ambassador status, I was treated poorly. This is yet another reason why I won’t return to this dump
OR… like all hotels and venues which put prices up for weddings (period), they figured that a gay wedding couple might have an even greater budget (more disposable income aka the ‘pink dollar’).
Are we sure these are real gays?
I'll say it. Have they been to Puerto Vallarta? Why on earth would you pick an all inclusive Sheraton vs the other GORGEOUS hotels in the Romantic Zone where they're welcome.
Putting your guests through an all-inclusive in PV? Just go to Cancun if you want an all inclusive...
Pardon the obvious sarcasm. Beautiful location for a wedding of any kind... but the Sheraton is in...
Are we sure these are real gays?
I'll say it. Have they been to Puerto Vallarta? Why on earth would you pick an all inclusive Sheraton vs the other GORGEOUS hotels in the Romantic Zone where they're welcome.
Putting your guests through an all-inclusive in PV? Just go to Cancun if you want an all inclusive...
Pardon the obvious sarcasm. Beautiful location for a wedding of any kind... but the Sheraton is in just such a gross part of town right by where the sewers drain into the Bay. If you want your straight guests to feel more comfortable and The Romantic Zone seems like too much, take them to Punta Mita...
Did a pre-paid booking at that very hotel. When my partner and I arrived they tried to quote us a number 4x what we had already paid. I called the Marriott Elite corporate customer support to have the amount and dates confirmed and they back pedaled once I had corporate on speaker. Guess I know why they did it now.
They have a reason to charge more....
1. The customer will pay more
2. The wedding is different. There could be special training, like sensitivity training.
Not right but there's an excuse
Since when is bigotry an excuse?
"Oh NOES! DON'T CANCEL MARRIOTT! CANCEL CULTUR!!!!ARGH!!!!!!!BLERG!!11!!!!"
-Some moronic idiot down in this comments section later today
Thank you for bringing this to your readers' attention, Ben. It's only through publicizing this hateful, bigoted behavior that change happens.
It shouldn’t matter if someone is gay or normal. Everyone should be treated equally.
Excuse me..... I am GAY and NORMAL.
No, that would make you BI, not normal still.
Hey Lucky, curious - do you think the hotel zone hotels might be hesitant to do gay weddings given the reputation of the raucous hotel parties in Zona Romantica? To be clear, I fully support those party hotels, but I’m curious if they’ve perpetuated a stereotype throughout the city of gay tourists. Really appreciate your feedback here - are they downright hateful or do the operators think they’re trying to keep an upscale vibe at their hotel?
Wow, a gay wedding is a non-specialed service? I hadn't heard that one before. Time to show them the Key and Peele gay wedding video. So sorry you have to go through life dealing with people like this all the time Ben.
"I’d say that Marriott corporate needs to step in and set this hotel straight (or gay), but we also know that Marriott has no control over its hotels, so…"
Ha. IMHO may be more accurate to say that while Marriott certainly has leverage over its hotels, it is wholly uninterested in exercising it no matter how egregious the behavior.
Corporations don’t have feelings or inherent political stances, but they do pay attention to public relations. It’s a cold calculation, but if a franchisee engages in business practices that negatively impact the “brand” in the public’s perception, they absolutely would respond with proportionate measures, simply to protect the brand standard.
But we all know how much Marriott cares about their brand standard. So… never mind.
yup - it's obtuse and short-sighted but here we are...
Mexico has both a national constitutional provision (Article I), and a supporting national law (Ley Federal para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación (LFPED), or “Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination”) which specifically include sexual orientation and marital status as protected classes, which makes what the Sheraton is doing illegal, since it’s a pretty obvious case of this kind of discrimination in what we would call in the US, “public accommodation”.
Realistically, would the...
Mexico has both a national constitutional provision (Article I), and a supporting national law (Ley Federal para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación (LFPED), or “Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination”) which specifically include sexual orientation and marital status as protected classes, which makes what the Sheraton is doing illegal, since it’s a pretty obvious case of this kind of discrimination in what we would call in the US, “public accommodation”.
Realistically, would the federal or state governments of Mexico try to enforce this against this hotel? Or would this couple really want to litigate this? Unlikely. And I doubt the Mexican court system or political environment would be a useful venue to make a political or legal stand anyway. And for what it’s worth, Marriott itself likely won’t be able or willing to take much punitive action, even if they do make statements condemning this behavior of their Mexican franchisee.
All that to say, the best course of action for the couple is obviously to find another hotel and move on with their wedding plans.
And the best response from tourists or locals who object to this kind of discrimination, and travel bloggers like OMAAT, is to widely publicize this hotel as an unfriendly, unwelcoming location and take their business elsewhere.
P.S. - it does appear that Mexico has a has a national agency that is meant to enforce the anti-discrimination laws: National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED). And it appears they do have a public web form to directly file complaints of this kind: just Google “CONAPRED Presenta tu queja en línea”
I can’t vouch for what happens after that, or whether that agency is effective. But, on some level, it’s actually kind of refreshing...
P.S. - it does appear that Mexico has a has a national agency that is meant to enforce the anti-discrimination laws: National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED). And it appears they do have a public web form to directly file complaints of this kind: just Google “CONAPRED Presenta tu queja en línea”
I can’t vouch for what happens after that, or whether that agency is effective. But, on some level, it’s actually kind of refreshing / even charming that the Mexico federal government just has a simple Microsoft 365 web form to solicit this information directly from the public. By contrast, I wish American federal and state government agencies could be as simple and straightforward with their public engagement channels.
You just found the difference between a liberal democratic government and a fascist one.