In 2019, One Mile at a Time covered the Sheraton Buganvilias in Puerto Vallarta refusing to host a same sex wedding. Mr. Gay Canada Josh Rimer described the challenges he and his fiancé faced at what’s otherwise considered a gay-friendly destination:
The couple received an email saying the resort was not “specialized to carry out an equal wedding.”
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.
Credit: Sheraton Buganvilias, Puerto Vallarta
In response, the Hilton stepped up and offered to host the wedding at no cost.
We’ve heard you want to get married at Puerto Vallarta and we want to offer you the #HiltonExperience!
We want to celebrate with you this special day, so we’ll gladly host your wedding ceremony and feast for FREE for you and your 45 guests at Hilton Puerto Vallarta! Please send us an inbox!
That was a great response! But it left one wondering about the Sheraton. Lucky speculated that language barriers played a role in how the Sheraton’s message was conveyed, though he made clear it’s not as if the couple had asked for anything out of the ordinary in their wedding event request. And he wondered if it’s staff of an older generation, less-accepting of what’s become otherwise far more accepted and commonplace.
Well, it wasn’t a one-off. Six years later the same property appears to be taking a similar approach to same sex weddings. And this couple brought receipts.
When we reached out to the resort for pricing and availability, the numbers they came back with seemed… unusually high. So, we decided to do a little digging. We had a friend (a woman) submit an identical request for a wedding package with a male partner—same number of guests, same dates, same everything.
The quote they received was significantly cheaper and offered better availability than what we were told.
@illuminaughtytriangle So disappointed that my fiancée and I got discriminated against by #Sheraton in #puertovallarta ♬ original sound – Jeremy Isaac
Maybe it’s just discrimination of a different kind – price discrimination – like OTAs pricing hotels higher for Apple users assuming they’re wealthier and wiling to spend more? Maybe they just think that the same sex couple will pay more for their wedding? Although given this property’s history that seems unlikely.