Extremely disappointing experience and completely unacceptable treatment from a Marriott property. Employees at front desk and manager should be fired as they do not represent Marriott brand.
We booked our room the night before and then drove approximately six hours straight to the hotel. We arrived at around 4:00 a.m., exhausted and traveling with a small child. Upon arrival, we were told that the hotel had been oversold due to a system error and that they would not check us in.
The front desk clearly did not want to deal with the situation or offer us any meaningful assistance. We were simply told to contact Marriott support ourselves.
I contacted Marriott support while standing in the lobby. The representative confirmed that our reservation was still showing as valid in Marriott’s system and told us that we should not simply be left stranded without accommodation. The representative also told me that, based on what she could see in Marriott’s system, the hotel had reportedly been overselling for the previous four days. If the hotel was aware of an ongoing overselling problem, we should have been contacted after making our reservation rather than being allowed to drive six hours and discover the problem only upon arrival in the middle of the night.
I handed my phone to one of the front desk employees so she could speak directly with the Marriott representative. The employee then claimed that because we arrived around 4:00 a.m., we had already been marked as a no-show and our reservation had been canceled. The Marriott representative told her that this did not appear to be correct because our reservation was still active in the system and it was not even 6am to validate a no show. Marriott representative confirmed that this was not an acceptable way to handle an oversold reservation. Marriott should assist guests in finding comparable nearby accommodations rather than leaving them stranded in the middle of the night, especially when traveling with a young child. Employee at frond desk kept repeating she is following Manager Gonzales instructions.
I also asked to speak with a manager. I was told that the manager, Mr. Gonzalez, would not be available until after the holiday weekend. That was extremely concerning given the seriousness of the situation. She also provided us with pink paper note with his email and number.
During the conversation, the front desk employee told the Marriott representative that other guests had also been turned away. She also claimed that she had contacted nearby hotels and that they were all full. However, Marriott support was able to find and book us a room at another hotel only about a mile away. During the entire time we were standing in the lobby with an exhausted child, I never saw the front desk employee make a single phone call attempting to locate another room for us.
What is most upsetting is not simply that the hotel was oversold. Mistakes and system errors can happen. The real issue was the complete lack of effort, empathy, and responsibility afterward. We had driven six hours, arrived at approximately 4:00 a.m. with a small child, had a confirmed reservation, and were essentially told to contact support and deal with the problem ourselves.
This experience is completely inconsistent with what I expect from the Marriott brand, especially as a Gold Elite member.
Given the inconvenience, distress, and unacceptable handling of this situation, I expect Marriott to provide appropriate compensation in addition to addressing the operational and customer-service failures involved. We were forced to deal with this problem after a six-hour drive, in the middle of the night, while traveling with a small child, despite having a valid reservation.
For identification purposes, there were two female front desk employees working during this incident. One had dark brown hair. The other had long light-brown/blonde hair, and I believe her name was Cindy or Sydney. She was the employee who spoke with the Marriott representative on my phone.
I will also be submitting a formal complaint to Marriott corporate regarding this incident and requesting compensation for the disruption, inconvenience, and failure to honor our confirmed reservation.
