Marriott Rewards - New low for apathetic Marriott Management / Smoking twist

I hate, hate, hate the Courtyard brand but it is the only Marriott game in town for 50+ miles.

I checked in tonight to a standard, dopey CY and was immediately overwhelmed by the stale stank of smoke in my room.

Called down to the desk to be moved and was told nicely that no other rooms were available. Was told to open the windows and check with the desk in the AM regarding a possible move or room deodorizing treatment.

I asked if they would pursue the $250 recovery fee, (funny how my first thought was to let them know it wasn't me) and was immediately told that because the previous guest had paid cash (spoken without so much as a pause or keyboard click to confirm), they had no recourse to collect.

In fact, "it happens all the time. People pay cash here so they can smoke in their rooms" was the response when I went back down to talk about it !!!

Incredible! And the fact that housekeeping AND a person who pre stocked my room with my PLT bottle of water and pretzel bag BOTH ignored the issue! Within moments, I had a headache and my eyes were watering.

Did I mention that I really, really hate the CY Brand? The worst issues I've had in the past (noise, bed bugs, smoking in non smoking rooms) have always been in Courtyards. You would think I would have learned by lesson by now.

You mention it's the only Marriott in town, but are there any other chains that are better? Loyalty to Marriott is great, but not at the expense of dealing with that kind of poor treatment.

I certainly wouldn't pay for a room in such a condition.

You mention it's the only Marriott in town, but are there any other chains that are better? Loyalty to Marriott is great, but not at the expense of dealing with that kind of poor treatment.

Seriously. Just go somewhere else.

Not a CY fan here either. Blah.

I certainly wouldn't pay for the room. The service was poor, imho, regarding your call. I wouldn't have stayed.

I agree with most here in checking out and finding another hotel to stay at. I have done that before if the room/hotel conditions were not acceptable.

Also, in a partial defense of CYs, I have stayed at many different ones all over the US and have never found one that was as bad as the OP mentions. Yes, I would prefer to stay at a FS hotel most of the time, but they haven't been that bad (to me at least).

Yup, I should have left (and never booked this CY in the first case since I was here once before). However, a 6 hour car ride at night arriving late limits ones options. And I was led to believe (from the web site) that I was lucky to get a room at all - The only was to get in Tu-F was to invoke PLT status while making a Tu-Sa reservation opened up all options.

And the Mega Bonus / PLT requailfication clouds one's judgement which is exactly I think all these loyalty programs are designed to do.

I'm just more shocked at Management's response that this happens all the time and the (appear) powerless to do anything about it. I really suspect they just don't care...

So I opened up the window and watched the tiny TV at an odd angle. Had I tried to sleep past 8am it would have been impossible, the entire hotel was treating to construction in the parking lot and an empty (indoor) pool.