HofstraJet

Here's a summary of my latest issue with a Marriott-branded property, this time the JW Marriott Essex House in New York: http://thejetsfan.com/blog/2015/06/1...with-marriott/

They moved me to another ADA room, which was what I expected in the first place, but it still bothers me that this room is in their ADA inventory. What if there was no other room to move me to?

And for the record, even though this property faces Central Park, both ADA rooms faced a brick wall. No park or city view rooms are accessible. Main lobby doors had no power open buttons and the elevators are tiny. I know this is a historic property so they are probably exempt, but I don't see how putting a power door opener would adversely affect the aesthetics of the property. Marriott has gone downhill in the ADA department lately. Their website doesn't make it easy to find ADA rooms anymore - you have to go through each room type to see if there are accessible rooms offered. Other hotel chain sites allow you to click and filter accessible rooms making it easy to see what's available.

Anybody know how we can get Marriott to fix their problems?

ZellaLamb

We stay almost exclusively at Marriott and I keep running into this over and over again. I've been put in rooms that they insist are ADA rooms and there is not even a way to get in the room, let alone use it. This was at a Courtyard. The manager refused to take that label off of the room, saying that there must be a reason it was labeled that way in the system.

I sometimes feel that the designers are actually hostile to wheelchair users. How else could they come up with some of these design flaws? I stick with Marriott because we are platinum and it doesn't seem to be much better anywhere else.

I NEVER count on my online reservations being correct. I call the hotel directly and ask to speak to the manager, after I've reserved. Then, the day before I arrive, I call them again. Even with that, I've been given the wrong room.

ysolde

Sigh. I am so tired of ADA rooms either not being compliant, or being second-rate, without a view, having bathrooms that look like they belong in a hospital, only having two double beds when you are traveling with your spouse or partner (because someone somewhere determined at some point that people with disabilities never, ever have sex -- ever), never being in the superior or deluxe categories . . . I could go on.

It frustrates me to no end. I have reached the point where, if I am traveling with my husband, I don't ask for the ADA room, and rely on my husband for assistance. We prefer the guarantee of a higher category room, a better view, and being treated like human beings, than having the ADA room. Sigh.

Loren Pechtel

And a single person doesn't ever want a Queen???? As a 6'er I much prefer queen as otherwise my feet are prone to going off the end of the bed.

And what does a double bed do to prevent sex??

ysolde

Well, see, that's another thing. My husband is 6 feet tall, and, especially in Europe, the ADA rooms (with a few happy exceptions) involve getting two twin beds. Which means his feet and part of his legs are hanging off the end of his bed, in some Procrustean experiment at innkeeping. We tried cuddling (nothing more) in one of these rooms recently, and realized, by about 4:00 am, that our college days are long behind us. He quietly got up, moved the suitcase off the "extra" bed, and went to sleep in it, feet and ankles hanging off the edge like Tom Hanks's in "Big".

Loren Pechtel

Yeah, twin beds are another matter. I've shared a twin with my wife, neither of us slept too well. The message I was replying to said "double", though--a length problem but not a partner problem.

DeafFlyer

It's just like the stripes next to a parking space for those with disabilities. Some of us need more room. I'm not going to explain that here though.

The issue of always having double beds isn't about sex, for me. It's about needing something at night and not being able to wake my wife way over there on the other bed. She often has to sleep on the floor on a makeshift bed. She says she's fine with that, but I hate it.

HofstraJet

Wait, you mean that those stripes aren't an extra disabled parking space for when all of the other disabled parking spaces are full? (yes, a disabled person genuinely made that argument to me when I told them they were illegally parked).

mat123

I booked online for the Marriott Minneapolis City Center: Accessible room with roll-in shower. The online confirmation said my room type and amenities were "guaranteed."

Well, when we checked into the room at midnight, after a very long two days of travel, we ended up with exactly what we had reserved! Very nice! Is this a new policy by Marriott to guarentee room types? In any case, it was great!

mat123

I would say call the property's general manager.

Then write reviews about this property (one star) on Yelp, Google Maps, and Tripadvisor. Then write bad reviews on Twitter and Facebook, ensuring you use their id/hashtags so people can easily find them.

If you had friends and family there who had similar experiences, have them write similar reviews on the above sites as well.

Don't forget to write a good review when things go right as well.

DeafFlyer

I won't make that argument. Some of the equipment* we use needs the extra striped space to get in and out. That's what the stripes are for.

*ramps, lifts, etc..

DeafFlyer

Awesome. Now I know where to stay next time we're in Minneapolis.

HofstraJet

I was being sarcastic (note the smilies). I was making fun of someone who said they were an extra spot. As a wheelchair user, I'm well aware of what they are for.

DeafFlyer

I knew that you were being sarcastic. I tried to respond in a funny way. Guess it didn't work.

HofstraJet

The perils of internet communication.