Hi,

I recently had a bit of an issue at a Marriott hotel, and without naming the property, I'd like to gather some input as to what you think a successful resolution to the problem would have been.

I made a reservation for a particular property, call it A, for tonight. The property is nearby where I live, and I only made the res because of a cheap weekend rate and the fact that the front desk kindly confirmed an upgrade to a particular jacuzzi suite that is quite nice. When I arrived, I was checked-in, but unfortunately, the room in question was absolutely infested with bugs. When I went back down to the desk, the FD manager offered to comp me for the night and offer me another room, albeit not a suite. Given my state of mind, and shock (were talking several dozen bugs), I was obviously rather disinclined to stay at this particular hotel.

The sub-issue was also that a regular room was rather redundant--I have an apartment much nicer than a standard hotel room 20 minutes away, and the trip was meant to be a special night in for my girlfriend and I. However, this is secondary, especially as I indicated my willingness to pay the difference for a suite if necessary.

The manager then got on the horn to find rooms at the two other Marriott-family hotels nearby, call them B and C. B is nicer than C. C has a double-bedded room available, while B is sold-out. I call the Platinum line and am told the same thing.

I leave the hotel, taking the manager's card. I walk over the B, where, perhaps due to a relationship with the property, am told they can squeeze me into a room. I call the manager at A, who tells me to tell the FD at B to call them. Naturally, hotel B is a bit befuddled by this. Finally, I get someone useful on the Platinum line who is, after 45 minutes on hold, able to get the manager at A to call B and confirm that they will handle the payment of the room. As an update, it took another hour on the phone this late-morning to confirm the inclusion of breakfast and parking (part of the package I had booked at hotel A) at hotel B. Hotel B was not at fault, as the Marriott Platinum desk had called me last night to ensure that it was taken care of, but evidently no communication ever transpired. So again, I had to do the work to get the appropriate parties in contact with one another.

It seems to me that it would be standard operating procedure to immediately comp a guests' charges following such a bad infestation. Thus, the jostling around (most of which I did, with little assistance from the manager at A beyond 'sorry') was simply an attempt to find me appropriate equal accommodation. I don't feel like I"ve been compensated for this issue all that much, given the fact that it took up four hours of my time, required most of the leg-work to be done by me, and is a response to an absolutely filthy issue. This is a major property in the Northern United States, not a tent in the jungle. I will be speaking to the GM of property A on Monday, as well as following up with the Marriott Platinum people. What would be an appropriate bit of compensation be to ask for?

I would think that a $200 credit or a certificate to be used for a night at another Marriott would be fair, given that to me, simply comping the room and offering no remotely acceptable alternative without work on my end was the bare minimum that needed to be done.


If you need further clarification, feel free to ask. I feel as though I should not name the property until, if at all, I communicate directly with the GM.