...getting to Halifax and staying in Halifax are the subject of this post because the experience of getting to the city via United was a nightmare…hence, “night” in the title…and the experience of staying in Halifax at the Marriott Harbourside was just plain great…hence “day” in the title.

The irony is that the lesson for United here is the most basic of all. What was infuriating wasn’t the delay per se - though for me this was just part of the expected lateness of United flights (average time late recently 2-3 hours) - and they didn’t have a captain which was novel to say the least. What made this an incredibly bad experience, miles and discounts after the fact, notwithstanding, was that United didn’t communicate the problem or the reason for it or the uncertainty of the solution to the problem until they were forced to by very disgruntled passengers.

The Marriott Harbourfront has a clear “customer first” commitment that is so ingrained in their culture - at least the culture of this specific Marriott hotel, that the overall experience is both exceptional and warm. I literally felt like this was the right place to be.