I am a HHonors Gold member who has decided to give Marriott a try and am about half way through a Gold Challenge.

So far if I had to compare the two chains, I would say Marriott properties are a little newer and nicer, but Hilton's service seems to be better. My real question is about my experience last night at the Spring Hill Suites in Anchorage.

As is typical in ANC, I arrived at 1:30 in the morning. I had a room booked for 2 nights at the Spring Hill Suites. Since I was arriving so late, I called the hotel at about 7pm and told them I was going to be late and wanted to check in over the phone. The front desk person said she noted the file, and that I was all set. Based on that, I thought everything was good.

When I arrived at the hotel, the front desk person (different person than I talked to in the phone) told me they didn't have a room for me. He sent me to the Residence Inn a few miles away and told me I would have to spend the night there and then check in at the Spring Hill the next day.

At least I had a room at 2 in the morning, but when you have just spent 11 hours on a plane and haven't slept in a day, the last thing you want to do is switch hotels. On top of that, now I have to checkout by noon, waste 3 hours and check in at the other hotel. I had planned on doing work in the room all day...now that's going to be quite a bit tougher.

Lastly, I am enrolled in the promo with Spring Hill, where every time I stay 2 nights, I get a free night. Now, I technically only have 1 night, and am missing out on a free night.

I talked to the front desk person about this and told them that I called in earlier to check into my room, and all they would say is that, they were full, and "these things happen". This has never happened to me before with any chain...is this something I should expect with Marriott?