Originally Posted by
TexasDoc
I appreciate your responses. Apologize for my post being long. I only mentioned being Gold Member to legitimize by post and to show how loyal customers are treated. This type of crazy stuff only happens on comedy skits or something. A kitchen help making your bed? I did call the Elite line and they did not offer any solutions. They also did not inform me that other hotels were available.
The front desk personnel would not even pickup the phone when I dialed from the room. Going to the front desk would have resulted in a very tense situation- to avoid confrontation I elected not to go there.
In the end my goal was to point out the "gimmick" the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee is. I do not reasonably see how a unserviced room is equivalent to providing a room. Yes mistakes happen but the hotel did not make a full faith effort to rectify the problem. No one was sent to clean the bathroom during the entire stay. This alone speak volumes about the property.
I am content of other people become aware of the condition of this property and this spares them a similar experience. SF is an amazing city with lots to do - best to avoid ruining a trip by staying at this sub-grade property.
It isn't fair to claim the URG is a gimmick based on a single experience. Rather what happened is that somebody made a mistake and gave you a room that had not been serviced. I've had this happen before at other chains and I'd be willing to bet it happens occasionally at almost all hotels. In fact this happened to me once at Le Meridien SF on an award reservation - the hotel had no more rooms so I made them call SPG and they found me a room at the St. Regis (where we received a suite that was 10x better
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The best course of action - as noted above- is to do what I do whenever I receive a room that is unacceptable for any reason, i.e. too close to elevator, ice machine, etc. Return immediately to the front desk and ask for a different room. If they can't provide one, then decide whether it is worth moving to another property. There are dozens of chain properties near SFO, and they are rarely full even when there are large conventions in SF.
Personally I would never have picked any hotel in San Bruno - you're apt to find far superior quality in Burlingame and the prices are usually comparable. But sometimes you don't have time to research or seek advice on FT...
I only have Silver status, but find Marriott treats me as well or better than other chains where I have similar status. One bad experience is upsetting, but not good reason to trash the program, particularly when MR wasn't responsible for the housekeeping failure.