Originally Posted by uxb

Nearly 6 years to the day since my last exposure to bed bugs, and I've been afflicted once more. This time, it was at the Aloft Silicon Valley. I was actually going to switch this reservation to a downtown hotel, but missed the cut off sadly. Anyway, I arrived at the property around 14h for check-in. They gave me a room that had sticky surfaces and rubbish in the closet. I noticed the bed had hairs on it, so I asked for a different room. The new room had a musty smell, which I thought emanated from the WC, so I shut that door. Unfortunately, around 6h the next day, I found a creeper on my comforter. I killed it and brought it down. The property offered to refund 50% of the cost of the room. I was like... seriously? There were laundry facilities on site, so they gave me a tab to wash all of my clothes. I was on my own for dryer sheets but eventually found them at a CVS. Someone then decided to take my clean clothes out of the dryer and put it on a dirty shelf next to the dryer, so I had to double bag them to wash again later. At check-out, the property said they "gave me" breakfast, but breakfast was already included in my rate (AAA, which gave a $20 credit). Without any intervention from me, they refunded the room in its entirety the following day. I skipped the doctor's visit this time around since Benadryl and hydrocortisone was what they gave me the last go around. I'm just befuddled by the fact that brand standards remain elusive as ever. I mean, when I go to a Hilton, I know what I'm getting every, single GD time. When I go to a Starwood (or Marriott to a much lesser extent), it's like a kitten kaboodle of problems. The worst part about this experience is that there's now ZERO accountability from Marriott. I was at the mercy of the property itself. When this last happened to me, Starwood took full ownership from start to finish. I'm not suing, but am I asking for too much in insisting that brand standards be followed?