I decided to call the hotel tonight to try and catch the night manager who was working this past weekend when I checked into the hotel. Turns out it was the same manager and while she didn't initially remember me, she did after I told her the story about what happened during check in. Here's what she had to say:
- She was never told by any of the front desk crew that I asked for points back. I'll assume she's telling the truth but either way there was going to be no movement on this without me contacting the hotel.
- She agreed that 50% points rebate was very fair. She mentioned that because it's a high amount of points she has to get her GM to sign off on the transfer. She sees no problem with it and it should be done tomorrow when the GM is in. Fair enough. I have her name and know how to contact her if I don't see the points in a few days.
- When I asked why the Marriott app allowed me to book a room when the hotel told me they were fully booked, she said that she "shut everything down at 10pm" and has no idea why Marriott would have shown any available rooms when they indeed had none ready. She said this is something that they've already taken up with Marriott to figure out how this could have happened. I think this relates to what @
SkiAdcock said above.
To clarify a few other points:
- I guess I should have left out the part about the toiletries. I simply added it to show how ill-prepared the room was when I got to it. I did get shampoo and shower gel at a later time.
- I never said the night manager told me to talk to the day manager. As my OP says, the FDC who cleaned the room told me she would talk to the manager about a points rebate. Based on what I heard tonight that conversation may never have happened. Only the next morning upon checkout did that front desk clerk tell me that the day manager said it's an issue for the night manager.
- The FDC who took an hour to clean my room said, "Damn, the people who were in there were an early check out. And they trashed the room." Great.
- No, I didn't get an upgrade.
So this was an early check out situation and the hotel wasn't even *trying* to re-sell the room and make "double the money" on it that day. They had it unavailable in the system. Either way, whether you're the first, second or even third person checking into the room for that day I think everyone expects it to be clean and ready and consistent with the brand amenities. That's clearly not what I got.
-RM