damon88

ckendall

I booked a room here a few weeks ago (for a stay a few weeks from now) and upon revisiting the Marriott website I now see that there is a note saying: A daily resort fee of USD 35 will be added to the room rate and includes local calls, minibar credit, Wi-Fi and more.

So, as my booking apparently predated the note (and no resort fee is included in the rate I got), do you think they will try to add it back on?

I assume Marriott central will be worthless in fighting this fight but I hate resort fees (and did not return to the W Union Square due to their resort fee). I cannot remember the last time I made a "local call" from a hotel phone and I would assume that even at a Design hotel I get wifi.

EDITED TO ADD: Now the resort fee is on my bill on the website (that was not there on the email). Do I have any recourse?

aCavalierInCoach

you should be able to say you booked before the fee was instituted.

what a $h!& show though. Premium wifi used to be $16 (I generally don't buy it because it doesn't work in some of the best rooms in the hotel anyway because of poo rrouter location). $15 minibar credit is impossible to use without over or under spending. But let's give them that, so that's $31 of price/putative value. So that leaves us paying $4 for the below. Except 3 of those were already included in room rates previously,

- Local & Domestic Calls
- Hotel Art Tour
- Bike Rentals (per availability)
- Access to In House Gym

so this is a $35 mandatory "premium" internet and local call fee, and mandatory mini-bar purchase.

LIH Prem

Sure you do, if you have your original confirmation email and the destination/resort fee isn't shown there. Ask the property to remove it first.

-David

ckendall

A brief update: I had a pleasant enough stay at the hotel. I got to the hotel around noon and was told there was a fifth floor room for me but I could have a higher floor room if I waited a bit and so went off. When I returned I got a suite but on the fifth floor. No idea of what happened nor was the desk particularly informative. The room was large (sitting area plus bedroom) but faced the back of the adjoining buildings (i.e., into someone else's apartment). I had a lovely dinner at Maialino that was arranged by the concierge when opentable showed no openings before late in the evening. I could not find a free water bottle in the room (there was a $10 bottle next to the bed) but the helpful turndown person found it inside the bar area. Room lights were a bit strange and one I could only turn off by slightly unscrewing the bulb (of course I screwed it back in when I left). So a bit too much downtown hipness (I did not need the bedside candle) for me.

The checkin folks never explained the resort fee (nor much else). Through the lurker I eventually got a note that the fee would be taken off my card. But thus far I am still waiting for my emailed folio (requested twice by email) and for any evidence of the $35 refund.

ckendall

An update on my update. As noted above a resort fee was added to my reservation after I had made it. I thought this was unfair and so apparently did people at Marriott. On May 5 they agreed to have something done. I emailed and DMed via Twitter again and again (my stay was on 5/18) after nothing happened. I received promises of action within five to ten business days and then a story about some system problems (believable!). On June 6, I received an email from a Case Resolution Specialist (sounds important) who would look into it. And shockingly on June 16 I got a merchant credit note from Amex of a bit more than the resort fee (maybe they charge tax on the fee?).

My multiple requests for a folio have still never been answered.

Star_Guy

Searching for hotels in NYC and it looks like this former SPG hotel left Marriott. 🙂 “sorry currently there are no rooms available at this property”

MSPeconomist

Sorry, no rooms available could also mean that they're (hopefully temporarily) closed.

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker

Just an FYI, but the hotel is closed temporarily and scheduled to reopen April 1st, 2021.


Thanks,

Robert V.
Social Media Liaison

Star_Guy

thanks for the update!

ac/elite

Any update as to when the hotel is reopening? It didn't open in April as earlier indicated.

person2898

Yes I would be curious to know when this hotel is reopening!

WasKnown

It's not clear if this hotel is ever coming back. Last I heard anything about it, they were being evicted.

https://therealdeal.com/2020/12/22/a...aces-eviction/

Kacee

Paywall

WasKnown

The latest visit paid to the Gramercy Park Hotel was from the debt collector.

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding, which owns the swanky hotel, is behind on $900,000 in ground lease payments, according to Artnet. A notice on the hotel’s door states that if Rosen does not pay by Dec. 28, his hotel could face eviction.

Rosen only owns the hotel, which before the pandemic was a go-to spot for art and fashion events. The estate of Sol Goldman owns the land underneath, which Rosen pays $5.3 million per year to lease.
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The notice is signed by Louisa Little, an administrator at Solil Management, the company that represents Sol Goldman’s estate. Goldman was one of Manhattan’s largest landlords and at one period owned nearly 1,900 separate parcels, according to ArtNet.

Rosen bought the hotel with longtime friend hotelier Ian Schrager in 2003. The two redeveloped the property, and Rosen took full ownership in 2010.

The hotel had closed its doors to guests at the onset of the pandemic, but Rosen recently said he offered his employees who live in the suburbs the opportunity to stay there to avoid commuting to the office.

“I told everybody, ‘Guys, you want to stay Tuesday night or Wednesday? Be my guest. Breakfast is at 9. Then show up at the office when you feel like it,’ ” Rosen told Bloomberg News.

Hotels have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. About 80 percent of hotel properties tied to the commercial mortgage-backed securities market are showing signs of distress, according to recent figures from Trepp.