ryan754

I see that but executive apartments aren't listed on the policy.

MSPeconomist

Are executive apartments considered to be hotels?

If you're expecting a complete apartment, beyond even RI style, getting a regular hotel room instead isn't a close substitute.

ryan754

That is a great point. I'm fairly easy to deal with, and at the end of the day I was fine with switching to the local RC which was normally a hundred euro more than the apartment. I kind of wish they threw in club access since I lost my kitchen (planned to cook) also lost access to self laundry facilities. All in all in one to handle this better than probably most people they had to walk today.

CJKatl

I read right through the fact it was an executive apartment. It appears that Marriott Executive Apartments is considered its own brand, and that brand is not listed as one covered by the guaranty.

MSPeconomist

Did you try to negotiate for lounge access or some free laundry?

ryan754

100 euro for lounge.. As for laundry. Hahaha... I had it done elsewhere the next day for some coin. I like doing my own laundry when convienent. Sadly I had to use a hotel service :/

sinfonia

I never remembered to update the situation here: It took several calls to Marriott Customer Service to rectify the situation but they did, in fact, rectify it. It was really not their fault - it was the hotel, itself, that continued to tell Customer Service that they would reach out to me and rectify it, but they never did either reach out or rectify it, so it took about 5 or 6 phone calls. In any case, it is now resolved!

I have had another odd situation and hoped to get the perspective of other FTers here as to what I should expect.

I made a reservation for an accessible room (with a roll-in shower) through Marriott over the telephone for a hotel because I was having trouble finding the room online. I am now platinum with Marriott and was told by the reservationist that the room that I booked was available, that he booked it, and that it was guaranteed. Great.

I showed up for the reservation and was sent to a room that was not accessible at all. I asked at the desk and was told that the hotel was completely sold out and that an accessible room was unavailable. Unfortunately, the other person in my party has no choice of staying in an accessible or standard room; an accessible room is the only room that will work. I reiterated to the manager that I had booked, and been guaranteed, the accessible room. I said that if the hotel did not have it, I expected to be walked to a hotel that did have an accessible room. The manager mumbled something about the reservationist not calling the hotel to secure the room. I asked if an accessible room was not booked and he said that it was in the reservation but a call was not made to the hotel.

He finally said that he would have to call another hotel and did so. He found an accessible room for us and told us where to go. When we left, he asked how we would be paying for the room. He said that it was not technically a walk since a standard room was available. He was unwilling to walk me and when I pressed him about it, he said that he would attempt to see if he could find a small discount. That was it, and I had to leave for an event.

I called Marriott customer service while out and told them the situation. After consulting with them and through emails with the hotel GM, basically, I am being told that the hotel was not on the hook for this, presumably because of the reservationist not calling them, and that Marriott did not believe that this should be a walk because again, a standard room was available. Eventually, after two hours of these phone calls, the hotel agreed to pay the difference in price between the two hotels (match the rate) but by two hours later, the situation had changed our plans and it was not worth it to us to try to make it work, and I really did not believe we should have to pay at all.

I get that a standard room was available, but booking and guaranteeing an accessible room, then not receiving it, is not the same thing as booking a king and getting two queens. My guest has tried, many times, standard rooms, and pretty much every time has been a disaster. Unfortunately, anything but an accessible room is not a choice for her.

So, I don't fully understand what happened between making the reservation and how the hotel claims it was not responsible for knowing it was to be a handicapped room (since I was told it is in the reservation), but it seems to me that this should be guaranteed per the platinum policy and awarded the free night, $100, 90,000 points. The hotel, and Marriott, both tell me that it is a "grey area."

I guess I find it intellectually dishonest to say that since a standard room was available, disabled people do not get this claim if the accessible room they were guaranteed is not available. Again, being guaranteed a king and getting two queens is one thing, but to say to a disabled person that a standard, non-accessible room is available so there is no claim seems unfair to me.

Am I looking at this incorrectly? Is it a fair expectation to believe that I should have had the room comped (honestly, I was not even caring about the points or cash)?

Thanks for your thoughts.

CJKatl

What does your emailed room confirmation state? Mobility Access rooms are usually guaranteed, so if your reservation notes this as a guaranteed request the hotel should have treated you the same as if your bed type is not available. My guess is the selection was not noted on your confirmation, in which case it is, unfortunately, on you. You need to check your confirmation after you get off the phone with a reservation agent. I've had wrong dates and even wrong hotels, which have been immediately corrected with a phone call.

It would be unusual for a reservation clerk to call the hotel to let them know you need a handicap room. The reservation would be noted, and the request would show under "Guaranteed" request.

sinfonia

Thanks for your feedback.

In fact, the email confirmation, looking back at it, does not state that it was guaranteed. In fact, it had a note at the bottom stating that a roll-in shower was not available. I have no idea why he told me that it was available and booked when apparently it was unavailable. I simply went off of what the reservationist told me which was that we had an accessible room booked.

I find booking accessible rooms with Marriott more difficult than other brands. With Hilton, you can see whether you are booking an accessible room because you actually select it as the room type that you are booking. I have trouble understanding Marriott's method and language. You select it as a special request and then it may say "guaranteed" or it may say "not guaranteed."

I ended up speaking to someone at corporate about this who was extremely understanding about the difficulty. In the end, she said that it was the fault of the Marriott reservationist and so the hotel was not responsible, but yet Marriott was not willing to grant the 90K + $100 as a walk because it is probably an unusual circumstance where it is the fault of a reservationist instead of the hotel's fault. She did give me 45K points as a way of trying to meet me in the middle.

In any case, she provided helpful information:

I asked if an accessible room shouldn't be guaranteed per the platinum benefit. She said that per the platinum benefit, when a platinum member is guaranteed the room that they book, that means one king vs. two queens or the like. It does NOT mean an accessible room is guaranteed. In fact, an accessible room is simply a request which may or may not be granted.

This surprised me since for us and I would imagine other people who are disabled, the number one priority, over how many beds we have or what floor we are on, is that the room is accessible. We will make do with however many beds it has or where the room is located and even give up upgrades as long as it is accessible so that we do not risk any injuries.

As for the language about accessible room requests being "not guaranteed," she said that it means that it is simply unavailable/already booked/sold out. I used to think it meant that the hotel still had to look into whether they could guarantee it so I waited on those reservations, but now that I know this, I know now to move on to find another hotel if I see this language.

What I appreciated about this interaction with Marriott corporate is that the associate with whom I spoke completely understood that our number one priority is accessibility after learning about this episode, and she spoke with her boss about how Marriott can change their process so that those who need accessible rooms can be guaranteed them. I hope that they find a way to do that.

DJ_Iceman

I'm not one who requires accessible rooms, but I'm really pleased to read this. One, because it demonstrates a customer service person who actually uses their brain rather than spewing out boilerplate or ignoring the real issues a guest has. But I'd also like to compliment you for pursuing this deliberately but not aggressively. As a result, you got some satisfaction (in terms of compensation) but more importantly got through to someone who may be able to make a global change for the better for you and thousands of other guests who require accessible rooms.

MSPeconomist

For the record, on SPG.com, you can select accessible room types when making reservations. Sometimes the room's accessibility features are described in detail, such as roll in showers, and a few hotels offer more than one set of accessibility features, such as the roll in shower versus a room for hearing impaired guests, when you book a particular room type.

sinfonia

Thank you, DJ_Iceman.

I forgot to mention that this same associate also advised me to call in and ask for the ADA desk when booking a room at a Marriott property. I had never known about this before. I still find it more inconvenient than to just book online like I can do with Hilton or, yes, as MSPeconomist just mentioned, SPG, but I was at least glad to know that there is a department that certainly should get the reservation right since they apparently deal with the challenges that handicapped people face day in and day out. I am hopeful that Marriott will make some changes to the website as well; I had told her that I was needing to book about 40 nights and ended up at Hilton for about 14 of those already so far because it was so easy to book them at Hilton and after what happened with this episode, I did not fully understand or trust the process for booking and being guaranteed an accessible room on the Marriott site.

gooseman13

Was walked from a Fairfield Inn this weekend on a one night points stay. They paid for a night at another property and told me I'd be getting the points back. Am I also entitled to the $100 in addition to the points back? Not really clear to me from their policy.

hhoope01

Yes, you should have also received $100. And if you were a Plat elite member, you would also get 90k Marriott points.

lcpteck

Created wikipost to link to the Marriott Elite Guarantee which includes the walk policy.