Customer Advocate at Marriott Corporate?
 

I need help to resolve an ongoing problem with the W Hotel in Buckhead (Atlanta). I've got a charge for a cancelled reservation that I've been trying to resolve and get a refund for over 2 months. I've called the hotel multiple times, called Bonvoy Titanium line and even spoke to the hotel's guest relations manager. Everybody makes big promises about getting this reversed but nobody does anything.

Is there a customer advocate or similar escalation contact at Marriott that someone knows who can intercede on my behalf with the property. In 26 years of being a Marriott elite, I've not had to deal with anything like this. Any advice would be appreciated.

You're going to have a lot more luck by doing a charge-back on your credit card - and make sure you don't leave it too long to do so. Marriott routinely will simply no longer make right their errors which cause their customers money. It's gone from bad service to being illegal, but not a lot as one consumer you can do about it.

Bonvoy Lurker on FT...

Don't even bother with Marriott, you are just wasting your breath & energy - CC chargeback should be 100x easier and less frustrating

Agree with above posters, you gave the hotel ample opportunity to fix this; now you need to preserve your legal rights under 15 USC Chapter 41 Sec 1666. In most cases the chargeback must be made within 60 days of receipt of the billing error (statement date).

If you would like us to look into this case, please send us your name, contact information, stay period and confirmation number via PM or below email address.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Abbey Liu

Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International
[email protected]

OP - Do not wait 10 seconds more. Your legal rights to a chargeback expired at 60 days and you say that you have been trying for over 2 months. Most major card issuers (banks) permit substantially longer (often up to a year).

It should take you <5 minutes to initiate the dispute online. You should make clear that the property has promised the refund but has not processed it. This will put the shoe on the other foot, e.g. for Marriott / property to explain why the credit should not be offered. Given that it has been promised, it is unlikely that the property does anything and you will have a permanent credit.

For the benefit of others, if an initial call / email does not promptly resolve an issue such as this, initiate the dispute immediately. No reason to let any deadlines pass and no reason for you to be out the case / credit.

You could try sending an email to the GM.

I recently had an issue at another W where a Welcome Desk Manager was being incredibly rude and unreasonable...an email to the GM and I had multiple phone calls and emails back waiting for me, fixing the problem very quickly.

I would call the hotel, ask for the GM's email, and send them an email or try to call them. If this is too much effort, chargeback.

To those of you who advised putting the charge in dispute, you are correct. I didn't want to post the entire history of this charade here. But after multiple tries to get the hotel and Bonvoy to fix it which failed, I did put the card into dispute back in July when the statement dropped. Amex gave me the provisional credit but has now recharged my card. Part of the problem was that this was charged to my corp Amex when it shouldn't have been. That means I have to deal with charges and credits in my expense system. If I gave up and paid it out of pocket, it would be flagged as a personal charge which is a violation of company policy. :(

I have also thought about the GM contact route. I called the hotel last week to get his contact info which is how I wound up with Guest Relations Manager. He swore up and down he'd get it taken care of. Now he's gone dark on me even though I have his cell number. I can find the hotel's GM through Linkedin.com and his regional manager, too. But I don't feel confident that would get this resolved. That whole property has some serious customer satisfaction issues and corporate needs to know. I'll be reaching out to the Bonvoy rep who responded.

Thanks and regards!
GP Burdell

Email with reservations details and contact history with the hotel and Bonvoy on its way.

Thanks!
GPB

Why would AMEX charge it back if it is a legit refund? AMEX is one of the best companies to deal with in such cases and if they are saying it is a valid charge, then there is a little more to it then what you have mentioned so far (not doubting your story in anyway), but probably that's why it is becoming hard for you to get your money back.

If the merchant provides evidence that it was a legitimate charge, then I believe Amex would reverse it. This is why I'm taking this to corporate. Somebody in the W Buckhead's finance department needs to get their act together. I hope they realize they're pushing a long-time (26 years), loyal (1,963 room nights) customer ($19K+ last year just on Marriott) to the tipping point over a $127 charge. I'm also on a pace to exceed last year's spend for 2019.

BTW, I've even thought about visiting the hotel office since I live in Atlanta. Let them tell me to my face that this is a legit charge.

One of the primary reasons I've been so loyal to SPG, and now Bonvoy. There's a team in place which is actually effective at addressing problems and getting them resolved.

While it may not mean anything to Marriott, also submit a complaint to the BBB. Might give you some personal satisfaction knowing that you're dinging their public record.