UA-NYC

If I saw a headline that said "Chain Hotel Brand calls police on guest", without knowing the actual company name, I think we all know Marriott would be by far the most likely name to fill in that blank.

StevenSeagalFan

Or, hear me out, the customer could've just brushed off the $10 inconvenience and later followed up with corporate.

MePlatPremier

There definitey is a pont where keeping an argent or engaging our interlocutor any further is no longer advisable, especially when what’s at stake is a petty amount of money.

For $10 I would not keep my conversation with the FDA after he had threatened with police. It’s not woth the aggravation.

unfrequentflyer

The word "Platinum" has been QE by Marriott many times already. It does not have the same meaning as years ago. I was a Marriott Platinum when it was 75 nights. Back then it was the highest tier. Before Platinum Premier, Ambassador. It was a time when Platinum elites mean something. I knew someone who had wrote a letter to CS praising a waiter at a Marriott. Next year he went back to the hotel and the waiter had become the assistant manager.

Aliquot

No one here is concerned about the OP's behavior? This did start with bad costumer service, but insisting on taking something after you were told not to is the height of arrogance and is likely to land one in jail. Why not just register your unhappiness and complain through the appropriate channels afterwards.

Marriott, as all frequent traveler programs do, reserves the right to change any benefits without notice, so you have no legal right to any benifit. if the companies representative tells you a benifit is available you don't have the right to just take it. Of course Marriott cares about their programs reputation so would have likely reimbursed you after a complaint was filed.

Bad customer service isn't a license to do whatever you want.

Radiation Station

I cannot believe that your response to this is to side with the hotel. A lot of the time, obtaining the elite benefits that Marriott ostensibly guarantee requires politely standing your ground and confronting the employees of hotels. The OP has described an utterly ridiculous response from a hotel employee that simply wouldn’t happen in Europe, or in any properly run hotel establishment.

Should I leave the hotel next time a property denies me my 4pm checkout, just in case I hurt the hotel’s feelings? Complaining through the Marriott customer service channels after the fact rarely produces a satisfactory or appropriate response, let’s be real here. Most issues are best resolved directly with the hotel, and any decent hotel with properly trained staff should do their utmost to address your concerns and improve their customer service.

Your point about the legal substance of the OP’s situation is bizarre, incorrect and cognitively inept. It’s entirely within Marriott’s rights to change their terms and conditions at any time, and subsequently inform their hotels and elites. This isn’t remotely applicable to this situation, as this is an example of an individual hotel and employee refusing to provide the benefits that they have agreed to provide under their contract with Marriott. The hotel employee is not a Marriott employee and, even if they were, they would not have the authority to refuse to honour benefits, unless they were exceptionally senior management.

clarkef

*** This is not not legal advice ***

I don't know anything about Canada, however, should something like that happen in the US, single party/two party consent is not germane to the discussion. Consent is only an issue if at least "one of the parties has an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation." Again, US-centric answer, neither party has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place such as a hotel lobby and the act of recording -- by itself -- does not imply any legal issues. By contrast, someone taking a dump in the bathroom has a reasonable expectation of privacy so you can't record. Personally, if there is an situation where the other party is likely to make a false police report, I would record the interaction. On balance, the legal jeopardy of being arrested for a 9-1-1 level crime, e.g. theft, assault, etc. far outweighs the infinitesimal legal jeopardy of recording a conversation without consent. Just my $0.02.

*** This is not legal advice ***

sbrower

That was the only part you got right. Just because you are in a hotel lobby does not mean that you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Nor does the fact that you are talking to a hotel employee. Now, if you are both shouting in the middle of a hotel lobby, and are aware that other people are listening, that might work.

Aliquot

How can you justify taking something from a buissiness that you haven't paid for against the buissiness' will???

If you see an advertisement for a buy one get one free sale, but are told by a store employee that it doesn't apply to your purchase for some reason, are you justified in walking out with two, after paying for one?

There is no legal right to any elite benifit, and in fact Marriott does not have a blanket policy to force individual properties to provide any elite benefits. Not to mention all the very many reasons the OP might not have been entitled to the $10 credit even if strictly applying the programs rules.

Awful customer service, yes. Deciding for yourself what is yours to take from a buissiness, no.

nacho

The problem with the situation is that it's not by law that they have to give you $10 F&B. If they told you that you have to pay for the stuff you take, you have to pay for it or leave it.

Definitely bad customer service and I hope Marriott is giving OP what he is entitled to.

Tanic

Blogger(s) already running with this, so Courtyard Niagara Falls, ON has earned its place in the bonvOY Hall of Shame, not to mention the CDN$66.86 Guest Compensation that they owe r1xd .

PTahCha

I guess there are a few questions from this side of the story:

1) Did OP picked the $10 F&B credit at check-in without realizing that the restaurant was closed, or did they change their mind and wanted something from grab and go, and asking whether they can switch the amenity and use the credit? This matters for the $50 compensation, and sets the tone for the second half of the conversation.

2) A normal conversation would typically not automatically lead to a call to the police. Clearly OP identified themselves (or their room number) that led to the charge on the folio.

2a) What was the item being taken? Was it even food or beverage (the assumption is yes)? In some jurisdictions, you cannot use the credit for alcohol.

3) Clearly the FD "supervisor" did not take the de-escalation course, as one would not normally have a conversation led to calling the police.

My $0.02: Yes, the FD person did not need to be rude and escalate the situation beyond something that could have been handled better. At the same time, it seems OP has misinterpreted the amenity guarantee and would not let go. At this point, you are better off having corporate compensate you with points, which is, ironically, what the FD person suggested.

eqeqeqx

I think he also got correct the part that if an idiot is saying he's calling the police on you because you're threatening him, it's much preferable to have a, possibly non-legal recording, demonstrating that you were not threatening said idiot.

Horace

Aliquot, Marriott can change the Terms & Conditions, but Marriott did not do so in this case.
Aliquot, I wouldn't call a front desk supervisor (or whatever the agent's title was) a Marriott company representative. This was an ignorant hourly employee who works for a franchisee and absolutely does not speak for Marriott International.
Aliquot, There are undoubtedly people at Marriott International headquarters who care deeply about the Marriott Bonvoy program. The fact that Marriott brings a huge pool of members (including Elite members) to current and prospective franchisees is big reason why there are 8,100+ Marriott Bonvoy properties and an impressive pipeline of additional properties. Most hotels recognize the value of program and play by rules. Some, clearly, do not. Unfortunately, there are way too many reports on this forum from Elite members who then have trouble resolving service failures, including cases where Customer Service just kicks the problem back to the rogue hotel.
Aliquot, As guests, we can and should speak up when there's a service failure. Clearly, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways of doing this. But we shouldn't just accept service failures and then try to resolve them after we get home. In fact, the Terms & Conditions require that we invoke any guarantees while still at the hotel.

Ghoulish

In the US he's correct. There is no right to privacy in a publicly accessible area, full stop. Anything that can be seen or heard can be recorded.

Youtube is rife with "first amendment auditors" who teach that lesson, with a lessor or greater degree of rudeness, everyday.

Privacy must be created by a door, partition, something of that sort.