acysb87

I ended up in Philly last week on a mis-connect on my way to MIA.My hotel room was booked for MIA.Time is 8pm at night and am forced to search out a hotel room for the night.I walked over to the Airport Marriott and inquired about availability for the night.I noted to front desk clerk that I am a Gold Status member and presented my gold card.

The clerk says they are oversold and no rooms available.
I ask if they expect any cancellations.She says no as there is a huge convention in town and there are zero rooms to be found anywhere.I asked if she could make a few enquiries as I have never been to this city before.She said there is nothing she could do as there is zero vacancy in the city.

I am not happy with the way this front desk staff handled my requests.As a gold ,who tends to stay at full servive Marriotts(this means in excess of 10K in revenue per year) I thought a little more assistance could have been forthcoming.(there were 3 check in people and no one else checking in at the time.)

I was having an all round bad travel day.My airline came through for me with a room they were able to locate.(there were few rooms available were their words as well.)

Why could Marriott staff not do what they are in business to do?Why did an airlinew bail them out?(I Did call the Marriott toll free number later on and a Courtyard room was available somwhere).

I am very disappointed .I feel this staff person could have done a lot more.

Am I asking too much and are my expectations wrong?

back seat

I have always found the reservation desk at Marriott is fantastic - I would have started there ESPECIALLY since I have found the airport Marriott to be pretty lousy in terms of customer service.

ohmark

I think most Marriott folks would have been more helpful. Sometimes, so much of our reaction to a property is dictated by the person we deal with at the front desk. Not all of them are up to it, and we all have bad days once in a while. What I would do in that situation is simply ask for a front desk supervisor, express in polite tones my disappointment, and ask if there is anything he/she could do for me under the circumstances. I think the Marriott culture would dictate a more appropriate response to your request for help.

DJ_Iceman

They didn't do MORE than expected, which is why you seem to be upset. They were sold out, probably knew most of the town was sold out that night, and didn't see the point in spending a lot of their time helping you spend money somewhere else. The airline getting you a room is exactly what should have happened, after all you missed a connection (presumably due to their fault). So why did you go the Marriott front desk anyway?

I agree that the front desk clerk could have exceeded your expectations by going out of her way to find you a room. Why this depends on your gold status (and why earning it at FS properties should make a difference, or why you think a front desk attendant would have any way of knowing this) is a mystery to me. And why did you bother to call the 1-800 number later to find a CY if you had no intention of staying there? Why didn't you call that number from the airport instead of marching into the FS property apparently expecting them to drop everything to serve you?

Sorry for my lack of sympathy, but it sounds like you've got a case of "entitlement-itis".

MDtR-Chicago

The OP's expectations were reasonable, given how busy the front desk wasn't. When it was my responsibility, my people knew not to send someone away without finding something... we weren't gonna get revenue this time, but obviously the guest was confident enough in our service to actually show up, so they'll be back next time. It's the hospitality industry anyway.

When I worked for a Marriott franchisee way back when, it was a requirement of employee performance to consistently exceed expectations, in situations exactly like this. In the Marriott world, this should be expected. (Unfortunate it doesn't actually happen more often.)

acysb87

acysb87

Any kind of assistance would have been appreciated.

MFLetou

For a Gold Member, it would have been reasonable at least to check other Marriott properties in the PHL Airport area.

jessej

i have spent 10 nights this year at the PHL airport Renaissance
i dont know if they are any better or worse
but they have always been cheaper and have always given me free breakfest coupons

i was also supposed to be in philly last weekend

but when i checked the full service marriotts, rooms were $199 and up
the cheapest i found was the Mount Laurel Fairfied, Springfield and Towne Place at $89 a nite

so technically the desk clerk was probably correct, the hotels in the city were sold out (although technically the airport renaissance is not in the city of philadelphia)

but they could have asked you about your transportation options and sent you to one of their hotels 12 miles away in new jersey

i have found that the quality of the desk staff varies greatly
and usually goes downhill after 7 pm and on weekends

your only other option would have been to ask for the manager to see if they could have been more creative

i would make sure that you write to customer servivce about the incident

jerseyfinn

We live in the PHL metro area, but we do several stays a year at the airport Marriott when we have an early AM flight. We have found the reception staff to always have been exemplary in their customer service and their attitudes. I can emphasize with your frustration, but I can not picture those PHL Airport Marriott reception folks being indifferent -- that's just not how they conduct themselves.

I agree with DJ_iceman. If there's a convention in town and Marriott has no rooms city wide, then they have no rooms. We've had a couple of instances when out of town friends have come to visit and they could not find a room at any hotel chain in the PHL area because of conventions and graduations.

The other side of the coin is that (unfortunately) by the time that you get to the hotel, the desk staff have heard inquiries like yours several times. I suspect that when they tell you there is nothing availible, it is not because they do not want to assist you, it's because they've already searched for others & they already know the deal in the city that night -- the different hotel chains do communicate with each other.

As to your gold status -- it means nothing if there are no rooms. The 800 line might be able to locate a Marriott property in the region that has a vacancy because of a cancellation, but it sounds as if you were looking for something close to the airport or city center which would not have had anything.

Barry

MFLetou

Yeah, I actually have stayed at that particular property and it was excellent. The staff was very good, friendly, and accomodating, the room quality was top notch and the breakfast was flawless.

Hazmike

I agree with the Iceman, the airline should have been the first stop. After that I'd have dropped a dime to the Gold desk.

I was in DTW recently & NW tried to put me at a Days Inn...no food, no way. The Plat desk was awesome & got me a room @ the DTW Marriott on my dime, but the Plat desk came thru for me, again .

Jimbo3

Just wondered what is the best way to get from the hotel to the Terminal A for an International Flight on Usair to Cancun?

Looks to be a long walk, Is it as long as it looks, is there a way to get there without going outside....I see the SkyWalk to Terminal B but how do you get to Terminal A from the Hotel ?

Does the hotel have it's own Parking lot? Is it hard to get too? Do you take the same road as departure or arriving flights and turn off of that or is there another road somewhere to get there?

Jimbo3

LPCJr

I am unsure as to whether it is possible to do this without going outside. It seems to me that if you were not checking bags, you could walk to Terminal B, go through security there, and then walk to A once you are inside security (this can be done). If you are checking bags, I don't believe they will allow you to check in at B since it is an international flight. And, I'm unsure if you can walk from B to A outside security. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I've never done it myself and thus am unsure. Others may have a more definitive answer.

The hotel has a section of the C Terminal garage. You take the arriving flights ramp, then follow the parking signs (keep left - if you go to the right it takes you into the bag claim area). The parking for the hotel is well marked.

Jimbo3

Thanks for your help, does this map help any?

http://www.phl.org/flashterminalmap.html


Does Usair use the A-East or A-West?

Looks like the hotel is attached to the Parking Garage B, is it possible to walk through there to get to the A-East Concourse, if that is the Concourse that Usair uses for it's International Flights?

This will be our first International Flight, so we don't know much about that Terminal.

There must be a way though that people use that hotel and fly International though you woudl think..........You think maybe they run somekind of shuttle to that Terminal? Guess you would have to leave the Airport though and reenter on the Departure Road to get over there, or maybe they use the road that is kind of behind the hotel that runs behind the Parking Garages to get back over to where Terminal A starts.

Confusing isn't it?