I have to agree with thegoderic here, with a life lesson additional comment from me.

First, the "It's for your own safety" comment is just ridiculous, because it is not for the safety of the guest at all, it is to try and distract the guest from blaming the hotel if the guest is injured. Substitute "Don't p**s on my boots and then tell me it's raining" for thegoderic's temptation to ask "how signing a form waiving his rights to sue Marriott should I have a heart attack in the gym was for my own safety?"

Second, the life lesson from my own history. Back in 1985, my mother was a passenger in a car which was hit by a tractor trailer truck. Fortunately she was being treated at the University of Maryland Emergency Shock Trauma unit, which was the pioneer in shock trauma hospital emergency care, and she was airlifted there. Among other things, she had a broken neck, and several other broken bones, but she was conscious. Before they would treat her, they handed her a clip board with a release form so that she would not sue the hospital for incompetence, or pain and suffering, or whatever. Even through her incredible pain and suffering, she had the presence to say "I don't care what release forms you ask me to sign, if you all screw up, I will still sue you, and the release form will not matter at all!"

Release forms are not for the subject person's protection, but to intimidate stupid people into not suing a big corporate entity, because said stupid people do not know that release forms are ALMOST meaningless, and (at least in the USA) are actually void in the case of incompetence, recklessness, or ignorance on the part of the non-injured party being sued.

I've never been one to suffer poor customer service, rudeness, or even cool/cold disdain easily, and especially at a very high priced hotel, such as Grosvenor House (279.00 GBP = 422.337 USD per night for most of the remaining weeknights in May), as opposed to a suburban or rural Fairfield Inn like Chattanooga ($76 per night for most weeknights) or next to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge ($74 per night most weeknights), both in Tennessee. I would be peeved at receiving the sort of welcome that the OP received if I was checking into one of those Tennessee FI's, but I would truly and rightly be incensed at one of the VERY BEST FS hotels in the entire Marriott chain, Grosvenor House! At Grosvenor House, any guest should have a right to expect true, true, TRUE WORLD CLASS service, which should be absolutely impeccable and above reproach, and absolutely nothing anything similar to the treatment and lack of a welcome that he actually received, as a regular/repeat guest and Plat member!

Oh good grief USI. You know I like you, but even the OP said he thought it was a 1-off, especially given that he's posted his wonderful stays & treatment before.

Do we really need 2 posts in response, of the length of the Great American Novel? And w/ all due respect to your mum, her treatment at a hospital 25 years ago is irrelevant to a hotel chain's policy on a health club. If you want to get into that discussion, take it to OMNI.

Again, if the OP encountered this multiple times there might be a problem. But if it's a 1-off (shrug), stuff happens.

On a dif note - we've got 2 FTers who are staying at the same property, but they can hardly call down & say can you put me through to thegoderic's room or BrightlyBob's room. Sometimes just knowing each other by handles can be a bit problematic :D :D

Cheers.

The hospital story had a direct relevance to the release form the hotel asks him to sign each time for the gym.

I realize that it was a "1 off" as you call it, and one or two of the things that happened would have been not a big deal, but IMHO, that many little things are way too much for such a high end hotel.

Sorry you did not like my postings about this. :(

Sorry I was cranky, kind of like the OP when he had to trudge his roll-aboard to the front desk ;) :p :D

Cheers.

deleted, company policy

I agree. I'm sure I'll get flamed but I find that many times we get exactly what we deserve (when talking about how customer service people treat us).

Yes, true, but in certain situations, well trained customer service people know that they need to "kill a person with kindness," in spite of the way that person is acting.

I'm beginning to think this thread is taking on bigger proportions than the entire check-in experience! Perhaps it's time to let it sink to the 2nd or 3rd or 4th page (she says, knowing that posting this reponse will push it up to the top of page 1 at least for a day LOL.

Cheers.

I agree....but also follow the "kill them with kindness" as a customer. I find it works well.

LOL....its just that cranky ANNNERJ....:)

Yes, I agree, most of the time. But sometimes travelers are tired and a bit cranky, even when they don't mean to be. Everyone should try to be kind, definitely, but in this case, one of the parties (hotel staffers) are specifically paid to be kind, and to be of service to the other party (customers), and to be understanding of exhausted arriving customers who have traveled long distances over even longer hours.

That's what I read also and said so, though a little more gently, upthread. But I'll move on and wish OP well in future stays here and elsewhere. :)

You won't get flamed by me, since I agree with you.

*Bump*

:D