Is this standard practice for Marriott?
 

I am a HHonors Gold member who has decided to give Marriott a try and am about half way through a Gold Challenge.

So far if I had to compare the two chains, I would say Marriott properties are a little newer and nicer, but Hilton's service seems to be better. My real question is about my experience last night at the Spring Hill Suites in Anchorage.

As is typical in ANC, I arrived at 1:30 in the morning. I had a room booked for 2 nights at the Spring Hill Suites. Since I was arriving so late, I called the hotel at about 7pm and told them I was going to be late and wanted to check in over the phone. The front desk person said she noted the file, and that I was all set. Based on that, I thought everything was good.

When I arrived at the hotel, the front desk person (different person than I talked to in the phone) told me they didn't have a room for me. He sent me to the Residence Inn a few miles away and told me I would have to spend the night there and then check in at the Spring Hill the next day.

At least I had a room at 2 in the morning, but when you have just spent 11 hours on a plane and haven't slept in a day, the last thing you want to do is switch hotels. On top of that, now I have to checkout by noon, waste 3 hours and check in at the other hotel. I had planned on doing work in the room all day...now that's going to be quite a bit tougher.

Lastly, I am enrolled in the promo with Spring Hill, where every time I stay 2 nights, I get a free night. Now, I technically only have 1 night, and am missing out on a free night.

I talked to the front desk person about this and told them that I called in earlier to check into my room, and all they would say is that, they were full, and "these things happen". This has never happened to me before with any chain...is this something I should expect with Marriott?

Technically you were walked. I'd read up on the benefits offered walked guests and insist upon full compensation. This includes credit for the stay elsewhere. If your reservation was guaranteed, there was no reason for them to give away your room except to be greedy (be sure to check your CC statement for a no show charge!).

Don't worry about the check-in time at the SpringHills. Show up whenever you like, if they have a room available, you should get it. If not, then sitting in the lobby helps remind them you are there and they will get you into a room as soon as they can. It can also be a good time to chat with the manager about the walk benefits and find out what you should have done differently for future reference.

As a side note: I had the same situation as you and called the CY property to advise them I'd be late, was assured I would be fine arriving late and ended up in a one-bedroom suite! FT mantra: YMMV

Your profile states you are a Marriott Gold. Did Marriott already upgrade you to Gold? And was your MR# in the reservation? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then you should have received the following:

"At Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, and TownePlace Suites by Marriott: Alternative accommodations, plus $100 USD. (Platinum Elite Members also receive 2 free room certificates.) Hotels outside the U.S. and Canada will pay the equivalent in their local currency."

I bolded the relevant part of the T&Cs. So hopefully they paid for your first night (which I do believe even if you aren't a MR member or elite) you would still get. And they should have handed you over another $100 on top of paying for your night in the RI.

If they didn't do both of those steps, I would call the hotel ASAP to ask for those benefits and if the hotel balks at either of them, then call the Gold line and get them involved.

In addition to the comp night and $100, it is generally standard practice to give you the full points and stay credit you originally should have received.

(And, no, this is not standard practice at Marriott. It should theoretically be less common than at Hilton, due to the stronger reservation guarantee.)

Definitely agree. I've been trying to get a hotel to walk me for the last 15+ years and no dice. They just won't do it. :mad:

Marriott upgraded me right away to Gold...and everything was in my profile. The day shift is much friendlier than the night shift and they are taking care of everything. They took care of last nights accomodations, are giving me $100 and a free night at any Marriott Hotel. They are also going to make sure I get credit for the night at the Spring Hill so I get the free night with the current promotion.

I'm sure this can happen at any hotel chain at any time...it was just bad timing because I had not slept in 24 hours and was ready for bed.

Just so you know- at Marriott, as far as I know, there is no such thing as checking in by phone, or online. You are not checked in until youare standing there.

Glad they did the right thing by you. And welcome to Marriott.

Cheers.

+1 Welcome aboard. FWIW, I've had good experiences at Hilton Properties. But by and large I've had better ones with Marriott.

SCORE! I've got 1024 nights and I've never been walked. :(

The odds of this happening to you again are near zero - it's a rarity.

Agree with the others: it should be very, very rare for a Gold to get walked.

On nearly all of my business trips traveling solo, I'd be happy to accept a walk in exchange for the published compensation. Heck, if they had any kind of equivalent to a VDB, I'd probably negotiate down a little from that point. ("Keep the cash, I'll pay my corp rate over at the Residence Inn, but hook me up with those two Plat certificates!!" ^)

But it never happens...

This thread reminded me of my front desk training years ago... I worked in both Hilton and Marriott properties. The Marriott training specifically covered walk situations. I don't recall it even being mentioned in the Hilton training.

There is actually a status level less likely to be walked than Plat at Marriott, incidentally. It's honeymoons. Very, very specific training that under no circumstance do you ever walk someone on a honeymoon. And also never walk elite members. But definitely not honeymooners.

(This was humorous at the time, since few people honeymoon at rural Residence Inns... but I suppose it was possible. Tell you what, if anyone ever decided to, they definitely would not be walked.)

MDtR, thanks for the insight.
I think that walking has a whole lot more to do with losing a valuable customer rather than any short term financial penalties.
I remember when I was hired at United back in 2000. One of the management personnel stated that 5% of our customers generated 20% of revenues and 1% of our customers generated 10% of revenues. Or similar lopsided numbers.
There are customers that a business can afford to lose. Top tier customers are not in that class.

Yeah, the 80/20 rule has proven out in nearly every situation for me. I actually ran the numbers once at one of the properties and it was roughly 20% of guests contributed 70%+ of revenue, with a very long tail of one stay/year folks. We actually used that data to make sure the top tier folks were very happy. As a side effect, I think it improved the overall level of customer satisfaction too - got everyone in the mindset of being proactive.

At this same property, we came up with an easy way to avoid walks without sacrificing revenue. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have the right staff and give them the right priorities.