thegoderic

A personal first after 1000+ Marriott nights and probably another 1000+ elsewhere.

I was staying at the Icon in Houston, one of my favourite business Marriott properties this week, and when I arrived back last night, my card key would not work.

Surprisingly, there were no lights at all on the lock - normally when your key doesn't work, a red or orange light shows.

I tried my second key card - same result, then, just before heading down to get the card recut, pushed the handle and the door opened! A few minutes further playing showed that the door was completely unlocked and there was no need for any key of any sort to get in.

I called the front desk and explained what the issue was. The first response was to send someone up with a new key. Next came a maintenance man who confirmed that the door lock wasn't working, told me that he couldn't fix it and suggested I lock the door from the inside.

He then asked what time I'd be up in the morningt (7 a.m.) and said he'd have someone up to the room at that time so I could get breakfast.

I was actually on a call 7 - 8 and when that finished, I gathered my things together and went to check out. It seemed to come as a total surprise to the front desk that there was any issue with the room at all.

So I'm now doubly cheesed off with the hotel. Firstly because it happened in the first place and my belongings were available to anyone who wanted for an unknown period of time, and secondly with the totally underwhelming way they responded to what, to me at least, was a serious issue.

I will speak with them again more formally and let you know what the outcome was.

rcross23

In my brief time on this forum, I have noticed that there are FTers with ALL kinds of personal ethos. Therefore, I would almost guarantee you will get some people that say "No Harm, No Foul" and that you shouldn't make a big deal of it because nothing was taken, etc. However, I completely agree with you that this is a serious issue, and just because nothing happened doesn't mean that nothing COULD have happened. When considering the severity of the issue, you have to consider all circumstances under which this could have occurred. You could have been travelling with your wife, kids, etc. and would have been unable to rely on the lock to keep them safe. Not only could your valuables have been taken, but something far more nefarious could have potentially occurred. Therefore, I would definitely follow up with Management, as you have said. I don't know what kind of compensation you will get, but it is obviously worth bringing it to Management's attention so that they can (hopefully) discover what caused the lock to malfunction, and keep it from recurring. You may be able to press for some points, or a discount on a future stay as it seems you frequent this hotel often, but I doubt you will get any type of monetary compensation.

I'll be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences and what their opinions are. Just be prepared for some idiot to tell you not to worry about it.

CJKatl

My rule of thumb is whether the next guest would want whatever the situation was to happen to him. When there are issues, I always ask them NOT to give me the points. It's too easy for a complaint to be written off if the the manager can blame it on someone wanting points.

Thank you OP for naming the hotel. A hotel that is that blase with a security issue is a hotel I want to avoid.

SkiAdcock

Thanks - please do!

Edited to add: Since it's an Autograph Collection, do you get brekkie M-F (presumably), but do you know if you do on the weekends? Do they do anything else for elites? Please advise & I'll update the exec lounge sticky since we don't have a report on this property.

Cheers.

rcross23

That is a very good point, and one that I had not thought of. I don't know the internal politics of Marriott. What would be a better way to handle this so that the issue is given the attention it deserves? I would think that the highest you could go would be the GM, as that is who is ultimately responsible for all operations of that hotel. I don't think a matter like this would be addressed by anyone higher than the GM, but I could be wrong. When I mentioned getting some points as compensation, that is for the satisfaction of the OP. I also mentioned properly following up with Management. So long as the appropriate members of Management are made aware of the issue, I don't see any other options. The GM will not be pleased with the way the situation was handled, and I'm sure will follow up appropriately. That's about all you can do.

jbdear

Sharon - I stayed at Icon as a Gold about two months ago on the weekend and received two vouchers for breakfast in their restaurant - Line & Lariat. I believe the vouchers were for $14.00 per person.

Hope that helps!

nacho

I'll not accept the room if I know that anyone can get into my room. This is a very basic thing that has to work IMO. If it happens to me, I'll give them a chance to fix it and if they told me that they can't, I'll pack my bags and go down to FD and ask them to give me another room or walk me to another hotel.

rcross23

Well yes, that much is obvious. The issue here is that the OP had already been staying at the hotel for a number of days and discovered the issue on the last night of his stay. The discussion is about any post-stay compensation and how to best bring attention to the issue.

nacho

Sorry I missed that part. However I'll not stay in ANY room that doesn't have a working door lock - it doesn't matter even though it's my last night. So they will have to change room or walk me to another hotel at their expense.

This is what I would do, I'll contact Marriott Customer Care about the issue via the online form. Then they will contact you via email that the hotel will get back to you, the hotel will then get back to you to explain whatever they need to explain.

I like to use this method because I'd like the corporate to know if someone is doing an extraordinary job or someone is not doing their job right.

rcross23

I agree, I wouldn't want to stay anywhere without a working door lock. Luckily the OP was still able to lock the door from the inside using the dead bolt, and that might be enough for me if it was my last night in the hotel.

But that is a good idea to contact Marriott Rewards. Depending on the OP's status, his complaint may carry some weight (hopefully).

BKKLEE

IMO, contacting Customer Services would be a better route for this type of situation.............

bitburgr

(bolding mine) Seriously?

rcross23

(Underlining mine) Yes seriously. If someone feels that it isn't a big deal to have your room door lock not work, especially after considering the fact that your wife/daughter could have been in the room, then I would say they are an idiot.

Do you disagree?

MSPeconomist

I think the door lock not working is very serious. In fact, if I had returned to the room and noticed that the door wasn't locked, I would have called security (or the local police) instead of entering the room. Someone could have been inside, either hiding or in the process of commiting robbery.

DillMan

Oh! Think of the children!

Had my wife been in the room I would feel more for the intruder than her, especially once she shoved her curling iron in his eyesocket. It isn't like armed thugs are roaming the hallways of upscale boutique hotels looking for randomly unlocked doors. It would take a complete alignment of the stars for something bad to happen and you probably have more chance of having your airplane fall from the sky than some armed thief accost you.

This assumes no malfeasance on the part of the staff and that factor alone would motivate me to make sure the hotel knew. I could much more easily see "Hey Bob, leave the lock disabled on Room 3312 and I'll grab the guy's luggage before he comes back. LOL OMG"