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What's your best and worst stay for 2012?

What's your best and worst stay for 2012?

 
Old Dec 10, 2012, 7:34 am
  #1  
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What's your best and worst Marriott stay for 2012?

Inspired by the thread in the SPG forum I thought I'd start one here! What are you best and worst Marriott stays for the year.

Best: JW Marriott Hong Kong. Absolutely amazing service from every staff member, great lounge, easy to get to via public transit.

Worst: Dayton Marriott, very tired property, no room upgrade (not even better view) lounge offerings were abysmal.

Last edited by nevansm; Dec 10, 2012 at 7:54 am
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 7:53 am
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Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Wesseling, NRW, Germany
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Best: Hard to say if it has to be a Marriott one - probably the Residence Inn Treasure Island - perfect location, excellent rooms and fully up to my expectations. Overall best this year was the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport, great service, nice room, nice lounge.

Worst: No doubt the Marriott Suites Clearwater Beach on Sand Key. Should be torn down and rebuilt or rebranded to something below a Days Inn. Stay ended after 30 minutes and three futile attempts to find any room that did not pose any saftey- or health-hazard.

Greetings - Dirk
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 8:36 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
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I can't say that any of my 2012 Marriott stays could fall into the "worst" category, however most of my travel is domestic, so I never have any unrealistic expectations.

For the "best" I would choose the Amsterdam Marriott, where we had a six night award stay in late summer. We followed this up with a six night award stay at the Rive Gauche in Paris. From my perspective, this property is very underrated. While it is true that it is off the beaten track, this is offset by easy access to reliable public transportation as well as a lower cost, be it in points or cash. However, the location of this property is why I am placing it slightly below the AMS Marriott.
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 8:36 am
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Scotland
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Best - Probably any one of several stays at County Hall in London with a Thames View Suite - new steakhouse also adds to the experience.

Worst - The stay at the Icon in Houston when I got back to the room and discovered it was not locked. When someone came to look at the lock, he confirmed it was broken and suggested I didn't leave the room. Now that's what I call customer service!!!
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 9:57 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Formerly of SacTown, Cali
Posts: 1,240
Best: Wailea Marriott - really it's hard to go wrong in Hawaii.

Worst: Residence Inn Roseville, CA - had my family stay there. Tired property in need of major re-hab. Appears to be low income long-term housing also!?
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 10:23 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 940
Best :
JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur (suite upgrade, birthday arrangement on award stay)
Renaissance Melaka (suite upgrade, plenty of welcome gift on top of the points)

Other stays were not bad...
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 11:01 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
Best: Grosvenor House. Not only did they give me a room that exactly matched what is indicated on my profile - 2 beds, no feathers, near the elevator - but was upgraded to an executive room (with a sliver of a park view) and right opposite the Concierge Lounge. On a rewards stay. Yes, I will be going back...

Worst: Algonquin - not a bad stay, actually quite enjoyable, but 2 big negatives: had to have the bed remade when we discovered it had not only feather pillows but duvet - and substitute was just a blanket (contrary to GH, which had lovely plush non-feather duvets); all twin beds were removed in recent reno, and no kings available, so had to share a queen bed with MamaTwick - an experience we have decided we do not want to repeat, and will therefore probably check out the Marriott East Side next time we're in NYC.
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 11:34 am
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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Best: Renaissance Sea World Orlando (suite upgrade, Gifts for my Young Children, View of the Sea World July 4th Fireworks)

Worst: Marriott Aruba (Worst room in the Hotel on a 5 night stay, None of my reservations requests or anniversary requests were honored even though they were acknowledge by email, Ran out of Lobster at the Lobster Buffet even when we asked if we needed to go early to avoid any issues, etc.

I really could go on and on about the stay.
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 12:05 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Posts: 102
Best - JW Marriott Union Square SF - upgrade to a corner jr suite, good CL (and open on the weekend!), nice fitness center, great location

Worst - Courtyard Tremont Boston - awful service, TINY room with crappy view, no plat recognition, not allowed to check in until well after posted check-in time.
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Old Dec 10, 2012, 7:37 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: CLT
Programs: US Airways Chairman's, Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 65
Best: JW Marriott Hong Kong: Best lounge I've been to and very friendly staff. I'm also a fan of the Chinese restaurant within the hotel and as Platinum you get 20% off I think.

Worst: Nothing really stands out as the worst stay. I average ~100 nights a year for business travel and mostly stay at the same handful of hotels so most stays are pretty average of consistent.
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Old Dec 11, 2012, 10:16 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Aussie in ORD
Programs: Marriott Plat, Ua Gold, GE.. Sucker for punishment
Posts: 4,237
Best: Marriott Melbourne (Aus) by FAR. Staying as a gold got Chocolates on check in, about 1/2 way into my stay got a nice bottle of red. Lounge was awesome with great food and free drinks.

Worst: Hmm.. I must say I have had no truly bad stays, unlike the airline industry I think the hotel industry in the US has a pretty good baseline.. I would say it would be when I stayed at the Springhill Suites in DT Chicago with the family.. Clearly specified needed a sofabed and they gave us a room where the bed would not open.. Then we got moved to a very low floor with no view.. that said they did compensate us very generously and were very apologetic and nice about it..

Best in the USA.. Hmm... close call between the RI (yes! RI!) in Boulder where I got upgraded to an amazing fireplace room or the Ren in Crystal City Virginia which was just a very nice looking classy hotel with a lounge with an amazing view of DCA...
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Old Dec 11, 2012, 9:13 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: San Diego, CA
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Best/Worst

Best: Marriott Resort & Spa at Starr Pass - Tucson, AZ. Terrific staff, wonderfully quiet setting in the hills above Tucson looking toward the city lights, and three fireplaces on the back patio/restaurant/bar to watch the world go by.

Worst: Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey, CA. Snotty, sarcastic check-in agent spoiled the rest of the stay. Entire property was a platinum-plated experience in overindulgence and snobbery. But remember, this is Marina Del Rey, where they send their shirts out to be stuffed.
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Old Dec 11, 2012, 9:49 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: MSP
Programs: Marriott LT Titanium, UA Silver (via Marriott)
Posts: 642
Best: Tie between the Ren Hollywood (RIP) and Cosmopolitan Las Vegas
Worst: RI Beverly Hills - great service, but just not that nice of a property for the price and somehow a Cat 6
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Old Dec 12, 2012, 5:59 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: United 1K, MR Plat, SPG Plat
Posts: 804
Best: JW Marriott Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas. Great upgrade to a two room suite with a large balcony over looking the golf course. Great pools! Great food and exceptional staff. What really put this stay over the top was Marriott's partnership with BMW, called the BMW Resort Drive. Allowed me to drive a BMW 635i convertible (valued at nearly $100K) anywhere I wanted for 3 hours for free (just had to provide my driver's license). Several months later and have not received any marketing calls, email or snail mail from BMW.

Worse: CY VA Beach North. This stay was an average paid stay in a two room suite (no upgrades during the summer here) until Mrs. OU812 observed the housekeeper use the towels to wipe down the sink, tub, and toilet and then hang them back up. She also observed the housekeeper spray cleaning solution into the used glasses, wipe them with a rag from her pocket, and then put the glasses back on the counter. Housekeepers knew my wife was in the room when they entered. Unfortunately, this was the last day of our stay and we had been using the glasses and towels the previous 4 nights! (Informed mgmt of the hotel and they handled the situation as best they could.)
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Old Dec 12, 2012, 7:22 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
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Posts: 4,648
Best: Ritz-Carlton Boston Commons - Upgraded to a one bedroom suite but this was due to it being an AMEX FHR reservation and not due to lowly Silver MR status. Beautiful hotel with some of the best staff I have encountered.

Worst: Courtyard Chicago Hightland Park/Northbrook - Not a particularly bad stay but the hotel was in need up an update
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