Feather Free Room Request Updates
 

It's been awhile since I've posted any Feather Free Room rants, but I've actually had a couple interesting encounters in my never-ending quest to find out why I'm sometimes promised the room is feather free when it isn't...thought I'd share.

Whenever the room isn't feather free as promised, I always beg to find out why, hoping that if the problem can be isolated, it can be fixed. Over the past two months, I've discovered two frequent culprits, and Marriott has done what it can to make these go away.

First, it became apparent that those who don't speak English as a first language often only know "down" to be the opposite of "up." They often don't know that it also means goose or duck feathers. (I've actually encountered one American English as first language speaker who didn't know this either.) Upon sharing this with Marriott, they actually put out a notice to the hotels, which seems to have had some success. Two different hotel managers have now told me about receiving the email.

Second, many use the touch and feel method to determine if the pillows and bedding are feather. Unfortunately, that is the same as using the rhythm method for birth control or thinking you are the one person who can drive after having six beers in an hour. IOW, you'll wind up with an accident. By insisting the housekeepers actually look at the pillow/comforter labels, the number of times I check in to a feathered room have decreased. (As long as it's not the Philadelphia Airport FS, but at least I learned about not everyone knowing that down means feather!)

Just thought I'd share some positive developments, since I've ranted about it so many times on this board.

Feather free rooms
 

We have had similar inconsistent experience with my profile request for feather free rooms due to my wife's allergies. Usually the room is "de-feathered" when I check in and draw the attention of the FD to the feather-free request; usually it is quite obvious that no one noticed the request. The de-feathering is usually just that...remove the feather pillows and down duvet and replace with foam. Often the process of removal leaves little down feathers around the room.

A few times at the Ren we are given a PURE hypoallergenic room. They are nice, but usually we are not on the concierge level anymore, and upgrades and views are more iffy. We have learned to reiterate the request via virtual concierge and sometimes by phone call

Is it me but is it possible for feather pillows to actually have a not so pleasant smell at times? Not the pillow case but the pillows themselves. Experienced this just this week and once in a while in the past. Assume they are feather based at Marriott's. Might be another reason to request feather free.

Make them change the sheets, not just pull out the feather products. It's the little feathers flying around that cause the damage.

My allergy isn't so bad that I need a full change of bedding, I just need pillows/duvet removed. I've found, however, that Courtyard properties seem to consistently fulfill the request and that the front desk staff manages to realize and mention it at check-in.

CJKAtl are you in Baltimore this week?

I ask because when my husband checked in last might at midnight at the Inner Harbor Camden Yards property there was a card on his bed that said "As requested we have provided you with foam pillows which are feather free"

Never has he requested such a thing! So I immediately wondered if they gave him your room. :-)

Hahaha, no, I was in Pittsburgh this week, but am now home for the next few days. I've always liked that property, though. Glad they are always prepared for me to drop in!

He likes it too, although he'd like indoor access to the convention center so as not to freeze his California butt off. :-)

Checked into the Pinehurst SHS last night. The folio said "Feather Free" in two places. The clerk proudly told me they were ready for me. Of course, four of four pillows were feather. The label indicated 85% feather and 15% down.

The clerk swapped them out, but in the morning, I expressed my dissatisfaction at the front desk and asked how this could happen. I really want to find out so it stops happening. One of the women at the front desk snapped at me, "Someone made a mistake. It's not a big deal. She said she did it, but she didn't."

We have our Marriott employee of the year.

After last night's fiasco, I called the Virginia Beach SHS to make sure the same thing wouldn't happen tonight. I was assured both in the call and when I checked in that the room was feather free. What do you think the chances were that was actually the case? Hint: the answer rhymes with Nero, Hero and Beer-Oh.

C'mon. What's so hard about reading labels on pillows? I'm at a loss. How does this keep happening? Do Marriott hotel employees really care so little about the work they do and promises made to customers? How is a culture of saying you've done something when you haven't so prevalent within this chain?

Tomorrow it's the Marriott Nashville Vanderbilt's turn. I've already spoken to their front desk and was promised the room will be feather free. We'll see...

You should write a book on this. Or at least a short posting blogs. Then send the link to Marriott customer service. ;)

I do hope you shared those comments with the general manager....wouldn't be right for the associate of the year not to be recognized properly

Marriott has an ADA desk (I'm not in a position where I can look up the number but reservations should be able to provide is)....I would start making reservations through this desk and make sure they understand that you are highly allergic to feathers

Unfortunately, that ADA desk means you will be given a handicap room. I've gone that route before. A couple years ago, Marriott stopped requiring this go through the ADA desk. Even when it was handled by the ADA desk, some hotels couldn't care enough to actually defeather the room.

Marriott has a program that hotels should be able to follow. I should be able to follow the procedure and get the feather free room. When I call the hotel directly and am told it will be done, it should be done.

The manager at the Virginia Beach Springhill Suites seemed to not get that multiple employees lied, which points to an environment where that must be the norm. The housekeeper who claimed to have defeathered the room lied. The front desk employee who told me he checked lied. The person the front desk clerk pawned the task off on, which he told me only after I discovered it had not been done, lied. It wasn't one person dropping the ball. It was many employees.

The first night, apparently someone changed my room at some point. My guess is this was not communicated to housekeeping, so when they rechecked the first room, they likely switched things back to what they still thought should have been done. If a room is blocked, the room should be blocked. This isn't the first time someone has decided that "blocked" means "go ahead and put someone else in the room" with a similar outcome.

I agree with everything you've said here and am equally disappointed - it should be easy enough to provide you with a feather free room...just a few notes...at some point arrivals get blocked and it's not uncommon to "blow a block" however guests with specific requests should be noted as "do not move".....I would encourage you to share your experiences both with MI and the operators of the hotels (MI Corporate and the hotel GM)...it's honestly sad that such a simple request is messed up so often