CheapTraveller

What should I request for compensation tomorrow when I speak to the hotel GM?

Situation background: My wife is pregnant (last pre-baby trip oppty), and was celebrating a round-number birthday this week, so I planned a special weekend (2 nights) for her at a RC property in FL.

Timeline:
-2 months ahead: Made the booking
-2 weeks ahead: Asked Reservations to note the special occasion in the res so I might have a shot at a Gold upgrade
-3 days ahead: Called the hotel and mentioned that I'd be arriving late and it would be great to not end up in a handicapped room since it is a special occasion. Talked to someone nice who suggested I had a decent chance of an upgrade.
-Lunchtime on Friday: Called the hotel to remind them I'd be late. I could see the hotel wasn't selling rooms anymore so would be full and wanted to make it impossible for anything to go wrong. My record was noted that I'd be there at 11:30p (and I was told it had been previously noted too).

Then I got to the hotel shortly after 11:00p, and there was a line of upset people because the hotel was turning confirmed guests away. I figured I was all set since I'd called ahead multiple times to protect this special trip. Got to the front, and was told no, I would be staying at a Marriott. Nothing they could do. The Marriott was the only option "because we have a contract there and not anywhere else", no pretense of trying to find comparable accommodation (which was available). She made up a ridiculous story about it being full because of people who had booked over a year in advance. Wife was crying.

I called central reservations and was able to get a RC 30 mins away instead. Got there 2 hours after I arrived at the original hotel. Sent an email to the hotel GM 45 minutes after that, at 2am.

I spoke with him the next morning (yesterday). He apologized and asked me what would make it up to me, and I said I didn't know, I am aware of Ultimate Reservation Guarantee and this situation seems a bit more unique. He said we can revisit it when he is back on Monday and in the meantime he's got a suite that will be ready in the afternoon. Unfortunately he wasn't there when we arrived and there was no suite, we got a standard room, actually the smallest room on the fire escape map, and it was a handicapped one too so it didn't have a walk-in shower, no towel racks, no soap dish, etc. We stayed there for the 1 remaining night, but our trip was completely blown up.

There are a few things that make this different from a ho-hum Gold walking. It involved walking a guest the hotel knew was very pregnant; and also a guest who had called ahead multiple times to reiterate that this was a special occasion and to please hold the room.

Not to get all legal, but the jurisdiction is also unique and one where there is even more recourse than a normal reservation contract. It also took place in FL which I believe is the only state that has specific rules against walking guests (61C-3.002) and required protocols that were definitely not followed, and FL has particularly strong consumer enforcement mechanisms. And within FL, the hotel is located in the Southern District, which may be the best jurisdiction in the universe for class action.

Bottom line is the hotel made 3 mistakes. 1-They oversold meaningfully. 2-Someone decided who to walk based perhaps only on arrival time. 3-The people working the front desk weren't up to the job of handling an oversold situation and it was a real mess.

And the consequences of that are that I lost a special weekend that I can't get back, plus I'm out the plane tickets, incidentals, etc.

What would your ask be?

yodersr

In addition to the guarantee compensation of cash and points, I'd ask for enough points to cover the 2 nights planned for your original stay.

CJKatl

Agree with Post #2, at a minimum, but...

Ask that the hotel manager purchase you the Hope Diamond and the Eiffel Tower. Seriously. Why not? It seems that they'll promise you whatever you want, but the manager isn't going to deliver.

Yes, the hotel made these three mistakes, but the biggest mistake was promising you a suite when you returned for the second night and not keeping the promise. Stuff happens. You judge people and businesses on how they handle making up for those mistakes. Here, they dropped the ball on that in an inexcusable way.

Please name the hotel. Name the hotel manager. Go to TripAdvisor and warn others. People need to know that this manager is so incompetent that not only are things likely to go very wrong, but when they do, the manager and his staff are either incompetent or liars, but they will not lift a finger to do what they actually promise.

The manager should be fired immediately. He either lies to customers or is incapable of giving his staff instruction. Either way, he should be fired. He had the opportunity to make this right. You and your wife would have enjoyed the second night in the suite. Instead, he chose to make it worse by promising you something and not being bothered or capable of actually delivering what was promised, or even leaving you word that the plan had changed. Would you want this person running a business you own? Do the hotel owners the courtesy of letting them know that they've got this problem to deal with.

Chalky White

Ditto, I would like to know what hotel this is. I travel frequently to FL and stay in RCs when I go. I want to know which properties to avoid.

hhoope01

So did you pay for your first night in the other RC? Hopefully not.

I would suggest you get Marriott Customer Service involved (if you haven't already.) Let them work with the hotel management to get this resolved for you.

And personally, I wouldn't bring up the whole "legal" issue side of things. I'm not sure that it would really help you short of you getting a lawyer involved. I'd stick with getting them to pay the Plat Guarantee (first night paid, $200 cash, 2 free night certificates). And then maybe another couple of nights for not following up on their promises (i.e. suite upgrade, etc.).

dayone

Let's wait to judge the hotel and its management until the end of this story.

Horace

Looking at the current Marriott Rewards Terms & Conditions at https://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms/elite.mi, it appears the hotel must pay for comparable accommodations nearby for the Elite Member that night, and that the Elite Member Guest Compensation for inconvenience is now $200 USD plus 140,000 points at The Ritz-Carlton hotels.

I will be interested to read how the Ritz-Carlton resolves this. OP, please keep us informed.

I would expect the hotel to provide everything the Marriott Rewards Terms & Conditions call for, plus an additional benefit because of the circumstances and the compounded disappointments.

joshua362

Even if everything gets paid out as per the guarantee provided above, in the moment it still was an unnecessary, stressful cluster F and throwing money at the problem after the fact, at the end, doesn't change matters.

Shame away.

dayone

I believe in redemption.

joshua362

So do I, everyone deserves a second chance. Sounds like they blew that one too...


"I spoke with him the next morning (yesterday). He apologized and asked me what would make it up to me, and I said I didn't know, I am aware of Ultimate Reservation Guarantee and this situation seems a bit more unique. He said we can revisit it when he is back on Monday and in the meantime he's got a suite that will be ready in the afternoon. Unfortunately he wasn't there when we arrived and there was no suite, we got a standard room, actually the smallest room on the fire escape map, and it was a handicapped one too so it didn't have a walk-in shower, no towel racks, no soap dish, etc. We stayed there for the 1 remaining night, but our trip was completely blown up."

CheapTraveller

One detail I should have mentioned is he had offered up a couple of free spa appointments when we spoke on Saturday, which the hotel did deliver on (even if it was secondary to leading off with the enticement of a suite). He was also verbally quite apologetic.

We spoke today and he offered Ultimate Guarantee (140k pts + $200 + first night free which is another 60k points), plus the second night free with the spa treatments already provided. I said while I didn't feel great about it I wasn't intending to haggle.

So call it around 1.3x or 1.4x the Ultimate Guarantee amount all-in.

While this front office issue was a bummer, the food and beach service at South Beach was quite good.

DeltaWings

The worst thing is that they refused to put you in comparable accommodations. The fact that you had to call MR to get a room at a nearby RC is absolutely ridiculous. I am assuming that room was not paid for by the offending property.

Definitely hold them to the guarantee - $200, points and the cost of your room at the other RC. I'd have them double the points. That will give you a nice vacation in the future.

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Shameful.

dayone

And most good stories have three acts.

joshua362

Yes it does. However while one can throw money at the problem after the fact in an attempt to fix shoddy service and make Management feel good, the time & effort of the OP cannot be replaced, especially, if the last pre-baby opportunity to take a trip!

CJKatl

The three acts here should have been:

• Act I: OP plans vacation, making reservation and RC and arranging for specifics ahead of time.
• Act II: Trouble brews, as the hotel made some mistakes.
• Act III: The hero manager steps in a makes everything right, resulting in our hero having a good stay after all, despite the obstacle found in Act II.

The manager already broke script. We're looking at Act IV now.