I'm doing an extended stay at an RI property and have been going through a few interesting discussions with the folks there about things that should be repaired in the room and throughout the hotel...

1. The rooms are equiped with microwaves but they are older than you can imagine. You get a microwavable pizza and it overcooks the outside but the middle is still cold. They replaced the one in my room after constant complaining. (I know that dietary concerns can be raised here but they are the lean cuisine three meat pizza's which are really not too bad...)

2. The laundry room is a disaster. The washers frequently leak water all over the floor. By a couple of the units there are towels rolled up beside them to help contain the overflow. Two of the four dryer units have broken buttons and a couple of the lint traps have holes through them (larger than usual holes).

3. The hot tub was lukewarm but I think they just closed it for the season as there has been a cover over it all last week (depressingly so).

I mean all in all, the property is an older one. I'm curious though to find out if Marriott ever have a "ghost guest" stay at a property that reports back to ensure the Marriott name is being properly represented and the hotel meets a set of minimum standards?

Thanks.

Blain

Residence Inns, like Fairfield and Courtyard are almost without exception franchisees. As such, they maintain their own properties individually. If a property falls substantially below standards which are held out at the RI site, I would definitely write a letter to corporate. If a franchisee is not maintaining the property to standards stated in the franchise contract, they could risk losing their franchise.

Given the state of this hotel just imagine what's living in the hot tub. They may have closed it because if you went in you might not come out alive.

My wife can't use any public hot tubs cuz all of them give her the cooties.

We got a stay at a Hilton in San Diego in a top floor suite with a nice tub/whirlpool/tub for 2 ... she tried that and got cooties from it too ...

RI's do not have ghost guest stays, that is why there are comment cards and the 1-800 number for guest relations.
Twice a year every RI guests QA audit by a corporate auditor.

The hot tubs will probably be lukewarm because if the cover is over it they are either having problems with the heating pump or if you are somewhere in the country that gets cold in the fall most RI in those areas close their pools and hottubs right around Labor Day or fairly close.

The QA people for the most part do not check the quality of the washers and dryers. All there is for a standard on washers and dryers is simply you must have so many washers and so many dryers based upon the hotels generation type and number of rooms.

The microwaves usually are checked during the inspection but again the only standard is that when a property wants to buy a new microwave it must be from the company and/or the model the Marriott has dictated.
As long as it "works" they can be old as hell.

So the answer is if the hotel is coprorate-managed they will ahere fairly strict to the QA standards. If this is a franchise run RI they are held to standards a little more loosely as certain things for them are only "Best Practices" which they can ignore if the choose.

Yes. At most franchised Marriotts the minimum is THE standard.

More info than I need

What the heck are cooties?