Obviously what I should have done was differentiate between between the more minor as opposed to the more major reasons for our discontent.

No one's mentioned it, but I will - that check-in experience (the being ignored part, more than the FD person's mistakes) got the weekend off on the wrong foot and the series of subsequent, disparate events, serious and not-so-serious over two days resulted, to put it mildly, in the dissatisfaction on our part that I expressed. And, which at least in my opinion, is justified.

But, any way you slice it, it's the aggregate experience that made for the opinion.

Perhaps Marriott has spoiled us over 20+ years, set the bar too high with a standard for service that's expected as the norm.

To illustrate here's a contrasting opinion, the result of a different type of experience.

The following is a link to the thread which contains my review (final post in the thread) of our weekend stay at the Renaissance Del Monte Hotel and Spa:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=420664

I absolutely, completely, totally sympathize with rahmanbar's point of view on this topic. I have had enough stays sullied by a serious of minor missteps and inconveniences to absolutely understand how he feels. Usually, when I post such experiences here, I almost feel guilty realizing that in print it just sounds like I'm whining. But then I remember the HUNDREDS of stays that were perfect across the board, or that had only one little thing less than perfect, and I realize that Marriott HAS set a higher standard of service that we are all entitled to anytime we patronize one of their properties. That service should not be one iota less impressive on the weekends than during the week.

I had my first stay as a silver at the Marriott Denver Tech Center this last week. It was a great hotel and overall a good stay. There were many little things that went wrong like the first room had such a over powering smoke smell we went right back down to the front desk for a different room. Then in the second room, one of the drawer fronts was pulled off and the refrigerator unpluged because of the loud noise it made when plugged in. They fixed these and other problems quickly. My view of a good stay is when they take your concerns serious and with respect and correct the problems. The bad stays are when they see you coming to the front desk and give you the look of "here she comes again".

I have been reading the comments about Marriott for awhile and was looking forward to my stay. As I am gold at Hilton and Starwood, I usually stay where the most extras are. When I checked in to the Marriott, I was given access to the Concierge lounge. Later I was in the lounge and was told by the attendant that she was surprised. Mariott had stopped giving silver access and only gold and platium could use the lounge.

We arrived on Wed and enjoyed the lounge for several days. I was surprised when I went to the lounge about 12:20pm on Fri for water that they were closed. There was an attendant who let me in and I did get my water. She said they closed for the weekend, noon on Fri until Mon morning.

I later made a comment to the front desk about not being told that they would close. He said they didn't have the business traveler on the weekend to warrant keeping it open. He told me that 98% of Marriott Concierge lounges closed for weekends. I responded that maybe the business traveler stayed at a Hilton or Starwood where they didn't close. He responded that Marriott was number 1 in the world and that should say something. He was the only employee during my stay that was not polite and very sharp with me for the whole conversation. It was clear from the tone of his voice, I was not the preferred customer as I was attending a conference.
Dawn

It most certainly includes LD phone calls as I ALWAYS take advantage of this package deal when I check into a hotel that has it. Makes for calling back home to the wife that much more headache free while giving me high speed access in the room. Not a bad deal for 9.95/day in the US (it was 19.95EUR / day in Lisbon Marriott but still well worth it just for the free local calls.)

--DD73

Stayed at the Renaissance LAX this weekend.Checkin was smooth.Hotel was very slow-mostly airline traffic.

First room,not on club level,no upgrade,across from ice maker/elevators.
Back down to desk.Given room on lower floor,agon no upgrade,this one had the airvents filthy,closed or of the track-I personaly fix/cean/adust them,Shower and head out for the night.Upon return to the room it seems the AC is just not working.Too tired to change rooms again I just suffer through the kind warm night.

Next AM after a very nice B'fast in the very nice lounge(except for way too many children)I talk to the MOD and explain the situation to her and ask that my room be changed and that my packed bag be moved when I returned to the hotel later that afternoon.Upon return the same MOD gave me my new keys and I find I had been moved to a nice Jr. suite on one of the two club floors.

So I am thinking ,the next time I stay at a Marriott property I will just ask the MOD to check me in so I do not have to deal with the inept staff Marriott properties like to employ for the weekends

Just getting the front desk to give me my bonus bucks was a hassle in NYC at the Marriott Eastside. First, they gave me bonus bucks with an expiration date two weeks from now. Then, said they were out of certificates. I have a receipt signed by the manager stating I am owed two certificates. And this was on a midweek stay.

The same thing happened to me at the Ren in Pittsburgh. They tried playing hardball on a $175. charge, but relented.

I learned from this experience that the hotel probably has a much narrower definition of what constitutes a "local" call than either the carrier or I do. Essentially, although one might rationally believe otherwise, dialing "9" plus a seven digit number does not make it a local call.

Glad that you got the refund.

No particular service issues come to mind regarding my weekend stays. Generally, its been pretty good. Certainly as good as during the week.

Using reward certs, vouchers, BOGOS, etc., is a totally different matter. I would say down through the years there's a problem about 80% of the time. "Scorecard" as follows....

"Mistakes Made in Hotel's favor " 100% of the tiime".
"Mistakes Made in My favor" "0% of the time"

I must point out, however, that the mistakes are almost always quickly and easily resolved. But this is still an annoying and chronic problem that's been written about before. And I'm not overstating things with my "scorecard", at least four out of five times there's a glitch of some sort using any cert....and not once has any "mistake" ever been made in my favor.

BTW, I also always make it a point to make a photocopy of both sides of any Marriott-issued documents I ever surrender to the hotel.

Hello Iainarmstrong,

Regarding the Exclusive Elite Offer voucher: In my experience, I have always printed two copies of this offer from the "Gold or Platinum Offers" section of the Marriott website. I would submit one at check in to make them aware of the offer. Usually, they don't credit your folio right away for the cost of 1 night. By the time, you checkout, the credit adjustment or removal of charges never happens. So, I would show them the second copy indicating that I was to get 1 night free. Then, they would either credit my account or actually remove 1 night's charges from my folio.

Regarding the phone charges: As someone mentioned earlier, I would never use the hotel phone to call out; their rate per minute and/or surcharge fee is too expensive. I recommend using your cell phone, or a calling card when using the hotel phone. You could also get the fixed phone rate that most of the Marriott brands have by using their intenet services. The prices may vary but I have seen fixed rates of $9.95 per day (Crystal Gateway Marriott) and $12.95 per day (Atlanta Midtown Suites on 14th Street). These rates include unlimited local and long distance calls made in the U.S.).

Hope this helps.

Marcell

Another strange weekend stay at a fancy Marriott spoiled by inept staff-this time at the JW Marriott Las Vegas.
Late check-in(8 ish)ask if I have been upgraded(christmas weekend-hotel is very slow)"no suites available-because of the busy holiday weekend(a lie)but we have upgraded you to a terrace room-yeah a terrace room is going to be a real treat in 40 degree las Vegas.

First room-key does not work in lock-bellman tries his to find the room occupied(after checking that we were at the room indicated on the key packet)tries the room next door-it works!I drop of my bags,head down to the desk-inform the clerk of the error he fiddles with his keyboard and hands me a new key and holder along with a cert for health club access(wont use)and free breakkie cert(1 day only-am here for three days.I also give him $300 in gift carts to apply to my account-which he takes 20 mins doing.

After dinner I and some play at the casino I head back to my room-key does not work.I then notice the clerk had changed my room!My stuff is still in the other room.New room is not as nice as the first.
I go back to the desk-speak to the front desk supervisor-she apologizes and finds a very nice suite(much too large-but I am tired of moving)and sends me up with a bellman to fetch my things and move them.

Upon checkout my billing is wrong-used a free night via the hertz promo and was not credited -fortunately I had the reservation printout but it took 30 mins for the desk clerk to figure it out-after telling me twice that it was not valid.

Another of my favorite hotels with poorly trained front desk staff on the weekends.