I have never had the "good fortune" of staying at a FS over the weekend and having a youth sports team there, although I have had an enjoyable weekend at a SHS with an entire soccer tournament line up on the premises.

I have a question for someone who has been on the team side - why would you take an entire team of kids to a FS? I would think there are places where you can get cheaper rooms, and also get the free breakfast, such as a SHS or even some of the other brands like Choice or La Quinta. If there is a FS, I would have to think there are several other hotels in the immediate area.

I am sure there is a specific reason for it (points, or a special price deal, or a tournament requirement) and am just curious. I can see why a wedding party would go there, as opposed to an Econo Lodge, but why a kids sports team?

I just meant that when my employer is paying for it, I prefer the FS and 99 times out of 100 end up with more points out of it.

Funny...I was expecting another Closed Concierge Level thread... :)

Then I realized that I was actually at a Marriott this weekend, staying there with a bunch of family & friends for a wedding. :eek: There were no liquored-up 23-year-olds at this one though: we were a much mellower crowd. (The wedding/reception were also not at the Marriott itself.)

In any case, I suppose this could happen at any chain. I stayed at a Hilton once where a whole bunch of high-school volleyball teams were there. Holy crap. Talk about noisy. Also, there is nothing worse than the big convention hotels during the week when you're staying there and not part of the convention. Especially if you have to do actual work the next day and are therefore the only sober person in the building. Once I even had a couple of h@@kers knock on my door at 1AM - they got the wrong room number.

(And no, I didn't invite them in. I figure it's sort of like when the pizza guy gets your house by mistake...it's kind of dirty pool to accept the pizza and hose the guys actually waiting for it.)

It's certainally not my first preference given that better & larger accomodations can be had at RI's & Homewood Suites plus the free breakfast. But sometimes price, location and availability come into play. Also the personal preferences of the person in charge, i.e. the team's Coach or Manager, often a more "business" type guy than the other blue collar parents.

When I did it for a season, I thought the team's comfort was more important than my personal Marriott preferences and booked into Homewood Suites where a living area was separate from the bed room giving families a place to spread out, put smaller kids on the pull out and give the team room to gather entertain themselves. And the free food.

But more common is someone else who insists on the points of his preference and a group $89 FS Marriott weekend rate and disaster is looming. Sales at a FS are glad to give that rate to an otherwise empty business hotel but a RI is probably not.

And usually these kids are gathering to play in tournaments where many other travel teams need places to stay so it can be an availabilty issue too.

I've seen sports teams at both f/s properties and at RIs. They seemed to be much better off at the RIs. It's not just the bigger rooms and free breakfast. They also had the pool all to themselves and a sports court. Plus, they could park their luggage-filled SUVs right outside their room door. When you figure in the usual cost difference, it seems like a no-brainer.

But this is also my direct observation, especially on weekends and travel during dead weeks. Why do I have direct neighboors in an otherwise empty hotel? Newspapers don't lie when entire floors and wings are empty.

Its also impossible to paint a broad brush concerning these items. I've had great staff who would go out of their way to accomodate groups and get the kids out of the halls with a free movie, VCR or room. But less than 1 in 10 weekend stays.

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be just a Marriot problem (HH too in our experience). If not weddings its sports teams... the worst is SWEET 16 parties. Who the H@LL lets a bunch of trampy teenagers loose at a hotel for the weekend? Not an adult in sight by the way. To add insult to injury several were on the Exec. level. Wow what a mess. Forget using the pool or workout area. All night long rampages up and down the hall way, slamming doors, crying, cussing (male and female)... yeah they were sweet alright. Dressed like hookers and acted worse.
The next morning the place smelled like a subway station - puke, cigarette smoke, and booze. Can't remember if it was Mar or HH. Either way it was a horror show. We had a plane to catch so we didn't say much... wish we'd taken the time to write a letter.

I submit it's not just a Marriott problem, nor is it kids.

I had the misfortune to be in a room next to a woman who - when she got in at 2 AM - had the audacity to yell over the phone at her SO, who was not taking the calls. After 45 minutes of this cr*p, she finally reached him and chewed him a new one for not being home at 2 Am when she called (we'll forget the fact that she, herself, was out until 2.

Loud doesn't even describe it.

This problem certainly is not unique to Marriott....my chief complaint is that this particular Marriott did very little to prevent it from happening - placing me on the same floor as the drunks, not moving me, not even saying "I'm sorry" in the form of points or something. Nope, they allowed it to happen and did very little to make sure that those of us who just wanted a decent night's sleep, and paid for it, got what we paid for.

That is very true! We get lost in the details sometimes I guess but bottom line is you paid for a place to get a decent night's sleep and they really didn't provide that or offer alternatives when it was obvious you weren't going to get it in the room you had.

I wouldn't be happy either. I hope you got comped for breakfast! Also, I want you to know that not all Marriotts are like this on the weekends. I've had good luck in SF, Portland, Seattle and Denver. Let us know what corporate does for you.

take a chill pill
 

You really seem to HATE 20 year olds.

Wow... this is a very bitter thread! Some people here forget that they too were once kids, teenagers, young adults in their early 20's, etc. Why take it so personal? I too get annoyed when I try to relax quietly by the pool and 5 families with kids of different ages show up. But what can you do? I just leave and find some other way to relax. Why get all bitter about it?! A swimming pool is not exactly a library. Let the kids have fun. I know I did when I was a kid and I remember I hated boring, bitter old people who got annoyed and complained about everything.

"Trampy teenagers"!? That's a ridiculous way to put it.:td:

As long as there are people around nobody can guarantee quiet. If quiet is what you want, go camping in the woods or something. I'm a 200+ nights/year person and I understand very well the value of a good night sleep before work the next day (even though the OP was complaining about a Saturday night, so the point wasn't even having to work the next day). But I also believe that we should try to be more understanding. Once in a while you will have to deal with some kind of event, a bunch of loud kids, drunk people, etc. Deal with it. Tolerating others is part of living in a society. Hotels are businesses. They're in it to make money and weddings are profitable for them.

However, people arguing loudly in the middle of the night is totally inappropriate. I also think the OP should have been given a different room. Sometimes the person at the front desk (much like some GA's, TA's, etc.) is just lazy and would much rather come up with a dumb lie than actually do something. That, I think, is the real problem here, and a complaint is well warranted.

You're supposed to be responsible for your own kids. The hotel has no obligation to provide free rooms and food for the etertainment of your kids. Also, if I want to use a meeting room, I have to pay. Why should your kids get it for free?

You could always have asked them to come by in half an hour :D

A Great Post!!!
 

THIS is the BEST post I have seen in a long time!!! ^^^

The rants in this thread are pretty entertaining.

There's a HUGE difference between (1) a bunch of supervised kids in the hotel using the facilities; (2) a large number of unsupervised kids abusing the facilities; and (3) a bunch of loud, obnoxious people of any age screaming in the hallway and slamming doors at 2 a.m.

#1 is fine, though some people find it annoying at times. In the RI example I referenced, the kids completely took over the pool, the sportscourt, and the breakfast area, simply due to their sheer numbers. I'm sure that some of the adult guests were annoyed, but the kids were supervised and didn't act inappropriately.

#2 and #3 are unacceptable, abusive behavior.