Valet gave car to another guest

 
Old Feb 29, 2008, 11:04 am
  #16  
CKL
 
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It seems that your Courtyard stay was for just 1 night. If so, and if it were me, I would contact the GM and be sure that he understands the inconveniece that you suffered - but also that he understands that the valet manager did go to great lenghts to right the wrong. (sure, it was incompetence that caused the situation, but give credit where credit is due to the mgr/staff that did fix things in the end)

Irregardless, I would hope that your valet was comped, if not your entire folio! I would ask for 50k points & to be comped to Platinum. If you can get a cert for a free night too, go for it.

That story is worse than anything I have ever encountered!
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 12:12 pm
  #17  
 
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This is a very unfortunate and embarrassing situation, especially for the hotel. But it seems that they went to all costs to fix it. If I read it correctly, they took you to work, then to the airport without charging you for the car service. Then kept in contact with you during the entire debaucle. To go that much further, they gave you points towards your marriott account. It is my opinion that people do make mistakes, and yes, this valet made a big one, but it was a rental car that was returned without any additional issues and you were not inconvenienced for the most part other than the anxiety of not having the car in your possession. For you to be waiting to complete this issue with the hotel to see what else other people think you deserve on top of what you have already recieved, seems to me that you are trying to take advantage of them. There are worse things that can happen, and I feel they did a great job resolving their mistake. Our society would be a better place if people would stop trying to manipulate the system to get something for free and appreciate the good in people and what they try to do. I feel that they treated you the way that I would want to be treated if this happened to me.
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 12:37 pm
  #18  
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Wink

Originally Posted by albionbrdway
Our society would be a better place if people would stop trying to manipulate the system to get something for free and appreciate the good in people and what they try to do. I feel that they treated you the way that I would want to be treated if this happened to me.
Hi, and thanks for your $.02. Despite being a CA resident, I am not a particularly litigious person and I agree that the hotel and staff have been on the up and up so I will be careful not to take them to the cleaners or anything. I plan to treat them with the same respect I have received to date. When this is all sorted out, I also intend to communicate the resolution to both this forum and Marriott corporate/GM through a letter of gratitude and appreciation (assuming it all ends well).

Of course, naturally, I do wish to be made whole so I look forward to continuing to gather folks' thoughts on whether the compensation the hotel is offering is sufficient or whether any additional compensation is in order. Thanks all for your thoughts so far!
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 2:43 pm
  #19  
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20,000 points? good score!
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 2:47 pm
  #20  
 
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The hotel made a bad mistake but it seems to be owning up the whole way. Here's another data point.. when I had a bad stay at the Columbus Airport Mariott, the GM agreed to cover me under the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee, which was the room, plus $200, plus 2 free room night certs. They were not able to get the certs, so they gave me 45k points instead which I accepted. Being comped Platinum seems a little out of the ordinary, but I think paying nothing for the room/valet along with 40-50k points, and maybe a little bit of cash would be appropriate. Please note at Courtyard the Ultimate Reservation guarantee is a lot less (only $100, 2 free room nights only for Plat) so keep that in mind too.
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 2:58 pm
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50,000 points, this could be have been a MAJOR problem
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 3:17 pm
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by nmmercer

Anyone have any comments on this situation?
It sucks?

Seriously thats the kind of story I have heard about and you see in cheesy movies but your the first person that it really has happened to.

Glad it all worked out in the end but Marriots 20,000 points offer seems a little low to me
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 3:53 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by cptango
It sucks?

Seriously thats the kind of story I have heard about and you see in cheesy movies but your the first person that it really has happened to.

Glad it all worked out in the end but Marriots 20,000 points offer seems a little low to me
I tend to agree.

This may be an instance of "no harm, no foul" but the potential for liability on the part of the OP was great. What would have happened if the old man who took the wrong car got into an accident and killed someone? That's a rhetorical question -- the answer is, everyone up the chain would have been sued, i.e. the valet, the hotel, the car rental company AND the OP. What if, instead of a GPS case, a laptop with sensitive information was lost?

Many what ifs, all with very unpleasant consequences.
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 4:16 pm
  #24  
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So my boss, my travel agent, and all of my friends/family have heard the story at this point and most of them have just had a good laugh. Their main questions have been, will I ever stay at a Marriott again? This Marriott? and will I continue to use the valet? A and B remain to be seen, but for question C, I will definitely continue using valets. I am a young female traveler and often arrive at my location after dark. For me the valet is a safety issue and I will continue to choose them but maybe now I will call down a little earlier in the morning for the car just in case!

As PTravel mentioned, I am very fortunate that there were no tremendous costs as a result of this incident. What is lost can be replaced, and I am confident that I will be compensated fairly for the stress and unneccesary travel delays.

The day this happened, I was freaking out and imaging the little old man driving on the sidewalks of LA and taking out pedestrians. I just kept waiting for the police to come to the National car rental agency where I was camped out and arrest me! I was really concerned about liability issues the entire time - especially when the police and National refused to help me make a police report.

Oh, and I did tip the towncar $10 each ride for taking me to work and the airport. He was super nice and apologetic. Plus the way I figured it, he wasn't the one that gave my rental car away....
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Old Feb 29, 2008, 5:59 pm
  #25  
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I once had a bad stay about 10yrs ago at a *wood property - Clearwater Beach, to be exact. NOTHING like yours... there were dirty sheets in a pull out and they lost my kids Barney doll, but found it in the laundry. Afer I got home, I received a letter from either the GM or FDM apologizing. I also recieved a Plat welcome letter. They had comped me Platinum (without my asking) and gave me like 30-40k in *points (without my asking)... which, at the time, was enough for a 5-7 night stay in a really nice property!

They can comp you Plat, and if you stay at Marriott's often enough, then suggesting it, even in jest, might be worth it. Giving you Plat or more points is no skin off their teeth. Honestly, I would bet that they would give you anything that you asked for if it would make you happy. Unless you tell them differently, they will think that the 20k did the trick.

you were not inconvenienced for the most part other than the anxiety of not having the car in your possession.


If the anxiety of this entire day weighed heavily on you, as well as the anxiety of the missed flight, being hungry and cold, anxiety of the old man driving dangerously in a car with your name stamped on it, the anxiety of the hours spent at the rental counter, the anxiety of not being able to file a police report, and the anxiety of not feeling safe to leave town until it was all settled.... if That kind of anxiety is a lot of inconvenience, then don't feel the least bit guilty about asking the GM for what it really is that you would like to 'forgive & forget'.
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Old Mar 5, 2008, 4:12 pm
  #26  
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Hi everyone, I just wanted to post a resolution to this tale. All of your advice was so helpful and ultimately I decided that the 20,000 points were sufficient compensation given that the whole thing worked out OK in the end. Also, the GM called me last week to apologize and that was a really genuine gesture that meant a lot to me.

I called him today and thanked him and his staff for handling the situation as gracefully as they did. I explained that the 20,000 bonus points were fair compensation and their attitude and actions throughout the day had adequately made up for the inconvenience. Therefore, I really felt that I had been made whole in regards to this situation. I just let the GPS case thing go - I didn't like zipper on it anyway so would have likely replaced it on my own eventually.

However, I advised him that I hadn't been won back to the Marriott brand at this point. I explained that I started a new job in November where I will stay at hotels 2-3 nights per week, 50 weeks a year, and I asked him to look into raising my status in advance of accruing it as a gesture of goodwill. He agreed to do some research and find out if this is something he can offer.

We had a great chat about the woes of business travel in general and he explained to me that complaints to Marriott should always be routed to the GM first and then when you are not satisfied to contact the management company that they report to (don't even bother calling Marriott Customer Service because they just route everything back to the problem location and you as a consumer get frustrated).

The Marriott Courtyard in Sherman Oaks gets an A+ for customer service and a great GM. Their valet screwed up big time, but mistakes happen and the GM and all the staff really cared to make things right and that is what is really important to me at the end of the day.

Thanks again everyone!
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Old Mar 5, 2008, 4:15 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by nmmercer
We had a great chat about the woes of business travel in general and he explained to me that complaints to Marriott should always be routed to the GM first and then when you are not satisfied to contact the management company that they report to (don't even bother calling Marriott Customer Service because they just route everything back to the problem location and you as a consumer get frustrated).
The difference is it's tracked when sending it through MI, it isn't tracked when sending it to a franchisee (finding out if a hotel is franchised and who to send it to can be equally frustrating)
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Old Mar 5, 2008, 6:47 pm
  #28  
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Glad to hear everything worked out.
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Old Mar 6, 2008, 11:26 am
  #29  
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As I detailed in another thread last September, I had a similar experience at the JW Marriott Resort Las Vegas (switched red convertibles). Fortunately the guy who received my car also rented from Hertz and returned it about 8 hours before I did (though he didn't bother to fill the tank ) so I was only delayed about 10 minutes in order to straighten out the billing with Hertz.

I never did send a letter, but I think I will do so now as we have another stay soon at the JW, and this clearly is a recurring (but hopefully rare) problem...
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Old Mar 7, 2008, 1:41 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by PTravel
This is outside my area of competence, so take it for what it's worth:

1. When a hotel valet takes a car from a guest, a bailment is created. The duties of a bailee are rather rigid -- among other things, a bailee is liable for all consequential damages, which is to say any reasonably foreseeable damages resulting from failure to safeguard the property of the bailor.

2. The valet is the ostensible agent of the hotel. It doesn't matter whether the hotel employed an independent parking contractor -- the hotel is on the hook for all consequential damages.

In my opinion, a letter from your "friend who happens to be a lawyer" is in order. This is pretty outrageous and you may find yourself rewarded with more than just a few thousand points.
I respectfully disagree with this analysis. It is very rare that consequential damages are awarded absent either willful actions, or a bargained for contract that specifies consequential damages.

Moreover, although the OP had a really bad time, the OP isn't out any money, and thus probably does not have a legally compensable claim.
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