Lifetime Platinum member, 22 year with Marriott. Had difficult experience with Sheraton property in Milan earlier this month followed by shocking experience with Marriott Customer Support.

Earlier this month we checked into Sheraton, I left to park my car and left my two kids in the room with Do Not Disturb sign on it. That was enough for security to enter our room despite the DND sign. There was no emergency of any kind, but they wanted to recheck the registration of the guests. My 9-year-old was left frightened and in tears as after banging on the door the door got open and someone intruded into the room.

That was definitely a super bad start and since we were still not unpacked we decided to leave the property immediately and switch to another Marriott property on the other side of the city (yes, staying loyal). The receptionist (young man) who had checked me in verbally confirmed twice clearly said "OK" to me saying that I would like to cancel the room as I just checked in and it was reserved just a few hours before arrival. No harm to the property as the hotel had plenty of rooms available.

The hotel subsequently denied that any cancellation agreement was ever reached. In their written response the hotel referred to the receptionist who checked us in as female. So, they could not even get their side of the story straight. They also accused that we used bathroom, which was a totally wrong claim.

After my demand to speak to the General Manager on this topic the Director of Operations partially apologized and transferred 5,000 Bonvoy points to my account. However he kept the one-night charge of �144 for a room we did not sleep in. He waived the city tax� basically acknowledging no overnight stay occurred � yet charged for the room.

I filed a formal complaint with Marriott Customer Support. Past the promised response deadline I received nothing. When I called to follow up I was told the case had already been closed � the hotel "acted per policy." No written notification had been sent. The conversation with Customer Support and what I read here on the forum became shocking to me. Marriott Customer Support did not care and basically forwarded the case back to the hotel even though that I clearly stated that I did not have a satisfactory resolution with them.

So, first shock is that Sheraton does NOT treat the DND sign as offering guests any meaningful privacy or protection.

Second shock is that Marriott Customer Support demonstrated complete disinterest in this case and basically left everything in that Sheraton's hands. I suddenly realized that I am not really valued and Booking.com provides more care and protection. They totally did not care that I paid to the Marriott chain that night anyways - at another Marriott property. So, ended basically double-charged by the Marriott network.

Has anyone navigated a similar situation successfully? Is Marriott really that bad or I just had a glitch from them? Is there a Bonvoy Champion who can assist?

Not sure I fully understand. You left 2 x children less than 9 years old alone in the room? I find it weird the hotel would come to the room to check who was registered. It is law in some of Europe that every guest needs to be registered. Did you register all the guests at reception? Something seems weird. Maybe something triggered concern for the children alone in the room along with short notice booking of the room?

Also sounds like they said �ok� to you leaving, at no point did you ask specifically and have agreement about a refund?

Marriott customer care simply open a case in their CRM (Salesforce) and pass it over to the property to respond / close the case down. Most Marriott hotels are franchised. Marriott don�t care you booked 2 hotels in the network.

Wow! Just read that another guest had bed bugs at that hotel. Jerry Brodt just reported that on Facebook on April 21st.

"Sheraton Milan San Siro - Beg Bugs!!! 16 bites and the staff gave no compensation and the managers were brutal. I have video of the bed bugs on the bed sheet and bites all over my body. So Disgusting!!!! I am Marriott lifetime Platinum and never have I had such poor treatment and a worse experience."

In my case they later claimed that I used the toilet room and not just spend a few minutes in the room. When I came back a couple of hours later to see it with my own eyes how they decided that was the case, they claimed that a paper "seal" was missing on the toilet lid, which was closed by the way. The seal was nowhere to be found. It was not on the floor, it was not in the trash bin. This clearly tells me that housekeeping just did not do their job as they supposed to. There were other sign of poor maintenance.

It seems that I had luck to make the right decision to leave the hotel. Things turn out to be wrong on multiple fronts at that hotel...

IMO, you both could have handled the situation better.


I hope that this wasn't mentioned in your contacts with Marriott or the hotel. It's irrelevant to your situation and smacks of DYKWIA and entitlement.

At minimum, the hotel should have telephoned the room prior to security knocking on the door.

Huh? What does "That was enough" mean?

This is what your children told you that security said or did you, yourself, hear this from a hotel staff member?

And understandably so. But who opened the door? You haven't instructed your children not to open the door for anyone under any circumstances? Just for comparison, my young cousins once refused to open the door to their house for me when I rang the bell even though they knew me, because my aunt and uncle had instructed them that they are never to open the door under any circumstances when there is no adult at home.

Not taking sides here, but "OK" could just as easily have signified FDC's understanding that you wanted to leave, as in, "I just arrived, and due to a security breach, I want to check out and leave immediately." . . . "OK. [I'll check you out of the room.]" Did you tell him that you thought that you shouldn't be charged for the room?

Irrelevant.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't see that the FDC's "OK" meant "OK, you won't be charged for the room."

You seem to be implying that the hotel intentionally lied. There are all sorts of reasonable and innocent explanations for this discrepancy. For example, maybe the FDC with whom you spoke had switched shifts with the female FDC who was scheduled to work at that time, without changing the schedule or informing management. Yes, the hotel should have known, but without more I don't see any malice or intent to deceive you in this discrepancy.

So you ascertained that neither of your children used the bathroom in any way while you were off parking the car?

IMO whether or not an overnight stay occurred is irrelevant. For example, if you had planned to arrive at 6 a.m. and wanted a room to be available, you would have had to book and pay for the previous night, even though there was no overnight stay. What's relevant to me is that you left because of a security breach. I agree that you shouldn't have been charged.

That may be true.

Or maybe, -- Marriott looked into it and determined that the hotel did act consistent with policy. The fact that you disagreed with the outcome isn't determinative. Nevertheless, Customer Support should have communicated that to you.

A bit of an over-generalization, perhaps, making a blanket statement about a chain of hundreds of hotels based on anecdotal evidence consisting of one incident.

I sense that you were quite dissatisfied, and the intrusion into your room was, without doubt, unacceptable. OTOH, there seems to be a bit of hyperbole and outrage in what you wrote. If your communication to the hotel and/or Marriott CS was similar in tone, that might have worked against you.


I'm not sure what kind of assistance you want at this point, but I would definitely contact one of the Lurkers here by PM or email.

Thank you for the detailed and balanced response — genuinely appreciated!

A few clarifications:

On the door — security entered using a keycard. My children did not open the door. They hid in the bathroom when they heard someone nocking on the door and entering.

On the "OK" — I understand the ambiguity argument, but I would push back. A front office professional dealing with a guest who has just checked in and is asking to cancel their reservation cannot reasonably claim that saying "OK" without any mention of a charge constitutes adequate communication. Thinking "OK, but you will still be charged" while saying only "OK" is not a language proficiency issue — it is a professional duty to communicate clearly, particularly on billing matters.

On the bathroom — I can actually say with confidence that the room was not used. My children confirmed this to me directly. And from experience: my kids never put the lid back down — it stays open. The lid was closed when I inspected the room in a joint inspection with hotel staff. No seal was found anywhere — not on the toilet, not in the bin, not anywhere in the room. My reading is that housekeeping simply did not follow their protocol. This is consistent with a broader pattern at this property — another guest reported a bed bug infestation at the same hotel just two weeks later.

On Lifetime Platinum — I take the point about tone. That said, it is entirely natural for a 22-year loyalist to expect that Marriott has both a track record with them and an interest in retaining them. That is not entitlement — it is a reasonable expectation of any long-term relationship.

The core issue remains: security entered a room displaying a DND sign with children alone inside, with no emergency present and no attempt to reach me, while knowing that I was parking my car (I did discuss it with the receptionist). That part is not in dispute — the hotel's own Director of Operations semi-apologised for it with 5000 points and a couple of words.

Take some responsibility and move on. This would not have happened had you not left two kids under 10 alone in a hotel room.

Who is "security" by the way? And why were they interested in your room?

I have had my room entered with the DND sign on, and it is not a reason for why I would ever walk away from a hotel and ask for compensation.

Contact Marriott Bonvoy Lurker , Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II or Marriott Bonvoy Lurker III .

David

And thank you for the additional info. Fills out the picture some.


I can't remember the last time that I was in a hotel room where the door didn't have one of those fold-over latches which physically prevent anyone from opening the door, key or no key. You should have instructed your children about this, and need to do it. Then remind them about it next time you're in this type of situation.


Did you mention anything about not being charged? You said that you wanted to check out and the FDC said OK. Why would you assume that that meant that you wouldn't be charged? When I don't want to be charged for something, I always make it clear to the merchant. It's not FDC's responsibility to ask you whether or not you'd like to be charged.


Fair enough, but I see this as secondary. You probably share some responsibility here, you shouldn't have let the conversation be sidetracked into discussing use of the bathroom. You wanted to leave because of a security incident. Even if you (or your children) had used the bathroom, that doesn't change anything. Your room security was breached, leaving you and your children feeling insecure and at risk. Doesn't matter whether you used the bathroom or not.


While I understand this from our (the consumer's) perspective, Marriott sees it differently. Remember, according to filings with the SEC, Marriott had 1,706,331 rooms in its system at the end of 2023, that's almost 623 million available room-nights per year. And it's been increasing since then, as well, due to both construction and acquisition. Your stays, like mine, do not even rise to the level of a rounding error to Marriott.


I completely agree. The rest is irrelevant distraction.

is this the Sheraton connected to the Milan airport?
(I have stayed there previously - not a bad place....)

let me paint another picture -
someone sees you (unclear if you and another adult/partner/spouse) checking in and 2 young children - and then maybe someone else sees you walking out and no knowing if you are coming back or potentially involved in something bad like human trafficking?
"see something, say something"

only in marriotts world noting lifelong business loyalty would be considered dykwia...

It's irrelevant to the question whether it was right to enter the room.

As for what happened, I think there is room for disagreement whether it is reasonable to expect security to respect a do not disturb sign where children under 10 have been left alone.

If a child is going to be traumatized by security banging on a hotel room door, the child should not be left alone in the hotel room.... regardless of the parent's elite status.

the issue itself aside it is the response and attitude of marriott hotel and marriott customer service that i find informative.. i was just screening (midrange) hotels for an upcoming trip and came across this reply to some (exaggerated imo) guest complaint that highlights contrasts between proper response to customer and response by marriott outlined by op..