Marriott International
reviews and complaints

Sexual Assault at Beijing Courtyard Spa

I am a long-term platinum member. This weekend I was in Beijing on my points, and asked for a massage. The Courtyard has a spa, one which advertises a special rate for guests, all costs are charged on the Courtyard bill. The spa is down the hall from the Courtyard in a health centre.

Without dealing with details, I was sexually assaulted by my masseuse. Since no one at this property spoke English, and I was terrified to deal with Chinese authorities. I tried to launch a complaint on line. For two days I heard nothing, and finally got Marriott operations today.

They will not refer me to higher than phone answering employees. No one has asked me how I feel, was I harmed, nothing. They are insisting I go to the Beijing police, but am now in Korea, and frankly, I am more interested in making sure this never happens again than dealing with charges that may or may not be criminal --

Long and short of it all, I am in a mess, I am a mess, and cannot believe that this is the treatment a serious complaint gets.

DO NOT go to this hotel. Be cautious of using any Marriott Spa personal massages. They claim no liability for their actions and their employees.

Dear sir,
I would like to know that last week I recd. an e-mail from id [protected]@yahoo.co. uk & the contact person was sir powell c. phone no. [protected] & [protected]. he gave me 21 questions to solve on e-mail.
I did & sent it to him within 72 hours as asked. he then asked me to send all the scaned copy of my certificates and passport in the next day. I send my certificates. he then asked me to gave a confirmation message to his company and he offer 4800 pounds salary and one mr. clarire tuhey (officer in charge) contact me for helping and visa work. and he also inform me that you did not going to the british immigration or british council for any interview. I send this confirmation message.
Now I checking the marriot hotels in internet suddenly look rajnish tripathi's message. so I confirm that this is fraud message.
Please take necessary action against powel and claire tuhey
Thank you
By
Anilal. t. r

I booked a six night stay at the London Regent's Park Marriott on the internet for a decent, yet unspectacular rate of $225/night.

I cancelled the day I was supposed to arrive, and Marriott has charged my for the full six nights. I got absolutely no service for this; only the chance to play around on the Marriott web site. A decent cancellation policy would be to charge for one night and provide credit for the remainder.

Marriott will not refund or allow me to rebook. This is the worst policy I have heard of with any hotel chain. Do not book with a Marriott when you have so many other choices. It's just not worth it.

Also, their complaint channels are anonymous and faceless. It's hard to get a full name out of anyone you might complain to. They all run and hide. It's very unprofessional.

The Marriott in August, Ga. charged our credit card for an extra day, when we only stayed one night, claiming smoking in the room cost $250.00! We were not informed of this at check-in, as we would have chosen another hotel in Augusta. As we were gathering our things in the morning...we found a small card on a desk we never had approached during the night..it stated the "cleaning fee" on it...so we spent over an hour cleaning the room, checking for any even scrap of paper, ashes, matches...even down to emptying the trash ourselves and cleaning the counter tops. The bill had been slipped under our door while we were sleeping and was for the room rate of 246.00...exorbitant for sure.

Then when the credit card bill arrived, they had added an additional $250.00, saying we departed on the 19th instead of the 18th. A follow-up phone conversation with the manager accomplished nothing, and he stated they had "pictures". Pictures of what? Us asleep in a hotel room? Our rumpled bed after sleeping in it? I was appalled and still am, by this type of service. I encourage everyone to avoid the rip-off king of hotels...Marriott.

myself meenakshi-sharma got offer from Sir Powell C., human res.dev.manager, marriott residance hotel.I send my CV as per their mail.then i send filled interview form.then on their demand i send scanned certificates.then i got a mail from above mentioned person to send my appointment letter signed to one Mr.Richards Tagg, officer incharge of british council.Sir powell told me that Mr Richard Tagg will get my papers ready for visa /work permit.Icalled Mr Richard Tagg.he asked me to send my appointment letter to his mail [protected]@consultant.com.I want to know whether this job is genuine or fake.also according to appointment letter i have to join on 4 july, 2009.The mobile no.of Mr Richard Tagg is [protected]

Dear sir,
I would like to know that last week I recd. An e-mail from id [protected]@yahoo.co. Uk & the contact person was sir powell c. Phone no. [protected] & [protected]. He gave me 21 questions to solve on e-mail.
I did & sent it to him within 72 hours as asked. He then asked me to join his company as front manager. And also my best joining time at marriott. I answered him that I cannot join before 15 th of june 2009. After my reply I did'nt received any of his response on this. After one week again I received my appointment letter on my e-mail and asked me to sign one page & send him as a token of my acceptance for the same.
He asked me to contact mr. Claire tuhey his e-mail id is britishcouncil. [protected]@asia-mail.com & his phone no. Is +91 [protected]. He told me that 30, 000/- indian rupees will be required in the process of work permit visa and other paper work claire tuhey called me twice in one day on my cell and asked to transfer him the money when I refused him to pay such big amount he asked me to transfer only 10, 000 rupees only. I look this as one of the biggest fraud & scam can you pls. Help me in this regard by finding out if this company is registered in united kingdom
Sir, can you help me in this regard by finding out if this is not the part of scam & I have not been misguided.
Awaiting your kind response on this.
Thanks.
Warm regards,
Rajnish tripathi.

I booked a one night stay through Marriott.com (not Expedia or Travelocity), and a week in advance of our arrival tried to cancel the reservation. I have learned that Marriott will not cancel online reservations any later than one day after the reservation is made. I spoke with reservation persons at both the Bethesda property and the national chain, and was told repeatedly that nothing could be done.

This is the weirdest cancellation policy I've ever encountered in all my years of business travel (here and abroad). I will not be choosing Marriott in the future for my travel needs.

This is the letter from the scam too ! They replied me after my quiry in sponsorship for work permit in UK ! i had suspected this yet too sure untill
i had found this site and also other site reporting this scam and fraud ! what
a dissapointed ! post all this to anyone whoever is looking for jobs and let them
have a high awareness to avoid being conned in the scam !

Marriott Hotel, London
Grosvenor Square
London
W3K 9JP
United Kingdom
Phone:+[protected].
Fax:[protected].

Dear Chua,

This is to confirm your Appointment. As U.K. social security number/drivers license does not apply to you, as you are not a British citizen.

Note:That your appointment is full time, permanent, and the allowances makes up your basic salary.As you are to receive 2, 000 pounds as your monthly salary, as it will be worked out by our accountant.You will undertake two weeks training here in London, as regards an Apppointment your position, to put you in shape for work and also farmiliarize you with our mode of service delivery.

As Marriott Hotel, London, does not provide workpermit for her employees. As every applicant is to process his/her workpermit.As we have provided free Accomodation, allowances, incentives and also provide you with a flight ticket to London, as contained in your Appointment letter.

Notwithstanding, you have to utilise the weeks ahead to get your travelling papers from Mr. Gregory of the London Immigration Home Office.

And also endeavour to make a scan copy of your travelling documents to us, as soon as you have finished its procession, to enable us make adequate preparations for your arrival at the London Heathrow airport.

But if you know you cannot make it to London for resumption, do kindly notify us in good time, to enable us open up this position for vacancy, as we have other applicants still vieing for this position.

Yours faithfully,
James Edgerton,
Resource Manager

The general manager at the Fairfield Inn, Beckley West Virginia, conduct for hiring and firing people is totally unexceptable for the standards that represents your standards. Mr Trent Walker has use excessive profanity and as made verbal threats when dismissing employees on several occassions and has done this not only in front of other employees, office manager and head of housekeeping but also in front of the guest at this Marriott property. I know because on several occassions I at that time was assistant houosekeeping supervisor. He was outrageous in every sense of the word. He could have told them of their dismissal and the reasons for letting them go without curssing and threating about calling the police to escort them off the property. He has now caused problems with the staff when firing employees and then bringing them back when they didn't do their jobs in the first place and then praise them for good job performance which has done the moral of those that do great jobs not wanting to perform. To whom ever gets this complaint please listen because there are only 4 housekeepoers now out of ten and the standards that you set for your hotels are not being met by no means.

I am staying in the San Francisco Marriott next week - mid-September for a conference I am attending. The conference literature posted a rate of $235 for a single room, available on a first come first serve basis. I called and made reservations in JUNE. I spoke with the hotel reservations, gave them the society name and quoted them the rate. They booked the room for me and gave me a confirmation number. I called this week to change the confirmation and I was told that I never booked it at the show rate and their current rates are $329! I said I had booked it at the lower rate and I booked it months ago. NO ONE would help me. I finally spoke to a Marriott customer service rep who, after putting me on hold for a while, said that since I did not call the CORRECT phone number to book the room, I had not been given the lower rate, and I WOULD not be given the lower rate of $235. The representative said I called the hotel directly and because of this he said he was sorry, but he could not change the rate. I asked if I was speaking with a MARRIOTT representative and he said yes, but reitterrated that since I called the hotel directly to book the room, they would not give me a lower rate. No one explained this to me and no one told me that the hotel would not offer me the advertised rate. Does this make sense to anyone? Its a rate the hotel was offering, but since I called the hotel directly instead of a third party I cant get the rate. And now since the hotel is full for the week, and all the rooms at the "special rate" are full, they wont help me at all. I think this is horrible customer service. I could understand if I had called to make the reservations and all the rooms were booked, but I called in June and the representative that I spoke to did not say I was not getting the lower rate or that she could not provide it to me.

I have a very important comment! The whole reason and purpose that I created an account on you tube is because Courtyard Marriott on Remount Rd. in Gastonia NC ***! Suck! ***! I was there on a trip with my fiancé and I was there for about 6 days. We traveled there on business. The day before I checked out of the hotel my fiancé hid my 3 very expensive rings in the room inside a black coffee cup on the sink. The most IMPORTANT of the 3 was a 5 thousand dollar diamond solitaire round cut with 6 prongs, a 1.11 carrot certified diamond, along with2 others. One of them was a blue topaz with diamonds all the way around the band and the other a blue sapphire heart shaped stone, both worth 1 thousand a piece. A grand total of estimated about $7, 000.00. My fiancé told me the rings were put away in the cup on the sink that night but when he told me I thought for some reason he put them away in my bag. Boy was I wrong. The next day we were driving back to our home town 13 hours away in Florida. I was sleeping in the car because of car sickness and woke up 10 hours into the trip back home. When I woke up I noticed my rings were not on my fingers, and that’s when we discovered that they were left behind. I was devastated! Right then, I knew I would never see them again. A diamond I had waited my whole life for gone. I of course immediately called the hotel and the women at the front desk "Jessica" a heavy set girl with extremely long dirty blonde hair told me to call back tomorrow. I begged her please please you have to help me and she said "mam, there’s nothing that can be done, if the rings were that precious you should not have left them." I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So when I hung up with her I immediately called the police department and made a police report. I called the hotel back the next day and spoke with the manger whose name was "Del". Unfortunately I don’t have a description of him. He told me that it isn’t his department to call the head of house keeping. so I called her, (her name is Dana Grimes)and told her I was offering a 2, 000 dollar cash reward and also I would sign a legal document stating that no charges would be filed if she would just give them back. She told me to call back AGAIN at 430 to give her time to reveal who cleaned the room that day. I called back at 430 and she told me that the rings were not discovered and after she offered her 2 grand she still didn’t admit it. They absolutely would not give me any part of her name which was unlawful in my opinion because they leave a card with their name on it for all of the public to view on the freshly made bed in every room after she cleans it. And also told me that she is not authorized to tell me any information about her. The police, all they did was transfer me to different departments until I got through to Char gent West. When I spoke to him to he said they don’t take cases like this but I told him I am getting married in just a short period and I’m going to have to get married without a ring he told me he was going to call me back. Well he ACTUALLY did. He assigns the case to an investigator who is still currently working on the case today Aug. 29th 7 days later. Today she has still not gotten to speak with this maid. When she contacted Courtyard Marriott they were on the defense and very secretive and would only give her bits and pieces, such as the maids first name which is, "Joesphena". She informed me that they transferred her to Dana Grimes (the head of house keeping) and she told the detective that Joesphena suddenly WTHOUT GIVEING ANY NOTICE called her (Dana Grimes) and told her that she was taking vacation. She also found out that Joesphena had a 2nd job and is still today trying to get the info. For that job as well. They gave her a number to call of someone who could give her the missing pieces of the information such as, her last name, address and other, and that person still hasn’t returned her calls either. She told me yesterday Aug. 28th that if she has to she will arrest someone with a warrant to get the info she needs to proceed. The maid being on vacation all of a sudden tells me that she has already sold my rings. Which causes an overwhelming stressful upset in my gut feeling. I can’t believe that this woman whom I have never done anything to can steal 7 thousand dollars from me and get away with it. There have been cases for murder solved on circumstantial evidence alone so why isn’t there enough circumstantial evidence. I’m so angry with this hotel and especially with Joesphena. But besides all that I also very upset at the police enforcement officers for allowing this women permission to go back into to someone else's room to do the same thing. And when she does it again she will probably get caught and there will be justice done for that individual whom she stole from but will I ever see my rings again? NO! I have to get married without rings or cancel my wedding. Why does the law let this happen?

In regards to our arrival experience at the Sawgrass Marriott, we felt there was not enough information given to resolve the issue I had with having to leave my debit card number to hold for amenities. As I explained to your guest services representative upon arrival, and again in the survey, I operate on a cash-only basis. I explained that holding my debit card would hold cash funds from that checking account that were set aside for our vacation. $50 per day may not seem like much to some, but to us it was dinner. The representative made no mention of being able to remove the mini-bar from our room, cutting off the pay tv, etc. as an alternative to having to hold our money. She implied that this was the only way we could continue with our stay. Being that we had been in a car for 8 hours to get there, I was in no mood. I said fine, and we ate sandwiches from the Publix next door for the 3 days we were there. In addition, when trying to discuss this she was not very discreet, which I felt was embarrassing. I do not feel that the other guests checking in needed to know my financial situation. She should have just offered to have the "amenities" removed, and left it at that.

During our stay, we were placed in an adjoin room next to a very large family. When it was clear that, at 11pm, the family was not going to bed any time soon, I called the desk to ask if we could be moved to more private, quiet room. The person said no, but that he would talk to the family. I asked not to be identified, since we would probably run into them at some point. That request was ignored, and we overheard in the breezeway identifying us as the people who complained. We were embarrassed and worried about a confrontation with our 'neighbors'.

Upon check out, the girl at the desk was indifferent and uncaring. She asked how our stay was, and when I replied 'not so great', she ignored my response and did not ask for more information. She only said, "okay you are done." And that was it. My complete exchange with your staff. I was not offered a receipt, a comment card, anything. Finally, I asked that this stay be added to my Marriott rewards points, and as of today, that has yet to take place. I felt like I was interrupting her day by expecting her to do her job. She should have asked for more information and helped to at least appease us.

In short, I was made to feel foolish, embarrassed, and out of place by your staff. There has not attempt to correct this offense, and has only encouraged me to tell everyone I can about my experience with the Sawgrass Marriott.

Our employee booked a room for a federal conference with Marriott Tucson University Park. When he arrived he was told that the government rate was only available to federal government employees and the military; we are a county government employer. I called the Tucson Marriott office tried to talk to them about this matter offering to fax them confirmation of his government employment immediately. The clerk maintained that he was not a federal employee and therefore not eligible. Realizing that this was going to go nowhere fast I decided to deal with the problem through Marriott's customer care and had every expectation that the complaint would be resolved to our satisfaction.

I wrote to customer care detailing my problem and received a scathing email back for the Tucson property telling me that my employee is responsible for federal and military personnel not being able to stay at Marriott. This is the email:

I received your comments from Marriott Customer Care regarding Government rates at the Marriott University Park Hotel, Tucson, Arizona. We do offer, as do all Marriott hotels, based on availability, a Federal Per Diem Government Rate. Reservations can be made either on line or through our 800# reservations centres. When the reservations are made it is very clear, both on line and verbally, that to qualify for the Federal Rate you must be employed by the Federal Government and provide Federal ID at the time of check-in. If an individual makes a reservation under the Federal Per Diem Program and is not employed by the Federal Government they would not receive the Federal rate at the time of check-in, as they are not employed by the Federal Government. Unauthorized reservations keep’s authorized Federal Employees from staying with us, in particular our men and women serving in our Armed Forces. I fail to understand why someone not employed by the Federal Government should get that rate. If they for some reason assumed that other rate categories/programs applied, such as State, City and County, they were incorrect. Each entity must stand on its own merit and they are not part of the Federal or Marriott program. The guidelines are quite clear as to who qualifies for the Federal Government and Marriott Hotels Per Diem Rate Program.

We certainly appreciate you and your associates staying at Marriott Hotels and look forward to being of service in the future.

I emailed back and suggested that he read Marriot's own policy about government rates which showed that local and county government are eligible, not just federal government, I inserted a link to the policy. I again received a response with the offer that he would send me the list of who was eligible (I found during all of this that government employers can be pre-approved and I am assuming this is in response to this type of problem. I am copying his email response to this form.

I just reviewed the list I have as to who qualifies for the Federal Government Per Diem Program. I do not see anywhere on the list the blanked out Authority. If you would share that with me I would be happy to assist. I could also fax to you the list of qualification guidelines and the various Federal government agencies that do qualify. Thank you

After some email sparring I finally copy/pasted the string of obnoxious email to customer care and asked that they please deal with the problem themselves.

I found that Customer Care would not even entertain another side to this story and here is their initial email:

We have reviewed Mr. Thompson's reservation and the hotel's response, and we concur with the hotel's decision. The Federal Government rate requires proper identification to be presented at check-in and since the appropriate identification was not presented the hotel adjusted the rate and the rate change will remain. We regret any disappointment this may cause.

For your convenience I have noted the following government travellers are eligible for the Federal Government rate:

- Civilian federal government employees

- Active military personnel

- Federally Funded Research & Development Corporations (FFRDC)

- Canadian government and military

Valid forms of identification for the Federal per diem include the following:

- Federal Government-issued credit card

- Federal Government picture identification card (�CAC� card)

- Military picture identification card

- Travel Orders

- FFRDC identification card (picture or non-picture)

If we can be of further assistance, we invite you to reply to this message

I responded again with a link to their own policy and received the following:

Thank you for contacting Marriott. We appreciate your feedback regarding this matter.

As previously stated in order to be eligible for government discount rates, guests must be an active duty member of the military or current employee, of any level of local, county, state, or federal government within the United States. Supporting credentials will be required at the time that the guest checks in to the hotel.

Unfortunately, none of the proper credentials listed on the website could be provided by Mr. Thompson. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

This is a huge departure from their prior email where they listed only federal and military employees and since Mr. Thompson was told he couldn't use his ID he didn't get a chance to.

But suddenly having admitted that the rate is available to all government employees at any level from local through federal. They have gone back to blaming the problem on the fact that our employee could not produce proof. We tried to do just that not understanding that what we could supply would never been enough because of the misunderstanding of their policies.

Having revisited the website this particular hotel has now changed their website to include that only federal government employees are eligible. Several of our staff members saw the website before this change was made.

I have been a Marriott gold member for some time and suggested that my employees use Marriott, none of us ever will again. I am amazed that they are willing to lose customers over something so petty that in fact was because of their own ignorance. I received an email from posting this complaint on another forum:

I read your recent comments to Marriott customer Care regarding the website for Marriott Tucson and the Federal rate program. This website has been standard for Marriott Hotels through out the United States. The hotel cannot change the criteria on the Web and I assure you the guidelines and words have not been changed, this is standard for all Marriott’s. The Federal Program instituted by Marriott Corporation follows the Guidelines and criteria set by the Federal Government. We appreciate your staying with us and look forward to being of service to you in the future.

Joe Armbrust

General Manager

Marriott University Park Hotel

Tucson, AZ

This guy should do himself a favour and just admit what they did because this is not finished yet. Marriott owes us money and since it is taxpayer’s money we would like reimbursement.

Last summer I purchased two silver weeks at Marbella Beach Club. I have owned Marriott time shares for years and have loved them. We purchased these because the sales rep told us and everyone else in the sales office that these weeks could be traded to gold weeks and rented for big money. WELL... you can only trade thru Interval and INterval does not allow rentals so this was a LIE. I would like to find the right place to voice my complaint and I am looking for others who had this same sales pitch to participate in a case, if I can find the right place to go with this.

We had a major issue with a card that was applied for last year and never received. The only bill or mailing that I ever received was one year later when a bill was sent for an annual fee. This bill was for a card that I had never received. I called and they refused to take the charge off even though the card had never been used. I asked if I would still receive my 20, 000 points and free night if I paid the fee, she did say that a credit would be issued for the free night with marriott rewards. I called them today and it had not been done. Also, they have now issued a late fee which they refuse to remove. Very poor customer service.