DO NOT book a BLOCK of rooms at this hotel. Please note: no complaints about the hotel staff or cleanliness of the rooms, etc. The hotel itself is fantastic. All of our many issues revolved around the event planning services. The only reason our weekend was successful was because the hotel staff was extremely accommodating and compensated for the lack of coordination from the corporate event planning staff.
My husband and I booked a block of rooms at the Courtyard Marriott Paramus for our wedding in June and could not have been more disappointed in the event planning staff. I never thought a hotel block could be so stressful but our ordeal with Marriott corporate was honestly the most stressful part of the wedding planning process - and everything seemed to unravel with them a month before the wedding, which is such a critical time and just added to the stress.
Months before the wedding, we booked our block with Marriott. We reserved 20 rooms with the understanding that we could always increase the block if necessary. We were told the bar could be kept open late on the night of the wedding so that our guests could continue to socialize in the expansive lobby and courtyard after returning from the reception. Given that we had many guests coming from afar, we loved all of the amenities that Marriott had to offer and decided to book with them. We also booked a room for brunch the next day.
We were notified two months before the wedding that our event manager was going to be switching. I tried to follow-up on the status of the bookings in our block (to increase it if necessary) and received no response, from either our contact who was transitioning out of her role or the new staff member. By the time they finally got back to me, we were informed the hotel was completely sold out that night. We also were then told that the bar could not be kept open late. At this point, I was beyond irate because I had to begin searching for a new hotel for overflow guests, plus a spot for people to socialize after the wedding. Additionally, I had to begin changing our plans for transportation because we now needed to shuttle people between TWO hotels, plus an additional venue after the wedding. On top of all of this, we were also told at this time that the brunch room had been double booked and we could no longer hold our event there. To be fair the hotel staff accommodated us and roped off a portion of the public brunch area so our guests could sit together, however we were unable to use the private space that had been reserved.
The hotel does not have a honeymoon suite however they do have regular suites, and my husband and I were looking forward to spending our first night together. When were told that we would be given a regular room instead of a suite, I inquired about having a suite instead (given that it was our wedding night) and the event manager sent me a link to their website to book a suite at full price. I finally reached a very kind manager in the corporate office who agreed to give us a suite after hearing about all of the other disappointments we incurred with our block reservation.
To recap, Marriott corporate (event staff) caused a lot of stress during our wedding planning process. They were unable to deliver on many of the items they promised us, including use of the bar, space for a private brunch, and enough rooms to accommodate our guests. I would HIGHLY recommend against anyone using this hotel for any sort of group block. If I could do it over again, I would have booked our entire wedding weekend at the Hyatt down the road on Route 4. read more