On Saturday, 2 June, a friend and I drove from Virginia to visit friends of mine from Texas in Philly. The check-in here was pleasant and the front desk staff were very accommodating although we checked in at around 11pm. My issue was with check out. I requested a late check out and was informed that late check out was 11am. Okay, no problem.
The following day, I rushed to meet my friends for breakfast in the city at 9:30am, leaving my friend in the room. I figured I could leave at 9 and have at least an hour for breakfast and be back in time for check out. Unfortunately things did not go as planned. My friends hot water was out in their air bnb, so they were not ready on time as they waited for the owner to come and fix it. We ended up not getting to breakfast until around 10:15, and I ended up ordering and taking my food to go. At around 10:45, my friend who stayed behind called me to tell me that the front desk was calling her to leave the room. When I called the front desk, I advised them that I would be there in no more than an hour. I was then told that the manager was at the room letting my friend know that she had to leave. I am already rushing back, having to make a 20-min walk back to my car because neither my uber or Lyft accounts would allow me to order a ride for some reason. Get to the garage of the air bnb and my friends gave me the wrong code and getting a hold of them took another few mins. Drive back to the hotel in a bit of traffic, arriving to the hotel shortly after noon to see my friend in the lobby with all of my things packed which she ended up throwing into my suitcase due to the rush.
As we were about to leave, she told me that the manager came to the door and told her she needed to wait for me in the lobby to which my friend replied she needed a few minutes. She told me that the manager told her that she had 2 mins and held the door open the entire time while she packed our things. I have never been treated so badly at a hotel and experienced such rude customer service. When I called to advise the front desk that I would arrive in less than an hour and offered to pay for another day I was told that the hotel was completely booked and that they could not allow me to extend. That was not true, I was able to go online to see that there were rooms available that I could have booked, however, I was not willing to stay at this establishment for one more night.
My friend works for Marriott and he advised me to find out if the this establishment was marriott or franchise owned. I learned that this establishment is a franchise, and my friend replied that makes sense because a marriott-owned hotel would not have treated their guests this way. He also told me that there are no managers on the weekends and to go bavk inside to speak with the operations manager, as I was told that is who kicked my friend out of the room. When I went back inside, the "operations manager" was in the back office on a business call. I waited for 20 mins and she never came out to speak with me, I never met her, I do not even have her name. I grabbed all of the cards for the key personnel and intend on writing corporate in reference to this situation.
I was not asking for a freebie, or an extension of more time without paying. My friend and I were treated as if we were problem guests and that was not the case. We arrived from out of town late, and my friend told me that she was sleeping when the knock came on the door for her to leave. A little common courtesy and professionalism would have been nice, seeing that a string of unplanned events caused my late return to this establishment. I did not understand the circumstances surrounding the extreme manner the staff went through to remove my friend and I from this room, as if we were there for a much longer period of time and it was getting extremely close to check in. I have stayed in many Marriott hotels and have never been treated this way. I do not want to use the race card here, but I can't help but wonder if that had something to do with it. I caution anyone that intends on staying here to maybe look elsewhere (I should have taken the other 1-star reviews into consideration). Being kicked out, having a manager hold the door open while you pack you and your friend's belongings, is just not a pleasant way to end a trip.
UPDATE 8 JUN: I received no response to my e-mail from the key personnel at this location and after 5 business days I still have not received my security deposit. I contacted the corporate office who advised that the e-mail that was sent to the facility should have been forwarded to the main office but it had not been sent there. I ended up sending the e-mail directly to corporate and should be receiving a phone call in 3-5 business days. read more