This may perhaps be the worst hotel experience of my life. The positive reviews from Element were written years ago. It is clear this hotel has taken a turn for the worse. I understand the hospitality and travel industry is still recovering from the pandemic, but this is the 4th hotel I have stayed at in 2021, and it's the only one where I have had a bad experience.
First off, I want to say that I felt completely mislead by this hotel. If you are a Marriott member, you will see this hotel is rated as a category 6 hotel. The highest ranking is an 8, and there were no hotels listed above a category 6 when I was booking. The other category 6 hotels Marriott hotels in Austin include the JW Marriott and the W hotel. I have stayed at both and had a great experience, but I really wanted a suite for this weekend and neither hotel had this option available. I noticed Element did and because it was categorically rated just as high, I went ahead & booked. Apparently not all category 6 hotels are created equal.
Let's start with the valet "service". It is $49/night (certainly not cheap). No one ever offers to open your car door. There is no bell service, & they don't help you with your bags at all. There are apparently rolling carts available, but no one could find one when we arrived. We had to make multiple car trips to unload. I have a toddler and I'm 6 months pregnant; so my husband was left to this task alone. Not to mention the lobby is located on the third floor--meaning my poor husband had to unload all the stuff multiple times--once in the entry on the 1st floor, once in the lobby on the 3rd floor, and once on the 9th floor where our room was. This is horribly inconvenient for any guest! At the very least they should invest in more carts if the staff can't offer to assist.
I had booked our room weeks in advance. I had requested a high floor with a city view, but no one at the front desk seems to review requests. In fact, the front desk is hardly ever open. The front desk opens at 7 AM, and it appears they are closed by noon (although their hours aren't posted). I don't understand how these hours make sense particularly during weekends since that is when you would expect hotels to be their busiest. May God be with you if you call the front desk or valet and expect someone to answer. Apparently the valet line isn't even connected to the valet. What's the point of programming it onto the phone then?!?
Now let's get to the "suite" I booked. I have never seen one in a more horrendous condition. It appears our room had Sheetrock damage, and no one has bothered painting over it to match the original color. The city view, high floor suite I had booked landed us on the 9th floor in a hotel with over 30 floors, and we were left with a view staring into another building. When I went back to the lobby to see if they could give me another suite that met my requests, they said they didn't have another suite available for the weekend. They offered to put me in a room with the view I requested, but said they "wouldn't be able to refund (me) the difference for the suite". WHAT?!?! I had to pretend they never said that in order to avoid getting verbally aggressive, but they were really asking for it. I am Marriott Platinum member and have never been treated worse by Marriott staff. In fact, Marriott hotels I have stayed at usually go above and beyond for their Elite members. Not here!
Besides all the scratches and messed up attempts to correct wall damage, the carpet had stains that no one has bothered to clean. When I tried to move a nightstand over to get to a back plug, I felt grossed out by sticky, dirty residue. I thought with a pandemic, hotels would make an extra effort to clean--not here! The vents in the rooms are horrible. You can smell everything from the other rooms. Again this is a pandemic we are dealing with; so it's time to upgrade the ventilation.
From the photos on Yelp, it appears this hotel used to employ cooks to make a fresh continental breakfast. Not anymore. You're not getting breakfast tacos, fresh juice, an oatmeal bar, a yogurt bar, or fancy pastries anymore. You can expect for there to be Jimmy Dean ham and cheese sandwiches, rock hard kolaches with freezer burn, instant oatmeal containers, cold packaged muffins, and milk containers that are one day from their expiration.
Upon check out, no one asked me how my experience was. I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind. It seems they already expect you to have a horrendous experience so they don't even bother to ask. I overheard the person ahead of me at checkout report that their sink was falling off. Did they offer any apology? Nope! I'm surprised this hotel hasn't been shutdown or fallen bankrupt yet, but Marriott if you're reading this, you really need to demote the Element's categorical rank.
If you have read this review, and still decide to stay here, good luck! It's your funeral. read more