I booked the Marriott Eastside for a 4 night stay for a shopping trip with my sister due to its central location. I've stayed at several Marriotts before in the UK and Europe and have found them to be to a good, high 4 star standard.
We booked a twin room (2 double beds). On arrival (late at night after a very long flight..) we were told sorry, we only have a room with one king bed for you. The hotel had overbooked on its twins and as a late arrival we were the unlucky ones. The receptionist agreed to put an extra bed in the room (you'd think they might have had they initiative to do this before our arrival given that a twin room had been booked!!). After much prompting he eventually said he'd try and move us to a twin the following day. Fine said we. The whole process seemed like trying to pull teeth, he clearly seemed to have no interest in us at all. After being given no info about the hotel amenities, we asked when breakfast was and were told until midday. Shame we came down the following morning to discover it was finished at 11.
No-one we spoke to seemed in the least apologetic that the room type we booked wasn't available. Maybe this seems a small thing, but part of the reason we chose the hotel was to have a reasonable size room with 2 double beds, which few hotels offer.
The room itself was very small - and i mean small. I am used to London hotel rooms which can be truly box like - in America you expect something larger! We had a panoramic view of a building site (drilling commenced at 7am) and a large brick wall.
The website said the hotel had been recently refurbished but the only signs i could see of this in the bedrooms were the flat screen tvs. The carpet was tatty and there wasn't even a mini bar. The room felt stale and there was a rather unpleasant musty smell through the hotel, even in the towels. The bed I must admit was very comfortable (the king bed not the camp bed!).
Next day we were told there would be no twin rooms available for the duration of our stay. After much probing for some kind of acknowledgment of the inconvenience caused to us, the staff eventually said they would move us to a larger room (still with king bed and camp bed style arrangement) and offered us a comp breakfast. That room must have been about 2 sq foot larger than the first. The view of building site remained, albeit a less noisy side of the site!
On checkout, the receptionist charged the bill straight to my card without even showing a print out first - (this is just common politeness?!) I then had to ask them to refund the complimentary breakfast - which they had charged us for !! - back on to my card.
The biggest issue for us was the lack of service offered. I understand that hotels get full and don't always have the right rooms, but not once did anyone apologise for this or offer anything as a solution - i had to push all the way for a room move. I work in the hotel industry and know what is possible with a tiny bit of effort and a smile. When travelling to America, with it's famous friendly service we expected better.
Maybe this hotel does too well purely just from its location and feels that service is not necessary. I was really disappointed - I would have expected much better from a brand like Marriott.
For those looking for a nice hotel in this area - try the W hotel next door!!
hotel reviews