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I generally prefer boutique and independent hotels and rarely stay with the big chains. But sometimes needs must, and my only option for a last-minute ski trip to the States was in a Marriott Fairfield. Hardly a top-of-the-range hotel, but not particularly cheap at £150 per night.
I have stayed in many places since the pandemic began, but I was taken aback by the COVID (aka cost-cutting) measures that Marriott has put in place to protect me and its staff. For example:
– No house keeping for a 6-day trip. We had to make our own beds, and fetch towels, toiletries and coffee from reception. Our bins were overflowing and stinking by the time we left, and grime was building up on the sink and in the shower. Foul, disgusting, unacceptable and not advertised in advance.
– Polystyrene plates, plastic forks, paper cups for breakfast and in the rooms. Given the lack of housekeeping, I ended up using the same paper coffee coffee cup in my room for the whole trip. We probably sent more single-use plastic to landfill in a week with Marriott than in a few months of normal living at home.
– Almost everything at breakfast was pre-prepared and individually wrapped: single slices of bread in cling-film, or sausage biscuits in cellophane for example. All condiments were in sachets; it felt like a cheap seaside takeaway. Waste, waste, waste.
At least I earned some points. But I’m in no hurry to spend them unless they decide to improve their brand guidelines.
Can a fan remind me why they choose to stay in Marriott hotels when there are usually so many better alternatives?
Pretty standard in the US to have disposable plates, cutlery, cups etc for the free breakfast service. I don’t like it either, I can’t imagine trying to cellophane wrap individual hot slices of sausage or trying to get them off again before eating.
Is Fairfield generally a “housekeeping on request” hotel?
Personally I wouldn’t have let the bin get to the stinky level and would have taken it downstairs when I was collecting fresh towels and coffee daily.
I think whenever people talk about a particular chain on this site they’re all about the high end. I can’t comment on your particular stay, but in the medium/lower end of chains they’re always incredibly wasteful with plastics, and individual wrapping is often the case for nasty low quality pastries.
They’re also disproportionately expensive at some levels, particularly if this was a location suited to national park access, or some other activity like skiing. From memory Fairfield are amongst the nastiest breakfasts in normal times, lots of carbs and a number of microwaves, ‘coffee’ from a 5 gallon drum.
OK rooms I seem to remember, my standards maybe lower than many here.I personally find it hard to believe you couldn’t rinse a sink or shower, and would prefer grime to rinsing it yourself. Of course no housekeeping is about cost cutting and not Covid, especially in much of US where Covid is ignored.
I tend to use hotels.com for booking, and they’ve been very up front about service reductions, I suspect as an agent they’re keener to be honest and avoid problems, than the chain/hotel itself.
It sounds like you’ve been disappointed (understandly) with your choice of hotel and made the assumption that the whole of Marriott is equally as bad.
This is the reason I spend significant time researching before booking.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@dougzz99 the room was lovely – very spacious, comfortable, clean and reasonably stylish.
I booked direct and Marriott’s site gave no warning of the housekeeping issue; a large sign in reception blaming COVID was when I learned what I should expect. Some later deep googling found Marriott brand guidelines that allow many hotels to offer only weekly housekeeping to protect staff and customers from COVID risks, but punters are not warned at the time of booking. And good luck rinsing out a shower with a fixed shower head or wiping out a basin with no cleaning materials.
The independent hotel next door had near-identical facilities with daily housekeeping at, usually, very similar prices. Perhaps that’s why it was fully booked while the Marriott still had last-minute rooms. Reviewers on hotels.com and google certainly prefer it.
I have no problem with a “Suck it up – what else did you expect?” message. If that’s what Marriott brands offer, I shall avoid them. Usually I have choices.
Only Marriott disappointed. The skiing was awesome, the Virgin/Delta flights were exemplary, Avis upgraded my car to a magnificent GMC Yukon, and the local restaurants were fabulous.
@dougzz99 the room was lovely – very spacious, comfortable, clean and reasonably stylish.
I booked direct and Marriott’s site gave no warning of the housekeeping issue; a large sign in reception blaming COVID was when I learned what I should expect. Some later deep googling found Marriott brand guidelines that allow many hotels to offer only weekly housekeeping to protect staff and customers from COVID risks, but punters are not warned at the time of booking. And good luck rinsing out a shower with a fixed shower head or wiping out a basin with no cleaning materials.
The independent hotel next door had near-identical facilities with daily housekeeping at, usually, very similar prices. Perhaps that’s why it was fully booked while the Marriott still had last-minute rooms. Reviewers on hotels.com and google certainly prefer it.
I have no problem with a “Suck it up – what else did you expect?” message. If that’s what Marriott brands offer, I shall avoid them. Usually I have choices.
Only Marriott disappointed. The skiing was awesome, the Virgin/Delta flights were exemplary, Avis upgraded my car to a magnificent GMC Yukon, and the local restaurants were fabulous.
Complain to Marriott, via Twitter @MarriottBonvoy , hopefully they will offer you some type of service recovery.
You mentioned last minute trip – how is £150 comparable then?
Irrespective of brands, there are some pretty bad hotels – comes down to the management of those hotels. Research, research and research. Especially any reviews posted just before the booking and your trip. Set expectations accordingly.@jj as others have said, a brand rightly or wrongly is not a guarantee of a standard, that’s reality. If you don’t want to be disappointed you need to read reviews and filter them by your own set of rules. I learnt that lesson via Hilton’s, several of which have been far less desirable than Hampton’s, which makes little sense. Relying on a brand is risky, relying on a whole group is just asking for trouble.
This is completely about the brand. Someone in Marriott has issued brand guidance saying that Fairfield hotels don’t need to offer daily housekeeping due to COVID. The local hotel simply followed brands guidelines.
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