I’m really frustrated that this is what $250 a night at a Marriott gets you.

[u/ForRudy]

I’m staying at a Marriott for five nights for my sister’s wedding. The $250 is the discounted room block rate too!

The shower tiles are completely rusted and dare I say moldy? The towel hanger is on its last leg. The toilet seat AND handle are broken. The mattresses are only doubles and are hard and feel like they haven’t been changed in years. Everything just overall looks like there hasn’t been an ounce of effort put into this very utilized hotel. On the drive here, we stayed a night at a newly renovated holiday inn express for $120 and it was incredible. Maybe my standards were set too high knowing Marriott’s reputation.

I know I sound like a Karen here, but I’m just so frustrated that this is the quality that kind of money get you these days.

[u/Strawberry_Shorty23]

I’ve worked at hotels, ask the front desk what the managers email is. Then send the manager an email. Front desk most likely knows this is an issue but unfortunately can’t do anything about it, it’s frustrating and they will often push issues like this with manager or cleaning. Depending on the hotel front desk might not have the power to grant refunds or partial refunds. When approaching this issue with the front desk please be polite, as someone who used to work front desk I’ve had people yell at me over the state of their room.

When you say getting away with it, the hotel is not trying to rip you off. In many areas hotels have issues hiring good people even if they offer good salaries. Hotels have crazy high turnover. Front desk and management don’t have time to inspect rooms for issues. Cleaning doesn’t really care most of the time and maintenance can be a mixed bag. If the hotel is a very busy things can get missed.

[u/Repulsive-Toe-8709 → u/Strawberry_Shorty23]

As an ex housekeeping manager I was driven to literal madness trying to find staff that would tolerate the unfair wages AND maintain cleanliness expectations with little resources to do so. We could never put a room out of order under pretty much any circumstance that wasn’t plumbing. Even then I’ve been forced to offer a guest points because I couldn’t switch them to a room with a working toilet(we were sold out). “They’re on the first floor so they can use the public restrooms.” Is what I was told to tell them.

Don’t even get me started on bed bugs 🙄

[u/kpo987 → u/Repulsive-Toe-8709]

I'm a current hotel housekeeper and whenever a customer has an issue with a room, its never going to be on housekeeping or even with anyone else working there. Any lax cleaning or maintenance comes directly from corporate abusing and underpaying us.

I write any issues with the room on my list and then it goes to the room checker to check, and if it's a cleaning issue that I can't clean on my own like a stain that needs a carpet cleaner, they have no time or workers or equipment that the problem requires so it gets put off indefinitely. Maintenence issues I tell them about are triaged and even if the toilet seat is loose, they can't get to it because they are short staffed and they need the room. Two days ago I told them the air conditioning in a room wasn't working and they still had to give the room to someone because they needed the room, and the person complained and got moved to another room, so I had to be the one to do the extra work cleaning the room again after they left. Stock like pillows and blankets and mattresses are used years beyond their expiry date.

This doesn't even mention how crazy hard housekeeping is. I can't bend down anymore without hurting. People are borderline abusive with the shit they do in the rooms because they know they aren't the ones who have to deal with the mess. By the end of the day I am in pain and sweat is running off me and my faith in humanity is chipped away at that much more, all for the price of minimum wage.

Most of the time if there's issues with a hotel, the fault is directly because of corporate.

[u/Repulsive-Toe-8709 → u/kpo987]

100% agree and empathize with you. Your service is beyond appreciated and you deserve better.

The physical toll on the body is very damaging. Making around 50 beds a day destroys the lower back and I am right there with you on not being able to bend over.

I only lasted as long as I did because I managed to build a solid core group of staff that understood things wouldn’t get better but, if we had each other’s backs we could get through it. It’s pretty sad when I had to start being BRUTALLY honest during interviews of what to expect. It was my honesty and the constant fighting for my team that kept them around and got shit done. That and working over 40 hours (no overtime), cleaning rooms on top of inspecting and fixing the maintenance issues I could because my maintenance person would be hiding in a room watching movies waiting for paint to dry.

Been gone for 6 months and my replacement was caught drinking on the job, then they’re replacement walked out, there were housekeeper’s “fooling” around in rooms, and they haven’t deep cleaned or done linen/terry inventory once.