Residence Inn By Marriott Tallahassee Universities At The Capitol

Worst Marriott Experience Ever!

I have been a Marriott customer for nearly 15 years and I must say this was by far the worst experience I've ever had at a Marriott property. My family and I (10 in total) arrived at the hotel on April 27th only to find out that all 4 of our rooms were canceled! Clearly, since we had all traveled upwards of 1200 miles for a graduation, WE didn't cancel the rooms. Nonetheless, the clerk at check-in was extremely rude in telling us that the rooms had been canceled and there was nothing she could do or nothing she was going to do. Frustrated and obviously angry, I immediately called Marriott Customer Care and advised them of the issue along with showing the clerk my Marriott Gold Card and only at that point did her attitude change.

Well throughout the course of the evening, they were able to find 2 of the 4 rooms. Still short of what we booked, a couple of family members were forced to stay locally with a friend of a friend.

The next morning I visited the front desk to see if any progress had been made towards the remaining 2 rooms and 1 additional room did become available. Unfortunately there was no additional availability given that it was indeed graduation weekend in Tallahassee. Nonetheless, the hotel was able to find us an available room at a nearby Marriott property (Fairfield Inn) BUT at a significantly higher rate. We were at the Residence Inn off of a Marriott Friends and Family rate. I had the family members accept that rate with the hopes of being accommodated by the Residence Inn, given that they caused this travel debacle. Well, I met with the Assistant General Manager (Pat) who frankly and directly informed me that they would not make up the difference. However, a room did become available and she did call the Fairfield Inn to cancel the other room and honor the rate for the 4th room at the Residence Inn. Happy ending to a nightmare, right? Not so fast!

Over this past weekend, I noticed that I did not receive any Marriott points for the stay. Therefore, I decided to contact the hotel directly to inquire. I started to explain the purpose of my call to the gentlemen who answered the phone, and he looked me up in the system and stated "I'm familiar with your situation". He said it in a bit of a tone as if he was disgusted by my call. He then went on to identify himself as the General Mgr. (Keith) and accused me of making a scene in his lobby and preventing "real guests" from checking in. I must say, I was quite appalled by his comments. Not to be boastful but I'm quite sure I'm in a higher tax bracket than Keith so I was a bit taken back by these belittling comments from the GM of this hotel. I then quickly retorted asking him for an explanation of "real guests" and informed him he was clearly unaware of all of the circumstances surrounding our stay and further informed him that he should apologize. I continued talking only to realize that he hung the phone up on me! I will never stay at this property again and will deter any friends and family members traveling to Tallahassee to do the same. There is a clear systemic flaw in this hotel's culture and focus on customer service that permeates across it's management team. Not only did I not receive the points for the stay, but they didn't issue me the "bonus" points that were offered to me by 2 members of the staff (including the Asst. GM) for the clear inconvenience they caused!

As far as the rooms being canceled, I'm quite confident that they were intentionally canceled internally by a hotel staff member or manager because a discounted rate (of any kind) prevented them form being able to sell 4 rooms at their ridiculous "special event" rate of $299 per night when they normally go for $119 per night.

While the Residence Inn (Universities at the Capitol) is convenient to both universities (FAMU and FSU), there are definitely much better and more customer-oriented choices in Tallahassee. So please consider ALL other options. I will say, my brief experience with the Fairfield Inn on Apalachee Parkway was quite pleasant.