Courtyard by Marriott Hannover Maschsee — Hotel in Hanover

As a platinum member of Marriott Bonvoy, I had a two week stay at this hotel recently. Let's start with the positives - the location is good as it is by the lake (even though there is no direct tram/train station) and the room size is bigger than some other courtyard rooms in Europe. I am usually not picky about the small little details but this hotel really needs to improve significantly for its service, hospitality and internal organization/management.

I made an advance booking of a king sized bed and arrived at the hotel almost midnight due to the train delay. Feeling exhausted, I did the normal check-in and arrived in my room to find out that the hotel gave me a double single-bed room instead. When I made a request to change, they said they did not have any available room for king bed. Not sure why they made such a simple mistake with the booking but I was too tired anyway. However, the laundry was really a nightmare! I put my dirty laundries inside the room on Tuesday early morning and placed it at the sofa (super obvious) before leaving for work. When I came back from work on Tuesday, it was not collected so I asked the reception. They told me that I should simply leave it and they will make a note to collect the next morning. On Wednesday evening, it was still not collected (not sure what went wrong in the communication). After complaining to the reception, they sent someone to collect it immediately. However, my laundry is only returned to me on Friday. They outsourced the laundry service to a third party so no laundry is done on the weekends. So my dirty laundry that is supposed to be done on Tuesday was only ready on Friday. That's not even the worst part. They did not return all my clothes. I was in a rush to check out on Sunday and realized 2 of my pants were missing, so I gave the reception a quick call to help me check in the morning. The reception told me he would ring me back in 1 hour but I did not receive any call till I checked out. They realized there are some 'un-labelled' pants and asked if that is mine, so I had to quickly collect and pack them. The following week, I realized that some of my tops were missing and I quickly realized I forgotten some tops and they must have been with the hotel. Again, the reception did not make any effort to identify the 'un-labelled' clothing or to contact me. When I called them and arrived, they finally gave it back to me. All these miscommunications and mistakes from the hotels (in my opinion could simply be avoided with better SOP and communications), I have interacted with multiple and different staffs but not ONCE did I receive any apology from them. There was no acknowledgement nor empathy from them, despite the mistakes. I have stayed in many other marriott hotels and usually they provide some compensations or benefits, especially for causing such inconveniences. Honestly, this is the worst marriott stay out of my experiences. I stayed at Courtyard Hamburg the following week and it was a very different experience. Even though they also outsourced the laundry service, it was a very smooth and pleasant experience and the staffs were warm and friendly.

The only reason I am giving 2 stars instead of one is because the hotel room and location are good and the restaurant staff and housekeepers are friendly. The same cannot be said for the front desk though and their internal communication and organization...

On arrival, my MB status generated no complimentary upgrade and only the bare minimum rewards/welcome offer, far less than I've received at other Courtyard hotels in the last month. I don't understand the discrepancy.||I asked if breakfast (usually a welcome offer as an alternative to MB points) was included and was told that it wasn't as this hotel is a franchise hotel. I don't understand what that has to do with it and why it's not consistent across the brand. Anyway, it was no big deal but after over 20 years loyalty to SPG/MB, it's nice when you get thanked for your commitment.||The lobby is a fair reflection of the hotel overall: parts are modern, fresh and inviting whilst the dining area adjacent is tired, old, uninviting and soulless. We went up to the room which was newly refurbished and quite outstanding for a budget hotel. I've stayed in places five time the price of what we paid here and couldn't master the basic workings of turning lights on and off. Here the rooms are spacious, very well designed and extremely comfortable. At 150 euros p/n, I thought it was very reasonably priced.||The bathrooms, also fresh and modern, are spacious and well designed. Unfortunately we discovered, luckily in the evening shortly after we arrived and not the following morning when we had a train to catch, that the shower didn't work. We called reception and were quickly moved to another room. An apology given but no upgrade, complimentary breakfast or even bonus points was offered to compensate for the inconvenience. I thought that was pretty poor.||I'd booked a lake view but sadly it is as much a view over the roof of the hotel reception, which was tired and grubby. The outside of the hotel is undergoing a much needed upgrade and I'm sure it will look nice, but that roof needs to be sorted too. We had some tea on the terrace by the lake, which is a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine, albeit you still have the ed frontage of the hotel behind you. ||Location is reasonably convenient, about 20 minutes from Hannover Hbf and under 15 to the edge of town and the commercial area. It's a nice walk through a small park and by small a lake to get there. The hotel is next to Hannover 96 stadium and could not be better placed of you're attending a game. ||I've given 4 out of 5 here by rounding up from the 3.7 I think it deserves. Overall a bit of a mixed bag but probably in a year's time when all the upgrade to the outside is done this hotel would generate a 5 out...

On arrival, my MB status generated no complimentary upgrade and only the bare minimum rewards/welcome offer, far less than I've received at other Courtyard hotels in the last month. I don't understand the discrepancy.||I asked if breakfast (usually a welcome offer as an alternative to MB points) was included and was told that it wasn't as this hotel is a franchise hotel. I don't understand what that has to do with it and why it's not consistent across the brand. Anyway, it was no big deal but after over 20 years loyalty to SPG/MB, it's nice when you get thanked for your commitment.||The lobby is a fair reflection of the hotel overall: parts are modern, fresh and inviting whilst the dining area adjacent is tired, old, uninviting and soulless. We went up to the room which was newly refurbished and quite outstanding for a budget hotel. I've stayed in places five time the price of what we paid here and couldn't master the basic workings of turning lights on and off. Here the rooms are spacious, very well designed and extremely comfortable. At 150 euros p/n, I thought it was very reasonably priced.||The bathrooms, also fresh and modern, are spacious and well designed. Unfortunately we discovered, luckily in the evening shortly after we arrived and not the following morning when we had a train to catch, that the shower didn't work. We called reception and were quickly moved to another room. An apology given but no upgrade, complimentary breakfast or even bonus points was offered to compensate for the inconvenience. I thought that was pretty poor.||I'd booked a lake view but sadly it is as much a view over the roof of the hotel reception, which was tired and grubby. The outside of the hotel is undergoing a much needed upgrade and I'm sure it will look nice, but that roof needs to be sorted too. We had some tea on the terrace by the lake, which is a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine, albeit you still have the ed frontage of the hotel behind you. ||Location is reasonably convenient, about 20 minutes from Hannover Hbf and under 15 to the edge of town and the commercial area. It's a nice walk through a small park and by small a lake to get there. The hotel is next to Hannover 96 stadium and could not be better placed of you're attending a game. ||I've given 4 out of 5 here by rounding up from the 3.7 I think it deserves. Overall a bit of a mixed bag but probably in a year's time when all the upgrade to the outside is done this hotel would generate a 5 out...