Courtyard by Marriott Anchorage Airport — Hotel in Alaska

I stay in a lot of hotels and am generally pretty easy to please - all I expect is clean sheets, clean towels, and a reasonable level of cleanliness in the rooms. I spent 6 nights in a camper van with no plumbing after checking out from here, so 5 stars on this trip really shouldn't have been that much of a reach for any hotel. This is the first Courtyard, hell, the first hotel I've ever checked into that doesn't seem to understand that rooms are supposed to include towels. Pretty basic concept, right? On this trip we booked 3 rooms over 2 different check in dates, so housekeeping had 3 chances to land this. On try #1 we had no towels, soap, or other amenities stocked in the room whatsoever, on try/room #2 had only a single bath towel, and a week later, checking into Room #3 we discovered no washcloths. No problem - I'll just call down to the desk to get things resolved. Awesome, the towels are going to be "right up". So I wait 35 minutes, it is now after 10PM local time, which feels like 2AM for me, and still no sign of the towels that should have been there when I walked in. Again, this is not like I wanted extra to swaddle a teacup pig or something ridiculous - there were literally no towels stocked in this room whatsoever. You check in after 20+ hours of travel and do not have the amenities needed to do something as basic as use the shower or wash and dry your hands! Another call to the desk, "hey I called you about 35 minutes ago about getting some towels, are those close?" and the first thing this guy says is "well, first of all I don't think that you talked to me". -_- ok dude... so I explain myself all over again and after 40 minutes I'm finally able to use the shower. It's also interesting that I had to list for the desk every piece of linen that I expected. Staff should already know what towels come standard with their rooms - if I tell you that I only have a single bath towel, you already know what I need. Don't make me stand there and tell you that I expect a washcloth, hand towel, bath mat, etc. You're the person who works here, don't rely on me to educate you about your own product.

From this experience it's pretty clear that nobody is checking these rooms before they're turned over to the customer, and nobody in housekeeping or management knows what checklists are. If they can't get something basic, obvious, and in-your-face as stocking rooms with fresh linen right (across 3 rooms on different dates even - not an isolated incident!), I really do have to think the worst about everything else in this place, especially the stuff that isn't as readily apparent. Are the bedsheets actually changed? Do they skip the vacuuming too? When was the last time the common areas were cleaned? Is the kitchen food safe to eat? Do they "forget" to stock the pool with chlorine as well? Brand standards, cleanliness, and consistent experience are the entire reason we love Marriott, please find those things again at...

I stay in a lot of hotels and am generally pretty easy to please - all I expect is clean sheets, clean towels, and a reasonable level of cleanliness in the rooms. This is the first Courtyard I've ever checked into that doesn't seem to understand that rooms are supposed to include towels. Pretty basic concept, right? On this trip we booked 3 rooms over 2 different check in dates, so housekeeping had 3 chances to land this. On try #1 we had no towels, soap, or other amenities stocked in the room whatsoever, on try/room #2 had only a single bath towel, and a week later, checking into Room #3 we discovered no washcloths. No problem - I'll just call down to the desk to get things resolved. Awesome, the towels are going to be "right up". So I wait 35 minutes, it is now after 10PM local time, which feels like 2AM for me, and still no sign of the towels that should have been there when I walked in. You check in after 20+ hours of travel and do not have the amenities needed to do something as basic as use the shower or wash and dry your hands! Another call to the desk, "hey I called you about 35 minutes ago about getting some towels, are those close?" and the first thing this guy says is "well, first of all I don't think that you talked to me". -_- ok dude... so I explain myself all over again and after 40 minutes I'm finally able to use the shower. It's also interesting that I had to list for the desk every piece of linen that I expected. Staff should already know what towels come standard with their rooms - if I tell you that I only have a single bath towel, you already know what I need. You're the person who works here, don't rely on me to educate you about your own product. From this experience it's pretty clear that nobody is checking these rooms before they're turned over to the customer, and nobody in housekeeping or management knows what checklists are. If they can't get something basic, obvious, and in-your-face as stocking rooms with fresh linen right (across 3 rooms on different dates even - not an isolated incident!), I really do have to think the worst about everything else in this place, especially the stuff that isn't as readily apparent. Are the bedsheets actually changed? Do they skip the vacuuming too? When was the last time the common areas were cleaned? Is the kitchen food safe to eat? Brand standards, cleanliness, and consistent experience are the entire reason we love Marriott, please find those things again at...

Everything was great...until it wasn't. Every few months we treat the family to a stay-cation at a hotel with a pool. We have stayed here before since it is a nice place and has a good swimming pool and hot tub. I rented 2 rooms near the pool. The kids swam, the adults relaxed. Saturday night, the pool was busy with other families. Sunday morning, we went to the pool around 9 AM, it opens at 6. I had put down my things and proceeded to the hot tub when I was intercepted by a worker. He said" Are these children with you?" I replied "Yes", not realizing what would transpire. For the record, there were 8 children in the pool with other parents. Only 2 of the kids were mine. He proceeded to explain there was no "diving" allowed. I was confused since no one was "diving" into his pool. The rules are posted prominently with a helpful graphic of someone "diving" head first. I explained to him the difference between "diving" and kids jumping off of the edge of the pool feet first. He proceeded to argue with me until I told him I had enough and walked away to sit down. I went to the front desk where here was this gentleman explaining the situation to the clerks in front of other guests. He was unaware that I was standing behind him and was listening to the conversation. He was asking who was the manager on duty and that he had upset a guest. I raised my hand and made my presence known. He then proceeded to start the argument over. This upset me and I did get a bit indignant. One of the clerks became rude. I walked away, back to the pool. She followed me and in a rude manner, chastised everyone in the pool about following the rules, including the one they had just made up. The manager showed up. She didn't ask me what happened, just took the word of 2 rude employees. I asked her to show me in the posted rules where the children were not allowed to jump into the pool. She trotted out the "no diving" rule again. She said we had been told "nicely" to stop twice. The was nothing "nice" about it. She threatened to throw us out. I assume she meant all of the families since she had no idea which children were mine. The other families there were aghast at the behavior of the staff. I let her know I would not be returning. She said "That's fine". We got our things together and drove the half-mile home. Everything would have been fine if they had just avoided...