Renaissance Allentown Hotel — Hotel in Allentown

I chose this hotel because I took my mom to the Journey concert at PPL Center on 2/4. I made my reservation for a king suite in NOVEMBER and requested an early check-in, but we didn’t actually arrive until 3:45pm (check-in is 4pm). I had used the Marriott app to virtually check-in, but never received my key, so we made our way to the front desk. We were told our room was not ready yet, but told us it should only be 15-20 minutes. I understand that the “early check-in” was just a request, and not guaranteed. After 30 minutes, I asked again. I was told our room wasn’t ready. I asked when it would be ready, since they told me it would only be 15-20 mins and that was over 30 minutes prior. He gave me a generic response of “housekeeping is working as fast as they can.”

AFTER 5pm – OVER AN HOUR after standard check-in and almost an HOUR AND A HALF of waiting in the lobby – I AGAIN went to the front desk, where I was ignored. Wouldn’t even look at me, despite me standing there for 10 minutes. I saw a man in a suit with a nametag , so I approached him and asked if he was a manager. I explained we were waiting over an hour for our room and he went to check for us. He came back and said the room wasn’t ready but they are working on it. At this point, I had to cancel our dinner reservations (they were at 5:30 and we still had to shower and get ready). We FINALLY were assigned our room at 5:18pm – and the front desk employee apologized for our wait by comping us the breakfast the next day. If I was an hour and a half late checking out, I would be charged. Why was I not offered a partial refund?

When we got to our room where there were smudges all over the window, and a personal item from the prior guest left in one of the chairs at the table. It clearly was not thoroughly cleaned. When we attempted to check-in at 3:45, someone at the front desk SHOULD have contacted housekeeping to let them know that a suite needed to be cleaned ASAP as there were customers waiting. Why isn’t this a standard practice?

Since this caused us to miss our dinner reservations, we had no other option but to get dinner from the in-house restaurant. I used the Marriot app to order food for pickup. It gave me the option to pick up “ASAP – 30 minutes” so I headed to there 30 mins later to pick up our dinner. The hostess looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that I placed an order on the app. She told me they disabled online ordering so they didn’t get the order. Why was I able to place an order via the app if this was the case? She also said, very rudely, that she could take my order now but it would be “at LEAST” an hour to get our food. We weren’t able to have dinner before the concert.

The next morning, we ventured to get our comped breakfast. The host seemed annoyed that we needed a table, because there weren’t any clean ones (despite it being slow) and he had to clean one himself. When we followed him to our table, a waitress (blonde hair) stopped him and started complaining (while we were standing there waiting to sit down). When they finished their conversation, they both walked away. We were not told “you can make a plate now” or who our server was or anything. We waited a few moments, and no one came over, so we just went to the buffet. I am so happy it was comped because the normal price was $22/each and it was terrible - nothing worth the cost. We had to ask for coffee, and THEN had to ask for sugar and creamer. It was the worst coffee we’ve ever had. There were also no drinks. Why have a breakfast buffet and not have coffee and juices out for customers to help themselves? The waitress that was complaining to the host kept arguing with another waitress, and the host was arguing with the chef. It was so uncomfortable.

We decided to make coffee in the room, but there was only one cup, and expired creamer.

After paying almost $500 for a room for ONE night, you are also expected to pay for...

Beware before you stay or attend an event at the Renaissance. Recently I attended a trade show and utilized their valet service. Upon receiving my car 5 hours later I discovered money missing from my center counsel. I reported this to the hotel manager on duty who then had to call his boss. I told them I would be returning the next day for the final day of my trade show and they said they would review cameras and get back to me. First I had to seek them out for an answer and secondly they said all I could do is file a police report while in the next breath lectured me on how well they know their valet employees. What burns me up the most is #1 someone rifled through my belongings #2 every interaction I had with Valet I tipped #3 managements underwhelming concern about the matter. In my experience if things go missing at the valet things go missing in the room as well. If you must attend their venue make sure all personal belongings are accounted for at all times however I would encourage all to stay away until they correct their issues.

Update 4-15-18

As you can see below the hotel management refuses to take ownership for their sub-contractors actions. Additionally when I spoke with the manager, or one of the managers, she informed me she is an employee of both the hotel and the parking company. Very surprised of how this situation is being handled, hotel must be failing...Sad.

Update 4-17-18

Still no further communication with the hotel or the valet company. Leads me to believe poor management, stay away from this hotel at all costs!

Update 4-21-18

The hotel management company still refuses to communicate with me directly in terms of reimbursing the money that was stolen under their watch. They continue to say “our third party parking vendor”. However you would not clearly know it’s a third party upon using their services. Very poorly managed hotel, extremely embarrassing public relations.... SAD!

4-27-18

Quick update hotel management refuses to correspond with me about this and will not take responsibility for THEIR sub contractors actions. Signs of a failing hotel.... SAD!

5-6-18

Hotel management still has yet to reach out to me directly. This is a poorly run organization who has little concern over public relations. Avoid doing business with me at all costs!

5-18-18

Their director of sales and marketing called me today to ask why I kept posting on here and Facebook. I explained to him my discontent regarding that no one from any of the responsible parties has contacted me. He assured me I would be contacted before the end of business today which did not happen. I called them at 4:55 and the on staff manager said “well he must’ve just forgot”. This is the type of follow through this company is known for, must be failing....SAD!

5-25-18

Management continues to ignore the problem. In fact they have now had their valet manager call me and accuse me of lying. I can’t stress enough that this is a systemic problem within this organization. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!

6-2-18

Still no dialogue with any of the management of this “business”. Other than the call from their valet manager who tried to bully me into taking down my review. Again stay away at all costs, they must be failing.... SAD!

6-20-19

Still no word back from the management, I recently stayed at another Marriott brand hotel the past weekend and had a pleasant stay and nothing stolen from my personal possessions, must be a problem at only this location. SAD!

7-3-19

Still no word from anyone at the hotel or Marriott in general. Hilton is a far superior brand and has my business for life, I’m sure this Marriott property is failing.... SAD!

5-1-22

Do you think after almost 3 years anyone from this organization has made any attempt to right this wrong, to date NO….. SAD!

10/25/2022

Place is still an organization lacking...

When the night shift front desk employee questions your federal employee status because they never heard of the Federal Government Agency on your PIV card is an insult…

The conversation started at check-in when I handed her my federal employee PIV card and form of payment. This step is standard when booking a federal employee room, state government room, or military personnel/ dependent room.

After looking at my PIV card she asked me what was the name of my agency. I told her it was the name on the card. She proceeded to tell me that in the future Marriott will only allow certain federal agencies to use the federal government employee rooms. And only federal agencies listed on a piece of paper she had and military would be allowed to book the federal government employee rooms.

After her comment, I told her that I find it hard to believe Marriott affiliated hotels will discriminate on which federal agencies can book the federal employee rooms and which ones can’t. I even asked her if the piece of paper she had listed my agency on it and if not, could she show me the ones listed.

After many years of staying at this hotel and other Marriott locations around the country she is the first person to ever have an issue with my federal employee reservation, the name of the federal government agency I work for, and question my federal employment affiliation.

As a federal government employee, I should not be discriminated this way because the agency I work for doesn’t have a popular name like the DOD or IRS. There are over 430 U.S government agencies and departments combined.

After I told her my feelings towards her questioning my federal government employment affiliation; I indicated where on my PIV card she could see I was a U.S. Government employee not a contractor. I even broke down and showed her my health insurance card where it also shows I’m a federal government employee to show her proof.

After all the years I’ve stayed at Marriott hotels and at this particular Renaissance location I’ve never been approached with this type of business.

During our conversation she also told me that she just wanted to inform me about the federal government employee rooms and next time I might not be able to pay the federal government employee price and pay a higher rate if her manger was to check me in.

I then tell her I’m not a “contractor” and the agency I work for is a REAL federal government agency and that I am a federal employee who is on a GS salary and should not be discriminated against.

I ended the conversation explaining to her the difference between a federal contractor PIV card and a federal employee PIV card. Federal contractor PIV cards have a Green Strip on it and the affiliation says “contractor”. Federal employee PIV cards do not have a green strip and the affiliation says “employee”.

She then tells me that she wasn’t sure about the differences of the card colors and that she is still learning.

I personally believe that since her feelings are so strong about who qualifies for a federal government employee room that she should be able to tell the difference between the government identification cards.

The Marriott app has a booking option for federal employees (traveling on official business), State Government, and military personnel and dependents. It does not say only certain federal agencies are allowed to book federal employee rooms.

Her comments left a negative impression about how I feel about this location. The front desk employee apologized for making me feel uncomfortable but it’s...