Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta — Hotel in Alpharetta

I have to start out by saying, Courtney King is amazing and we LOVED working with her. She is the only reason this review is getting more than one star. Everyone else we came in contact with was absolutely dreadful. We had our wedding block here for our guests and regretted it. My dad and I came in on Thursday morning, November 2nd, to drop the hotel bags that we were leaving in our guests' rooms. When we walked in we noticed there were renovations taking up the entire lobby bar. This wouldn't have been an issue if we had been informed, but walking into that chaos the day our guests were arriving made us really worried. One of the main reasons we chose this hotel was because we knew our guests would enjoy the bar. When we addressed it with the Manager, he honestly could not have cared less. I hate that I'm forgetting his name right now because we believe he deserves some accountability. We are not hard customers to please, but we felt like this was common sense... to inform the guests that the whole bar and lounge area was out of service. When we asked the manager about when it was going to be finished, he said "I dunno. But we have this area back here as a bar instead." (It was a back room with a fold out table as the bar). Listen, we understand that the progress of the renovations is not in this manager's control... but he could have been a little bit more apologetic about it! He treated us like it was "no big deal" and made us feel dumb for even asking about it. The people at the front desk were even worse. When they saw the interaction between my dad and the Manager, I glanced over and saw them pointing and laughing. It took all I had not to say something. Let me also say that my dad and I both have been in and out of the customer service industry for YEARS, so I don't want to appear like an entitled customer, but we know what quality customer service looks like, and this was not it. Finally, we got to talk to Courtney. She is a delight. She took us up to see what a room looked like and even made it happen to close the concierge lounge for all other guests except mine for the weekend. (The front desk did not allow that access to all our of cards, though... all of my guests had to go downstairs and get it added on which was embarrassing.) Courtney was the best person we came in contact with the entire process, so Courtney, if you're reading this, thank you for being the only reason we didn't pay out of our contract and go somewhere else. It is sad to say that our visit to the hotel was not my first interaction with poor service at this hotel. A few months before the wedding, I had booked two rooms for my bridesmaids for Friday night after the rehearsal dinner. When I called around August to check and see if I could request the rooms be close together (I understand now you have to wait until your reservation is closer, that was not my issue) the woman I talked to was so hateful and told me I only had one room booked, and when I told her I had the confirmation number and asked if she could look further into it, she said "I don't know what to tell you." !!!!!!! I finally hung up and called back in hopes to get someone else on the phone, which thankfully I did and she was able to solve the issue and confidently tell me I did indeed have two rooms booked. It was however with her that I did ask if I could go ahead and pay for the rooms, as I knew I would have a lot of expenses coming up as the wedding approached. She told me yes, and I went ahead and paid for both rooms. When me and my bridesmaids showed up on November 3rd to check in, I was informed that there was no payment on file for my rooms. Furious is an understatement. I had no choice but to pay for the rooms again, even after I showed her my bank statement where it had already come out of my account. I got no apologies for the miscommunication or ANYTHING. Let me also add, my dad is a rewards member at Marriott and never stays at any other hotel no matter where he goes, and he travels a lot. We just expected more and we didn't get it,...

We had really been looking forward to this stay and had a total of 14 rooms that have been booked. Here is a just a short list of the issues we had: My wife and I were told, multiple times, (and expecting) that we were being put in a corner king room. That is not the case. One of our rooms that had two of our key leaders in it, was not in good condition when they walked in. They walked into a room with bad odor and had food still sitting in the refrigerator. They then had to go back down to the front desk to get another room Most of our rooms were not close (that I’m aware of), which has made of difficult to make sure all our rooms with teens are ok. I did ask at the beginning of this contract for this to happen. Parking for our bus driver was very difficult and confusing. I was told there was an area that was coned off “to the right” of the front doors but that was not true. This made it difficult for our driver to maneuver through the lot with so many cars and people in the lot. I still haven’t heard any info on the skymiles I will get, from the skymiles number I have already provided in the signed contract My wife ordered food after not eating dinner, because we had just enough food for the whole group and we wanted them to eat before us…so we ordered food and never received it and also the front desk was blaming us for things that didn’t happened and used that as an excuse as to why we never received dinner Saturday night. This may not seem like much to some people, but for my wife to not eat for a while can cause major medical issues and isn’t good for the things she has to deal with. Also, the front staff at the desk, except the man who originally helped us when we got there, was not exactly what I know Marriott wants their employees to act like. We did have a conference room reserved and the room wasn’t set up like I had asked (and told it was going to be set up like that), it was across from another conference room with a big party that played loud music and had MANY kids who kept coming in our space and also being extremely loud. I asked for a receipt as we checked out and received terrible service/attitudes and was told they would not and could not provide me with one. 10 I had these reservations mad in advance & specifically asked for all 14 rooms (had MANY teens in our group) to be close to each other. I knew it may be hard to put them right next to each other, but we had rooms on 4...

The facility is located near highways in a suburban retail and office area with restaurants and other necessities located nearby. Sidewalks are adjacent to the multi-lane local streets to accommodate walks to those facilities. Free self parking is provided.

Check in was quick and although a "Thank you for your loyalty" was given, no room upgrade for my Titanium status was provided nor was the profile preference for a high floor honored. Late check out was not a problem and the agent offered the 4 PM time even though 1 PM was the request. Due to the holiday time, the property was not full even with the events hosted at the facility.

The room was standard Marriott, desk, chair, with mini fridge, 50" Samsung Enseo TV with complimentary Showtime and access to personal streaming services, on a low floor overlooking air conditioning units and kitchen exhaust fans. Parts of the hotel were being renovated and the room had yet to be refurbished, slight normal wear and prior repairs to items in the room were noted although there were no glaring issues or items in disrepair. Toiletries were dispensed with pumps in the shower. Bed comfort was OK and renovations should alleviate any issues others might find, but a blanket in the winter would be appreciated. The elevator lobby and ice machine were separated and away from sleeping rooms. The housekeeping default is every third day. The thermostat has an outside temperature display and a blanket request through the Bonvoy app was never acknowledged nor was a blanket dropped off.

The Concierge Lounge was not available as it was being used with two large group events during the stay. Both and indoor and outdoor (seasonal) pools and whirlpool are available on the first floor and an exercise room is also available. The pool area and hot tub were clean and ample towels and an adjacent shower were provided.

Staffing issues are nationwide and not the hotel's fault. The restaurant waiter did his best with a helper and a facility manager came in on Thanksgiving to help out. Breakfast food was good and always of proper serving temperature.

Overall, the property is recommended and one that warrants a return when in the area...