Aloft Austin Airport — Hotel in Austin

I have been a Bonvoy member since 1999, and stayed dozens of nights at several Aloft properties as a Gold Elite member. This is the worst one of them all: Upon check-in, the person at the desk seemed disoriented and disinterested: when I gave him my name, he picked up the phone and told me “I need to make this call, so you’re going to have to wait.” When I got to my floor, the hallways were the most run-down and shabby of any Aloft I’ve visited. Upon arriving in my room, there was a terrible smell of pollution and airport fumes which only worsened when I turned on the AC…eventually, I had to turn off the AC and ventilation just to keep from getting sick. The very large, modern TV (like I’ve encountered at other Aloft Hotels) has the usual welcome screen with apps for Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services. But when I attempted to connect to them, each app reported ‘No internet connection.’ When I called the front desk to ask for the TV connection to either be fixed or have me moved to a room with a connected TV, I was told that “none of the TVs have internet connection” and that “only the five broadcast channels work”. On my Bonvoy member profile, I have (for years) specifically requested foam pillows because of a mild allergy to feather or down pillows. In the room I was assigned, all the pillows on both Queen beds were feather/down pillows. While my allergy is mild, it does cause discomfort: the very least I ask from a hotel brand that I’ve given 25+ years of loyalty is to not make my stay needlessly uncomfortable.

Marriott seems to have forgotten why business travelers choose established hotel brands: like fast food restaurants, we expect our experience to be uniformly consistent no matter what city, state or country the Aloft (or other Marriott Bonvoy brand) is located.

Adding the other inconveniences—the pool is closed, despite other pools at adjacent hotels appearing visibly open; perhaps a third of the electrical outlets don’t work; there is no iron or ironing board, as I’ve found in every other Aloft I’ve stayed at—I have zero confidence that Marriott is interested in (or able to) project and protect the brands they promote. The reason why is pretty clear: Marriott franchises the majority of their properties, and clearly no longer enforces any minimum standards for their franchisees to ensure the Aloft (or other Marriott Bonvoy brands) deliver a consistent, predictable experience for the travelers who book rooms with these very realistic, very reasonable expectations from an established international hotel brand. Disappointing, to say the least. Perhaps my 25+ years of loyalty has been woefully misplaced. I would avoid this Aloft, especially given the wealth of other hotel options within minutes of...

The African American female manager that was on duty June 22, 2022 around 6:00pm attitude stunk! Let me briefly express my frustration. The first room I was given, the A/C was making a very loud noise. I reported it and the repair guy came to the room, the compressor was bad. I was switched to another room across the hall. As I got ready to pull the white bedding back, the WHITE comforter had "red lipstick" stains on the cover, I have pictures to prove it. This indicates either the comforter wasn't washed or half washed, either way, it was too noticeable for house cleaning to have not noticed the stain!

By this time I'm fierce because my experience has been tanked. But what added insult to injury was the "attitude" of the black female manager to a black female customer, me. Not one time did she apologize for the inconveniences, instead she asked "what do I want to do?" She asked, "do you want me to look for another room, or go to another hotel to stay?" Who says that to a paying cudtomer? It took everything within me to remain calm. Her whole aura was very defensive! Her eyes gave the impression she was very irritated that I was mentioning she has problems with her rooms, that she's the manager of. I usually DO NOT leave reviews about an experience good or bad, but to spend over $200 for one night room is nothing to overlook, plus the poor customer service of the African American Female Manager.

My reason for sharing this exposure is for that particular manager, as a professional, to realize you must serve ALL customers the same, not just a select view. If she had responded with just a little compassion, I would have overlooked the 2nd bad room and would have accepted the 3rd room, but instead she came from the back room knowing I was upset, because her employees went and told her, her immediate defensive posture was, "how can I help you?" She knew what was wrong...Her eyes said it all...

Oh yeah, and one of the elevators is broken. So the wait time to get to your room is long.

I realize things happen, but customer service is STILL key to a...

I was a first time guest in town to officiate a wedding. I'm a minister as well. I was looking forward to my stay. I was in room 357. I noticed the room didn't have an iron so I had one brought to the room. When it was time to shower, I noticed there was only one small towel to shower with so I went to the front desk to get more knowing I would need more. No problem. At approximately 10:30pm I pull the sheets back to get in bed and I see a bed bug crawling. I searched for more but only saw the one bed bug. So now, I throw everything back in my luggage go to the front desk and request another room due to the bed bug. I was moved to room 429 and given complimentary breakfast for the next two mornings I would be there. I was exhausted at this point mainly from traveling and being up late perfecting the wedding ceremony script. I slept great had breakfast and enjoyed my day. My final day before checking out, I went to the front desk to order breakfast like I did the day before and I was told the kitchen was closed because the cook (apparently there was only one cook) left early because she was sick. Ok, no problem. The manager asked if I would like cereal instead. I said okay cereal is fine just need milk. He went to the kitchen area and came back to tell me there was no milk. Whew...I couldn't believe it. Every day there was something wrong. I didn't complain. Everyone was nice and the manager offered to add 5K points to my Marriott Bonvoy rewards - not sure if this actually happened. At this point I was ready to go home. I stopped and had breakfast across the street at the Waffle House. In the past I have been loyal to the Embassy Suites but wanted to try Aloft. My recommendation is to proceed with caution and don't have high expectations. This could have been an isolated incident but it was a lot that went wrong during my...