Austin Marriott South — Hotel in Austin

If you are considering this hotel for a meeting or event, I strongly encourage you to look elsewhere and let me tell you why.

I hosted our company's annual planning meeting here earlier this month. The planning and lead up to the event was smooth and their team, lead by Leslie, were very responsive and accommodating.

During the event, we elected to have the hotel provide lunch for our group of 14 attendees. Within an hour of lunch, I became violently ill. Nobody else was sick and we had been sharing food all week so by process of elimination, I confirmed with the rest of the attendees that I was the only person to eat one of the items offered for lunch. I will spare the details, but it was bad enough that I couldn't leave my hotel room for 2 days and had to miss the most important event of our year which I had organized and was supposed to be leading. It wasted nearly $100K in business costs between hotel/event costs, travel expenses, and the attendee's time.

All of that being said, I can understand that while unfortunate, these things happen. What was most frustrating with the experience was the response from the hotels management. I alerted the hotel immediately once I realized what made me sick. Their immediate response was "I spoke with the chef and cooks and there's no way that their food could've caused this." Ok...no investigation, no questions, just completely diverting responsibility. I then escalated it to their management team. The following week I heard from their General Manager, Tom, who asked me a few questions over the phone and told me "they were going to do an internal investigation and get back to me with what they could do." A day later, Tom reached out to me via saying "there is no finding linking your illness to the lunches you had here" and "we are unable to offer compensation in this case". It was a completely irresponsible, and quite frankly a negligible response, void of empathy, and utterly against Marriott's core values to act with integrity and to put people first. At the very least they could've not charged me for the meals that I couldn't eat while stuck in my hotel room for 2 days, or comp'd me for the $12 worth of Gatorade and advil that was brought to my room.

Sadly, it became clear immediately that the management of this hotel has no sympathy for its clientele, no willingness to make gestures in good faith, and takes no shred of responsibility for something that was so clearly caused by something they provided.

It goes without saying that my business will not spend another dollar at Marriott properties - not because of what happened, but because of how I was treated...

We were in town for a short visit for wife's birthday.... I chose Marriott over some of the others out there because the proximity to food and that decision was super awesome!!!

I couldn't go 5 stars because they messed up the pillows even after double triple checking via the phone and with front desk who verified on the walkie talkie that down pillows were not in our room.... Grrrrr someone needs education on how to pay attention to small details that can become a bigger deal. Luckily we travel with EpiPens because of the oversight. I reached out to Eric on the management side of things to explain the reason for visit... He and his team set up chocolate covered strawberries and champagne as we checked into our room and I got bonus points from the wife! She definitely felt special. Minus the pillows removal. I am very pleased with the decision. From the check in with a nice gentleman down front. We felt valued and the hospitality was super top notch! All team members should be commended!!!!

The maintenance crew was in our room to fix a leaking refrigerator and they were so polite and genuine! The cleaning crew was awesome they greeted us as we walked by and were very generous. The stay was peaceful and vibrant Every time we entered our room! The bathroom was legit...the shower had a luxurious feel... I will look to stay with them again if the price is right. We got a great special. (booked early) I feel that it was a great value! Thank you Marriott for the hospitality. They even had the M club lounge which we got to meet Javier whom made us feel about as VIP as one could do. His conversation was very pleasant and informative. We will have you on first check for the next stay when we return to the area. Respectfully,

A very pleased Bonvoy Member (minus the pillows again...if anyone READs these)

Bryan

Will...

Total rip off company taking advantage of people in an emergency situation. To start: In the confirmation email sent, I was given an address to a half demolished building. Stayed in that parking lot on hold for 20min trying to get the correct address. I went there and finally checked in with the front desk agent who was very nice and accommodating (might be the only saving grace in this whole experience). On the booking phone call, I specifically upgraded the room to include a microwave and fridge, arrived at the room only to find a super tiny mini fridge and no microwave. Next day I was charged $621 when my confirmation quoted $472 with taxes and all. At NO point during the booking process (booked over the phone with live agent), confirmation email or on the locations website, does it notify you of this mysterious "incidentals charge." I've never experienced this at any hotel I've ever stayed at. It supposedly gets refunded 5 days after check out but for someone who's not swimming in dough and is only here because of a winter storm, this was a huge inconvenience and put a toll on finances for this week. When I inquired about this, the hotel manager is extremely condescending and pulls up the "digital entry terms of use" page on the MARRIOTT website which no one ever goes to. They go straight to the website that they are booking with! With the weather worsening, I asked her how much it would be to extend the stay for another day or two upon availability and she was unwilling to adjust the rates at all for those extra days due to those being in "high demand."

Unaccommodating, conniving, and seriously overpriced. Save your benjamins and go to a Motel 6 for the same thing or even better. When booking a hotel in the future, I will eliminate "Marriott" from my search...