TownePlace Suites by Marriott Austin Northwest/The Domain Area — Hotel in Austin

I stay solely at various levels of cost and luxury at Marriott and Hyatt hotels and suites. I am very familiar with the Marriott brand and style. I am also not picky and really only require a clean place with a decent air conditioner. This hotel, whatever this hotel is, is so far below sub-par that Marriott should be ashamed to have its name attached. I filed a formal complaint more than 48 hours ago, and no one has contacted me to follow up. I paid $218 at a corporate rate for a one-night stay, and I was in and out in less than 15 hours. It was a nightmare. ||||First off, location. This hotel is in the middle of nothing. To get to the parking lot, you drive down residential or industrial neighborhoods, past loading docks, and past some weird factory strip mall. It all feels exquisitely unsafe. When you get to the parking lot, there is no indication as to how to get to the lobby. It is behind the unmarked glass door under covered parking. ||||Second, overall disrepair. This is a NEW hotel and was only built 1-2 years ago. I was in a room on the 5th floor, overlooking the parking lot, strip mall, and dumpsters. The whole 5th floor hallway was hot and damp, like a tropical rain forest (in February). The elevator was broken. An exit sign on the 4th floor was hanging by its wires. The grout in the shower was crumbling. The box built into the ceiling to hold the curtains was ominously cracked throughout the entire seal. There were random paint splotches on the wall, which may have just been filth. There is a huge 6 foot gouge out of the wall in front of the elevators on the 4th floor. ||||Third, general necessities. There was no ice bucket. There is a sign pointing to an ice machine on the 5th floor. There is no ice machine on the 5th floor. Don’t follow the sign. Take the (broken) elevator to the 4th floor. It has an ice machine. The toilet paper, which I really never complain about because, well, low expectations. But, whatever this TP was was unusable. It dissolved immediately upon contact with moisture.||||Fourth: cleanliness. There is none. This hotel was filthy. There was a bug on the wall next to the toilet and a long brown hair on the sink that wasn’t mine. There was makeup(!) on the pillowcase(!) and on one “clean” washcloth. There was sticky stuff on the table. The bed skirt looked as though it had (barely) survived a flood. There was a short, curly hair on the wall behind the toilet. Use your imagination as to the genesis of said hair. Be prepared for weird smells and animals, which is not unusual for a hotel with a kitchenette, but just be forewarned. ||||Fifth: responsibility. I was sick when I checked in. I’m getting over pneumonia. I didn’t want to argue or have to switch rooms or any of that nonsense. I assumed, given the state of the common areas, that any room I moved to would be equally terrible. No one asked me how my stay was. I was in a hurry, and they didn’t ask, so I left and filed an online complaint so I wouldn’t miss anything. In my extreme rush to get the heck out of there, I left behind my $45 prescription acne face wash. I didn’t realize it until the next morning, when I was back safely at home. No one called me to tell me I’d left something behind when or if they cleaned the room and when I was still in Austin and could have retrieved it. I called, and housekeeping indicated they had it. To receive it, I had to give my credit card number to pay for shipping. ||||Just. Don’t. Don’t be dumb like me and try to save a buck by staying far from downtown. I’m not sure all of my photos will load. Just. Trust me...

I stay solely at various levels of cost and luxury at Marriott and Hyatt hotels and suites. I am very familiar with the Marriott brand and style. I am also not picky and really only require a clean place with a decent air conditioner. This hotel, whatever this hotel is, is so far below sub-par that Marriott should be ashamed to have its name attached. I filed a formal complaint more than 48 hours ago, and no one has contacted me to follow up. I paid $218 at a corporate rate for a one-night stay, and I was in and out in less than 15 hours. It was a nightmare. ||||First off, location. This hotel is in the middle of nothing. To get to the parking lot, you drive down residential or industrial neighborhoods, past loading docks, and past some weird factory strip mall. It all feels exquisitely unsafe. When you get to the parking lot, there is no indication as to how to get to the lobby. It is behind the unmarked glass door under covered parking. ||||Second, overall disrepair. This is a NEW hotel and was only built 1-2 years ago. I was in a room on the 5th floor, overlooking the parking lot, strip mall, and dumpsters. The whole 5th floor hallway was hot and damp, like a tropical rain forest (in February). The elevator was broken. An exit sign on the 4th floor was hanging by its wires. The grout in the shower was crumbling. The box built into the ceiling to hold the curtains was ominously cracked throughout the entire seal. There were random paint splotches on the wall, which may have just been filth. There is a huge 6 foot gouge out of the wall in front of the elevators on the 4th floor. ||||Third, general necessities. There was no ice bucket. There is a sign pointing to an ice machine on the 5th floor. There is no ice machine on the 5th floor. Don’t follow the sign. Take the (broken) elevator to the 4th floor. It has an ice machine. The toilet paper, which I really never complain about because, well, low expectations. But, whatever this TP was was unusable. It dissolved immediately upon contact with moisture.||||Fourth: cleanliness. There is none. This hotel was filthy. There was a bug on the wall next to the toilet and a long brown hair on the sink that wasn’t mine. There was makeup(!) on the pillowcase(!) and on one “clean” washcloth. There was sticky stuff on the table. The bed skirt looked as though it had (barely) survived a flood. There was a short, curly hair on the wall behind the toilet. Use your imagination as to the genesis of said hair. Be prepared for weird smells and animals, which is not unusual for a hotel with a kitchenette, but just be forewarned. ||||Fifth: responsibility. I was sick when I checked in. I’m getting over pneumonia. I didn’t want to argue or have to switch rooms or any of that nonsense. I assumed, given the state of the common areas, that any room I moved to would be equally terrible. No one asked me how my stay was. I was in a hurry, and they didn’t ask, so I left and filed an online complaint so I wouldn’t miss anything. In my extreme rush to get the heck out of there, I left behind my $45 prescription acne face wash. I didn’t realize it until the next morning, when I was back safely at home. No one called me to tell me I’d left something behind when or if they cleaned the room and when I was still in Austin and could have retrieved it. I called, and housekeeping indicated they had it. To receive it, I had to give my credit card number to pay for shipping. ||||Just. Don’t. Don’t be dumb like me and try to save a buck by staying far from downtown. I’m not sure all of my photos will load. Just. Trust me...

I have spent a total of 23 days staying at this hotel, over the last 2 months. The hotel is brand new, the location is excellent and the rooms are fabulous! HOWEVER, I will not be staying here again and neither will anyone from my business.

I booked a room this week via priceline and checked in yesterday. Upon check in to my prepaid room, I gave my personal card for the "incidental" payment and as soon as I pulled my card, their system crashed. When I checked my banking app on my phone I had a $130 charge instead of the agreed upon $20. I let the girl know that was working the front desk and she said the night auditor would fix it. So this morning I called the front desk and the person working said she would talk to the manager when he came in at 3pm but that I was good to go on my renewal of the room. I left for work shortly after. I get a call today at 4pm from my friend stating she can't get into the room and that I need to come give a cc for incidentals. So since I'm at work 89 miles away, I call the hotel. Several times it just rang and rang. I told my friend to go back inside the hotel and tell whoever is at the desk, I'm trying to call. She tells me ok, they're going to answer now. Weird customer service when that's what your business is based on. Ok so I call and a man by the name of Austin answers. Austin proceeds to tell me with a serious attitude, that I need to bring a card to him. I explain what happened yesterday and he rudely tells me yeah well that was yesterday and he needs a card today. I asked to speak to his manager and he laughed then proceeded to tell me he is "The director of operations" followed by another chuckle. As if this was supposed to influence me in some fashion? Austin then says I can do a cc authorization form thru email, once I told him I'm 89 miles away. My poor friend was stuck in the lobby all because nobody was competent enough to look at the computer and see that I was a carryover from the night before nor did they one time pickup the phone and call me. Needless to say, between the $130 they charged me yesterday, and the operations managers arrogant rude attitude, I will NOT be staying here again. I will be telling every business owner I know about this incident, writing reviews everywhere I can and I am writing Marriott Corporate offices. I suggest if you cant be nice to people, you look for work somewhere else, not in the...