Boulder Marriott — Hotel in Boulder

I would not stay again for a few reasons. The bathroom door is a sliding barn door that has frosted glass. The main door to the room also opens to see directly into the bathroom, so if you're sitting on the toilet or in the shower, you can see into the hallway as the door is opened. Since it is a barn door, it does not shut properly, so it doesn't contain sounds, steam, or much else. The frosted glass doesn't conceal much in my opinion, plus the cracks in the door are large enough to see clearly through. There is no locking mechanism on the bathroom door either. If you aren't staying with someone you're very comfortable with, I would not recommend this hotel simply based on the bathroom door. There is no free breakfast like at many other local hotels. There is a great diner across the street named Le Peep that was very good and inexpensive. The hotel does have breakfast you can buy, but it is extremely overpriced. Parking is $25 underneath the hotel in the parking garage, but it is cramped and the entry is extremely steep, so don't plan to park there if you have an oversized car. Exiting the parking garage is somewhat dangerous because you can't see anything as you exit due to the slope. You need your room key to get out of the garage, so you must remember to check out AFTER you exit the garage. During our stay, the garage gate was broken and wouldn't let people exit, and the next day it was broken again, but they had it down so we had to exit through the entry. I was charged $25 more than expected for the stay since I didn't know parking was not free. I booked a room at $224.25 for one night (this is the amount on my original receipt) and my bill on my credit card two days later said $249.25. I was never notified of the parking fee so I did contact Marriott to refund the fee. They said they are not obligated to refund the fee, even though I was never told, it is not posted in the lobby as far as I can see, it was not on my reservation, and it was not in the email I received from them. The room itself (other than the bathroom door) was nice and clean. It seemed updated and modern. The bed was comfortable. The water pressure in the shower wasn't very good but they did make an attempt to have a foot rest for women shaving their legs by adding a small bar in the corner of the shower. The shower was a sliding door, not a curtain, and was not a bathtub so it was easy...

The first night we checked in to the hotel, we were so impressed by the amenities and decor that we cancelled our reservation at a different hotel the next night and extended our stay. We called early and received a confirmation number that our stay had been extended a second night.

The next day, we were out hiking in the mountains when we missed a call saying the hotel was "confused" why our stuff was still in the room when housekeepng went to check it. The voicemail stated we "should have checked out."

We called back immediately, only to be left on hold for 10 minutes. When we finally reached a human being, she said we had to speak to the front desk, and we were back on hold for another 5 minutes. I understand that 15 minutes doesn't sound long but it felt like a huge inconvenience when we were out on a hike, worried that we were going to lose our room. When another person finally picked up the phone, we explained the situation and the line was silent. No words. The line was still active, no one had hung up, yet no one replied. Frustrated and confused, we quickly ended our hike and adventure, turned around, and came back to the hotel as quickly as possible.

We come back to the hotel and the front desk assures use everything is fine, they just didn't have our reservation at the desk. We didn't get that, because we showed them the email with our new reservation, but we assumed everything was fine.

Fast forward two hours later, we return to our actual hotel room around 4pm. We open our door to find a housekeeper in our room. Another woman, I believe a supervisor, quickly came to our door and accusingly said "did you check with the front desk that you have this room?"

We said yes, we did. Not wanting any more fuss and not wanting to wait for the housekeeper, we explained we didn't need any services. She said okay and went to leave, but then quickly turned around and came back to unplug her phone from my charger on the bedside table.

I'm very frustrated because, the first night, this was the best Marriott I've ever stayed in. The facilities and rooms are beautiful and the prices are fair. However, every encounter I had with an employee here was sub par at best. Coming from the hospitality industry, I really expected better of this hotel chain. The last day of our vacation was burdened with stress about our room and then a rude welcome back...

Construction: This hotel has it on TWO sides! Two car alarms before 7. Hammers, drilling, pounding starting before 8 for the rest of the morning. I very intentionally came here to get work done. Glad I brought headphones! From the looks of it, this will be going on for most of 2017.

Busted: This sets up the frustration I had on check-in. I've worked hard to get to Gold Elite. I wanted to enjoy the benefits. I did the "Gold Challenge" and TWICE....twice by 2 different people....was told that you have to do 6 nights within 3 months and you reach Gold. Then, after completing night #6 and not seeing my status change, "oh, no. It's 6 STAYS. Not 6 nights." I pitched a fit to supervisors, explained the mis-communication twice and got a compromise. They converted me to Gold but only for 2017. I still needed 2 more stays to retain Gold thru 2018.

For this stay, I chose the Boulder Marriott over other nearby options because it had boo-coos of availability online for upgrade rooms. I mean, at least one of everything. Figured, easy upgrade, right? Wrong. (Here we go again!)

On check-in the bubbly afternoon desk attendant gladly chatted on and on with the guy in front of me about absolutely nothing. Gave him an upgrade and a bottle of water.

My turn. "Oh, sorry, sir. We don't have any upgrades..." Blah, blah blah. So, back out to the car and on the phone again. First guy was worthless. Asked to elevate to a supervisor. She was a get-it-done kind of gal. Called the hotel...again. Yes, they did have an upgrade room. I was to go back and exchange keys. Time: 30 minutes.

It's a bit awkward going back to someone who just lied to you, but doesn't it seem these days that people will just say anything - with no conscious whether it's true. Not sure when that permeated our culture, but I don't remember it in decades past. Did she apologize? Heck no. Busted!

Regarding amenities, it's a nice hotel. Been there a while, but has large conference area, nice lobby, with restaurant/bar area, great lounge with a nice work table with plugs, good Marriott-quality food, nicely appointed room. There were carpet tears along seams & a few stains. Furnishings were a bland. Shower head was awesome. It's a mile to the Pearl Mall. Walked it for 10,000 steps. Good walk.

Parking is $16 and Internet is NOT free unless you're Gold or Platinum....