Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Carlsbad — Hotel in Carlsbad

Edit: The GM emailed me and apologized. He took care of us and I'm grateful for the gestue and the apology. The individual who we met at check-in quit shortly after the event.

Let me start by saying my guests were unable to stay at the hotel because my reservations were never entered into their system. This is not a review on their property or the rest of their staff. This is a review of their GM and their evening customer service representative, Ariel.

We arrived at 10:45 pm awaiting a clean shower and dinner before calling it a night after enjoying a beautiful day in Ocean Beach fishing. I was shocked as my family told me there were no reservations. I had booked them earlier in the day. I went to discuss the issue with the front desk agent and he simply responded with, "We don't have any reservations." I showed him the reservation confirmations from Priceline. He simply reiterated the same thing with a pompous and unhelpful attitude.

As a previous AVP and GM in the hospitality industry (actually one in North County), I have personally seen the reservation issue happen. When an error happens with the reservation system, you are sent a fax and an email to ensure the reservation is entered. I expected something more than "We don't have any reservations." simply because I was a GM in a nearby hotel. We had relationships with all of the hotels in the area and would walk guests if this ever occurred. As a previous hospitality student who went to Cal Poly Pomona, Marriott is defined as a keystone of hospitality in the industry. I've had professors who worked their as VPs and guests from their highest levels come in and reiterate one thing, "The customer is king." However, I have never had the interaction I had with Ariel. I expect more from customer service in the industry. His smug face, his cold body language, and so much more. I have never been treated in such a manner.

I always prepared my staff for events like this. You find out the issue and you leave the customer with a solution. I was unable to get my family rooms until 1 am on Sunday morning. I expected so much more from Marriott. I will be in touch with their customer service. I will be in touch with the GM. I will want this event to change how their employees are trained. I am agreeing that these events happen. I've seen them. The outcome that we were provided was just beyond anything else I have ever seen. I'm ashamed for you and Ariel should be reprimanded for his attitude. A property's staff is usually a direct representation of their GM. I wouldn't allow my staff to treat...

If you have status with Marriott or don’t want to suffer through apathetic service with parking fees for a hotel in a bad location in the middle of an empty industrial park you want to give this Courtyard a big miss and don’t stay here. They don’t inform you in advance that they charge $15 a day for parking and when you call them out on it they say “read the fine print”. They also have reserved parking for Platinum Members (see picture attached) but nothing for Titanium or Ambassador both of which are higher tiers - also with no logical explanation. The way you do small things says a lot about the big things. Given how often I stay at Marriott Hotels this one in particular stands out for poor service and no clue on service recovery - and I have status so I can’t imagine how they treat other guests. Do yourself a favor and book at the Fairfield Inn 2 mins away on Palomar Airport Hwy. The service is great, they waive parking fees, have friendly management and team that are helpful and friendly, and a generous breakfast is included - all at a very similar room rates to the Courtyard which has no breakfast included. The rooms at Fairfield are also cleaner and better maintained - my room at Courtyard had an odd smell and my toilet flusher was in disrepair. I rarely write reviews but I think people need to know that rather than accept responsibility for the parking situation the Courtyard Team preferred to have me move even though I was going to extend my stay and the manager didn’t seem to care at all even after Marriott Customer service called them. Someone needs to train their management team on what the legendary service ethos of Marriott truly is because these guys didn’t get the memo. Won’t be returning and spoke to Marriott and they were kind enough to credit me points because even after customer service called the hotel a second time on my behalf the manager refused to be helpful which seems like a common theme in their online reviews. Marriott is the best hotel company in the world and thats why I am so loyal and stay hundreds of nights every year - someone from corporate needs to look into this property and straighten things out. Looks like I’m not alone with multiple reviews complaining about the management. You can even read the hotel’s responses to the other 1 Star reviews with complaints and see how they try to paint them as isolated incidents - laughable. Time to figure out why guests aren’t a priority with the management at...

Definitely, this hotel is for fast business trips, not fun trips place to stay. Most come to stay and leave the next day it seemed. Parking lot will be full in the evenings, and empty in the mornings. Friendly service people, however short staff. The hotel is a bit outdated but reasonably clean and does not smell funny like some places that clean with dirty water. Check in time is 4 PM (So, if I landed at 6 am or 9 am or 11 am. I have to be out in the cold for all that time until I could check in? How convenient! eh..) and check out time is 10:30 am (oh boy!, next they will tell you get up and leave at 9 am!, this is madness). You must ask for maid service if you stay less than 7 days. There is no breakfast included. There is a bistro across from check in area, with starbuck coffee and some breakfast items you could order and pay for. Elevator location is all the way down the hall so look up for a very tiny obscure sign. There is a laundry room if you want to wash clothes, I don't know how much it costs to do a load. The mini fridge is very very small (hence the name mini) there are other hotels that give you the bigger sized fridges. The fridge temp is automatic, so you cannot turn it up or down. Overall, do not expect to keep cold beer, expect colder than room temp kind of beer or water. Our room did not have a microwave, so we asked for one, they did provide one that is sort of unstable, one of the stands was missing so I put a piece of paper to stabilize it. There is no hairdryer, but you can iron your clothes, FYI. Space wise, it is tight, cluttered is the word. I kicked the sofa twice trying to get to my side of bed. There is only one small trash can under the sink next to bathroom. So, I used a shopping bag as my trash receptor under the desk. There are plenty of outlet to charge you phone or puters. This location is off Palomar Airport Road, a very busy fast street. It is about 10-15 min to the beach depending on the traffic and traffic lights (lots and lots of lights). I would not stay here next time though, It is not a place where you come here and hang out. You just sleep and go, and stay out as long as you can, then back to sleep. TV channels are limited to basic, although you get ShowTIme, TNT, USA, History, and the major channels, etc. If you want a nice place to stay as vacation for you and loved ones, it would be better to go for things like...