Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port — Hotel in Dania Beach

Summary: Shuttle service from airport was useless and we ended up having to pay for our own cab. Restaurant staff are completely inept. Maintenance issues in our room. Would recommend looking elsewhere.

Details: We arrived at FLL, retrieved our bags, found the hotel shuttle bus area, and made a call to the hotel to request a shuttle. (Do this as soon as you have your bags because the shuttle takes a minimum of 15 minutes to get to the terminals). We (wife, two hungry and tired children, and myself) wait for about 35 minutes and no shuttle arrives. Call hotel a second time and are told that the driver is picking up people at first terminal and will be to us within 10 minutes. Shuttle arrives at our terminal 10 minutes later and the driver explains that the shuttle is full and that he'll have to drop off the group already in it and come back. When we ask how long that will take he tells us minimum of 20 to 25 minutes and acts as though we are crazy when we say we won't be hanging around to wait for his return.

We opt to catch a cab to the hotel on our own dime. Check in was fine, we were notified that the bistro was closing in 15 min. Having missed dinner due to flight delays we rushed over to get food. We were greeted by the most incompetent duo of restaurant staff I have encountered. While we were ordering (done at the bistro counter) the woman taking our order stopped talking to us no less than four times to do some other task, literally walking away from us to talk to the other person behind the bar or other customers. We found a table and waited for our food and drinks. We noticed other customers who had ordered after us had gotten their drinks almost immediately and when we returned to the counter to inquire about this we were rudely told, "yeah, she's making them now". Clearly, she wasn't, and clearly they'd forgotten to make them. Mind you the order was for four simple drinks.

Food was delivered to our table after some confusion. Still no drinks and now missing the peanut butter and jelly sandwich we'd ordered our youngest, we inquired as to its whereabouts. Deliverer of our food disappeared to "figure it out". In the meantime drinks were finally delivered five minutes later, including a glass of wine that was clearly not the wine that was ordered. We asked the woman who delivered it about the sandwich again. She left and returned with two small tubs of peanut butter and two two tubs of different jellies (what you'd see sitting on the table at Denny's, Cracker Barrel, etc.). We explained again that we'd ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for our daughter. At this point she explained that they only do that at breakfast. This was the first time anyone had said this to us. We asked her to please bring us two slices of bread so we could feed our child. She returned with bread and we made her the sandwich ourselves.

Finally finished with trying to get food we made it to our rooms to collapse. My wife promptly discovered the floor beneath the air-conditioner was soaked, presumably due to a clogged condensate drain. We also found the toilet was a supper classy jiggle the handle style of flush mechanism.

In the morning, we were greeted by the same two incompetent workers at the bistro. Again, we were repeatedly interrupted during our attempt to order as they tried to figure out again what was happening. My daughter wanted a bagel but she only wanted it warmed, not toasted. The dynamic duo was completely baffled by this request and one of the explained that it would be warm if it was toasted. When we said again no we don't want it toasted just lightly warmed we thought we'd made inroads. The bagel was delivered toasted.

I can understand any one of the issues I noted happening. This hotel is crazy busy and I know that things happen; however, all of these together seem to indicate a larger problem with the operation. I would never stay here again and I'd advise others to proceed...

We stayed here for two nights. First night I wanted to take a bath and I filled the tub and they were black hairs in the water as the tub was feeling. I was so grossed out I did not even get in the tub. I made my husband rinse it out because I was disgusted. After a long day of traveling I don’t expect to have to clean in a hotel. The next morning I got up and a cockroach was crawling out of the drain in the sink. I took a picture of him and then I flushed him. I went to the front desk where I was offered free dinner for my husband and myself and a glass of wine that evening. I went back up to my room. And then housekeeping came in and she cleaned the shower and the bathtub. And a few moments later the maintenance manager came in and he apologized and was so kind that I almost felt guilty for complaining. He sprayed something down the drain and gave me instructions not to use the sink for at least 30 minutes which I had no problem with. A few hours later my husband came back from his appointment and We were celebrating my husband‘s position at a new place of employment and we were going to have dessert. The menu at the hotel states that they have a molten lava chocolate cake they serve it with vanilla ice cream. Sounded delicious so we would both have one. The server told us “we hardly ever sell that I’m sure we have some in the back” After a few minutes she returned and said that they don’t have any cake and she apologized. So my husband said well, we would just like to have the ice cream then. She said we don’t have ice cream here. He said but it shows on the menu that this cake is serve with ice cream. She said they have ice cream bars over at the front desk that you can purchase. We told her we would just take the glass of wine and I was disgusted at that point and very disappointed. I decide after a few minutes she returned and said that they don’t have any cake and she apologized. So my husband said well, we would just like to have ice cream then. She said we don’t have ice cream here. He said but it shows on the menu that this cake is served with ice cream. She said they have ice cream bars over at the front desk that you can purchase. We told her we would just take the glass of wine and I was disgusted at that point and very disappointed. I Saw the manager that had offered us the free dinner earlier in the day. I was too angry to talk about it at the moment so I did not bring up the situation with the restaurant. We bought a Kit-.Kat from the front desk and went to Our room.Got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night I washed my hands in the sink and there was an aunt that was quite large crawling in the sink and I was set up. Upon check out this morning I asked to speak with the manager on duty. A gentleman came up to me and I told him everything that happened and he offered me one night that he would comp us. Then he looked at the account and said he could not refund us because we paid through a third-party online and he had no way of refunding. But he would send us a check in the mail so in good faith we left our address. I am very disgusted and disappointed because it caused way too much frustration - So much for a weekend getaway. Don’t give me wrong, the staff was very kind and everybody that I’ve discussed the situation with says I am way too nice and they would have packed their bags and left. Even some of the staff members were completely ashamed of how the situation was handled and they were very apologetic. So, make sure that you keep all your stuff in plastic bags and take...

As advocates of Marriott we booked this hotel to ‘stay, park, & cruise’ as advertised as an option with this hotel. When we arrived we were advised to pay $5 a day for a 7+ night cruise. The shuttle was booked, but they told us to Uber. Assuring us our vehicle would be safe, we gladly accepted. The staff handed us the paper to put in our car window to confirm authorization to park for the week. The paper included our dates of parking. We chose a side parking spot near a door with visible cameras. We took an Uber to the port and as planned returned 8 days later. Once the cruise ended, we took an Uber back to the hotel. We discovered our vehicle was no longer in the original spot. We notified the front desk and were informed it was probably stolen. They had no records or accountability of our vehicle. The cameras on site do not face the parking lot and only view the building doors. Marriott offered NO help, and would not even review the cameras in attempt maybe something was captured. The window decal they required us to place in the vehicle made us a prime suspect. Staff provides NO supervision of the parking lot and this gave us zero indication of when the vehicle was stolen. The vehicle was a Ford F250, and should have been easily noticeable for daily maintenance of the parking lot. We contacted the police ourselves and had to take a shuttle to the airport in search for a rental vehicle to travel back to our 4 hour away residence. The Marriott brand meant the world to us, and we were loyal bonvoy members. The treatment we received was NOT within the Marriott promise and brand. The lack of supervision of vehicles was negligent and irresponsible. The required paper in our window made us a prime suspect and bait for auto theft. The theft was clearly caused due to Marriotts negligence and unprofessional irresponsible advertising of stay and park. The vehicle was on the property, near a door, and no safety was conducted to ensure our property would have been protected on Marriott’s property. DO NOT STAY HERE & NEVER LEAVE TOUR VEHICLE!! You will be a target for...