Aloft Miami Doral — Hotel in Doral

Since 2021, I have accumulated a total of over 200 nights with ACCOR. As I have a banking relationship with Chase, a pre-approval for a co-branded card prompted me to apply recently, By virtue of the card benefits, I now hold Silver status with Bonvoy and could not be happier. Miami has experienced a year of greater-than-average rainfall. My roof could no longer take it, and it collapsed last night. The timing could not have been worse, as I had literally just flown in from New Olreans, and was exhausted from checking out, getting to the airport, through security, and all of the related requirements of travel.

At this point, I began to consider Marriott as a means by which to rely upon, in times of need. After heading to the app, I was unable to book travel for that night, as it was too late. attempting to call the hotel, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system would not recognize entry of any of the prompt options. Being an avid traveler, I had to consider the option of booking the following night, arriving at the hotel, as asking for the reservation to be moved up.

As I have cataracts, I cannot drive, and frequently use rideshare options. Hailing one, at 4:00 AM, was no easy task, with streets so flooded that cars were being swept away. Finally, I was able to do so, and arrived at the front desk of the ALOFT Miami Doral. Malcolm/Marcus was at the front desk and had an incredibly professional demeanor. Whatever challenges in staffing may be present, he took ownership of his position and compensated for any failings in the system.

He advised that the reservation could not be moved up, but was able to accommodate me with an incredibly early check-in. Please understand that, at this point, I had been up for over 18 hours. The room he provided was absolutely beautiful. It is my first stay at an ALOFT and it certainly will not be my last. It has been the silver lining, on a tumultuous chain of events. For his time, attention, and professionalism, I could not be more grateful.

The franchise model of hotel chains, prompts commission of consideration, by many guests, of the individual challenges that exist in a global organization, Needs and expectations are counterbalanced by regional custom and availability. The reality is that Malcolm/Marcus has been a true Ambassador for the Marriott family of brands. In Miami, we are home to a large community of Venezuelans. Disproportionately, they represent the elite members of a nation that was nipping at the heels of being an industrialized country. Socialism has torn the nation at its seams and is today a shell of what it once was.

Exiled to the far corners of the world, the diaspora has found that, paralleling the highly-skilled workforce of many European nations, talent has been devalued, under the barriers of language, and roadblocks of immigration protocols. Devalued like the national currency, the Bolivar, these individuals attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives, while contributing to the local economies.

The concept of grace under fire is manifested here, as all of those virtues and talents are presented, in the format, of an individual starting out in a new nation, as an immigrant, and starting from the bottom. Rest assured, that any professional development that you offer, is simply an investment in human talent, which you will reap from exponentially. Be it with the operator or at the corporate level, he is a true asset to your organization and should not be overlooked. IVR's will never be perfect, nor will schedules, but when these problems are presented, people like Malcolm/Marcus are your front-line of assurance.

To him, Daniel for arranging a late check-out, Paulina and Daniel, together with the housekeeping, the rest of the local team, and the support staff at the corporate level, I remain in your highest...

Sadly, Jonathan Castillo, Complex Manager, and Claudio Bono, General Manager, are running a poor operation of the Aloft Doral Hotel. | The entire stay, from the room, to the service, to the management responses to questions when raised was entirely unsatisfactory. I would never stay here again and highly recommend that others stay away as well. We went to the WXYZ bar twice for a couple drinks, and sneakily they included an 18% gratuity which we did not realize was in there already; we tipped in top of that charge being unaware. Having previously worked in the industry, I know that it is standard operating procedure to give the customer a courtesy heads up so that are fully aware of the 'tax' the establishment includes in a customer's bill. Those that do not tell you are being sneaky and trying to get more money out of the customer without the customer being fully aware. So, in part, shame on us for not analyzing the bill enough. When we raised this as an issue to the manager and asked for a couple bucks credit to our stay, we were told "No, its like signing a contract, so you are bound to pay that amount." Seriously? An absolute joke. |The room that we stayed in had an incredibly loud and disruptive HVAC unit, such that neither me nor my wife could sleep. We did not make an issued out if it "at, 1,2 or 3 in the morning while it was happening" as the hotel manager suggested we should have done, because somehow my son was able to sleep thru it and calling to either have a tech look at it or move to a different room at that hour would have been even more disruptive to the entire family. The first thing I did when I went down early in the morning was mention it to the front desk, the first realistic opportunity that I had. When I spoke to the manager about it later, he said that there was nothing that he could do because "the night has past and it's like ordering then eating an entire meal then asking for a refund." Apparently the manager thinks the first time I've stayed in a hotel as his wildly flawed logic would suggest. |So in a customer experience industry the Aloft Miami Doral was wildly unsatisfying. And when given a chance to provide some relief to a loyal Marriott Member, they arrogantly argued each point in a combative manner rather than help the consumer out with some pretty easy and cheap remedies.|Never Stay...

Service from the front desk was atrocious. I had my wife check in on our reservation as I needed to finish working. Upon arrival I ensured she requested our upgrade, they told her there were none available. Upon hearing this, I booked an upgraded room to verify as my wife told me the person didn’t even check, the just responded with a “no”. Being a titanium elite, I was under the impression that we would be treated well for our patronage, apparently no here. I arrived and explained what had occurred to the person and they made an unfalsifiable claim that for some reason there was nothing available in their system for the upgrade that I knew was available. I knew it was available because I called and spoke with bonvoy to cancel the upgraded room. The next problem with service is that I requested a crib be brought to my room in person, after waiting for thirty minutes, I called the front desk. I was sent to hold. I waited for 10 minutes then hung up and called back, same thing. I hung up and called back, same again. At this point I am livid as I had been waiting for almost an hour to put my daughter to bed. I walked down stairs and called the front desk while watching the person behind the desk forward me to hold. Then the person behind the desk continued occupying themselves on their phone… this is NOT acceptable. The next morning shortly after 930 when breakfast had finished, I noticed that there was no cream left and requested for a bit more and the useless woman behind the desk, who was unoccupied, told me that she was sorry she couldn’t help me because breakfast was finished, that I should walk 5 minutes to a sister hotel “element” to get some cream… HORRIBLE customer service. The same morning, I requested a late checkout as a titanium elite member and was told the best they could do for me and my family was 1PM, a whopping one hour latter than normal. And lastly, when I was moving things from our room, at 1030, I returned to my room to find someone already inside cleaning it after check out that I hadn’t initiated, and when I asked why, the people at the front responded with, “I assumed you were checking out”. How I am even being charged for this appalling service is beyond me. The thing that is worse is that there will probably...