Courtyard by Marriott Grand Rapids Downtown — Hotel in Grand Rapids

My husband and I have spent the past (almost 3 months) living Marriott hotels due to my husbands career. From TownePlace Suites in Alabama to Courtyard Marriott in New Jersey and currently JW Marriott in Grand Rapids, we have always found the staff of Marriott extremely professional, accommodating, respectful and hospitable. So, it took me by surprise when I witnessed everything opposite of that when my parents were checking into the Courtyard Marriott in Downtown Grand Rapids.

My mom had made a reservation for a wedding we were attending and there was some confusion about the reservation. So, a few days prior she contacted the ‘Marriott Hotline’ to confirm her reservations and help her confirm her reservation. Her experience with Brenda from the ‘Marriott Hotline’ was extremely polite and helpful. However, when she arrived at The Courtyard Marriott Downtown Grand Rapids, Amanda at the front desk was very rude, non-accommodating, and disrespectful to my mother. I could tell there was an issue, so I tried to see if I could help. When I asked what was going on, Amanda stated that my mom had several reservations and they are trying to figure it out. My mom explained again and provided paperwork verifying the rates Brenda had given her and Amanda proceeded to try to charge her almost $70+ a night more.

I told my mom not to pay that and asked for Amanda to explain why she could not honor the prior rates given my Marriott when my mom had proper printed documentation from Marriott? She said ‘that’s not how it works.’ Finally, she proceed to say ‘I guess I’ll have to override it.’ My mom was concerned about our dinner reservations, so she politely inquired how long it would take. Amanda looked at her and with a demeaning tone said, ‘it’s going to be a while for me to manually give you the rates you want.’ I interrupted at that point and stated ‘it’s not the rates she ‘wants’, but rather the rates that were given to her by Marriott and she wasn’t asking for anything more - simply what she was promised.’ The lady proceed to mumble and finally let my mom pay. When my mom asked for the total per night, Amanda responded that she couldn’t tell us that? How does that work?

Anyways, after they went up, I discussed with Amanda how much I did not appreciate how she spoke to my mom and handled the situation. Rather than saying ‘I see there’s some confusion. Let me help you and see how we can best assist you.’ When it comes to ways to deal with the company, rather than say ‘you should have talked to us / not the hotline. They don’t know how it works here.’ Say, ‘I’m sorry you were told something different. Let me get you set up. Just for a tip in the future, sometimes it’s easier dealing with the hotel directly, but I’m more than happy to assist.’

Getting your point across does not have to be rude, but you can do so respectfully and with a good attitude.

My husband and I waited in the lobby and on our walk to dinner my parents informed me that their view was looking at a parking garage. Are you kidding me? Not only were you rude, not only did you shame my mom and make her feel incompetent, but then you do that?! And they are paying to stay at this location for 5 nights? Absolutely not.

I have never experienced this from a Marriott hotel. I would NOT recommend this location and I would highly recommend Amanda getting some formal, constructive training on hospitality and manners with guests. It’s a shame that they had this experience on their first trip to Grand Rapids. This location needs...

I typically prefer other Marriott brands for business trips, and if I’d been traveling alone I would have chosen the A.C. boutique Marriott across the street. Since it was 3 of us - myself and 2 daughters, 12 and 15 - for a quick overnight for daughter’s soccer game, the Courtyard bathroom setup allows for more privacy, plus the pool would be a plus for the kids. Location is excellent for adding some sightseeing downtown with convenient access to everything. We walked everywhere and didn’t need the car until checking out.

Unfortunately, we had some bumps in our stay.

Mobile key never was set up and front desk staff were unable to troubleshoot. This is the first property since it rolled out where I’ve had this issue.

On check-in, staff was friendly and asked about our trip. Soccer daughter showed her backpack with ball while I explained while we were here. Wish staff had thought to put us on the non-BOB facing side of the hotel. Once in the room I remembered the reviews, but there was no street noise at all, so I thought it would be fine. Warning - the club noise doesn’t actually kick in until around 11 PM. We used a white noise app on one of our phones to try to mask it a bit.

We knew hotel had one elevator working and being on the 5th floor meant it was a reasonable walk up and down the stairs. However, we had no notice that the pool heater was broken. Hot tub was the temp the pool should have been, and had a paper sign taped over the button stating that jets were out of order. Pool towels are comically small; the size of hand towels. There are signs posted that towels are not to be taken out of the pool area. We complied and they went dripping back to our room.

Wish that front desk had thought to suggest more towels on seeing us at check in. There were 4 in the room, and I called for 2 more and extra shampoo/conditioner. Waited an hour and half, then called again.

Hair dryer switch had to be carefully placed between on and off in order to get it to turn on. A few minutes in and it wouldn’t turn back on. I called to request a replacement. Housekeeping staff member who brought the towels hadn’t been told about the hairdryer, but very quickly brought us a replacement. She stated we had an old hair dryer that just hadn’t been swapped out yet.

Other issues: Fridge in room never chilled; our leftovers spoiled. Shower clanked. Bathroom needs a thorough clean and mold removal around tub. Something like “magic erasers” to...

I stayed at this hotel for business. I am a State Trooper and I work for the Louisiana State Police and I arrived at this hotel to do advance work for my governor who would also be staying at this hotel. When I checked in, I asked the young lady at the front desk if I could check my governor into his room, so that I could perform safety sweep of the room. She told me at first the rooms were not available but would call me when the room was read. After checking into my room, I went to my room and waited. About 35 minutes later, I received a call from the front desk informing me that my Governor's room was available and that I could pick up the keys. I went down and was handed two keys for room 523. I then proceeded up the elevator and performed a safety sweep of room 523, and secured the room. Later that day I left to pick my governor up at the airport. When I returned to the hotel I escorted my Governor and his wife to their room. As I approached the door I used both keys that were given to me by the front desk and neither would work. I also could hear in the room that the Television was on. As I continued to attempt to open the door, another person who was already inside the room came and opened the door. They informed me that they had been issued room 523. Now; I am standing at the door with my governor and his wife, and the room that was issued to them was given out to someone else. I went down stairs and spoke to the front the desk. Of course they apologized but could not tell me what had happened. They could not give me any explanation on how this happened. They immediately gave me another room and apologized for the inconvenience. I brought my governor and his wife to the new room and secured them. I went back to continue speaking with the front desk manager. I asked him what had happened and I tried to explain to him how important it was that I perform a sweep of the room before my governor was allowed to stay in the room. This was not possible for me to do, not to mention how bad it looked and my part, as if I had not done my job. The manager assured me that he would find out what happened and get back with me. I stayed at the hotel for 2 nights, no one ever contacted me to tell me what happened. The biggest problem I have with this is not that it happened but that nothing was ever done to find out why it happened. And to my knowledge nothing was done to fix the situation. I have stayed at many hotels with...