Hartford Marriott Downtown — Hotel in Hartford

Our organization booked the annual awards banquet at the Hartford Marriott. It was a wonderful evening! A cash bar was set up for an evening of hors d’oeuvres, dinner, and dessert to accompany our awards ceremony. Our leaders had spoken with the staff regarding the timing of serving. Everything went off exactly as requested. Our event began with a cocktail hour and butler-passed hors d’oeuvres, which were delicious. Dinner was served promptly. We began with salad greens topped with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese, with a drizzle of a really nice pesto dressing. Baskets of rolls were brought to the tables once the salad was served. The main course was incredible! My husband and I had the prime rib and it was the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious prime rib! Everyone who had selected prime rib for their meal raved about it. I spoke to a few that had ordered the chicken and they really liked it as well. Dessert was chocolate cake and coffee. At first glance, the cake looked like it would be overly sweet but it wasn’t. It was delicious without being too sweet or too rich. The coffee was very good. We had a dance floor set up for our group of 90+ attendees and had plenty of room for everyone to mingle and dance the night away. We have held our event here in the past and have always been very happy with the Hartford Marriott staff. Their meal offerings for these events are absolutely delicious. Our group had a block of rooms at a very good rate as well. My husband and I stayed overnight and I want to commend the staff for their outstanding customer service. I was having an allergic reaction to a fragrance in our room. I initially thought it was from the toiletries available but I later found the source: cologne had been spilled on the toiletry stands in the bathroom. Before we knew the source of the allergen, I called the front desk to request a fan to blow the scent out of the room. Once I informed the staff member of my allergic reaction, the level of customer service went into high gear. A member of the housekeeping staff was accompanied by a gentleman who immediately came up to assess the situation. A fan was brought up. The housekeeping staff member asked me repeatedly if there was anything more they could do. She suggested having an air neutralizer brought up. That was a great idea. One was brought up immediately by another staff member. After 30 minutes, the air quality was much better. It was at that time that I was able to identify the source of the allergen and have it removed from the room. I have never experienced such a high level of customer service before, especially during a very busy time for them. It was check-in time. There were weddings and a convention in addition to our event and the entire place was busy. Despite the busy time, they deployed several staff members to take care of me and spent the time necessary to resolve the issue. Not once did they make me feel like I was inconveniencing them. They were all extremely kind and helpful, and they resolved the issue very quickly. There are no words to truly convey the respect I have for the staff at the Hartford Marriott. I highly recommend them for overnight stays as well as large events. They are really great to work with, their food is absolutely delicious, the venue and rooms are beautiful, and you will not find better customer service. Thank you, Hartford Marriott staff, for a truly delightful...

I don't like leaving bad reviews. I dislike even more receiving bad service.....and dishonest people. By that I mean blatantly lying about something very simple. My rating is the result of extremely poor service we received when we arrived Friday, 13 September around 7:30pm-8pm. This was something that could have been easily avoided. But yet it put more angst on the situation of my wife's bad back, etc. Just beware.

It was a long and enjoyable day at the Big E and when we pulled up we were the only car in the port. Where we noticed three guys standing about 20 feet from us talking. Nobody approached us to help or take our car, so my wife and I walked gathered our luggage thinking there was a different process at this Marriot. The supervisor at the front desk was very nice and receives top stars for the assistance she gave my wife and I. However, after receiving our keys, I asked about how I pay for parking my car. The manager said they should have taken that info out front. To her credit she walked out front and asked for help. Literally saying "help/". She also asked why they did not take the car. They said; with a nasty disposition; "Nobody walked up to us to ask for help." At this point, seeing a poor attitude, I just said 'I'll park my car myself.' So my wife stayed inside and I parked the car and walked back to the lobby...about a 15 minute process.

While my wife stayed inside, waiting for me while I was parking the car, a valet member walked inside and barked at the front desk that someone was mad "because we didn't get their car." He further said, "we didn't because we had three people waiting for them to attend to.". Talk about guilty conscience. As I mentioned, we were the only car there and there were three guys standing at their booth just laughing and talking. I'm sure the Marriot video will show this. My grey car with NY tags. My car video sure showed the three gentlemen talking and laughing and the absence of any other vehicles. That was also the case when the manager walked out to try and help. My question was which was it...We didn't walk up to them....or they are busy? Their obvious lying told me what happened. And in every other hotel I've been to with valet service, they approach the car to ask if they will valet or self park.

I get it. Everyone one makes mistakes; or even misses things from time to time. But the blatant dishonesty and fabrication tells me they knew they were wrong and were willing to even lie about it. In my mind, it was a small thing. But at the end of a long day, I'd just expected more help. And my wife having a bad back didn't need the long wait in the lobby before she could seek relief in our room...which was nicely appointed and clean. It was just that blatantly lying and not attending to the car....which they clearly saw us leave and lock....left a bad taste in my mouth and about our experience.

The manager at the front desk apologized and said they do not report to them. So they could not do anything about it. So beware.

UPDATE 24 Sep 24: The staff reached out to me the next day, and did an amazing job addressing my concerns. True professionals and concerned about good customer service. Restored my faith in...

This hotel remains my favorite in the Hartford area. Their breakfast is the best (ask for a custom-made omelette), and the pool and concierge lounge are outstanding.

Normally, the hotel is generous about giving room upgrades when available, i.e., a river view or a junior suite.

On my last arrival date, I had called ahead a couple of times to request an upgrade and had been assured that I was blocked into an upgraded corner room with a river view.

At check in, a very friendly staff played around on her keyboard for a fairly lengthy period before handing me my key. It was nighttime and I was quite tired after driving hours, so I did not pay attention to my room number. I had stayed in the same hotel at least 5 other times and had ALWAYS been lodged in a room between the 17th and 21st floors, river side, upgraded in a junior suite when available.

On the elevator up, I realized that I had been assigned into a room on the 7th of the 21 floors. As a Titanium Elite member, I was quite surprised, but I was too tired to head back to the receptionist.

When I got into my room, my windows were overlooking bright lights from the street and from nearby buildings. It was a corner room, for sure, but only different from other standard rooms with the addition of an extra side window. Not on a high floor, no river view, no difference in room size.

I normally would have asked to change rooms immediately, but I was in town for an early morning meeting the following day only, and I was very, very tired after driving in heavy traffic. I decided to close all the window blinds and shut out the upsetting and unwanted view.

This hotel remains a favorite. I hope that by my taking this time to write all the above, the hotel would better train its staff to encourage them to give proper or desired upgrades as available. Don’t assess people based on how they dress, sound, or any other superficial concepts, but on merit (their membership and loyalty status) and the best available room at their time of check-in.

I verified the following morning with a front desk staff—who apologized—that they indeed had rooms on higher floors with the river view.

I’ll be sure to promptly check my assigned room number on my next visit, since my great smile apparently no longer does the...