Courtyard by Marriott Knoxville Downtown — Hotel in Knoxville

Booked the Marriott Knoxville for a 3 night stay, March 7-9th. Checked in and had a king room booked well in advance. However , upon check in , I was neither informed nor consulted that no king rooms are available and found myself in a double queen room which was disappointing. Next, on asking for a manager I was informed no manager is available. Further, the front office seemed untrained, had no idea how to deal with the situation - "my colleague might know better how to deal with the situation" was the response. Simply, "walked" (?) in hotel parlance, when you don't have the right rooms why except the booking? Unfortunately, there is no federal or state laws that really protect the consumers from this unscrupulous behavior of bumping hundreds of guests across the nation everyday by biggest and most well known hotel brands.

Additional issues same night:

1. Had to change room past mid night. Guess what, - the entry light doesn’t have a switch to turn it off ! This is Marriott ? I am confused how is the "guest" supposed to sleep. The story is that only the mains switch could turn off entry light. Usually, there is an additional switch next to the mains, that can turn the hallway/entry light. However, in this case there wasn't - unsure how the hotel staff and management do not know this issue. The only way was to turn off using the main switch, which will also turns off the entire room light and everything with it. The front desk and security both came and could not find anyway to turn the lights off. What is surprising is that the recommended solution was to turn the main and sleep for tonight (the electrician will come at 9am) - well, that's clear liability issue. Let's say, me or another guest has to use the restroom, no lights can come on, and I/another person falls or hits myself/themselves against other furniture and get injured, it is the hotel's liability for causing injury. Eventually, the hotel did move me to a different room that night.

2. I also shared pictures of the poor quality of the bed - untucked on all sides , sheets not covering the mattress , bed covering is untucked on all sides - perhaps, this the new Marriott standard ? I will skip the photos for now.

Same night, I wrote to the hotel general manager Mr. Ryan and provided him with pictures as well with a request to get in touch, and cancelled my reservation as well. However, Mr. Ryan decided that it was perhaps not his worth to call the next day and that courtesy to address the situation was not extended. I did get a call from some one else end of next day, who to my surprise did not understand the issues I had laid out above, did not understand that the situation was unsafe with the the light situation. Lastly, after the three email complaints to Mr Ryan, the hotel refunded my night stay, which is not the point here.

However, disappointed. An Elite Member - hmm, got to think...

I’m a loyal Bonvoy loyalty program member. On the 3rd morning (on a Sunday) of our four night stay, after working most of the night, I woke up to quite a lot of noise outside my door in the hallway. It was 8AM and then there was a knock on my door. I said that the room was occupied. A man unlocked the door and tried to enter jiggling and knocking the door against the guard numerous times until I called out to him loud enough for him to stop.I was unnerved. I called the front desk and they said that all the rooms were to have their carpeting shampooed and that I was told the day before when we checked in that that was going to happen. We actually checked in three days prior and we’re not told about the shampooing of the carpeting. I stated as much to the front desk receptionist. She insisted that the three of us (in 3 separate rooms) were told. She said irregardless we were to vacate our rooms while the carpeting was to be shampooed, no alternative was offered. I explained that I did not want strangers in my room while I was away. I did not want men who I didn’t know in my room during a pandemic. I also asked for the MMDS paperwork on the different chemicals that were in the carpet shampooing product. I asked of the carpeting was going to be wet after the shampooing process, she said yes it would be wet. Her response to my other questions was a definite no to everything and that no matter what I wanted my carpeting was to be shampooed by 5 pm that day. In the meantime I had to lodge a large towel under my door to keep the strong chemical smell entering my room and irritating my throat and lungs. I then called the Marriot phone number and explained my situation. After a few minutes the associate I was speaking to reached out to the hotel. They came back on the line to say to me that my room was to be shampooed that day no matter what. I eventually left my room to do some errands and searched for the forman of the shampooing contract (these were not Marriott employees) and he told me that my room was excluded from bro games shampooed that day. No one had informed me that. I was left hanging and only found out because I had asked. A couple days later a Marriott associate called me to discuss what had happened and wanted to know was concessions could be made for my experience. We discussed, she’d said that she’d call me back. I’ve never heard back from her nor anyone from Marriott. COMPLETE FAIL...

I would NOT return to nor recommend this Marriot because of the state of the restrooms. I checked in a little after 11pm so clearly they should have had time to clean and have the room ready. This wasn't the case. While the bed was made and looked as expected, when I went to take a well-needed shower having been on a couple flights, I could tell the hair type and possibly the gender of the previous guest/s. There was hair along the walls of the shower, a razor cap on the counter, the toilet needed to be sanitized and wiped, the floors of the shower needed to be scrubbed. There was mold and grime all along the perimeter of the shower and on the metal of the shower door. I immediately went to the front desk to let them know I needed the room cleaned the next morning since it was almost midnight at that point. I described the mess and the attendant took notes for the next shift. As per their policy, the rooms are cleaned every other day but I needed it cleaned a day early because it was nasty! I left the room the next day and I saw housekeepers in the hallway, I assumed my room would be clean when I got back. Nope, not even my towels were changed. I checked with front desk, they said cleaning is every other day, so it would be the next day before they got to my room. I told her how disgusting it was and she sent a housekeeper up to the room while I went to the rooftop terrace to wait her out. I came back expecting a big change, not at all. There was still hair on the wall, the mold was barely wiped away and the previous guest's razor cover was still there! The room was scheduled to be cleaned the next day as per policy so I decided not to worry or complain. Nobody came! I didn't even say anything else. I just took my pics for evidence and spent the rest of my stay enjoying Knoxville city. I was still there for 2 more days and nobody cleaned the room. This isn't my first Marriott but it is the worst! The Marriott in Pigeon Forge for example was clean and relaxing. This was a waste of money and complete disappointment. If not for the nearby restaurants and amusements, it would require a 0 rating. I don't know where the other 4+ ratings for cleanliness come from but I believe they meant to rate the Residence...