Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square — Hotel in Lancaster

I apologize in advance to the readers for this lengthy review. Please read it in its entirety so you can truly understand how horrendous this experience was. This was literally the worst experience I've ever had checking in at a Marriott. It was an absolute catastrophe of monumental proportions. I try only to leave positive reviews, you can check my Google review history. However, this one-night stay at the Marriot Marque in Lancaster for a wedding was such an epic failure that I feel obliged to express how bad and disappointing it was. I understand things happen that are out of a business's control sometimes, but the lack of effort or empathy by the employees at the front desk was overwhelming. I didn't hear I'm sorry once during the check-in debacle. "I'm sorry, or I apologize," goes a long way and doesn't cost anything. We made reservations for three rooms over eight months in advance, anticipating a one-night stay to attend a wedding. I'm a Gold Bonvoy member, which I don't put much stock in, except that you are supposed to get extra benefits and preferential treatment when staying at Marriot chains. Upon our arrival, it was absurdly clear that the hotel was completely overbooked and severely understaffed. There were 5 other wedding parties staying there, a graduation ceremony going on, and a taekwondo event. These other large parties are not my problem or concern to deal with. Unfortunately, the hotel lacked any suitable space or storage area for luggage, aside from the overcrowded desk area, already strewn with numerous bags. When we attempted to utilize the lobby restroom, it was shockingly closed to guests and had security not letting anyone in to change. The front desk staff proved unhelpful and unfriendly, devoid of apologies or attempts to rectify the situation. Only after persistent inquiries were we reluctantly given access to the gym level to utilize those bathrooms. To no one's surprise, those bathrooms were also conveniently closed for renovation and to guests. I can't even make this stuff up! Check-in was scheduled for 4:00 pm, which is normal, but we were trying to get at least one room around 3:00 for an early check-in so we could all at least change for the wedding. Nope, that didn't happen, and I was told I'd be put on the waiting list and would receive a call when the rooms were ready. Guess what? Still waiting on that call—no call, text, or email. I got back in line around 3:30 to check on the room status and noticed they were checking people in and giving them room keys. When I got to the front desk, I was told our rooms still weren't ready. I finally got one room out of 3 before we had to leave and go to the wedding. At that time, he couldn't get all 3 rooms on the same floor, so I said, "Don't worry about it, we have to go to the wedding, and you will have more than enough time to get all the rooms on the same floor situated by the time we get back." I came back from the wedding around 10:00 pm, and guess what? Not one room out of 3 was on the same floor after all that time to figure it out. Words cannot adequately convey the profound ineptitude displayed during this entire experience. We ultimately crammed 30 people into a single room to hastily prepare for the wedding. The following morning, I went down to the lobby, hoping for some resolution, compensation, or to at least to hear someone say, "I'm sorry for the terrible dumpster fire that occurred during your group's failed attempt to check-in." Instead, all I received was a litany of excuses and feeble attempts to shift blame. Finally, someone managed to utter the words, "I apologize," and I was asked what I wanted. At that point, I said no, don't turn this around on me; what are you going to do to in an effort to try and rectify this situation? I'm not the manager of the hotel you are. She was willing to offer a $100 rebate and some reward points. Our group had over 20 rooms, not $100 per room, just a flat $100, truly insulting. If you stay here, I hope you have a better experience than we...

I am a Marriott titanium member. I spend over 100 nights a year at Marriott hotels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East and I have never experienced such a disgusting hospitality atmosphere such the one I had at Lancaster Marriott.

I booked months ahead, I didn’t ask for any special request. But I have a basic expectation .

Checking in - the clerk doesn’t smile, doesn’t greet, no basic niceties. Body language like he doesn’t want to be there.impolite attitude.

Room is nice, clean and comfortable. Location is fantastic.

Going to the M-club in the afternoons , the place is dirty, tables are wet and have crumbs and leftovers on them. Food display is horrifyingly messy and sad. The wine is locked and has extra cost - first time for me ever.

Asked the waitress nicely for a glass of wine. She plainly offended by me disturbing her free time. “Write your name and room number” no ‘please’ no minimal decent behavior. Not sure who the client is anymore in this hotel.

It seems like the staff lacks any training. Smiling, being polite,look to them like a sign of weakness, how sad.

Going back to the room at 22:00, surprise! There is a roof garden party just a few meters from our window… We were too tired to do anything about the music and the shouts. Earplugs and blanket over the head and we managed it.

In the morning I chatted with the front about the problems, when I got weird indifferent replies I asked the front manager to call me. He did and from there everything went south.

Of course he didn’t tell me his name or position until I asked. Director of front desk, Mr. Z was aggressive, gave me stupid excuses and was pathetic. No professional attitude.

My point was why you give a room you know is noisy to your guests. He kept insisting that we should have let them know and they would call the police about the noise. He admitted they have many complaints about that noisy club. So when I explained to him this is a very poor trap they set for the guests he started being very aggressive. A guest doesn’t want to be bothered with noise and complaints. If you know the room you offer is noisy at night, do something about it or warn the guest but don’t just hope this problem will go away.

I told him I leave today anyway just wanted to tell him they should take better care of future guests - his response was “I offer you 50$ off your bill so what do you want more than that? Why you didn’t call last night?” He started to blaming me. I was shocked, I didn’t ask for compensation, I didn’t want anything, He kept cutting me off, repeating the same robotic aggressive responses. (maybe he is used to talk to women like that) I have never met such an arrogant and so unprofessional manager.

As a manager at the hospitality sector you should know better.( Mr. Z you better take some Service training courses, learn how to speak to customers, how to apologies, professional front desk manager will not increase the problem with your guest) never thought to diffuse the situation by listening and talk reasonably. I wasn’t angry, I didn’t shout and didn’t ask for any compensation.

Shame on him- Mr. Z

The hotel location is great, so sad the staff there doesn’t give a damn about the guests and doesn’t have minimal standards of professional behavior. Checking out, it was Ms. Junne at the front desk who was polite, professional and she even smiled! Which makes the shortcoming of all other staff member even more appalling.

This place is a sad joke, I was very embarrassed for the...

(ARRIVAL DAY)—Worst experience at a hotel ever! Do not bring your children here. They advertise a pool and it was unavailable in the middle of July for my grandson to swim. That is the only reason we chose this hotel. In addition, the manager seemed quite unsympathetic to my 10-year old grandson’s plight. In no way did she try to make it right for him. He was so sad and disappointed. How hard would it have been to offer him an apology , a lollipop, a burger, coupons to another pool… anything???? My husband and I are federal employees and have stayed at literally hundreds—maybe thousands—of hotels. Nothing has ever been this bad!!!

(JOSH)—saw your reply here. Please reach out to me. There is more to the story and how it could’ve been made right for my grandson. We’re trying to teach him things like you honor contracts and promises. When you don’t honor your promises, you apologize and try to make it right. What kind of example is Marriott setting in terms of the Golden Rule? They did not honor their contract with us to have a working pool. We did not want a refund, but the minimum level of kindness and effort. It was a huge disappointment for him. It is also about the hour and a half that we wasted waiting in the lobby while they kept PROMISING THAT THE POOL WOULD BE OPEN ANY MOMENT! Your manager is heartless and could care less about anybody’s TIME or DISAPPOINTMENTS. She truly did not seem to care at all. We’re dealing with a 10-year-old little boy’s feelings here. Kindness doesn’t cost anything and there was no kindness coming from that manager. She was cold and wanted to get rid of us… fast! A little sensitivity training could go a long way here!

(UPDATE Day 2): We are still here and things continue to get worse. I haven’t heard from the manager, Josh, even though he seemed so concerned in his reply to me here. The pool is still not open for the second day in a row. I tried to order mushroom soup off the menu and it was unavailabe. Not many other choices. My husband just had a knee replacement and he was just forced to walk up six flights of stairs because the elevators are broken. We talked to the manager again and she just doubled down about the fact that the pool was not her problem. Things just go from bad to worse here.

(UPDATE DAY 3): We are checking out this morning and nobody has reached out to us about our concerns yet. GREAT customer service, MARRIOTT! If we could give zero stars, we would have done so.

(UPDATE DAY 6): As nice as General Manager, Josh Nowack’s Day 1 response sounds, “Your feedback is valuable and will be taken into consideration.” I have yet to see any evidence regarding WHO or WHOM is being taken into consideration. Since neither my grandson or myself have heard from Marriott, I would take that to mean that Josh has only Marriott’s best interest in mind. Since we never received a meaningful apology from the folks at Lancaster Marriott, I have bumped this up to headquarters. And to the staff at the Lancaster Marriott… don’t be surprised. I told the female manager what I was planning if she didn’t make it right for my grandson. This is me doing so… Six...