Hotel Distil, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Louisville

We were guests of the hotel in November for the NAILE livestock show and to celebrate my mother's birthday. I am a Bonvoy gold elite member and my mother and her husband are multiple levels higher, not that it should matter. Upon arrival, the valet staff was extremely flustered, and unorganized, having us pull up first and stopped us without having us pull up as far as we could, even with my explanation of wanting to pull up to allow more room for our other vehicle that was following me. This resulted in leaving my stepfather and mother parking in the middle of the street and almost getting hit when the attendant instructed that they needed to exit the vehicle. When we went to check in we were greated by a man and woman that were obviously not having a good day and expressed terrible attitudes toward us and all of the guests. They were very hasty, checking us in and fielded any questions as if we were a nuisance and expressed that we should be greatful that they had rooms available, even though we had reservations months in advance. Another employee came to the desk and answered the desk phone that had been ringing, and was severely reprimanded by the man checking us in, saying that that was not his job and scolded him directly infront of all of us. Then my mother asked the woman checking her in beside us a few questions and the woman snapped back extremely rude telling her to "hang on, I'm busy at the moment trying to get you a room that is ready". To say we were taken back by the whole experience that we had in the first 20 minutes at the hotel, is a major under statement. We both stay exclusively at Marriott resorts for a reason, customer service, cleanliness and consistency, and this was not what we have come to expect, even remotely.

Once we were able to get to our rooms and settled in, I recieved a phone call from the hotel manager on my cellphone asking if we were still planning on staying there that evening, because they were oversold and needed the rooms. I stated that we were already in our rooms and he was completely confused and apologized immediately. I explained our experience, thus far, at his hotel and he apologized again and stated that they were still trying to train employees and had been receiving numerous complaints, such as mine. He offered to give us 10,000 points on our accounts and I accepted his offer.

We had dinner that evening in the restaurant at the hotel and had an amazing experience. The waitress, bartender and manager went out of their way to provide one of the best dinning experiences ever.

Now here we are months later, numerous phone calls to the general manager and we have recieved no points on our accounts. No returned calls or messages. Absolutely no customer service from the hotel during the experience or after the fact. Such a shame to have a beautiful new hotel, an amazing restaurant and a subpar hotel staff. You can most...

Hotel Distil has been one of my favorite Marriott branded hotels since I stayed several times for business in early 2021- almost the end of that year. To say I was treated like royalty would be an understatement. Everyone from the front desk employees, to the Repeal steak house bartenders, to the valet always addressed me by name and with such charm and a warm, welcome smile. Anyway- That was all in 2021. I decided to go back, recreationally with my significant other this past weekend. He’d never been to Louisville and is a huge bourbon/ whiskey fan. Naturally, I booked a room at my beloved Distil. Unfortunately I was disappointed over and over again during my stay. The front desk woman who checked us in never acknowledged my ambassador status or the fact that I’d stayed at the hotel previously several times. She spoke to me as if she assumed it was my first time, even thought I said I’d stayed there several times before, and she was very robotic. I also requested a SNA and was approved for it, so we got a suite. She looked up at me and said “you reserved a suite?” I said “Yes- I guess?”. She proceeded to look through the computer as if she was just now selecting my room real- time. It was really strange. I got a suite on level 5. I’ve had better views in regular rooms on higher levels. Later that evening, we went to the repeal steakhouse where I had Dined too many times (in 2021) to even count. Once again, I recognized none of the staff. When I ordered the wedge with candied bacon the server looked as me like I has 4 eyes. “Candied bacon??” She said. “Yes- isn’t that what it comes with?” I replied. She went to ask someone and the answer was that it comes with a strip of bacon, but it’s not candied. The next morning at breakfast I ordered a side of candied bacon which the server had rave reviews about. I agreed and explained how many times I’d enjoyed it the previous year and how disappointed I was that I couldn’t enjoy it on my wedge salad for supper the night before. He was startled. Said that candied bacon 100% comes with the wedge salad and seemed confused as to why I didn’t get it. In any case- it was delicious as a side at breakfast. And our breakfast server was charming and kind. The Chef that day was sweet, as well. I asked him to re-heat a couple of sides we had ordered the evening before and he said he’d be happy to “throw them on the heater” then came out with brand new sides, a sweet smile, and opened the curtain bordering the hotel from the restaurant to allow me in to eat it. He’s the reason for this review getting any...

Overall, just an okay experience at the Distil, which is (supposed to be) an "upscale" Marriott property. The staff was courteous and helpful. A few items were bothersome, one being the small size of the room, and lack of feather pillows. I called down and the staff quickly sent one up though.  My wife complained that the bed sheets were scratchy and cheap feeling. I have to agree with her, and would add the matress was not the most comfortable. We stayed over on Thanksgiving. On check in, we had to ask for our breakfast vouchers, which were supposed to be part of the rate when we booked on Expedia. The helpful desk staff quickly gave us the vouchers, however. We were told the room service menus were on the TV, but they weren't and we had to call down to have them sent up (printed out on a piece of plain office paper). That morning, we ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room. The food came up and was delivered completely uncovered. So my eggs were cool to the touch but the time the staff brought up the tray. The english muffin was served dry, but no butter was provided. And no salt and pepper for the eggs. I caught the staff person just in time and she came back with those items, but by now the food was pretty much cold. So, room service seems to be an afterthought here. I will say the menu was fairly priced with no exorbitant fees added. At check in we were warned that the valet may not be able to drive a manual stick shift when we check out. Sure enough, I had to go get our call by myself, and it was cold out. What kind of valet service doesn't know how to drive a car? I mentioned this to the desk staff, but when I got the invoice in my email, the $43 valet charge was still there, instead of this desk person deciding to only charge the self parking rate which is about  $22. I've read recently that Marriott is trying to cut costs. It really shows at the Distil, which is supposed to be "upscale". Well, not really so upscale in my view. Management of quality control seemed to be totally lacking at this property. It's a pricey place without much of a value proposition. I wouldn't recommend this...