Courtyard by Marriott New York Downtown Manhattan/Financial District — Hotel in New York

To whom it may concern,

I wanted to discuss a matter that had taken place at the Courtyard Marriott on 215 Pearl Street. I had entered the premises on February 4th at approximately 3:12pm.I went to the front desk to check in and I encountered a lady named Geleena. I stood there for about a minute and she looked at me and did not say anything. I seen she was on the computer and her phone texting someone. I assumed she was going to greet me and welcome me, however she said with an attitude I can’t not help you right now and pointed to a young gentleman and said go to him. She was incredibly rude and unprofessional. The young gentleman who helped me said it would be a couple of minutes until the room was ready because of an inspection. I waited about twenty five more minutes and asked him is there any update. I seen people get their rooms immediately so I asked him why do I have to wait so long. He told me because they all have different rooms and I said okay. I sat back down and then it was approximately 3:45pm and I had some place to be so I asked is it almost finished and the gentleman said not yet. I asked if I could speak to the manager and sat down. Geleena came up to me without introducing herself or that she was the manager and said the room is being inspected. I said okay and waited until it was almost 4:00pm. I went up to the front desk again and asked could I please speak to the manager and Geleena aggressively says “I am the manager, How can I help you?” Instead of being sincere she said it with an attitude. She then looks down at her phone and continues to text whoever she was occupied texting. I was in shocked because she has been rude to me the whole time and she repeats herself two more times with an attitude and aggressively. I said could I just please have your name. She said Geleena and rolled her eyes. Her name tag was covered with her hair so I asked could I please see your name tag so I can write it down. She then continued her attitude and rolled her eyes and moved her hair slowly. She later says How can I help you assertively and I did not want to engage in any argument so I just left up to my room. Geleena is extremely unprofessional and rude, the other employees were pleasant and apologized on her behalf. She is incompetent on doing her job and I am assuming she is complacent in her job because she feels like she will not be reprimanded. Part of her job is customer service and if her other employees witness the way she treats customers as a leader it should be in a professional kind way. I was extremely upset and decided not to stoop down to her level of rudeness. This is shocking because I stay at these hotels all the time and this is my first bad experience. Maybe it is time to get someone else in charge of front desk who actually will appreciate and love doing their job. Hospitality is always about making your customers stay the best it can be with a positive attitude. Let alone be on their phone for most of their shift. I noticed that the reviews were proclaiming that this hotel had a rude staff and decided to give it a chance anyway. Those reviews live up to their reputation and it is probably because their leader demonstrates it is okay to be rude to customers, be on their phones, and treat anyone any type of way. The reviews live up to their expectations of it being rude and unprofessional staff due to their leadership! Do not expect great customer service! I had found blood on my cover sheet....

This hotel is absolutely not worth it. I booked my trip to stay at the Courtyard by Marriott which apparently shares a lobby with the Residence Inn hotel. When I arrived in the very early hours of the morning after a long travel day the person at the desk told me that they overbooked the hotel and I would have to be moved to the Residence Inn. This was upsetting because I had participated in the early check in to the hotel prior to starting my travel day and was assured there was a room for me. I was told that this hotel was nicer, however after walking to the elevator I quickly learned it wasn't. What was also was upsetting was a couple checking in right next to me had space for them at the Courtyard but because they were a Marriott rewards member they got a room. So seems to me that if you had status in Marriott you were able to maintain your reservation not be switched to the dumpster that was the Residence Inn. The Residence Inn is under construction which when I questioned why I had not been notified they stated it was on the reservation email along with their website... however I didn't book at that hotel so I would have not known to look at a different hotels website. The walls are PAPER THIN I could hear ABSOLUTELY everything from the entire floor. The people staying next to me were there to party and smoke in the hotel, scream, fight, break glass, play loud music. Despite multiple times going to the lobby asking them to address it as I was there for business and had to be up early in the morning nothing ever was addressed. Finally the person at the desk got out his fake walkie-talkie to page "security" to come up... they never ever came to the floor. The second day I asked to be moved rooms because of the noise and loud air conditioner/heating system in the hotel. The person at the front desk told me they would send engineering up while I was out for the day to fix it. I am not sure if they actually came or not but nothing changed so I asked to be moved rooms. The first room they moved me to was dirty, the second room was occupied and the final room was also dirty. I finally had had enough and asked to remain in the same hotel room. The gym that is advertised is only accessible from the Courtyard and the breakfast is disgusting. The construction is all day long from early early morning until late afternoon, so loud it is impossible to do a meeting from the hotel room between the construction and the neighbors yelling and fighting people could not hear me in the meetings I did try to have. Don't expect to use the wi-fi for anything other than social media as it is not good enough to host a zoom meeting. The staff was less than helpful or accommodating or even apologetic for all of the inconveniences. I frequently travel to NYC for business and would NEVE EVER stay in this...

DO NOT attempt to book parking in advance at the garage this hotel uses for parking validation unless you’re okay paying full price - parking validation cannot be honored by the hotel without significant headache. Instead, plan ahead, giving yourself extra time to find parking in the event the nearest garage is full, or if possible, drop off right out front and then find parking while your company checks into the hotel. Do not leave your car standing in front of the hotel for check-in as it may be towed. Driving into the city with kids and hoping to find parking within a reasonable distance to the hotel is definitely not guaranteed in my past experience and you may find yourself parking several blocks from the hotel if all garages nearby are at capacity. Young legs that don’t typically walk multiple city blocks like NYers do regularly might be a challenge, especially when you factor in your luggage. If your kids are asleep in the car when you arrive, it’s going to amplify that experience. You can always of course park on the street if you can find a spot (not as easy as you might think, in Manhattan) but if you do, make sure you read and reread the signs as it’s confusing and parking tickets and/or towing is a real thing in NY - it was $400 to get our car back from the tow lot back in 2011 so I can only imagine what that costs now. Also, if you park on the street, you should plan for your car to see some scuffing from people backing into your bumper - it almost certainly will happen as we experienced when we lived in Brooklyn for over five years. Cost of parking with tip at the nearest garage around the corner with which the hotel has a relationship for parking validation was $105 ($80 to park, $25 in tips). Room was nice and was clean, and while the view was indeed nice, the view was also falsely advertised - a view from the room for which I also paid extra (website shows corner unit with two windows, providing panoramic views of the city, which it was not – only one window with a building partially blocking a view of the city). There’s also another under construction next to said building that may essentially block the view fully in the near future, by the way. One of the front desk agents, Jade was very helpful in collecting my son’s stuffed animal, which I accidentally left in the room before driving back to Eastern Long Island, and was timely and communicative in making sure I knew it was in good hands, and that was very much appreciated. Thanks Jade! The location of this hotel is good with access to several subway lines within a short walk and transfers. Breakfast was fine, but plan on eating elsewhere in the morning if you have picky eaters or kids with...