Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center — Hotel in Normal

The nice thing about this hotel is the rooms were nice and clean, and over the phone when I was making my reservations the staff was very accommodating. We were having a trade conference there and they ran out of room quickly. I had to call in and speak with the coordinator to get a room at the discounted conference rate. She was very accommodating. They were also very good about helping me arrange a shuttle to and from the airport. The decor is nice throughout the hotel, and even the conference rooms actually have very good sound dampening. I didn't even realize there was somebody having dinner on the other side of the partition wall in the conference room until they started breaking down on the last night. Oh, and the cleaning staff was very happy, polite, and friendly. And there was one of the greeting stuff that was also.

Now for the bad. Speaking with some of my conference members I was not the only one to experience more than a little irksome treatment. One of my fellow conference-goers ended up in a room with a bed with broken legs. Another was a handicap gentleman who had a lot of trouble getting up and down stairs. They had a handicap room for him... On the 5th floor... God forbid. Like the ones that accommodated the bathtub in an able persons room. Best shower curtains for a tub do not work well on step and showers. He ended up with a huge puddle of water all over the floor that he then had to figure out how to clean up. The restaurant left a lot to be desired. They wanted$17 for what amounts to any old Continental Hotel breakfast. They argued that because they had an omelet station it was worth that price. I live in a town with casinos. We get a full buffet with an amazing selection for breakfast for $17. Box cereal and muffins and bagels does not have that kind of price attraction. And I ended up going with an economy breakfast there that was fairly good. The service was so so. But when I went there for lunch they could not manage to produce it before we got up and left. My table partner ordered a lava cake, and I ordered a salad. The lava cake would have been in their freezer and just needed to be warmed up, and it doesn't take more than about 15 minutes on the outside to make a salad. Over 30 minutes later we were still waiting. We finally got up and told them to cancel our order because our next continuing education class was 5 minutes from starting. We got a bismal service at the bar on the last night. More than one person at the conference sat at the bar literally holding money up in the air trying to get the bartender's attention and he would look at you and walk off. And if you manage to get a hold of the dishwasher who was helping him he would tell you he couldn't take your order and walk off. Wouldn't even alert the bartender to your existence. The couple of times I had to go up and ask the staff at the counter about something they were never rude but they were obvious with their eye rolls and heavy size. I just wanted to know when my shuttle was schedule for the next morning, and then when I tried to check out I stood there for 5 minutes before somebody even showed up at the front desk. And possibly most importantly the coffee for the conference almost never showed up on time.

Overall the hotel itself was nice, and there were enough nice members on the staff that I would stay again. But I would never mess with the bar or the restaurant again. And if I were planning a conference I would look around and see if any of the other hotels offered a...

This was a nice place for a few years after it opened. Now I can't believe the Marriott name is on the door. I have been there almost every year since then at least once. Now I am told the manager who works for a licensee of a licensee of Marriott is very difficult to deal with and I can believe it. My wife and I love hotels and are generally pretty forgiving people but WOW...all the stuff they are blaming on COVID is nuts. Setting aside the limited COVID food service because everyone has that, our problems were mainly front desk and housekeeping. We had a 3 day stay and we were not advised until after a number of problems that there is no service except by request DURING a stay. This is still SOLD as a full price/service Marriott. No newspapers at all for sale OR otherwise. Room had only decaf coffee and 2 tiny creamers when we first went in but we didn't know until it mattered the next morning. One set of shampoo and conditioned for 2 people. The next morning we asked that the room be made up while we were out at 0800. We came back at 3 pm and nothing. We asked because we needed towels to get ready for an event. Finally the Engineer brought some towels so we gave him our usual housekeeping tip. The next day on the way out I asked for the room to be made up ASAP after 8:15 am and was told "Yes, I'll let housekeeping know." Well at 130 pm no one had been there. I asked the front desk guy to transfer me to housekeeping and he said OK but it never happened. When I called again and asked for towels, coffee, trash service, toiletries, toilet paper and general service he said they are short-staffed and they aren't servicing "stay-overs" which we were first told on the second day of a 3 day stay. Not when we booked, not when we asked for and were promised service the first two times but AFTER we had been asking for 2 days. NO accommodation for the shortfalls at all. Finally after being promised a call from housekeeping several times I heard a knock at the door and "Housekeeping". I jumped up to let her in and she had sprinted through the staff door after leaving a plastic laundry bag with a set of towels and one set of shampoo. No coffee or any of the stuff to go with it. I went downstairs to get the coffee and that is when I was told there's no service. I found out later from friends who know the people there (We are from Normal) that the front desk guy who handled things so badly was actually the maintenance man because they only have about 5 people total working there. So not really HIS fault. He's an untrained kid. This GM must be a piece of work. We never actually saw him. Friends have said he is a jerk who drives off everyone. The door leading to the garage is broken. The bar is supposedly open but almost everywhere you go you just stand there because no one is there. Lots of "Let me see if I can find someone". The one bright note is the hotel chef who has been there since they opened is still there. They used to have what they called a "Cowgirl Ribeye". It was the best steak I ever had in a hotel(I have been to 14 Ritz Carltons among other places). I hope he can last until they replace this terrible manager and stop using COVID as an excuse for ineptitude. Marriott, Marriott...

Let me start off by saying that I had to drive 14 hours from Long Island, NY to participate in this weekend's festivities. My reservation was made and confirmed by Arianna, who took special care of me. I have nothing but great things to say about her and her service.

Upon pulling up to the property, I was in awe. I loved the lights; for some reason, it felt so familiar to me. I walked into the hotel and proceeded to the front desk to be helped by an older woman with an accent. I'm not sure of her name, but she seemed very unenthused by my presence. Even though I was exhausted from the 14-hour drive, I was still enthusiastic. I mentioned to the woman that I thought the hotel was pretty and it felt familiar. She rudely replied, "Maybe you've been here before." Right... I live on Long Island, so yeah, maybe I've been to Bloomington, Illinois, and didn't remember. Although her comment made me feel some sort of way, I let it slide. I'm tired and just want my room.

After she tells me the charges, I proceeded to look for my credit card and to check which one was appropriate for the charges. Since I was driving most of the day and standing in the lobby, that barely had web service, so I couldn't sort myself out in a timely manner. By this time, it's about 9:45/10 pm. She was very impatient and told me basically I need to hurry up because she had someone on hold and had to take the call. I told her no worries, take the call. After she hung up, she explained the charges, and I went to get my husband's credit card. I started explaining to him the charges and said, "Put it on your card, and I'll pay cash," meaning I'll give my husband cash. She started literally being nasty, saying they don't accept cash, meanwhile, I was not even speaking to her. At this point, I lost my cool because not only was she nasty, but her information was inaccurate. She gave us the wrong amounts to be charged along with the incidentals and then corrected herself and explained the process for debit cards. I'm tired, hungry, and am over the poor service. I've been a Marriott Rewards member for years and have never received treatment like this before at any of the properties. It was so bad that I am writing this review when I should be sleeping, getting ready for the long weekend ahead with my company.

Towards the end, she started being polite after I voiced my disapproval of her behavior, but she should have been that way from the start. She gave us our room key; HOWEVER, I'm sitting here with barely any internet because she didn't even give us instructions on how to access wifi. Poor client relations!!

I'm very turned off and disappointed; just wasn't expecting a welcome that...