Providence Marriott Downtown — Hotel in Providence

Beware unwritten policies, poor service and facilities

I did not experience: “Wonderful hospitality always” during my recent Marriott Providence Downtown stay. As a Marriott Vacation Club owner, a frequent business traveler to this area, and a first time guest at this particular hotel, I will never return to this Marriott location.

Poor housekeeping: stained comforter, hair on shower walls. I checked in late at night and just tried to avoid those areas since front desk had already told me they are short on room service staff until middays.

I asked the front desk the next morning if housekeeping could address. When I returned that evening, housekeeping had been in the room but didn’t address either matter.

Furthermore, the new towels had hair in them as well.

Poor maintenance: The soap and toilet paper holders were both slanted. I had to hold my soap the entire time and toilet paper often slides off when in use.

Mediocre restaurant: Restaurant service was good. However meal itself was mediocre at best.

To top all of that…

Unwritten policies: Singing to yourself is not allowed after 10pm. (Sounds ridiculous right?) I learned this after receiving a phone call from Katherine at the front desk while singing to music playing only in my headphones. (Literally only sound in my room would’ve been my voice at the time; no other guests). More specifically I was told she wouldn’t “call security” but they have “pilots who need to be up at 3am.” When I went down to the lobby afterwards to inquire about where signage was stating quiet hours as 10pm, the front desk representative’s (Katherine) response was that it’s generally understood across the industry (not to mention very condescending in tone).

Generally understood by who? By new guests to this hotel, new travelers, by families with young kids, by couples and friend groups traveling together on vacation? To say it’s generally understood that they can’t socialize or have any room noise after 10pm is a false presumption.

I’ve certainly heard noises from all the above in my many years of traveling which is to be expected. And in over a decade of routine business travel as well, I’ve never heard of a 10pm quiet hour. If anything, I’ve seen a few hotels on rare occasion visually post 11pm on signs, and mention during check-in. However, even this hotel’s bar would contradict that since it stays open until 12AM and was still very lively (with people and music) by the time I made it to the front desk at 11pm.

By far, the poorest Marriott experience I’ve had in the past nearly 20 years.

Takeaways would be: Travelers, avoid this hotel if seeking any pleasure by yourself or with others, especially if traveling with young kids. Staff only values select guests and their needs. You may also be threatened with a call to security if you aren’t silent in room at 10pm. Management, don’t expect guests to follow unwritten and unspoken policies. Train staff to value all guests equally, improve housekeeping protocols with follow-up, and communicate policies during check-in. Provide earplugs to guests who complain about noise; I’ve seen this done with class by some hotels in advance (whether due to high volume of pedestrians, traffic or nearby trains that cause greater noise throughout the night and day). To note: I requested to speak with a manager on duty to discuss the latter issue live and was told they’d already left which appears to be another gap to address...

This past weekend my two friends and I decided to visit Providence, unforeseen circumstances wound up with one of my friends being admitted to the hospital late at night. I wanted to assure we had a comfortable safe and warm place to stay while I waited for her in the ER so I called Downtown Providence Marriott. I spoke with a gentleman, although I unfortunately did not think to ask his name though he has a very very distinct accent, who told me he would book me a room for the night. I proceeded to give him my credit card information and he provided me with instruction that it was okay no matter what time we checked in as I told him we were waiting for my friend to get discharged but that we just needed to check out the following morning at noon. With my full name, credit card information, and background on the situation I was in he booked my room and even provided me a confirmation number for my reservation, not only did he verbalize my confirmation code I was also sent an email about my reservation as well. After my friend was discharged we were all exhausted and headed to the Marriott where we were met with locked doors and the same man who I spoke to on the phone interrogating us through the intercom system. He insisted we were at the wrong hotel even though I provided the address AND phone number I called for the Downtown Providence location and he refused to let us through the doors. As I said this man has a VERY distinct accent and intonation and I made clear I was the one he spoke to on the phone for the reservation a mere 2 hours prior but he insisted it wasn’t him ( mind you the only other person at the check in was a woman and I spoke to a man.) I was trying to stay as collected as I could but after 5 hours in an emergency room this was the last thing I expected to have to deal with. After calmly providing all the information he asked of me at the locked door i saw him pick up his phone and call for security. The older security man that came to speak with us was this hotels only saving grace, he listened and profusely apologized to us for the events of the night because it was clear to him that the man at the counter was out of line. My two guesses on why the couldn’t find the reservation I booked, gave a card for, and got a confirmation number for is as follows: 1: the man at the front desk screwed up and just point blank never actually booked my room for me But the more likely is 2: when he saw me and my two friends at the door, inarguably looking a bit haggard from our time in the hospital he didn’t want “people like us” in the hotel

Mind you we are three very normal young women who happen to have faced a good deal of misfortune that night and we were met with the most hostile and unsympathetic customer service I have literally ever seen in my life.

The man working the over night 9/6-9/7 with the gray hair and accent should be held accountable for his despicable behavior and I sure pray the any young woman in his life is safe around him because he was more than willing to let my friends and I stay out in the cold early morning in an...

Had an up and down experience at this hotel. We frequent a lot of hotels in the area so I'll start off with the good... staff seems to take their job seriously and professionally which is great. Has a great buffet breakfast with an omelette station, easily the best hotel breakfast I've had in the area. Rooms were clean with all the basic necessities. Bed was comfortable. Amenities included an on site bar and restaurant and is one of the few places with a hot tub in the area north of Providence. Location label is misleading, it's not really "Downtown". Food was delicious.

Now the negatives.... AC barely worked. The name "Providence Marriott Downtown" is misleading, it's not really Downtown. The room was a lot smaller than most other hotels in the area and costs more. For being such a large hotel that is disappointing. It's a little aged and lived in with some things looking a little worn. For a price typically higher than other hotels you'd expect something a little nicer/newer.

Unfortunately the waiter at the on-site restaurant was a major blunder to our visit here... he greets us normally then begins asking us what we've been up to during the day which felt really invasive and an odd thing to ask. He proceeds to take my order as if he knows what I'm saying, but gets everything but 1 out of 4 things I ordered correct.

So our entire order consisted of a Patron Margarita on the rocks, a coke, clam chowder, lobster bisque with added lobster, shrimp tempura and the filet mignon for a main dish. Shortly after the order was placed, the waiter comes back to ask me if I wanted shrimp tempura? OK... Drinks never came for quite some time, at least 15 minutes had passed and I never even got my coke. I had to ask him if my drink was still coming because at this point I was starting to have zero faith in his ability to deliver proper service. He said it was coming and shows up with the drink RIGHT after. He says "here's your patron" and puts down a patron straight on the rocks on the able and runs off. I let the guy dropping off our food know. Waiter comes back and puts the drink down and says "is this the one you're looking for?". I didn't even bother asking him what his problem was... I honestly found his service disrespectful. THEN I have to ask him to bring my Coke! My lobster Bisque came with no added lobster, I'm sure he never reported it to the kitchen correctly. The shrimp tempura is $22 for such a small amount of shrimp, I was blown away at the price for such a small dish costing almost as much as a full blown meal. $16-18 was fair enough. Briefly after we are all settled he rudely arrives with our check and tells us "here's your check" and quickly walks off. It was apparent he wanted nothing to do with serving us and I truly don't understand what the issue was. All we did was order our food.

All in all, this is a good hotel, not great... and definitely be wary of a chiseled waiter that sort of looks like a tall...