Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Midtown — Hotel in Raleigh

By far the worst and most bizarre check in experience ever. On 8/13 I had a basil cell carcinoma removed from my nose, so my face was patched up and swollen - not pretty, I’ll admit. Later that same day my wife’s brother died unexpectedly. We live in Richmond and drove to Raleigh just after midnight. By the time we checked in at this property it was about 1:25 am. My wife was crying so hard she waited in the car while I checked in. Obviously it hadn’t been a good day, and we were both exhausted , in shock, and distraught. All I wanted to do was get into our room and let myself and my wife check in. I don’t know if it was because of my nose patch, swollen eyes, or just a general trait of hers, but the desk agent ‘Sayeeda’ (sp?) kept just scrutinizing me as though she was trying to see if I was some sort of criminal. She kept interrupting the check in process to ask random and irrelevant questions. She became hostile, asking if something was wrong with me. I said yes, I had a cancer removed from my nose today, my wife lost her brother and is out in the car weeping, and we are exhausted. Yes, please just move it along and get us into this room. Yet she kept stopping and starting and squinting at me until I finally begged her to PLEASE PLEASE just let us into the room. I had showed her my id, had credit card at the ready, and not once raised my voice or used profanity. Finally, exasperated, I asked for her name. She refused to give it, probably because she didn’t want me to report her bizarre and nasty behavior. She then said just tell them it’s the clerk from 11-7. I then said so you’re not going to give me your name, and she grudgingly admitted it was Sayeeda. All this took 15-20 minutes which may not sound like much but at 130 am, exhausted, knowing that my wife, who had just lost her brother, was terribly distraught, it seemed like forever.

To top it all off, she called our room at 2 am to speak with my wife and verify that her brother died, presumably to determine whether they should give us a bereavement rate. That had not come up at all in our conversation, I knew nothing of it. My guess is that she was trying to atone for her earlier behavior by offering a discount. But - despite me telling her repeatedly that my wife’s brother had died, I was wearing an admission sticker for Wake Medical, and knowing that we were exhausted, Sayeeda thought that it would be a good idea to call the room at 2 am to make sure I wasn’t making all of it up. As I said, extremely bizarre and troubling.

The only reason I am giving two stars is that the next day the hotel GM Heather listened patiently to my story and was very kind. It isn’t my property, but if it was I would not want this Sayeeda anywhere NEAR the front desk or any where else on the property interacting with guests. It was a nightmare and the worst check in ever. ...

While the service during my stay was fine, the service, or lack there of, has been inexcusable. After checking out of the hotel at 3am, I realized when I got to the airport that I’d left my charger in the room. That is totally on me! I called the hotel at 5 am asking for it to be sent to me & that I would cover the shipping costs. I was told they’d check the room and confirmed my credit card for the shipping. Almost two weeks later I called to ask for shipping info as I never received it, but that I was charged for shipping. I was told that there were no GMs on currently, but that they would get back to me with shipping info. Four days later I called again as I never heard back from GM. Mallory offered to refund shipping as a courtesy & told me she would contact management to find out the status once again. I received an email later to tell me that the charger was never found, and the fact that I was charged for shipping even though my lost item was never even retrieved, let alone shipped. This was ridiculous! But, Mallory (who has been great, but also the only person who has bothered to handle this situation, and while I appreciate all she has done and her professionalism, she’s had to serve as a middleman several times and then she gets no response from management). She told me that the hotel was offering to replace the charger for the error. I was so thankful! It was my error in leaving it behind, but given that the hotel recognized where they dropped the ball, this was very generous of them. I emailed them back with my charger info. But another week later, aftrr still not hearing a response or receiving a charger, I followed up again. Yesterday, after almost one month since I checked out, I received a replacement in the mail. The thing is, I left my item behind. That’s on me. And had the hotel handled it appropriately from the get go (checked the room, not found it, not billed me), this would have been over that day. But, charging me, never shipping it, not responding time and time again, is a level of unprofessionalism that is infuriating. Mistakes happen to all of us, but it's all in the way that mistake is handled that will influence someone's impression of an organization. And my impression of the way this hotel is managed is not a...

Beyond-The-Standard Hospitality for a Courtyard Location!

I was blown beyond expectations for a Courtyard location as it had blended the standard with the higher level of hospitality expertise that Marriott tends to give. I had stayed for three nights for a long weekend with a convention in the city. Two other friends and I had enjoyed our stay in the not-too-noisy property in the well-maintained room. The management was also honouring of the loyalty benefits with an upgraded room, so that's always a plus!

Our room was very spacious and overall comfortable. The room we had stayed in was a suite with one bedroom that had a king bed and a sofa bed in the common area outside the bedroom. There was also courtyard access with the pool via the balcony area. The room configuration contained the bathroom sink outside the toilet and shower/tub. The air conditioning defeated what was some of the warmest days of the weekend and that was something we definitely enjoyed.

Another thing to compliment is the dining within the hotel -- the bistro that is usually contained in most Courtyard properties had some interesting menu items that caught our eyes. One example would be the pesto prosciutto flatbread and the meatballs. We had ordered Chicken Pot Pie (which, if you ask for size, is definitely overflowingly larger than the bowl they show you,) the flatbread, the Chicken BLT sandwich and vegetable baked pasta. All of this fed all three of us. In addition, to note for anyone who books this property under a convention discounted rate, enquire to see if you get a discount for food at the Bistro too because our server was nice enough to remind and offer us the discount -- how wonderful is that?

Finally, if you weren't hinted already, the staff working at the hotel were all wonderful, professional and with bright attitude. Check-in to check-out, anything we needed and the staff had gone as above and beyond as they could. As I had just stated, the Bistro staff made sure we were taken care of and that was one they could easily miss as they didn't have many customers at the given moment.

In the future, I intend to return to this property during my visits to Raleigh. I can't say this enough when I say that this property is one of the best...