Austin Marriott North — Hotel in Round Rock

Initially gave this hotel a four start rating. My only complaint has been the staff at the River City Grill. I am now downgrading to a 2 following my stay on the 13'th.....and i am only giving them a two because my previous stays have been acceptable.

Switched business to this location after another hotel lost my business. I’m here, on average, once a month and have been staying here on that schedule since February 2017. My only complaints with this hotel has been with the River City Grill. The staff there are generally incompetent and the price tag does not warrant the breakfast served. You can easily get better food at a better price elsewhere.

That said, the rooms have been generally felt like cathedrals, big and spacious. I’m not sure if as part of the remodel, they added rooms by shrinking existing ones, but it certainly seems that the rooms are smaller on the floors that have finished their remodeling.

The poor stay started with a the price tag. I normally stay there for ~$125-$140 a night. Acceptable price, though breakfast and Wi-Fi are NEVER included. This last trip, it cost $249 and the room I had was bad. After asking why they gouged prices for that particular weekend, they tried to explain they don’t but “it’s peak season”. They then explained they did essentially price gouge (Increased rates was the wording used…..same concept) due to some pathetic Harry-Potter based college tournament going on in the area that had schools from across the country involved. Aside from the sheer stupidity of college spending money on such events, the hotel was like a college dorm. Loud and obnoxious. Called the front desk throughout the night and I don’t think they ever made any attempt to quiet the noise on my floor.

The room itself was NOT up to par for the $249 price tag. Rooms are normally the saving grace of this facility (as Breakfast and Wi-Fi are never included during the stay). They are large and the bathrooms are nice. The room I had felt compact. The bathroom had a very Motel Six feel to it. Chipped or missing paint, water stains in the tub (note: I had a tub, not the nice, glass-enclosed shower found in other rooms. The two shower heads were covered in mildew and the tub itself had a nice black fungal ring around the outlet.

Bed was comfortable but the overall experience was bad. It’s the kind of experience you don’t expect, certainly not at a $249 a night price tag. For that price (and if this was Vegas) I’d expect an impeccable room on the strip. What I got was an over-priced motel room.

The staff weren’t very friendly, on top of that. I arrived at my normal time of ~11:30 am. The noise from the college kids was so loud, it was hard to hear what they were telling me. I’ve never had a problem with checking in at 11:30. I was told to come back at 1. They were over booked and apparently did not plan accordingly with their staff and were behind in cleaning rooms. Came back at 1 pm. Was told check in is not until 3, per policy and tough. Was told to do a “pre-check in” so that I could just get my key when I returned at 3 and not wait. Returned at 3, waited 26 minutes in a line as everyone that had a room for that night only was told to come back at the same time and since only one person was working the front desk “at check in time” I had to wait behind the people that didn’t do “pre-check in.” The manager, who’s been there most of the times I have stayed, was typing away on the computer pretending not to notice the ever growing line and not assisting before disappearing to the comfort of the back office never to return the rest of the time I was waiting for service.

The overall experience was poor. From the room to the staff. Given the price and the overall experience, I will not be using this facility for future visits and will instead give the Hyatt next...

When the people working your desk have no clue what they are doing, nothing else even matters. Samantha had no business being at the desk. Whomever trained Samantha needs a review and Samantha needs to reevaluate how she interacts with customers, especially Ambassadors. I came to check in, Ambassador status, and used a friends and family discount. Samantha asked if I had my form, which I did. I asked for the email I could send it to, and she said she didn’t have one. I asked for a business email, she said no. I saw about 10 business cards on the desk, all with email addresses and she said I couldn’t send it to any of them. She DEMANDED I get out of line, go to the business center and print out the email. Then she just stood there. She refused to check me in, like she was making some kind of stand. Somehow she didn’t realize how idiotic it is to ask a person who’s spent so much money and so many days at these properties to get out of line to go print a piece of paper. She looked so smug and defiant, and that attitude absolutely set me off. She looked right past me. I had spent the better part of the day, over 12 hours moving out of my house just up the street and just wanted to sleep. This clueless, insensitive, incompetent woman just stood there feeling powerful, delaying my check in, and completely ignoring the fact that maybe, just maybe after over $30,000 spent and 150 nights in a Marriott that I might have my affairs in order. She treated me like I wasn’t trusted and was a person she could just dismiss. She did this 100% because she didn’t respect me, and for that reason she should NEVER work at any desk in customer service ever again. At best she should be cleaning toilets. I can’t even give a review of the hotel because the service absolutely ruined the experience. Is this how you treat Ambassador ?!?! Seems like a place to avoid. Trust me if you see Samantha at the desk just walk out. She’ll be the person staring off into space with nothing behind her eyes and a sense of entitlement on her face. Absolutely disgusting behavior, and this establishment should be embarrassed and ashamed to put this excuse for an employee right up front without guidance. She was WAY too comfortable being a complete hag. Eddie came after the fact to verify that she could have easily just gotten this form via email and just wanted to be difficult. She also didn’t even consider calling him to verify this before kicking me out of line. I can’t say for sure that this was race related, but it seems a bit suspicious and the level of disrespect that she showed me by herself vs the level of respect she showed after seeing Eddie was astounding. Also at as if she thought she could get away with talking down to me when we were alone. Well, SAMANTHA, I hope your management, ownership, and coworkers all see this , and judge you accordingly. Never talk down to customers. And the next time I or anyone else stand across from you address us as Mr/Ms and then our LAST NAME. Learn some customer service...

I have been a Marriott fan for many many years. And have stayed in their properties more times than I can count, so my review is based on an extensive experience with all levels of Marriott brands. This particular hotel is in an excellent location for a traveler looking for better accommodations than a Motel 6 or Holiday Inn. The location is clean and well-maintained. However, I was unimpressed with the staff on a number of levels-- I was disappointed at checkin, during my stay, and at check out. In fact, I was so disappointed by the amenities and service that I cut my trip short. This was literally the only time I ever did this, in fact i usually extend my stays at other properties. The onsite restaurant was expensive and attempted to serve gourmet level meals but IMHO the quality of the meals missed the mark -- normally I absolutely love Marriott room service but not at this location. Sadly, I think travelers would be better off with a delivery service rather than room service. Similarly, the food and beverages offered in the concierge lounge were sadly lacking in both quality and variety. And in this location the lounge did not offer adult beverages so, again, one of the reasons I stay on the lounge floor was simply way below expectations. Perhaps today's younger travelers simply dont expect much if anything beyond trail mix and crackers and cheese but from my experience I kept asking what's the point of a lounge if it doesn't pamper the traveler a bit. The rooms were similarly lacking the real Marriott experience that I have come to love and expect. Yes, the beds are still wonderful but the rest of the rooms are a bit unwieldy and lacking. In my room, the AC was not functioning well -- the vent appeared to be partially blocked so was warmer than it should have been for a property in Southeast Texas. The bathroom was cramped. There was no microwave in the room. The coffee / tea service was tucked into a dark and cramped space, making it almost unusable. Exceedingly small closets, no luggage cart, no bureau or chest of drawers, no nightstand -- and the plastic cups offered for beverages were such poor quality that they kept springing a leak and flooding the small tables by the bed. The same thing happened with the ice bucket -- as the ice melted in the bucket an unnoticed crack allowed the water to leak all over my phone, cords, shoes and book. The tv was a nice size but for some reason only allowed access to Marriott tv, Netflix and YouTube rather than allowing access to the wider set of apps that normally are embedded in the particular brand of tv the hotel puts in t the rooms. I could go on but I think the reader gets the gist. So in my opinion travelers are better served by staying at other properties in area and give this specific...