SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego Rancho Bernardo/Scripps Poway — Hotel in San Diego

Update: The regional manager, Matt, did get involved. We appreciated how he listened and attempted to remedy the situation. We ultimately decided to leave, but wanted to acknowledge his sincere efforts. Thank you, Matt.

Original Review

Nicolas - the hotel front desk manager at the SpringHill Suites (12032 Scripps Highlands Dr, San Diego, CA 92131) who worked the evening of 9/8/24 - is extremely unprofessional, rude, dismissive, demeaning, accusatory, and inflammatory. I would also venture to say that he is a liar, based on the below experiences.

We checked in on Weds, Sep 4th, 2024.

Today, 9/8/24, we have been occupying our room, uninterrupted, beginning at 4:30 pm. We received a call at 8:55 pm saying “we need you to come down to sign something”. After questioning what we needed to sign, we were informed that it was a dog acceptance form, to which we responded okay. At 8:57 pm, we received a knock on the door from “maintenance”. When we asked what maintenance was doing at our door at 9 pm, we were informed it was for a “routine TV check up”. We called the front desk back, questioning why maintenance was knocking on our door for a “routine check up” at almost 9 pm? To which Nicolas responded “well they can come until 9:30 pm, and it is preventative maintenance. We couldn’t do it earlier because of your dog”

Being extremely uncomfortable with the the fact that an alleged maintenance man was knocking on a single woman’s door late on a Sunday night, we went to the front desk to understand what was going on.

Nicolas was then accusatory, implying that we were intentionally not complying with the hotel’s pet policy, despite us having stayed at the hotel for 4 nights and no other attendants asking us to check our dog in. We additionally walk our dog 3-4 times each day, smiling and waving at the front desk attendants. We were never asked to sign a pet acceptance form. We were also told that our room had been called repeatedly between the hours of 5-7 pm for dog compliance. This is not true, as we were occupying our room during those hours and did not receive a call.

However, truly the most revolting part of the evening was how this hotel treats its guests. Let me not say this hotel - because Nicolas has been the only bad apple spoiling the bunch. He informed us that we were “just guests” and that maintenance could come anytime they want - no notice, late at night, and with zero regards to guest safety and comfort. He implied that we were skirting hotel rules by “not signing the form”, despite nobody communicating that a form needed to be signed upon check in. My dog was clearly visible at the time of check in, and we additionally interacted with multitudes of attendants thereafter.

We went to Nicolas because we were uncomfortable in our room, and he ensured that, not only were we less comfortable than prior to talking to him, that we left the interaction aggravated, stressed, feeling unsafe, and attempting to move hotels. We were originally meant to stay 10 nights. Due to Nicolas’ behaviour, we are actively attempting to move hotels. We told him this to which he shrugged and said “fine okay”

His behaviour and the way he spoke to guests was unacceptable, demeaning, and straight up wrong. I will not blame hotel management for this gross misconduct, but I will absolutely blame Nicolas for his rudeness.

It is not your right, as a hotel, to make your guests uncomfortable, unsafe, and burdened with your mismanagement and...

Had high hopes for this Springhill as we've stayed at plenty and typically encounter great customer service but terribly bothered by the service we received here. ||For starters, we booked a one-night stay during comic-con weekend. As someone who grew up in San Diego and having a dad who works in the hotel industry, I understand just how crazy this weekend was going to be. ||I called Saturday at 2 pm to ask if our room was ready (I was okay if it wasn't, again I can understand). The woman who picked up my call insisted we have 2 reservations under my name and went on to explain (borderline mansplain?) how when we book thru third parties they tell you the rooms, etc etc. I let her know my confirmation states one room and I will contact our credit card since we booked thru points. After going on about having two reservations she finally tells me no room is ready cause its comic con weekend and ends the call. ||Fast forward to that evening, we check-in and the evening staff welcomes me. We both bring up the reservation issue and he then looks into it - he says its their system saying its a shared reservation or what it means is there's two people in the reservation along those lines like there's 2 people in the room. He then resolves the issue for me and assures me we won't get charged. ||Room was fine - it was on the first floor / right by the elevators / service area. Again no big deal we're only staying less than 24 hours. Room ceiling had some dark patches and bathroom looked like the shower was broken and they did a quick fix. Slept fine and moved on to the next day........and this is where it got juicy! ||I asked the front desk if we can get a late check-out, she says she can give me 12:30. I then asked if we can get 1:00 pm - and by now i realized its the same lady I spoke with on the phone. She goes on and on about Marriot Bonvoy membership tiers and the fact that she has given over 15 late check-outs prior to me. I say okay thanks. ||BUT WHAT GOT ME WAS THIS.......Prior to me requesting a check-out, there was another customer in front of me. A gentleman who asked for a late check-out, she grants him one for 2 pm. While doing so she was asking him how his sleep was and how their stay has been. ||Then she got to me did her whole rant how it depends on membership and even said you know our house cleaning staff has to clean this many rooms so i just cant. ||At 12 we were ready to go and same lady - does she ask how our stay was. Nope. Just takes our keys and says you're good to go. Does not even thank you for your stay, nothing.||I dont know what i did to this lady but clearly she was not having it with me. while I'm not a bonvoy member with a ton of points, I have never experienced this behavior from any other Marriott / springhill locations. In fact, most have granted us later check-outs. It wasn't even the late check-out it was how she was so condescending and couldn't be bothered with my inquires yet she could ask the person before me how his sleep was. I dont know if the guy before me was some platinum member but it begs the question - is springhill now only nice to bonvoy members of certain tiers? ||Oh and to top it all of, she's a supervisor. For her to keep insisting I had two reservations without doing her due diligence unlike the person who checked us in at night was not cool. Honestly you can blame comic con weekend but this seems so out of pocket. So disappointed,...

We were disappointed in this Marriott. It isn't up to par with others in my opinion. You can see numerous cost cutting measures across the hotel, and its really disappointing.

A few reasons why:

There's no fan in the bathroom. So if somebody stinks it up, well... enjoy......

There's no drawers! Our family was staying here for 3 nights and there is 0 drawers. You may think, well maybe there isn't room, well under one of the TV's in the double twin room, there's plenty of room for at a small chest of drawers.

Supposedly these channels are supposed to be available, but none of them worked when we were there: ESPNNews, ESPNU, TNT. So, the NCAA basketball games that were on TNT? Ya, I couldn't watch them.

ESPN was extremely staticy. It was hardly watchable. I felt as if I was back home in rural Washington in the early 80's where we'd have to go outside and ever so slightly turn the TV antenna. Only in this time, there was no way to fix it.

We left at 8:30-9a, returned that evening, and our room wasn't cleaned. They said a 'do not disturb' was left on the door, which indeed it was not.

At breakfast, they were out of some fruit. When a lady came out and filled up the sausage, I asked her if there would be more fruit (this was around 8am, breakfast is served until 9am I believe). She didn't even stop walking back to the kitchen, and simply said: 'No'. As a guest, I would expect the courtesy of hotel staff to stop and look at me when talking (at the very least), and for them to try and accommodate. After all, breakfast was being served for another hour.

I checked in on my phone. When I arrive, I am asked for my license and my credit card. Hmm. I mention I checked in on the mobile app, she says, I know, we need to verify your information and get your cc for incidentals. What good is checking in with the mobile app? Why is there not a kiosk I can go to, scan with my phone, or insert my cc and pick up my keys?

The Internet is nearly unusable. Slow connection, latency issues, constant disconnect and reconnect, and this was the 'upgraded' internet that is available for rewards members. Very frustrating as I had some work I needed to do, and then I tried to watch some of an NCAA basketball game online since their TV didn't get TNT for some reason.

When we go back to San Diego, we will be staying somewhere else. This hotel just...