Courtyard by Marriott Santa Ana Orange County — Hotel in Santa Ana

Update (12.29.22):

I have upgraded my review to 5 stars. I think it's important to credit people with their efforts and hard work. The holidays can be tough and so I appreciate Robert (the general manager) going out of his way to reply and make it right. While I am leaving the experience below for background -- I have to say Robert went above and beyond. He honored the promises and applied the points just as I was told. I understand things are tough right now, and so the human touch and knowing someone is actually listening goes FAR AND ABOVE! Thank you, Robert.

Orignal Post:

I have to preface my review by stating that the hotel staff at the front desk were absolutely wonderful. Housekeeping was also wonderful to us and we fully acknowledge the challenges in the hospitality business at the moment. However, I still find it important to write this review because despite the several opportunities to rectify the issue no one seemed to care or be able to do anything about it.

We stayed at this hotel for 10 consecutive nights. Upon check in we were told housekeeping service would not be provided unless scheduled 24 hours prior to the requested date and would only be available every other day. We followed the guidelines for our first request and to our surprise a refresh was not done in our room. No big deal, things happens and everyone is working OT to keep up with the inability to hire enough workers. So we politely asked again. Sunday, no service or refresh. At this point we are slightly annoyed but politely ask again. On Monday they finally refresh our room. However, in the meantime we had to come down for towels and other items because of housekeeping issues.

We politely asked on Tuesday or Wednesday and again no service. Thursday, no service, Friday no service. Friday we were then told it was because workers had their Christmas Party. Now, everyone deserves a Christmas Party and time to unwind with coworkers, but it had been almost 4 days. Saturday we finally get a refresh but the trash we initially reported under our bed from previous guests was left in the room. Housekeeping then went in again and removed the trash, but at this point the damage on our experience had been done.

Now, Karen at the front desk did apologize and was extremely polite. She promised us 20,000 Bonvoy Points but we never received them and are still awaiting to hear from the management or anyone at the Marriott. Further, midweek another supervisor offered to adjust one night off and waive parking. However, when the bill came none of these adjustments were made. So, while the staff was polite no one seemed to follow up on their word and the experience was pretty terrible.

Definitely will be sticking to another...

From the moment my family and I arrived at the Courtyard Santa Ana, I had a feeling that our experience with both the reservation and service would be less than ideal. We were traveling with children—our cousins, nieces, nephews, and siblings—who were especially excited to go swimming. Upon check-in, the hotel staff smiled at them and assured us that the pool was already heated and ready. That small gesture gave us hope. However, things quickly began to fall short of expectations. The elevator was extremely slow, even though the building only has four floors. It took several minutes to arrive, and we had to press the button more than once before it responded. When we reached our assigned room, we were surprised to find it already occupied by another family. Naturally, we returned to the front desk and were reassigned to a different room. The staff handled it quickly, but it was an unsettling and awkward situation that should not have happened. When we finally made it to the pool, we discovered that it was not heated as promised. The water was freezing. Despite the cold, the kids still managed to enjoy themselves, which we appreciated—but we couldn’t ignore the misleading information. Additionally, the towels provided at the pool were very small, more comparable to cleaning rags than proper bath or pool towels. As for the elevators: I really dislike them. They’re extremely slow, and we weren’t the only guests who experienced issues. Other people in the hotel shared similar complaints. The elevator doors opened and closed sluggishly, and sometimes the buttons didn’t even respond. It made getting around the hotel inconvenient and frustrating. Final Thoughts: This hotel has potential, but the service, facility maintenance, and guest experience need significant improvement. Basic expectations—like room accuracy, working elevators, and accurate amenities—should be met, especially for families traveling with children. While we made the best of the situation, I would not return unless these issues...

The best thing about this hotel is the location. Close to the freeway, airport, and an In-N-out. The AC is also worked well in my room and the bedding was comfortable. Unfortunately, it's lackluster in other respects. Room cleanliness: there was leftover stubble from shaving in my bathroom sink area that had not been cleaned. Room floor availability: when inquiring about a top floor room, I was told that the top floor was limited to platinum level only. Some would say that's par for the course, but it's a ding in my book. It doesn't help that the soundproofing was poor between floors. No bottled water provided: only $8 bottles were available in the room. I walked across the street and bought a larger bottle of water for $3.50. $25 parking fee: I balked when informed that there would be a parking fee so the person at the front desk "graciously" gave me a courtesy voucher since I was a first time guest. That was a nice gesture, but her attitude and rude dismissal to end our interaction was unnecessary. Oh, you should also know that the parking lot is limited in capacity and fills up by around 10 pm on a weeknight. I don't know where else you can park if the lot is full. Service: not to mention the rude service (which is a first for me in all my Marriott stays), 2/3 of the time I went to the front desk, no attendant was present and I had to wait for awhile. I went once to ask for a new room key because mine suddenly stopped working on the 2nd night. The other time was to check out on the last day. I will not return but will instead check out the Zessa Hilton across the street even though I dislike Hilton hotels. It was a really disappointing stay and even though I was in a hurry to checkout, the attendant held up my departure by just to deliver her weirdly long boilerplate farewell tagged along with a request to fill out their survey (which never arrived in my inbox). Now that I reflect on how poor and vapid the service was at checkout, I'm going to change my rating from 2...