Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz — Hotel in Santa Cruz

I’m a 5th generation local. This neighborhood, when I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s was not one where you could hang out safely. This was not the case when we cruised around this weekend on our ‘Staycation’ at the Marriott Courtyard. We visit our Marriott timeshares in Palm Springs and Hawaii ever year so our kids have high expectations in regards to Marriott. Now, when we went for the weekend in November, they had only been open a couple months , and still had some parts under construction. Julie emailed me with our reservation and asked if I had any requests. It was our sons birthday so we asked if she could leave something in the room to surprise him. She definitely came through! He loved his boardwalk bear and bag of goodies. And card welcoming us. There is no street parking that is overnight around here. And the only parking is at the boardwalk (which I don’t think is overnight) and is $15 a day off season. So we parked with the valet in the underground parking garage, then took the elevator up to the lobby. The lobby is very modern. Lots of LED tvs and charging stations. Places to sit and relax. It is very bright. But at night it’s a little darker. The outside patios are a nice place to warm by the gas fire pits and comfy seating. Landscaping seemed drought resistant but pretty. The pool was closed for part of the day but opened up in the afternoon. It was definitely warm! I’d say 80 degrees. With a nice view of the boardwalk from the second floor patio, where the pool deck is. A down side is no hot tub :( . Our room on the first floor had 10-11 foot ceilings!! I’ve never had ceilings this high in any Marriott! So much room! We reserved a 2 Queen bed suite. And it had a living room with pull out couch and a bedroom with 2 queen beds. It was ADA. So the shower was roll in, and the water splashed out onto the bathroom floor. But it was huge! I loved the space. The window dressings were automatic. And opened and closed with the touch of a button. They had a audio/visual impaired doorbell and lowered peekhole. I was impressed with their ADA accommodations. The check in was hit and miss. One check in guy was giving the people next to us all this information, like hours of the cafe and pool and checkout etc. Our guy seemed more Interested in talking to his friend and barely spoke to us. The valet guys were fast! And very professional. I didn’t mind paying them for their service or tipping them for their hussle. We walked down to the boardwalk for their ‘Bites and Brews’ special and to watch Jaws on the beach screen. Played at the arcade. All in all it was a great ‘staycation’ where we got to enjoy being a tourist in our own town for a weekend. Oh! I almost forgot the best part. The breakfast at the cafe in the lobby was UN- believeable! Best sun dried tomatoes on arugula drizzled with olive oil and garlic. With avocado toast. The French toast omg… we’re gonna go there just for the food. I’m glad that this neighborhood is looking up! We felt totally safe walking at night to the Los Montanos taqueria on the corner one night. I’m glad Marriott chose this place to build. The gym was large for a hotel gym with 3 treadmills, 2 striders, lots of free weights and all sorts of weighted balls, Bosu balls, racks, bench’s, towels, water bottle filler, muscle roller etc.. the Spa isn’t open till Spring of 2023. But it looks like it’s gonna be beautiful. I’ll definitely be...

Me and my partner both decided to visit Santa Cruz for anniversary this last week. We are platinum elite members with Marriott. Before checking in, I had called the night before to see if if I could have flowers delivered to their room and the phone operator I spoke to told me that they aren’t allowed to do that. This is untrue, seeing as I work with Marriott myself I know that we can have flowers delivered prior to check-in. I just accepted it and moved on, even though I was a little frustrated that they said it was not possible because it inconvenienced them. Later, the morning of my check-in date, I called to see if there was a washer and dryer unit available on property, and upon calling the property I was on a 2 minute ring which beeped the entire time, and when an agent finally picked up the phone, they simply told me I was getting put on hold and put me on hold instantly, which is not Marriott standard for phone etiquette. Afterwards, and I am not exaggerating, I have proof of this call, I was on an 18 minute hold to which I got exhausted and decided to hang up and make a request in the app. After speaking with an agent on the app they were actually able to help me and I was able to get my flowers delivered and a answer to my simple question, and they apologized for the inconvenience and made up for it with welcome bags in the room for us which was nice. The next morning, I requested foam pillows on the app. They put the request as delivered about an hour later, but they never delivered the pillows. I needed more towels as well, so later that day I requested foam pillows AGAIN, and more towels. Once they put the request as delivered, but never delivered them. When I left for dinner later that night, me and my partner mentioned it to front desk and they said that they would have phone pillows delivered to our room. This never happened. I never recieved any of my request for the entirety of my stay. The only person who was helpful was Danny who I spoke to on the marriot chat though the app. Our anniversary was enjoyable but unfortunately the Marriott service we recieved during our trip was not. I wanted to make a complaint to Marriott directly but I have not yet found any resources to foward this complaint to Marriott unfortunately, and it doesn’t let me review through the app. Overall, this stay was a disappointment and I wish I was aware of the service before booking such an important trip with this hotel.

Other than that, the rooms were nice, although the shower water does not get very hot and it’s an open shower so you get very cold which made my bathing experience uncomfortable. The TVs were a hassle to get our Nintendo switch to connect to and there were screaming children running up and down the halls during the day. I can’t say I recommend this property if you are looking for something up to Marriott standard. This felt like a bad motel experience but with nice furniture. The customer service, housekeeping, and amenities...

I stayed at this hotel on business for the first time in late November 2023, and while the new decor of the hotel was initially fresh and inviting, the welcome and service subsequently received from the hotel team proved to be anything but hospitable.

Having checked out of the hotel the following day, I received a Marriott efolio email informing me that a $250 smoking fee had been billed to my credit card. Realising immediately that an error or misunderstanding must have occurred, given that I was 100% certain that no smoking had taken place during my stay, I phoned the hotel immediately.

I was hopeful that the error could be resolved easily and the charge refunded, but was shocked to be met by a total lack of courtesy by the gentleman on front desk duties. I was kept on hold for an extremely long time upon asking to speak with the manager on duty, after which I was eventually informed that the manager would be out of the office for the following 5 days. I was informed that ash was found in my hotel room, and hence I was being fined a smoking charge. Being a non-smoker, I was certain that if ash had indeed been found in my room as claimed, it must have arisen from a previous hotel guest.

Having had no success with resolving the issue directly with Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz, I called the Marriott Bonvoy helpline, hopeful that my long track record of stays at Marriott hotel properties over many years and in many countries, without every having had a smoking violation issued, would assist with resolving this error. My optimism sadly proved unfounded.

To cut a long story short, I tried over a number of months to have this charge rescinded, primarily through Marriott Bonvoy since the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz proved to be totally uncooperative and unresponsive to any attempts to contact them. At the end of the process, which went on for a couple of months, I was left incredibly frustrated and disappointed by the failure of Marriott Bonvoy to stand up for a loyal customer who had been the subject of a fraudulent charge by this hotel. I was however very thankful to American Express who provided a charge back on this fraudulent charge.

The entire episode made me realize how vulnerable hotel guests are to a potential fraudulent smoking charge by a hotel property such as Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz, as it appears to be very difficult to challenge a false accusation, even within the 'protection' of a large hotel chain loyalty program. I of course have the utmost sympathy for hotels who are the subject of genuine episodes of in-room smoking, and realize the necessity of having a financial penalty in place where this occurs.

On this occasion, I was left with a very poor impression of the hotel management, and regret the fact that this fine hotel property is not in better hands, as it has the potential to provide a great...