Courtyard by Marriott Santa Monica — Hotel in Santa Monica

This was our second time to this Marriott, and it will certainly be our last. I don't ever waive around being a platinum elite member so I only mention it now to give insight in to how often I stay at Marriott hotels. This experience was by far the worst. I check in on the app early as I always do, and still am not provided a mobile key. What's the point of an app and check in process and mobile key if you cannot bypass the desk? At that point, I'm just going to get a physical key. It's become a useless "feature" this past year as no Marriotts have been providing the promised mobile key ahead of arrival. To then get to the desk and be told to essentially go through the entire check in process again, including swiping a card despite the one I checked in with being on file and the one I preferred to use. I had to insist I did not want to swipe the card I had on me, and the desk agent requires me to swipe it anyways claiming it will only charge $50 for "incidentals" and the rest will go to my card on file. Something I've never had to do or heard of at any other Marriott ever. My full charge has always gone on to the card I checked in with via app with no issue. Before I sign, I ask her if she's certain this will only charge $50 because the screen was showing the full amount of the room. She says yes it will only be $50, the rest will go on your card on file. As soon as I walk away, a notice from my bank that $360 had been charged by the hotel comes up. She blatantly lied and when I returned to ask for a receipt showing the card the room was charged to she refused and said it was put on the "card on file" not the one I swiped .. until I show her my bank showing the charge. Another blatant lie. She finally goes to get a manager who was kind but did really nothing to solve the issue at all. She just charged the card I initially wanted charged hence checking in with it, and now I am still stuck four days later with it pending on my debit account as well- the exact reason I never EVER check in with debit at hotels, until this useless desk agent forced it here for no reason other than not knowing her job. The fact that she was also training someone makes it 10x worse and I hope the new hire gets much better training than what we...

The hotel is really nice but there are several issues to mention that makes me not recommend it: 1-We booked a room for 4 guests and checked in on a Thursday evening. The room only had 2 bath towel, not a big deal, I requested 2 more towels using the app, and the towels arrived the following day at 8 AM (!!!). I was annoyed that someone was knocking at my door so early in the morning. 2-The parking is extremely expensive at $50 per night. 3-The most important issue was my interaction with a staff member in the front desk, his name is Chris. The situation is that when I checked-in nobody told me that the rooms are not cleaned daily, I have my family as a witness. It's fine that the rooms are not cleaned daily, but the following day (Friday), I asked not to have the room cleaned and someone wrote down my room number and told me they won't clean the room....so if later I found out the rooms are not cleaned daily why this front desk person wrote down my room number and told me my room won't be cleaned???? Then on Saturday at 6 PM I found the room not to be cleaned, so I went to talk to Chris in the front desk and he explained the rooms are not cleaned daily which I said I was never told, to which he replied that guests "sometimes don't hear the information and I know you were told about it", basically he was saying I was not telling the truth. Then he was behaving in a very condescending way, very "cocky", saying I should "call the corporate office, his manager, etc.", he was using all the annoying "tactics" he learnt to deal with frustrated customers but he was applying them in a wrong way. He has really poor manners to deal with customers. Not surprisingly there are complains about him in the Google reviews I checked. So, these are the reason why I won't recommend this...

This is an honest review with no pretense and no begging from staff. Makeup was on the second duvet and staff quickly and pleasantly replaced it; my bed ended up being clean, fresh and comfortable. The room was clean and we loved the walk-in large shower and hot water. Supplies were replaced freely and we appreciated the free coffee vouchers and greeting card upon arrival. Jordan at the front desk took care of us the entire time and Abrahet from housekeeping was so friendly and efficient, in fact all of the staff were. Not one negative vibe was felt during our entire 3 night stay from June 26 to June 28.

We were in room 232 with a view of the garbage can and an empty building, which I initially was unhappy about, however, considering that they let us check in 4 hours before we should have, we were grateful, and got a view of real Santa Monica life beyond being tourists. I see a lot of negative reviews about the homeless situation, and being from Philly I understand the inconvenience sometimes but I also have compassion. It is not the hotel's fault and they do everything possible to secure the bathrooms and know who belongs in the building. Everyone we met so far in LA have been so nice, and no one on the streets bothered us or asked for anything, though I would have gladly contributed.

We should all be so grateful to be able to go on vacation and take up other people's space for fun and shouldn't consider those less fortunate burdens to our luxury - this is not a political thing but a human one. Having come 3,000 miles away to visit family has been a blessing and we have been treated so well at Marriot Santa Monica and now Marriot Woodland Hills for 2 nights. Thank you! Bernice and...